this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 11: president trump's former lawyer michael cohen testifies in front of a ccongressional committee in washington. he said he wanted to apologise for helping mr trump, before laying into the president's character. lam i am ashamed because i know what mr trump is, he is a racist comment he is ocon and, nt is a cheat. —— he is they conman. —— he is a conman. mps have rejected a labour proposal on brexit which would have meant the ukjoined a permanent customs union with the eu. jeremy corbyn says the party will now back a public vote on brexit. labour mp chris williamson

is suspended from the party, pending an investigation into comments he made to activists about anti—semitism. maybe i could have chosen my words differently and if people have been offended by that is, then obviously iam offended by that is, then obviously i am sorry. the last thing i want to do is be identified on racist campaigning. pakistan's prime minister, imran khan, calls for talks with india after fighter jets have clashed in kashmir, in a major escalation of the conflict. the bbc and itv announce plans for a newjoint streaming service, britbox, which they hope will rival netflix and amazon. and at 11:30pm, we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers, who are author and journalist rachel shabi, and the former trade minister, lord digbyjones. hello. good evening to you.

welcome to bbc news. 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 campaign of his rival, hillary clinton. the white house says mr cohen is a convicted liar and 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 con man. 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 withjulian 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 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's 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 mums 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, do you have 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 can 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? the hearing in just the hearing injust a the hearing in just a few moments to correspond in washington about the reaction there has been the michael cohen's testimony. as michael cohen was delivering his testimony

in washington, president trump was attending his second summit with the north korean leader, kim jong—un, in the vietnamese capital, hanoi. they're discussing the possibility of pyongyang getting rid of its nuclear weapons. mr trump said they'd had what he called "a very good dialogue." the white house says the two leaders willjointly sign an agreement tomorrow at the end of the negotiations. our north america editorjon sopel reports now 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. and 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. i think it will be very successful. "we've 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. and i think that you will

have a tremendous future with your country. and a great leader. 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 werejoined 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 airstrike 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. our pakistan correspondent secunder kermani reports. 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 that we both have, can we afford any miscalculation? we should be thinking that 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 has the analysis. to the dangerous dispute between india and pakistan over kashmir has pestered for more than 70 years now, two wars have been fought over it. india and pakistan have never settle theissue, india and pakistan have never settle the issue, instead carving up kashmir, divided along a so—called line of control. so why is it such a flashpoint? well, largely because britain's colonial exit from an undivided india was so messy and so violent, partition in 1947 created not one independent nation but two, predominantly hindu india and largely muslim pakistan. most 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 is because since the 1970s, first india, and pakistan develop nuclear weapons, creating a far more dangerous backdrop for the current tension and violence, so why has this latest confrontation erupted now? well, as we have been hearing, the immediate spark was the attack two weeks ago by militants based inside pakistan and otherfactors are important to two. 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 problems. another factor could be india's much more established prime minister, hindu nationalist narendra modi. he is facing a national election. both leaders need to look strong and the risk of nationalist rhetoric fuelling more violence is very real.

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 apologised for the comments and said he plans to clear his name. he now faces an internal investigation. our deputy political editor john pienaar has this report, and it 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 is now being demonised as a racist, negative party! and i've got to say, i think our party's response has been partly responsible for that — because, in my opinion, we've talked far too much, we've given too much ramble, been too apologetic. applause 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've upset anybody, it's the last thing i wanted to do, and maybe i could have chosen my words, you know, differently. and 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 that in any way, shape or form 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 is a very serious day. the labour party is

being hugely damaged by allegations of anti—semitism. i'm incredibly keen to help as much as i can in dealing with that, but there needs to be earnest good intent from the party. and labour's deputy leader, tom watson, dismissed chris williamson's initial, long—winded and heavily caveated apology. 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 kunessberg explains what has changed in the brexit process tonight. the most important thing to is, i think, that the house of commons rejected labour's alternative vision for brexit and the implication for thatis for brexit and the implication for that is that they shift on to their plan band that is that they shift on to their plan b and their plan b is to push foran campaign on plan b and their plan b is to push for an campaign on another referendum as to whether we should stay in the european union, with staying in on the ballot paper. it is important to say thatjeremy colvin said they would move to that. it is absolutely the case that the pressure in the labor party that has

already been very intense for the leadership to push for and other public vote is only going to multiply —— jeremy corbyn. i think when the next round of brexit votes comeback to the commons that the labour front bench will be under a really heavy obligation to say that they are going to get their troops on board to try to push another referendum. whether there is a majority for that in parliament is a different question. at the moment, that still looks unlikely. there we re that still looks unlikely. there were two other lessons denied from the votes. it was shown that as theresa may gave mps the opportunity yesterday to say that they would be able to rule out us leaving without able to rule out us leaving without a deal in place at the end of march, there is appetite for that. there is an overwhelming majority on display to note that suggests that the commons would block are sleeping at the end of march without a deal and that they would be prepared to consider delaying the 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. and that suggested that if we get to the point of no deal or delay or actually ruling out leaving without actually ruling out leaving without a deal there will be dozens and dozens a deal there will be dozens and d oze ns of a deal there will 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. so tonight there were all sorts of votes. it sounds very confusing, but just because it was in the final big meaningful yes or no vote, there was still plenty of meaning in it for both of the main party leaderships. laura kuenssberg at westminster. back now to our top story — that explosive testimony from president trump's former lawyer, michael cohen, who appeared in front of a congressional committee today. mr cohen described donald trump as a conman and cheat. president trump said cohen — who has already been convicted of lying to congress — was trying to "reduce his prison time". let's go live to our washington correspondent, chris buckler. that testimony has now come to an

end. what overall impression did michael colvin? -- michael cohen. is a sprawling, a remarkable testimony where essentially we had democrats tried to find out more details and republicans trying to undermine michael cohen's credibility. he is a man who is a convicted liar. at the heart of it, we had allegations that came down, i suppose, to three words, sex, lies, and wikileaks. michael cohen made very clear that as far as he is concerned president trump is concerned in making this hush money payments to women who we re hush money payments to women who were alleged to have had affairs with president trump, that president trump himself was involved in making it clear that he ordered it and he paid michael cohen back. even produced a jab at one stage. he also said that the president had told him to lie to congress, although not explicitly, only implicitly in the way he said things that make a cheque. that was about allegations about the president knowing about

this trump tower moscow project that continued, we believe, into the time he was campaigning to become president. then there is the issue of wikileaks. the suggestion that the president knew that there was going to be a dump of democratic e—mails that have been hacked by russia, allegedly, and that the president knew that this was going to be released ahead of time. something which he seemed to approve of, according to michael cohen. and the suggestion that it came from a phone call from a long time trump supporter and some would say dirty tricks to roger stone. the remarkable testimony in itself. but as always it comes down to what you believe and, indeed, what evidence michael cohen can actually produce. eliza cummins, who chaired today's committee hearings, was asked if he thought president trump had committed a crime and he said he did think that —— elijah. was there anything of substance in the evidence that suggested something we did not know? was there anything to

reinforce the allegation that was at the heart of the special counsel investigation that there was collusion between the trump campaign anne ruston officials and 2016?|j think anne ruston officials and 2016?” think a simple word it is no. if you look at what michael collins said it was about opinion, what he believed, but as to whether he could say collusion took place between the trump campaign in the russian officials or the russian government 01’ officials or the russian government or russian agents, he could not prove that —— michael cohen. there was one interesting note, not to do with the robert mueller investigation but with federal prosecutors in the southern district of new york. a suggestion from michael cohen that there were things he could not talk about in relation to president trump as they were currently being investigated by prosecutors that. it gave you a sense of that they are perhaps looking at the trump organization or perhaps part of the trump campaign

01’ even perhaps part of the trump campaign or even the trump inauguration committee. but certainly things related to president trump are being looked at by investigators and it gives you that sense that there is still much more to come of allegations against the president and those organisations is involved with. chris buckler in washington. thank you. 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.

a father from warwickshire has launched a campaign to encourage more people to get tested for genetic cancers. raj singh rainu's wife nim died last year from a rare form of stomach cancer. mr rainu's three children could inherit the gene, but must wait until they are 16, before they can be tested. kevin reid reports. raj singh rainu says he is now both mummy and daddy to his three children since his wife nim died three months ago. she was being nursed for stomach cancer at their home in lymington, when she passed away late at night. he had to tell the children as they got up for school in the morning, and vividly remembers the five—year's reaction. isaid remembers the five—year's reaction. i said before you go give your children a kiss and good night. how did money go to the sky? they said mummy flew to the sky. she was watching the telly and she said can we face time mummy? unknowingly,

nim, aformer we face time mummy? unknowingly, nim, a former solicitor and make—up artist, was carrying a hereditary defective gene, which meant she was 50% likely to develop an incurable and incurable cancer. he is now using a business networking app to raise awareness that the gene fault that causes this type of cancer can be detected. the place to get his children genetically screened when they reach 16. this nhs lab in birmingham carries out genetic testing. staff iraq keen to say that the cancer suffered by nim is extremely rare and the gene that causes it is only carried by around ten families across the whole of the west midlands region. the majority of cancers are not due to an identifiable genetic problem. most cancers are due to a mixture of environmental, lifestyle, and minor genetic causes. raj still holds dearly three letters written by his wife to their children before she

died. i get really emotional thinking about my son's letters. i haven't the strength to read the other letters. it is hard. really hard. kenry, bbc midlands today, lemington. 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 the production sector, too. i'm cooperating! don't shoot! it seems strange in retrospect that british broadcasters have so willingly allowed netflix to license their best content, growing dizzyingly rich in the process. i need to explain! netflix is in over ten million homes, and the existing audience is in decline on linear television, and they really need to get out there and try and attract audiences

away from the netflixes of the world. exactly what content on the glorious archive will be available is still not clear. nor is the price or launch date. securing a strong future for british television will require plenty more thinking outside the britbox. amol rajan, bbc news. now it's time for the weather with tomasz schafernaker. that is it. the warm weather has gone. we will probably have to wait quite a long time before we get temperatures in the high teens and low 20s. from tomorrow it is back to be more useful whether we get at this time of year. having said that, temperatures will still be above the average for the time of year. this is southerly airstream we have had for quite a few days now that has been generating the high temperatures will be almost washed away by this much cooler air stream originating from the atlantic.