one of the prime minister's closest political allies — damian green — strongly denies fresh allegations he looked at pornography on his office computer. a retired detective, who says he analysed the computer in a separate investigation nine years ago, claims there were thousands of pornographic images on it. in—between browsing pornography, he was sending e—mails from his account, his personal account. i've maintianed all along, i still maintain, it is the truth, that i didn't download or look at pornography on my computer. but obviously, while the investigation is going on, i can't say any more. we'll be asking what it could all mean for the prime minister's deputy? also tonight: the investigation into alleged russian meddling — president trump's former national security advisor, michael flynn, pleads guilty to lying to the fbi. the key to brexit talks, as the eu warns britain trade negotiations won't start until ireland is satisfied there'll be no hard border. england!

gearing up for a summer of world cup football — maradona hands england a comfortable draw for russia 2018. and hundreds turn out in nottingham to see prince harry and meghan markle on their first public engagement together. and coming up on sportsday, on bbc news... could the day—night match in adelaide provide england's best chance of winning an ashes test? they start there in just a few hours‘ time. good evening. theresa may's deputy — damian green — is under renewed pressure tonight, after claims that he accessed pornography on his commons computer. a retired detective says he found "thousands" of pornographic images on a computer in mr green's office nine years ago, and that it was "ridiculous" to suggest that anyone else could be responsible.

mr green — the first secretary of state — has again insisted that the allegations are false. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, has this exclusive report. he's theresa may's oldest and most trusted political ally, now battling for cabinet survival over claims he watched pornography on his work computer. can ijust ask you to leave? the allegations, which he denies, centre on computers seized in this police raid over leaked documents from the home office. now, a detective involved in the inquiry has given his account of what he discovered. i had ihad an i had an exemplary record. neil lewis spent 25 years in the metropolitan police before retiring due to ill health. he has multiple sclerosis. in 2008, he was given the task of examining damian green's work computer. the shocking thing was that, as i was viewing, i noticed a lot of pornography thumbnails, which indicated web browsing.

but a lot. there was a lot of them. how many images did you see on that? thousands. thousands of pornographic images? thumbnail images. this is the one note that you kept. yes. neil lewis still has his notebook from the time, detailing what he saw on the computer. there is a reference to briefing officers about pornography. he claims two other detectives also saw the material. it was legal and not extreme, he said. similar images were also seen on a laptop, he claimed. how can you be sure that it was damian green who was accessing that pornography? there's a sort of phrase, "you can't put fingers on the keyboard". so i can't say that. but the computer was in mr green's office, on his desk, logged in, his account, his name. in—between browsing pornography,

he was sending e—mails from his account, his personal account. reading documents, writing documents. and it was just impossible. it was sort of exclusive and extensive, that it was ridiculous to suggest that anybody else could have done it. 0utside his home in kent today, damian green protested his innocence. a cabinet office inquiry has been examining his conduct. mr green... i've said that i'm not commenting any further while the investigation is going on. i've maintained all along, i still maintain, it is the truth, that i didn't download or look at pornography on my computer. but obviously, while the investigation is going on, i can't say any more at the moment.

one of mr green's colleagues in parliament rallied to his defence, saying the detective's account didn't add up. the pattern of behaviour he describes seems to me entirely inconsistent with the normal pattern of behaviour of an mp in parliament. we simply do not have hours to sit in front of our computers and browse leisure websites, of whatever variety. did you look at pornography at all? there are now questions about how apparently confidential information about damian green's computers was made public. scotland yard is looking into it. danny shaw, bbc news. 0ur deputy political editor, john pienaar, is in downing street tonight. where does this go now? this is an important matter and not just does this go now? this is an important matter and notjust for damian green's future. he has added nothing to his flat denial of viewing pornography at work but his

political friends have rallied round, tory mps and the leader of the dup party at westminster accusing this former officer of breaching operational confidentiality. and the brexit secretary david davis, i have been told, has warned theresa may she should not sack damian green on the word form officers who come his friends believe, maybe out to do him down. why? because that police raid as part of a wheat enquiry in 2008 backfired on the police, they were criticised and the friends of damian green believe this is a kind of revenge. if it ends in damian green losing hisjob, the final report, some of those conservative mps and others will want to know why. and there are other questions, suggestions of other acts of impropriety by damian green, what about those? he says clearly and consistently throughout the same thing. theresa may will have to reach a judgment on the evidence of whether she should lose such a close ally at such a vulnerable time, vulnerable because of such things as

brexit. we will have the answer soon. i am told theresa may will have that report and we will have those answers perhaps by the beginning of next week. from downing street, thank you. one of president trump's closest confidants — his former national security advisor, michael flynn — has pleaded guilty to lying to fbi agents over alleged russian interference in the us elections. mr flynn is the most senior former official to be charged in the investigation so far. but the white house says the guilty plea doesn't implicate anyone else except him. from washington, here's our correspondent, aleem maqbool. it has sent political shock waves through washington. general michael flynn — donald trump's former national security adviser — turned himself in to the fbi, and to a judge admitted lying about his contacts with russian officials. in court, he was asked if he wished to plead guilty to making false, fictitious and fraudulent statements, to which michael flynn answered simply, "yes, sir". "my guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel's 0ffice reflect a decision

i made in the best interests of my family and of our country," he said in a statement. well, we now know general flynn had conversations with the russian ambassador about the possibility of lifting sanctions against moscow. but given barack 0bama was still in the white house, he was just unauthorised to do that. but he now says, crucially, that he was directed to have those conversations by a senior official in the transition team of donald trump. general mike flynn! retired, united states army! applause michael flynn developed a close relationship with mr trump during the election campaign — at one point, even being talked of as a potential vice—president. a truly great general. right here. mike, thank you. at the republican national convention, he famously led chants for hillary clinton to be imprisoned. yes, that's right, lock her up! it was revealed michael flynn had previously had contacts with vladimir putin, but he made his costly mistake late last year, after president 0bama had just

imposed more sanctions on russia for interfering in the us election. 0n the 29th of december, michael flynn spoke to the russian ambassador on the phone. 0n the 15th of january, vice president mike pence said that sanctions were not discussed by michael flynn in those calls. only after the 9th of february, when a newspaper revealed general flynn did discuss sanctions when he wasn't authorised to do so, did pressure increase and michael flynn lost his job. michael flynn then became one key focus of the investigation into russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election and potential collusion with the trump campaign. the white house is now trying to distance itself from general flynn's actions and the lies he told to the fbi, but there's no question that this latest development brings the russia investigation ever closer to the president himself. it is now being reported that the

son—in—law of donald trump, jared kushner, was a senior official who directed some of those communications between michael flynn and the russian ambassador. so we area and the russian ambassador. so we are a long way from talking about something that can bring down donald trump but the wagons are circling all the more about the white house. thank you. millions of people download anti—virus software onto their computers every year to try to protect themselves from hackers and cybercrime. but now the government is warning that using russian software could be a risk to national security. one of the most popular anti—virus products is made by a russian company called kaspersky. but the company's boss has told the bbc there is no evidence they are involved in spying. here's our security correspondent, gordon corera. fears of russian cyber—espionage have been growing and, tonight, the government issues a new warning about the risks posed by a widely used russian company. our mission has always been

to protect the big and the small... kaspersky lab provide security products designed to protect systems from criminals and hackers. it's used by consumers, and also businesses, and some parts of government. we keep the secrets of global significance. .. for a system like kaspersky to work, this software requires access to almost all the files on someone's computer, phone or network, to scan for viruses. and the software may also need to communicate back to the company's headquarters in moscow. the fear is that this could be used by the russian state for espionage — stealing secrets. here at britain's national cyber security centre, they say they've not seen actual proof of such espionage, but they believe there is an increased risk. and so today, they've told government departments not to use kaspersky for systems containing sensitive data. this is specifically about, erm, entities that may be of interest

to the russian government. and so that, for us, is about national security systems in government, of which there are a very small number. and, for example, if you have a business doing negotiations that the russian government may be interested in. kaspersky lab has already faced allegations that it's been used for espionage in america. earlier this week, i spoke to the company's founder and chief executive at their london offices about those claims. my response is that we don't do anything wrong, and we will never do that. it's simply not possible. and, er, what's in all these publications, they are just speculating about some rumours, opinions, and there is zero of the hard data. 400 million people use kaspersky products around the world. ba rclays actually offers kaspersky's award—winning... in the uk, barclays has provided it to customers. but officials say they're not telling the general

public to stop using it. the company denies any wrongdoing, but today's warning is another sign of growing fears over the risks posed by russia. gordon corera, bbc news. the european council president, donald tusk, has warned theresa may that the eu will not begin discussing trade in the brexit talks until ireland is happy with the uk's offer on the future of the irish border. it comes as the head of the world trade organisation has told the bbc that the uk faces a "very bumpy" and "long" road to secure a trade deal. 0ur economics editor, kamal ahmed, reports. 0n the banks of lake geneva, the organisation that holds the rule book for trade around the world and is helping both sides, britain and the eu, as they tread their way gingerly towards separation. the man in charge told me that a hard, disruptive brexit would carry costs. i don't think this is going to be an easy negotiation,

to be frank with you. i think it's going to be very tough because of the number of elements and variables involved in this conversation. trade negotiations are extremely complex. they are very sensitive politically. people have talked about what has been described as a hard brexit. would that be a disaster for the british and european union economies? clearly, this is not going to be a situation where all trade stops. there is collapse, in terms of the economy as a whole. so that, for me, is the end of the world. but it's not going to be a walk in the park. it's not like nothing happened. there will be an impact. the tendency is that prices will go up, of course. you have to absorb the costs of that disruption. that question of disruption affects so much in these negotiations. what about the irish border and how to keep it open once brexit happens? in dublin, the eu offered the irish prime minister what amounted to a veto. if the uk offer is unacceptable

for ireland, it will also be unacceptable for the eu. this is why the big key to the uk's future lies, in some ways, in dublin. is there any example we can look to which could solve this irish problem? i can't think of a close parallel anywhere else. it's challenging, i have to tell you. to the extent that there is no longer a customs union. it's... no easy solution comes to the mind. here in geneva, and a warning — no free trade deal with the european union would be costly for the uk. next week, the focus moves 500 miles north, to brussels, where a lunch — maybe frosty — between theresa may and the president of the european commission will try and unravel some of these difficult issues. kamalahmed, bbc news, geneva. nearly 200 nat west are to close

along with 60 rbs branches. 680 jobs will be lost. rbs, which owns both banks, says online banking means fewer customers are using the branches. pope francis has been meeting some of the rohingya muslim refugees who've fled to bangladesh from myanmar after a wave of ethnic violence. the pope asked them for forgiveness — saying the world had been indifferent to their suffering. from bangladesh, martin bashir reports. 0n the fifth day of his visit to south asia, pope francis arrived in typically unpretentious style at an interfaith gathering in dhaka. in the audience were 16 rohingya adults and children who'd fled from myanmar. one of them was 12—year—old shawkat ara. shawkat‘s entire family lived in a village in rakhine state, when the army arrived in september. in recalling what happened,

she said, "they shouted, ‘you rohingyas, you bengalis,‘ and then killed everyone. they killed my aunt, my uncle, and others in the village. they killed my whole family, my four brothers. my sister and my parents are dead. i have no one left." the pope invited the refugees onto the stage and blessed all of them, including shawkat. and having not used the word once during his visit, he decided to give a name to the people and their suffering. "the presence of god today," he said, "is also called rohingya." a papal visit brought global attention to the suffering,

and comfort to a child who has lost everything. martin bashir, bbc news, bangladesh. next summer, 32 countries battle it out for football's world cup in russia. today, england secured a favourable draw when the groups were decided in moscow. this is how it will all begin for england in the opening group stage. they will kick off against tunisia on monday, 18 june. england will then play panama on the 24th, saving the toughest for last, playing one of the top seeds belgium on the 28th. 0ur sports editor dan roan reports. it was the day russia invited the great and the good of football inside its seat of power. the kremlin playing host to some of the legends who have graced the sport's showpiece event. a first world cup in russia has become a matter of personal pride and political importance to vladimir putin. the president himself taking the opportunity to kick off proceedings.

applause. a colourful celebration of russian culture providing the now traditional pre—draw entertainment. as england's manager gareth southgate prepared to learn his team's fate, there were plenty of familiar faces from which to gain confidence. world cup winner gordon banks leading out a stellar cast list of draw assistants, before gary lineker, golden boot winner in 1986 and more recently an outspoken critic of tournament organisers fifa, was introduced in his role as master of ceremonies. i think i prefer to take a penalty in the world cup final than actually organise this draw, but i'll do my best. with the draw finally under way, it fell to diego maradona — no stranger to breaking england's hearts — to reveal they'd be in group g. england. that meant that the top ranked seeds belgium lie in wait, a squad packed with premier league talent. the manager giving little away. as the draw progressed,

the rest of the group emerged, along perhaps with a sense of relief. tunisia, beaten by england in their opening match at france ‘98, and panama, playing in their first world cup. both opponents england would have taken before the draw, so what did the manager think of the hand his team had been dealt? we've been good at writing teams off and then getting beaten by them, haven't we, so we've got to make sure that we're prepared for all of those games. it's fantastically exciting now to be here for the draw with every other coach. it's been a great experience and i'm really looking forward to getting on with it now. commentator: england are out of the european championship. england's humiliating defeat to iceland in last year's euros serves as a warning that no one should be taken for granted. however, as they look ahead to next summer's campaign, deep down they and their fans know that today's russian roulette could have been far tougher. there were plenty of dangers lurking here inside the kremlin for england. footballing powers like germany, brazil and argentina. but all were avoided in a favourable draw and england can now look forward to next summer

with a degree of confidence. their fans, however, shouldn't get carried away. dan roan, bbc news, moscow. well, any england fans hoping to follow the team in the opening stages will have to cover almost 5000 miles. 0ur correspondents sarah rainsford and steve rosenberg have been checking out the cities that will host england's games. this is mother russia — determined, defiant, urging her people rise up and crush the enemy. now volgograd used to be called stalingrad, and the battle of stalingrad, in which nearly 2 million people were killed, still haunts this place. but today, the focus is on football and from up here there's a wonderful view of the stadium they're building for the world cup. and here's a closer look at it. now i've already mentioned how the war still casts

a shadow over the city. when they started building this stadium they found 300 unexploded bombs here and the remains of two soldiers. in communist times i wouldn't have been allowed into nizhny novgorod — this city was closed to foreigners. not any more, of course, and for football fans coming here there's plenty to see. this place has even got its own kremlin. they're not quite ready for kick—off here. the nizhny novgorod football stadium is still under construction. the whole thing has been designed to look a little bit like the volga river, which is just across the way, and they assure me here that everything will be ready on time. and there will be entertainment off the pitch too. here at the nizhny novgorod circus they're putting together a special series of shows for the world cup and for visiting fans. russia may not be the favourites in the football, but they certainly look like champions in the big top.

in some spots like this, kaliningrad looks distinctly european, but this is russian territory. it's a sliver of the former soviet union that's now surrounded by the eu, and this is the westernmost point for the world cup. if england fans do have a ticket to a match here, then the good news is it's going to be pretty easy to get to, because kaliningrad is just a short drive across the borderfrom poland or from lithuania and the ground itself is pretty close to the city centre. and it seems there will be a warm welcome for fans too, because the mayor here recently instructed all locals to be nice to visitors — and not to hit them. that was sarah rainsford ending those reports. prince harry and meghan markle have carried out their first official public engagement since they announced they were

getting married earlier this week. the couple were greeted by crowds of well—wishers in nottingham as they visited a world aids day charity fair and then met local teachers and children at a school nearby. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. as an actress, she's been used to a public stage. she's accustomed to meeting crowds and dealing with fans. little surprise, then, that meghan markle handled her first official public appearance in her new role with considerable confidence. husband—to—be was on hand, solicitous and supportive. there was a lot of eye contact between them and supportive arms going around each other‘s backs. at times they met the crowds together, but then meghan branched off on her own, stopping and taking time with people. while harry did the same thing on his side of the street. moments later they were reunited, the cue for more back—rubbing. this clearly is a team effort and the new recruit seems a natural. she will do hundreds

and hundreds of events like this in the years to come, but she will remember this one — her first official encounter with the british public. and the verdict on her performance? i think she's great. a good addition to the royal family. definitely. yeah. an american. go, mixed kids! yeah, mixed kids in the royal family now. the couple heard about the work of the terrence higgins trust, the charity which has worked for years to help people suffering from hiv—aids. it's a cause harry, now with meghan, wants to take forward in tribute to his late mother. and at a local college, they heard about the effort to help young people keep out of trouble. serious issues to which harry, through a charitable trust, is devoting serious attention. but for all that, there was no doubt who sparkled the most today — the woman with the diamond. i saw her ring and the diamond is massive! it's absolutely gorgeous.

just knowing that you're sitting near meghan and prince harry, it'sjaw—dropping, it's really nice. a glittering future, then? it certainly seems to augur well. nicholas witchell, bbc news, nottingham. that's it. now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. have a very good night. good evening from bbc london news. "a catalogue of disasters" — the damning verdict of a report welcome to sportsday. the

headlines... group g for a grateful. the world cup draw appeals to be kind to england, who will play belgium, tunisia and panama in the tournament in russia. could the day and night match in adelaide provide england's best chance of winning the ashes england's best chance of winning the as hes test? england's best chance of winning the ashes test? cloudy skies and chilly temperatures, almost like being at home. australia and england part to any rugby league world cup final. england's first and 22 years against the hosts and defending champions. hello again. the consensus seems to be the world cup draw for russia 2018 has been pretty kind to england. more best case than

worst—case. it begins onjune 18 fortune is here, before matches against panama and belgium, the seeded team in the group. 0ur correspondent gave me his assessment of group g from the draw in moscow. it has been perceived that this has gone pretty well for gareth southgate and the england team. belgium, they will know lots about those players, lots plying their trade in the premier league. panama making their debut at the world cup. then we have tunisia. gareth southgate will now a thing or two about them with memories of that team. he played against them back in 1998 to go —— at the france world cup. jonathan pearce caught up with him shortly after the draw. this was his reaction to the north african team. what sort of side are they? we have to find that out. we have not done as much research on the african

teams. we haven't had to play them until now. now is the opportunity. that is what is great. you know who you're playing and we really focusing on that. you have quite a sizeable break, six days between that game and the new boys, panama. there is a little bit of travelling and that gives us the opportunity for a couple of injuries, if you get them, to clean up. you are always grateful for as much preparation time is —— as possible. grateful for as much preparation time is -- as possible. people will already be writing them off. then people said costa rica did not —— we re people said costa rica did not —— were not blinded a living for years ago. we will make sure we are prepared for all those games. gareth southgate probably relieved england avoided likes of germany, brazil and argentina. you probably see, don't you, argentina. you probably see, don't you , across argentina. you probably see, don't you, across the groups, talent is distributed quite evenly. did i say, there is no grip of death. —— group.

very interesting grown—ups here. russia start against saudi arabia, in the opening game, and argentina versus iceland who make their debut there in group d. that would be a fascinating contest. brazil after that semifinal humiliation back in 2014 on home ground, they start theircampaign 2014 on home ground, they start their campaign against switzerland. they go on to play costa rica and serbia. germany are defending champion for mexico, sweden and south korea, and interesting game for them. fillon, south korea, and interesting game forthem. fillon, senegal, colombia andjapan, some forthem. fillon, senegal, colombia and japan, some really interesting, juicy ties there.