tonight at ten, the explosive testimony of president trump's former lawyer to a congressional committee in washington. michael cohen, who's going to jail for tax evasion and fraud, said he admitted his personalfailings before laying into the president's character. he is a racist. he is a conman. and he is a cheat. as he spoke, the president was in vietnam, for a second summit with kim jong—un of north korea. we'll have detail and reaction from capitol hill, and we'll have the latest on the summit in hanoi. also tonight: pakistan calls for talks with india after fighter jets clashed in kashmir in a major escalation of the conflict. the mp chris williamson is suspended by labour, following his claims that the party has over—reacted

to allegations of anti—semitism. three teenagers in birmingham fatally stabbed in the past few weeks — police say knife crime is an emergency. welcome to britbox. this is the new home of great british telly. and the bbc and itv announce a newjoint streaming service to rival amazon and netflix. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news, kepa is dropped to the bench for chelsea's game against tottenham after sunday's misunderstanding, as sarri describes it as a message. good evening. our main story is the explosive testimony given by president trump's

former lawyer, michael cohen, to a congressional committee in washington. mr cohen, who's going to prison for various offences including fraud, told the committee the president was a racist, a cheat and a conman. he asserted that mr trump knew beforehand about a leak of hacked democratic emails aimed at damaging the presidential campiagn of hillary clinton. the white house says mr cohen is a convicted liar who should not be believed, as our correspondent nick bryant reports. michael cohen once said he'd take a bullet for donald trump. but on capitol hill today, the president's former lawyer, his personal mr fixit, carried out a political hitjob on his one—time boss. i know what mr trump is. he is a racist. he is a conman. and he is a cheat. one of his most explosive allegations concerned this man, roger stone, a trump ally and self—styled political

dirty trickster recently indicted by the special counsel robert mueller. during the 2016 presidential campaign, he claimed donald trump was told ahead of time that wikileaks and its founder julian assange were about to leak e—mails that would hurt hillary clinton. those e—mails were hacked by the russians. mr stone told mr trump that he had just gotten off the phone with julian assange and that mr assange told mr stone that within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of e—mails that would damage hillary clinton's campaign. mr trump responded by stating to the effect, "wouldn't that be great?" michael cohen also claims mr trump told him to pay hush money to the porn star stormy daniels to cover up an affair with the billionaire in violation of campaign finance laws. he showed the committee the personally signed cheque the president had sent him in reimbursement. the president of the united states

thus wrote a personal cheque for the payment of hush money as part of a criminal scheme to violate campaign finance laws. so what of the burning question of whether there was collusion between the trump campaign and the kremlin? questions have been raised about whether i know of direct evidence that mr trump or his campaign colluded with russia. i do not, and i want to be clear. but i have my suspicions. he's going to be an amazing president... on the eve of the hearing, the republicans released video showing michael cohen lavishing praise on donald trump. the words that the media should be using to describe mr trump are generous, compassionate, principled... and today they tried to trash the reputation of this convicted fraudster found guilty of lying to congress, even displaying visual aids to make the point.

there is no truth with you whatsoever. that's why that's important to you, to look up here and look at the old adage that our moms taught us — liar, liar, pants on fire. no—one should ever listen to you and give you credibility. it's sad. president trump is half a planet away in vietnam for a nuclear summit with the north korean leader, kim jong—un. on camera, he remained tight—lipped about the fire and fury coming from his former lawyer back home. mr president, any reaction to michael cohen and his testimony? but on twitter, he claimed mr cohen was lying to reduce his prison term. i wish i could go back in time... michael cohen admitted tea rfully that he can't rewrite history. the question for americans watching his dramatic testimony — did he present a truthful version of it today? nick bryant, bbc news, washington. now, the trump presidency, in many ways, has normalised the abnormal, so

ways, has normalised the abnormal, so it is worth stressing that this was some of the most extraordinary testimony we have heard on capitol hill in decades. other republicans tried to demolish what is left of michael cohen's battered reputation, they were less effective at challenging and undermining his specific allegations. now, michael cohen didn't show up in washington with a smoking gun that proves collusion between the kremlin and the trump campaign, but he did make allegations, especially that wikileaks accusation, that could seriously wound the president. huw as michael cohen was delivering his testimony in washington, president trump was attending his second summit with the north korean leader, kimjong—un, in the vietnamese capital, hanoi. they're discussing the possibility of its nuclear weapons. mr trump said they'd had what he called "a very good dialogue". the white house says the two leaders will jointly sign an agreement tomorrow at the end of the negotiations. our north america editor, jon sopel, reports from hanoi.

hanoi's not seen anything like this. the city centre at a standstill, as two motorcades descend on a hotel where two men are meeting for dinner. then in a scene reminiscent of lastjune in singapore, they were together again — the us president and the north korean dictator. i think it is a very successful relationship. it will be very successful. we have been able to overcome all the obstacles, he says, and here we are, 261 days after singapore. a lot of patience was needed, and that gives us hope. i think that your country has tremendous economic potential — unbelievable, unlimited. i think that you will have a tremendous future with your country. and i look forward to watching it happen and helping it to happen, and we will help it to happen. today is about atmospherics and donald trump is holding

kimjong—un in a warm embrace, calling him "my friend," and he says that, with denuclearisation, north korea could become like vietnam, one of the most thriving places on earth, he calls it. tomorrow will be when the detailed negotiations take place as the two sides try to navigate a path through the obstacles in the way of denuclearisation. the dinner at which president trump and chairman kim were joined by key officials was pretty brief. afterwards, it was back to their respective hotels, and for donald trump a chance for some last—minute preparation on the complex issues, or more likely watching in fury as his former lawyer michael cohen, and now bitter enemy, goes to congress to put the boot in. the attention of hanoi may be on donald trump, but the attention of donald trump is on washington. jon sopel, bbc news, hanoi.

there's been a major escalation in tensions between the nuclear powers india and pakistan after their fighter jets clashed in the skies over the disputed region of kashmir. an indian pilot has been captured after his plane was shot down. he was responding to an air strike by the pakistani airforce. it's the most serious violence in decades between the two neighbours. they have a long history of clashes over the heavily—armed region of kashmir, which both india and pakistan claim as their own. tonight there are warnings that miscalculations by either side could lead to a major escalation. live to islamabad and our correspondent secunder kermani. well, tonight we have been getting reports of some instances of cross—border shelling and a blackout is in place in one of the regions on the border with india, as well as, it seems, one of the districts in

the port city of karachi. both authorities and ordinary people are waiting to see how india will respond to these latest dramatic events. at the moment, it is not clear whether this developing series of retaliatory attacks, how it will end. these are pakistani soldiers apparently leading away a downed indian pilot with an angry crowd behind them. the pakistani military says his plane was shot down this morning as india scrambled to respond to pakistani strikes across the border in the disputed region of kashmir. pakistani prime minister imran khan said the military force was a response to earlier indian aggression but also called for dialogue between the nuclear—armed neighbours. translation: my question to the indian government is, given the arms we both have, can we afford any miscalculation? we should be thinking, if this escalates, where will it lead? this is the most dangerous confrontation

between the two countries in nearly 20 years. it began two weeks ago when a pakistan—based militant group killed a0 indian soldiers. pakistan insisted the attack had nothing to do with them. but yesterday indian jets crossed into pakistan, targeting, indian officials claim, a militant training camp. local residents say they only hit a forest. today pakistan struck back with an air raid in india, shooting down at least one indian fighterjet responding to it. at a press conference by the pakistani military, i asked if their actions were bringing the countries to the brink of war. we engaged in nearby open space where there was no human life or no military post, meaning thereby that we deliberately avoided the escalation. indian officials, though, held their own press conference, making their own claims. the pakistan air force was detected, and the indian air force

responded instantly. in that aerial engagement, one pakistan air force fighter aircraft was shot down. there have already been a number of casualties as a result of cross—border shelling, and the fear is the violence could now escalate further. secunder kermani, bbc news, islamabad. so what does this rise in tension signify, and what is the current state of relations between india and pakistan? our diplomatic correspondent james robbins is here with his analysis. a profoundly dangerous dispute between india and pakistan over kashmir has festered for more than 70 years now. two wars have been fought over it. india and pakistan have never settled the issue, instead carving up kashmir, divided along a so—called line of control. so why is it such a flash point? well, largely because britain's colonial exit

from an undivided india was so messy and violent. partition in 1947 created not one independent nation but two, predominantly hindu india and largely muslim pakistan. much of the sectarian violence was in kashmir. what really matters now is the scale of the risks in this conflict, which can genuinely be called global risks. and that's because since the 1970s, first india, then pakistan, developed nuclear weapons, creating a far more dangerous backdrop to all the current tension and violence. so why has this latest confronation erupted now? as we've been hearing, the immediate spark was the attack two weeks ago by militants based in pakistan, but other factors are important. pakistan's relatively new prime minister, imran khan, is very close to his military, who have always seen india — not radical islam or neighbouring afghanistan — as the source of pakistan's troubles.

anotherfactor could be india's much more established prime minister, hindu nationalist narendra modi. he's facing a divisive general election. both leaders need to look strong, and the risk of heated political rhetoric fueling more violence is very real. james robbins, our diplomatic correspondent. let's get a sense of the feeling in delhi, our correspondent there is rajini vaidyanathan. correspondent there is rajini vaidya nathan. do you correspondent there is rajini vaidyanathan. do you get any sense that this escalation in tension is about to end, that there will be an easing any time soon? well, there is a frenzy of coverage on indian television, which is asking one key question — is this country on the brink of war with its neighbour, pakistan? both countries, of course, have nuclear capabilities. after pakistan's actions today, the ball appears to be in india's code, with

all eyes on prime minister narendra modi and how we might respond, and ina modi and how we might respond, and in a statement from the indian foreign ministry tonight, it said india reserves the right to take firm and decisive action, but with an indian pilot still being held by pakistan, narendra modi knows he needs to tread carefully with any action. and so he faces a dilemma, huw — ii action. and so he faces a dilemma, huw — 11 hand, in a matter of weeks he will be fighting an election campaign where he will want to show voters that he can be tough when it comes to national security, and with pakistan. but he is also facing increasing pressure from the international community to de—escalate, so here is the challenge. public opinion in india is calling on him to retaliate and retaliate fast, but he knows that a costly conflict with neighbouring pakistan will be risky for him in the long term. rajini, many thanks again for the latest from delhi, rajini vaidyanathan, our india

correspondent. the labour mp chris williamson has been suspended by the party after suggesting that labour had been "too apologetic" over allegations of anti—semitism among party members. he had apologised for the comments and said he planned to clear his name. he now faces an internal investigation. our deputy political editor, john pienaar, has this report, which does contain some flash photography. they don't come more loyal to labour's leader than chris williamson, or closer politically, or today much more embarrassing to a party accused of tolerating anti—semitism, after a video came to light of the mp hitting back. the party that has done more to stand up to racism it was the kind of outburst cited

by critics, like the mps who quit labour last week with anti—semitism among their complaints. enough is enough. even so, hours of pressure passed before the mp was finally suspended. their former colleague had already apologised in a statement. "our movement can never be too apologetic about racism within our ranks", he'd said, but tonight he defended himself. obviously, if i upset anybody, it's the last thing i wanted to do, and maybe i could have chosen my words differently. if people have been offended by that, then obviously i want to apologise for that. the last thing i want to do is hurt or upset anybody. as i've said, i'm a dedicated anti—racist campaigner and i wouldn't want anybody to think in any way, shape or form that i'm minimising the abhorrence, the cancer of anti—semitism, and that's why i'm absolutely determined to clear my name about these complaints which have been made about me. all day, the demands for him to go have multiplied, and included the man investigating labour's handling of anti—semitism. today's a very serious day. the labour party is being hugely damaged by allegations of anti—semitism.

i am incredibly keen to help as much as i can in dealing with that, but there needs to be earnest good intent from the public. —— from the party. and labour's deputy leader, tom watson, dismissed chris williamson's initial, long—winded and heavily caveated apology. "it's not good enough. "if it was in my gift, i'd have removed the whip from him already." fellow labour mps were scathing. chris williamson has form. he's done this before. he's apologised before. and then he does the same thing again. so, in the current climate, not to show strong, immediate, determined action to stamp out anti—semitism was a mistake. the fact that it's finally happened is a relief. ifjeremy corbyn hoped to avoid suspending his ally, as many mps suspect, his hopes were dashed. now the pressure on labour's leader over his handling of anti—semitism can only grow. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster.

this evening, mps have been taking part in a series of votes on the brexit process. labour's plans, which would see the ukjoining a customs union with the eu, were defeated by 83 votes, and jeremy corbyn confirmed tonight that labour would now back another eu referendum. our political editor laura kuenssberg is at westminster. what's changed in the brexit process today, if anything? mps were voting ona today, if anything? mps were voting on a menu of options, but the most important tonight is, i think, that the house of commons rejected labour's auto division for brexit, and the invocation of that is that they should all have their plan b, and that is to push and campaign for another referendum on whether or not we should stay in the european union, with staying in on the ballot paper. it's important to say that

jeremy corbyn confirmed they would move to that position, but he still said they would look at the other available options, but it's absolutely the case that the pressure in the labour party that's already been very intense for the leadership to push for another public vote is only going to multiply, and i think that, when the next round of brexit votes come back to the commons, the labourfront bench will be under a very heavy obligation to say they are going to get their troops on board to try and push for another referendum. whether there is a majority in parliament for that is a different question, and at the moment that still looks unlikely. there were two other lessons tonight. it was shown that, as theresa may gave mps the opportunity yesterday to say that they will be able to roll out us leaving without a deal in place at the end of march, there was appetite for that, an overwhelming majority on display tonight suggesting the commons would block us leaving at the end of march without a deal, and

that they would be prepared to consider delaying brexit. the kicker to that, though, is that there were 20 conservative mps who voted against that, and many, many more, around 80, who abstained, which suggested that, if we get to the point of no deal or a delay or actually ruling out leaving without actually ruling out leaving without a deal, there would be dozens and dozens a deal, there would be dozens and d oze ns of a deal, there would be dozens and dozens of tories who are going to put upa dozens of tories who are going to put up a very fierce resistance. tonight, all sorts of votes and it sounds very confusing, butjust because it wasn't the final, big, meaningful, yes or no vote, there was still plenty of meaning in it for both the big party leaders. ruck thank you, laura. nine men who sexually abused two teenage girls who were living in a children's home in bradford have beenjailed for a range of offences, including rape and inciting child prostitution. the girls were 14 years old when the men first began to use drink, drugs and violence to groom them. the judge said the girls

had been subject to an "appalling catalogue of degrading emotional and sexual abuse". the learning of foreign languages in schools across the uk has reached an 18—year low, according to bbc research. data from more than 2,000 secondary schools shows a third have stopped teaching at least one language. in england, the government says it's determined to ensure more young people study foreign languages. the battle against knife crime has become an emergency, according to the chief constable of west midlands police. in the past fortnight, three teenagers in birmingham have been fatally stabbed. the warning came as police in london launched a murder investigation into the killing last night of a 20—year—old man in ilford. he's the fifth person to be stabbed to death in the london area in the past nine days, as our correspondent sima kotecha reports. abdullah muhammad, 16, sidali mohamed, also 16,

and hazrat umar, aged 18 — young lives lost to what some are calling a knife crime epidemic on the streets of birmingham. three teenagers gone injust 12 days. even younger was keelan wilson, just 15. a week before his holiday to egypt, he was killed yards away from his home. the more people that get away with this, the more these boys see that they can get away with it, they walk around and think they're invincible and they can do what they like, and it'sjust going to get worse. you know, who knows who's next? i didn't think this would happen to me. i thought i was safe. i thought keelan was safe. 269 knife crimes have been recorded in birmingham this year alone. police here say they are stepping up their efforts in tackling the surge in knife crime by stopping and searching people without necessarily having proof that they're carrying a weapon. this order, known as section 60, will be implemented

across the city for the first time for the foreseeable future. the head of west midlands police had a stark assessment of the scale of the problem. this has become a real emergency this week in terms of the work that we need to carry out as the police. with these three innocent victims, we can see very clearly that, in many occasions and many other incidents we've seen, what would have been fistfights are being settled by knives being drawn. in london, the numbers are also alarming. a 20—year—old man was stabbed to death in ilford in east london last night. he was the fifth person to be killed in a knife attack in just nine days. today, another stabbing in birmingham, this time on a university campus. luckily, not fatal, and it happened as the chief inspector tried to reassure the city that police were doing all they can to keep people safe.

the frequency of knife crime along with the decreasing age of the victims poses serious challenges for the authorities, as much as it presents anguish and grief for their families. sima kotecha, bbc news. the president of nigeria, muhammadu buhari, looks set for re—election, according to results from saturday's general election. with results in from most states, he has a lead of more than 3 million votes over his rival, atiku abuba kar. but mr abuba kar‘s people's democratic party has called for a pause in the count, alleging that irregularities have taken place. at least 20 people have been killed and a0 injured after a train crash sparked a large fire at cairo's main railway station. the train hit a buffer stop near the end of a busy platform at ramses station in the city centre. the collision caused the train‘s fuel tank to explode, setting the platform and nearby buildings alight.

a woman from surrey is fighting in a landmark domestic abuse case to have her murder conviction reduced to manslaughter on the grounds that she was a victim of her husband's coercive control. sally challen was jailed for life in 2011. her lawyers say the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband led her to kill. our home affairs correspondent june kelly has the story. sally challen‘s case has been taken up by the campaign group justice for women, and today her supporters were out in force at the appeal court with her family. her son, david, grew up witnessing the way he says his mother was treated by his father. he controlled what she could or could not say, where she should go, how she should look, cut the cables in her car to stop herfrom moving, you know, gaslighted her, made her question her sanity over facts and figures and records over his cheating, and made herfeel that she was losing her mind.

the couple were married in 1979. she was just 15 when they met, and he was her only boyfriend. they made their home in surrey, which was where they raised their two sons. richard challen ran a successful car business. the couple had an active social life here and they took their sons on foreign holidays. but beneath all this was said to be a fearful family home, dominated by richard challen‘s controlling personality. by 2010, the couple had split up — but, said to still be emotionally dependent on her husband, sally challen had asked for a reconciliation. she drove back to her old family home. in her handbag was a hammer. after discovering that richard challen had been in contact with another woman, she struck his head more than 20 times with the hammer. at this appeal, her lawyers are arguing that it was decades of provocation and psychological

abuse which led her to kill, but this is being questioned. sally challen, appearing by video link from prison, listened as a psychiatrist employed by the crown prosecution service insisted she wasn't suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing. but a psychiatric expert from sally challen‘s side described her as having a borderline personality disorder, which would have been made worse by coercive control. all the evidence has now been heard, and tomorrow her family will be back at court as the lawyers make their final submissions. june kelly, bbc news, at the court of appeal. it's called britbox, and it's the bbc and itv‘s answer to netflix, a new on—demand video streaming service that's being planned for the uk. it could cost around £5 a month, and for that you'd have access to some of the most popular programmes ever shown on british television. our media editor, amol rajan,

assesses its chances of success. television has changed more in the past ten years than it had in the previous history, thanks to one company above all. you've probably heard of them. netflix has supercharged two trends, from scheduled tv to streaming and from ad—funded broadcasters to monthly subscriptions. welcome to britbox. now british media want a piece of the action. a decade after the competition commission kiboshed a similar idea, the bbc and itv are bringing britbox, already launched in america, to the uk. it will differ from the iplayer in that content won't expire after a month — or 12 months, as the bbc is currently pushing for. no licence fee money will be spent on this. what should we call each other? instead, it will be archive—heavy, with the best of british programming, including titles such as downton abbey. who pays for it? oh, good. let's talk about money. but some people are sceptical about paying for yet another service. so this is a way of us saying,

you know what, you've got iplayer for at least 12 months. after that, you've got britbox with the best of british, which all our polling says and all the work we've done says people really, really want, giving access to that — and, by the way, any money we can make out of that we can invest back into content. but the challenges for any new entrant to this market are immense. us giants disney and at&t are launching their own streaming services later this year. that's on top of glitzy offerings from hulu and amazon, and the near colonisation of younger minds by the digital narnia that is youtube. in the age of super—abundant choice, tv‘s consumers are winning. for content providers, this is war. many of them are clubbing together in a bid to capture eyeballs and achieve scale, but they know that the future of television belongs to those who own the rights to tv programmes. these days, that's often independent production companies rather than broadcasters. that's why, alongside this new gambit in distribution, the bbc and itv have been making aggressive moves in