welcome to bbc news, i'm gavin grey. one of president trump's closest confidants, his former national security advisor, michael flynn, has pleaded guilty to lying to fbi agents about his contacts with russia during last year's us presidential election. 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". well, we now know general flynn had conversations with

the russian ambassador about the possibility of lifting sanctions against moscow. but given barack obama 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. announcer: general mike flynn, retired, united states army! 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. yeah, 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 obama had just imposed more sanctions on russia for interfering in the us election.

on the 29th of december, michael flynn spoke to the russian ambassador on the phone. on the 15th of january, vice president mike pence said that sanctions were not discussed by michael flynn in those calls. only after the ninth 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 the fbi, but there is no question that this latest development brings the russia investigation ever closer to the president himself. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. and of course today's developments sparked quick reaction on capitol hill. this is part of a broad pattern

of the trump administration and campaign people lying about the contacts with the russians. so that in itself is very substantial and serious and obviously when it's the national security advisor to the president, all the more trouble. but given the universal potential charges against michael flynn, it could indicates he could be presenting some substantial information to rob mueller. we've got, now, two people pleading guilty. we've got a campaign manager and his deputy still under indictment. how many more figures have to be brought tojustice because of their ties with russia before we end up connecting all these dots? let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. protests against perceived fraud in honduras‘ presidential election have turned violent leaving one person dead and 20 injured. supporters of the opposition candidate, salvador nasralla, have blocked major highways, set vehicles on fire and attacked property across the country. a partial recount of sunday's

election is taking place and final results are expected shortly. mr nasralla has accused the electoral court of manipulating the vote counting system to favour presidentjuan orlando hernandez. pope francis, who's visiting bangladesh, has met a group of muslim refugees, and used the term rohingya for the first time during his trip to the region. he refrained from using the word while he was in neighbouring myanmar, which does not recognise the rohingya as an ethnic group. german police have evacuated a christmas market in potsdam near berlin after a suspicious parcel was found nearby. they later confirmed that the package contained an improvised nail—bomb. security has been stepped up at christmas markets across germany, after 23 people were killed in a terrorist attack on a market in berlin last year. white house officials have indicated that president trump is likely to announce next week that the us is to recognisejerusalem as the capital of israel.

critics have warned that the decision could jeopardise peace negotiations because the status ofjerusalem is likely to be part of any final agreement. stay with us here on bbc news, still to come: hundreds turn out to cheer prince harry and meghan markle as they make their first official royal visit since they announced their engagement theresa may's deputy, damian green, is under renewed pressure 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. could ijust ask you to leave? is that possible? 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 enquiry has given his account of what he discovered. 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, 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. neil lewis still has his notebook from the time, detailing what he saw on the computer. there's a reference to briefing officers about pornography.

he claimed 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, it was 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. outside his home in kent

today, damian green protested his innocence. a cabinet office enquiry 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. reporter: 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. our deputy political editor, john pienaar, is in downing street. he says mr green has a lot of support. well, a lot of support. this is an important matter and well, this is an important matter and not just for damian well, 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 tonight the leader of ulster‘s dup party at westminster accusing this former officer of breaching operational confidentiality and the brexit secretary david davis i've been told has warned theresa may she should not sack damian green on the word of former officers who his friends believe may be out to do him down. why? because that police raid as part of a leaking wiry in 2008

backfired on the police, they were criticised and damian green's friends believe this is a kind of revenge. we will wait for that final report and if it ends with damian green losing hisjob, some of those conservative mps and others will wa nt to conservative mps and others will want to know why and there are other questions too, the suggestion of other acts of impropriety by damian green, what about those? his answer is entirely consistent and clear throughout. in the end theresa may will have to decide and reach a judgement on the evidence of whether she needs to lose such a close ally at such a vulnerable time am a vulnerable because of such things as brexit. will have the answer soon. theresa may i'm told will have that report and we'll have those answers perhaps by the beginning of next week. —— we'll have. millions of people download anti—virus software onto their computers every year to try to protect themselves from hackers and cyber crime. 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, 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 provides 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 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. kaspersky lab denies any wrongdoing, but today's warning is another sign of growing fears over the risks posed by russia. gordon corera, bbc news. a 71—year—old man has beenjailed for murdering his toddler stepson almost 50 years ago. david dearlove swung the one—year—old child by his ankles and hit his head on a fireplace in 1968. for decades dearlove lied about what had happened, but then a photo posted on facebook led to the investigation being reopened, as danny savage explains. this picture triggered a murder trial.

it shows a man called david dearlove with his stepson, paul booth. when this image was posted on facebook, paul's now adult brother went to police, telling them dearlove had murdered the toddler and he had witnessed it. the 21—year—old dearlove in the photo is now 71. almost 50 years later, he was today convicted of murder. back in the late 1960s, he lived with the boys‘ mother in this house in stockton. on the night he killed his stepson in the living room, he claimed the boy's injuries were accidental, but his three—year—old brother, peter, saw what really happened. he'd crept downstairs for a drink, and through a gap in the living room door saw dearlove swinging paul violently by the ankles and cracking his head against the fireplace, causing fatal injuries. nearly half a century later, what peter booth sawjust before his fourth birthday has convicted his stepfather of murder. dearlove said paul had received

the injuries by falling out of bed. had he fallen out of bed and fractured his skull, that would have resulted in a straight line fracture. in this case we had a fracture that was a z shape and crossed two places in the skull, and that wasn't consistent with him having simply fallen and hit his head against an object such as a hard floor. a lot of the lines of enquiry we are used to in this day and age, digital enquiries, phone works, forensics, stuff like that didn't exist. we didn't have a body in this case, we didn't have a scene, a lot of the witnesses were dead, so it was quite challenging. paul booth‘s brother and sister had to relive childhood ordeals and trauma to getjustice for him. thejudge said dearlove made the children's lives a misery, and jailed him for a minimum of 13 years. danny savage, bbc news, teesside. nearly 200 natwest banks are to close along with more than 60 royal bank of scotland branches. the move means 680

jobs will be lost. rbs, which owns both banks, says online banking means fewer customers are using the branches. you're watching bbc news. the headlines: former national security adviser michael flynn pleads guilty to lying to the fbi over his contact with moscow. us media's reporting he will testify that donald trump's son in law jared kushner was among those who directed him to make contact with russia. the british first secretary of state damian green denies new allegations that he watched pornography on his house of commons computer. let's get more on our top story now. we've been speaking with our washington reporter laura bicker about mr flynn's admission and how it affects the trump administration. well, the problem for the white house is michael flynn was not a periphery figure within the campaign. he was directly involved all the way through the trump campaign, often leading those chants

of "lock her up" in regards to hillary clinton. he travelled with mr trump himself on many occasions, and then he was part of the transition team, rewarded for his hard work with the post of national security adviser. so he was close to mr trump throughout. now, the charge is that during the transition period, while president obama were still in office, that he spoke to the russian ambassador, sergey kislyak, about russian sanctions. about sanctions imposed on moscow, for, at the time when intelligence communities came up with the findings, they said russia had interfered in the presidental election and president obama had reacted by slapping on the sanctions. the conversation that michael flynn was told to have with sergey kislyak at the time was, "do not react to those sanctions"

and russia did not. the problem for the white house is who directed him to have those conversations? at the moment, there is much speculation about who. but there were other conversations he also had with the russian ambassador about un votes, for instance, and with regards to that conversation, it seems that jared kushner is being reported as the person who urged him to go to the russian ambassador to talk about a un vote on israel. so when it comes to various conversations he had, there are various members of the trump transitional tea m who have urged him to do so. that is what he will testify. that is one of the reasons why the is so significant. he is the closest member of donald trump's campaign team and donald trump's administration to be caught up in this investigation. and, laura, does donald trump — has he issued any reaction to it? has jared kushner issued

any reaction to this? we've had no reaction from the white house on this investigation. in fact, what we've had is a tweet from donald trump about his secretary of state, rex tillerson, who, 2a hours ago, we were wondering if rex tillerson had a future in the state department. and today, donald trump says he does. so there's maybe a bit of diversion tactics going on from the white house. what the white house lawyer has said is the only person implicated in today's hearing is michael flynn himself. so what they're trying to do is distance themselves from michael flynn. laura bicker there. prince harry and his fiance megan 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. from nottingham, here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. 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 queue 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. england will play belgium, tunisia and panama in the group stage of next summer's football world cup. the first match will be on the 18th ofjune. the draw was made in moscow. 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'd 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. 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 to all the games in the opening stages will have to cover almost 5,000 miles. our correspondents sarah rainsford and steve rosenberg have been checking out the cities that will host these opening 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 two 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. now the weather, with sarah keith—lucas. after a fairly wintry end to november, december has started on a little bit more of a milder note, and through the course of the weekend it will gradually turn that bit milder. we'll still see some sunshine on offer, as well as a little bit of light rain. a few showers, but not all of us seeing them

through the course of the weekend. as we start off saturday morning, this is how things look. one or two showers lingering around the east coast of england and a few coming down the irish sea, affecting wales and south—west of england. a little light rain also pushing across scotland that will be persistent over the north over higher ground. this look a saturday afternoon. quite cloudy for the south—west of england and wales, a few spot of showery rain further east across england — you are likely to see sunshine here, although temperatures still only around five or six degrees. some sunshine across parts of northern england, perhaps a little more cloud over the west midlands at times, heading northwards into northern ireland and scotland. the cloud will gradually increase from the north—west, things will turn milder. quite windy for the north of scotland with the arrival of some rain as well. heading through saturday night and into the early hours of sunday morning, that milder air creeps its way slowly southwards and eastwards across the country. so it won't be quite as cold as it has been first thing sunday morning. in fact, most of us start

the day frost free. but it will be quite cloudy in the south, as that warm front sinks its way southward, with some outbreaks of rain. but then as we move through the course of sunday, a cold front heads its way southward across the country. behind that, clearer conditions, as a ridge of high pressure tries to build in from the atlantic. that will bring slightly milder air thant we've seen. colder air is pushed away from the continent and mild air spills in from the atlantic. so, as we move through sunday, after that cloudy start to the south with some outbreaks of rain, that should clear away and then we're all into the brighter skies come sunday afternoon. so sunny spells developing across eastern scotland, northern and eastern england too. a few spots of rain in northern ireland and the west of scotland, but temperatures for england and wales back into double figures, something we haven't seen in quite a while. onto monday then, another largely settled day. high—pressure moving in. a bit of a breeze in the north, bringing a few outbreaks of rain to the north—west of scotland.

sunny spells elsewhere. the best of the sunshine towards the east of the higher ground and temperatures around eight to 11 degrees. a similar day on tuesday, with some rain in the far north—west, but after that fairly mild few days it could turn colder again by the end of the week.