this is bbc news. i'm 3 shaun ley. the headlines at 11am... prince andrew speaks publicly for the first time, about his friendship with the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. in an exclusive interview with bbc newsnight, the duke says it was wrong to stay at epstein‘s house — and admits he let "the side down". iadmit i admit fully that myjudgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable but that isjust the way it is. prince andrew also said he had "no recollection" of meeting virginia roberts —— who claims she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 after being groomed by epstein. the prince denies any inappropriate conduct. in other news, scotland yard says it will look

into claims of electoral fraud, after the brexit party said its candidates had been offered inducements by conservatives to stand down. the labour party's executive committee meets to finalise what policies it will put to voters in the general election. two people have been hurt in a large fire at a student accommodation building in bolton. more than 200 firefighters were brought in to tackle the blaze at 11:30am, tt‘s dateline with my colleague carrie gracie, she'll be talking about trump, the crisis in hong kong, and floods and fires. hello, good morning.

in an unprecedented interview, prince andrew has told the bbc that he let the royal family down by staying at the home of the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. speaking to newsnight‘s emily maitlis at buckingham palace, the duke addressed accusations that he'd had sex with a 17—year—old american girl. he said he couldn't remember meeting virginia roberts and denies allegations of inappropriate conduct. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell reports. he is continuing with royal duties. last sunday, he was at the cenotaph, laying a wreath with his nephews. and yet, for month after month, he's been the focus of troubling questions. prince andrew, the queen's second son, one moment seen waving from the doorway of the new york home of a convicted child sex offender, jeffrey epstein, and photographed strolling through central park with him. buckingham palace has consistently denied any impropriety by prince andrew. now, he's decided to speak for himself to bbc newsnight‘s emily maitlis. but you were staying at the house of a convicted sex offender.

it was a convenient place to stay. i mean, i've gone through this in my mind so many times. at the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one could have, it was definitely the wrong thing do but at the time i felt it was the honourable and right thing to do. and i admit fully that myjudgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable but that'sjust the way it is. and then there's andrew's alleged friendship with the then 17—year—old virginia roberts who was on epstein‘s payroll. she's alleged that andrew seduced her. one of epstein‘s accusers, virginia roberts, has made allegations against you. she says she met you in 2001. she says she dined with you,

danced with you at tramp nightclub in london. she went on to have sex with you in a house in belgravia belonging to ghislaine maxwell, your friend. your response? i have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. none whatsoever. you don't remember meeting her? no. it was in 2001, according to virginia roberts, that she had sex with andrew on three occasions, including one orgy. the palace has denied that. in 2008, epstein was convicted of procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18. he was sentenced to 18 months in prison. it was in 2010, after epstein had been released from prison, that andrew visited him in new york and stayed at his mansion. how does he explain that? the problem was the fact that once he had been convicted... you stayed with him. i stayed with him. and that's the bit that —

that, as it were, i kick myself for on a daily basis, because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family, and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices, and i let the side down. simple as that. but nothing about this story is simple. jeffrey epstein can't answer questions — he took his own life in august. as for andrew, the us authorities will undoubtedly very much like to hear his account of everything he witnessed. nicholas witchell, bbc news. earlier i asked former bbc royal correspondent michael cole what he thought of the interview. good for the bbc, big scoop. bad for buckingham palace, big mistake. i don't know who is

giving prince andrew pr and legal advice but it is not very good, i have to tell you. this interview... kudos to emily. well done, you. this brings a tremendous number of problems to him because it raises more questions than it answers and even raises questions of taste, his phraseology, saying it is "unbecoming" of a member of the royal family to stay for an extended period of time in the new york town house of a convicted child abuser. well, it's unbecoming of any decent human being to do that and, of course, it was more than a mistake, it was a tragic error. and, of course, at the heart of this, prince andrew talks a lot about his own failings and own reactions but there is a very vulnerable, as she was in 2001,

aged 17, from an ordinary home in america, there is a woman called virginia roberts at the heart of it and she seems to be a little bit forgotten. but the most serious thing is, and it is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of this, this entangles prince andrew in the american legal system and they don't take any prisoners. be you ever so high, the law is above you. there is an fbi enquiry. interviews are neither here nor there really. if prince andrew wanted to put this matter out of his life forever, he would be well advised to sit down in a lawyer's office in london with his own criminal lawyers around him and give a sworn statement, given interview, give a deposition, to be deposed by the american lawyers. it can happen in london as easily as it can happen in new york.

only by doing that will he scotch these rumours. in fact, as i say, this interview raises more than it actually answers. interview raises more than it michael interview raises more than it cole there. and you and you can see the full interview in a bbc newsnight special on bbc two, tonight at 9pm and also on the iplayer. police say they're assessing two allegations of electoral fraud , after claims that the conservatives offered peerages and government jobs to brexit party candidates to stand aside in the upcoming general election. the tories deny the allegations. joining me now is political correspondentjohn 0wen. on the surface very serious allegations and they prompted the former labour lord chancellor to contact police. yes, significant intervention by him. he says the allegations raise serious questions about the integrity of the election and says there may have been a breach of the representation of the

people act. so pretty serious stuff. as you know, the brexit party has agreed to stand down in areas of the country that already have conservative mps in order to avoid splitting the pro brexit vote in these areas. but that has led to pressure for the conservative party to stand down elsewhere as well. in a video posted earlier this week on twitter nigel farage said that he and other brexit party figures had been offered jobs for the next stage of the brexit negotiations and there had been hints of peerages as well for standing down in other seats. and widdecombe, former conservative minister and now a brexit party candidate, she says she would swear ona candidate, she says she would swear on a bible that she had been offered a role in the next stage of brexit negotiations. in response the prime minister has said this is all nonsense and speaking on the bbc this morning michael gove says he has no knowledge of any such offer

being made. i'm completely unaware of any of these conversations of the kind that you mention. the conservative party is not interested in pacts, or deals, or arrangements of this kind. we are standing in every seat across the united kingdom because we want people to have a chance to vote for conservatives, so we can have a working conservative majority to get parliament working again. a vote for any other party risks letting jeremy corbyn into downing street with the paralysis and division that would follow. ina in a statement, the metropolitan police say they have received two cases of electoral fraud and malpractice and they are both currently being assessed. labour's manifesto is set to be finalised today, in what is known as the "clause v meeting". the party's executive committee is meeting to discuss what policies it will put to voters in the general election. 0ur political correspondent iain watson has more.

good morning. if you look at the big picture there is an increasing distance between the labour opposition and the conservative government. 0ne opposition and the conservative government. one of the things they wa nt to government. one of the things they want to champion is a greater role for the state in a british economy but also to argue that this is championing the rights of consumers. they're doing that with the broadband announcement yesterday and also ending privatisation of the railways, nationalising the water industry in england. some individual policies have been quite contentious. 0n policies have been quite contentious. on his way in here jeremy corbyn was greeted by demonstrators asking him to stick with the confidence policy to extend freedom of movement of workers. he wa nted freedom of movement of workers. he wanted to, naturally enough, talk about the bigger picture of the ma nifesto about the bigger picture of the manifesto which they will be talking about in the building behind me. we

will decide on the contents of our manifesto. it will be a document that will be transformative to the lives of people across this country. lam lives of people across this country. i am looking forward to a really good day of discussions. so jeremy corbyn went in and he is discussing the manifesto. members of the shadow cabinet and the executive are reading numbered copies of it, they don't want it leaked as happened in 2017. some of the contentious issues like freedom of movement, some of the demonstrators, hardly a mass demonstration, but some of them here we re demonstration, but some of them here were engaging with members of the executive. 0ne were engaging with members of the executive. one of them was asked if they would extend freedom of movement and he said he would putting more money into the health service. len mccluskey, the leader of the biggest labour supporting trade union. he is here as well. the

demonstrators said they believed he was trying to stop labour putting on a manifesto of free movement in that document today. he said they were quite wrong about that. he was trying to protect british and migrant workers but he was not against freedom of movement. many trade union delegates i have spoken to do not like the idea that freedom of movement would be extended. they think that there is a gift to conservatives. so the wording of the ma nifesto conservatives. so the wording of the manifesto will be quite careful. but there will be a much stronger commitment to changing employment laws in britain to tell people they won't be undercut by migrant labour. i don't think they will glow as far as abolishing fee—paying schools. but many of the big policies have already been announced but i am told they will also be a radical policy aimed at women who are affected by

the increase in the state pension age from 60 to 66. that was speeded up age from 60 to 66. that was speeded up this decade and some of them feel they have missed out and labour will discuss much stronger protections for people who have been affected, perhaps more than 3 million women, 3 million voters. and the prime minister is out campaigning today. 0ur news correspondent danjohnson is there with him. at least they've let you into the warm of the bus. yes, a cold morning here in north nottinghamshire. the prime minister has been in mansfield this morning knocking on doors and putting leaflets and letterboxes. getting brexit done is the big slogan on the side of the bus. perhaps not the place you would expect to see a conservative prime minister, mansfield which is a former mining town and industrial area, but this seat switched from

a lwa ys area, but this seat switched from always having a labour mp to having always having a labour mp to having a conservative mp, who is now seeking the election here. this is a sign that the conservatives are really intent on protecting their gains in the next election. another brexit party have stood aside in seats like this, it is forjohnson and the conservatives to really campaign hard here to stop the seats moving back to labour. the prime minister is supposed to be moving to a farm minister is supposed to be moving to afarm on minister is supposed to be moving to a farm on the edge of mansfield here to talk about his environmental policies. he is announcing today that he will plant more than 30 million trees over the next five yea rs if million trees over the next five years if he is still prime minister. that is something that has really come into the election campaign agenda over the first week or so with jeremy corbyn saying agenda over the first week or so withjeremy corbyn saying that his policies are all about decarbonising oui’ policies are all about decarbonising our economy and the liberal democrats saying that they would plant 60 million trees. so we

already have a game of one—upmanship trying to get one up on each other. i spent half of the week up to my knees in floodwater in south yorkshire and a lot of people there as well as talking about flood defences, talking about how important it is to plant trees further up to prevent rainwater so it doesn't flood the rivers and lower lying areas. i don't think this policy is just in response to that but it is certainly something that but it is certainly something that people who have been affected by flooding this week will see as a positive if it is to be achieved in the next five years. time and time again we have seen with environmental targets they have been promised and not delivered. 0ne thing that might disrupted a's campaign agenda is this serious fire in bolton. the prime minister has tweeted a message that his thoughts are with all those affected by that fire and he is thankful to the emergency services to the brave response and he is in touch with the chief fire officer to make sure they

have everything they need. we will just see what impact that will have on the prime minister's plan today. danjohnson on the prime minister's plan today. dan johnson in mansfield, on the prime minister's plan today. danjohnson in mansfield, thank you very much. emergency crews have worked through the night, to tackle a fire at a student block of flats in greater manchester. (tx the fire service said the flames spread across all six floors of the university accomodation building in bolton. two people were treated for their injuries at the scene. afnan gohar is a student at the university and lives in the block. she told bbc breakfast what happened last night. i was just in my room at first with my friends and we had ——heard a fire alarm go off. we didn't really like take notice of it until a girl came running and, like she banged on the doors and screamed, telling us to get out. we didn't believe her at first and my friend went outside and checked and she confirmed

it was true. so all of us ran away as soon as we could. then we just saw, basically, that building, the shared apartments, the actual building on fire. i live in studios but they are pretty close to each other. while we were going down the stairs, we saw the entire shared apartments going down in flames, basically. the greater manchester fire and rescue service have issued a helpline number for anyone concerned about welfare friends or relatives —— it's 01204 903733. that's 01204 903733. voting is under way in sri lanka to elect the country's next president.

it's been a campaign dominated by concerns over security and the economy. the election comes just seven months after a co—ordinated terrorist attack on churches and hotels killing 259 people. police say voting has been largely peaceful although gunmen atacked a convoy of buses taking mainly muslim voters to a polling station. no—one was injured. the bbc‘s yogita limaye is with a group of monitors who are looking into reports of violence around the country as voting takes place. we are not allowed close to polling booths so i am close to the headquarters of a body that has been looking at violence today. they're getting information where have been violation of the code of conduct. so far they have had 70 complaints. the big incident of violence from the north—west of the country even before the polls open today, gunmen fired at buses carrying muslim

voters to polling booths. they set tires on fire and threw stones as well. the police are still investigating who is behind those attacks. they say there were no casualties but there is a certain sense of fear about whether minority communities in particular are being able to vote freely in this election. national security after the easter sunday bombings is the big issue on people's mines. the first time voter i spoke to today said she believes the country has been unstable so she wants to vote in the leader who can turn that back. yogita limaye in sri lanka. the bbc‘s children in need has raised almost £48 million this year. celebrities from the world of tv, music and sport all took part in the annual telethon. 0ur entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba has the highlights.

three, two, one! cue the totaliser! the evening's huge total. the end of a fun—packed night... i wish for this year's children in need to be really, really big! ..that began with a performance from the cast of hit musical big. # do what i do, fake if you don't know how #. some of the uk's most famous faces were on hand to help with the fundraising efforts. a group of eastenders stars took to that strictly come dancing dance floor. jodie whittaker and the dr who team made a young fan's night with an unexpected appearance. what are you going to say to an actual time lord? laughter. um, you're amazing. applause. and some of england's top football players had a surprise for a group of children from the england amputee football association. great to meet you all. all the money from the night goes towards helping disadvantaged children and young people across the uk. children in need says the millions raised tonight should make a huge difference.

lizo mzimba, bbc news. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. good morning. the liverpool pairjordan henderson and joe gomez will miss england's final euro 2020 qualifier in kosovo tomorrow. gomez was knocked on the knee in training yesterday and he hasn't recovered enough to travel. henderson has a viral infection. they've returned to their club, so england head to pristina today with a 23—man squad. with england already through to next summer's european championship, the other home nations continue their bids to join them today — and it won't be easy. northern ireland are third in a really tough group — they need to beat the dutch this afternoon and the germans on tuesday — and hope other results go their way. wales also need some luck, as well as beating azerbaijan tonight and then hungary. scotland play cyprus and kazakhstan but they're facing a play—off next spring. as far as wales are concerned, they can't wait for today's game. the players are ready, they are

looking forward to the game and are excited. it is a challenge. it is not an easy game. azerbaijan had a good result last time at home, drawing with croatia, so it is not an easy game but the lads are ready for it. to rugby league — and the great britain lions will be heading home without a win on their southern hemisphere tour, after losing to papua new guinea in theirfinal match in port moresby. it started well for great britain — they opened the scoring after 14 minutes — a swift move gave blake austin a clear run into the corner, for his first international try. they went 10—0 ahead but that was the end of their scoring — and a spectacular try from edwin ipape set off the papua new guinea fightback. they won by 28 points to 10. england lost the series 4—0. when you come away and play for your country it is the proudest thing you can do in your career. when you don't perform and let everyone down it is disappointing. we are all

proud men but that is the game we are in. if you lose you have to wear it for awhile and figure out where you go next. england's women fell to an agonising defeat this morning — a last—minute shirleyjoe try gave the papua new guinea 0rchids their first test win against england — they won by 20 points to 16 to level the series at 1—1. england captain emily rudge visibly upset at the end there. england batsmanjoe denly says he is "as near as 100% fit" to face new zealand in the first test, after scoring 68 on his return from an ankle injury. he helped lead a fightback on day two of their final warm—up match, against new zealand a — england closed on 355—8 in fangaray — a lead of 53. denly is expected to bat at number three, after missing the t20 series — and at one point he feared his tour was over. when i first did my ankle it was touch and go whether i would be fit for this game. i

touch and go whether i would be fit forthis game. i had touch and go whether i would be fit for this game. i had been under a strict rehab programme and under great hands with the medical team here. delighted to be back and able to spend some time out there today. world number one rafael nadal is out of the season—ending world tour finals, after alexander zverev beat daniil medvedev in straight sets to claim the last semifinal spot at the 02 arena in london. zverev, the defending champion, will face dominic thiem, with stefanos tsitsipas facing roger federer in the other semi. third practice ahead of the brazilian grand prix starts at 3pm. p2 was marked by a heavy crash for williams driver robert kubica — thankfully he emerged unscathed. ferrari's sebastian vettel was quickest, with lewis hamilton back in fifth. that's all the sport — now here's the weather with matt taylor. a welcome window of dry weather for the start of next week. scenes like this in

england and wales. this river breaking its banks and a number of flood warning still in force. tha nkfully flood warning still in force. thankfully the heavy rain is drifting southwards across france but we still have a weather front just decaying across northern england and wales at the moment. further patchy rain and drizzle here with a few showers in cornwall and heavy showers in eastern scotland. some showersjust edging heavy showers in eastern scotland. some showers just edging into northern ireland after a fine and bright but frosty start. much of central and southern england dry with sunny spells to come. in the west and the channel areas there are still some spells of rain. a few heavy bass for the north—east of england down the coastal strip of eastern scotland. much of scotland and northern ireland will stay dry for this afternoon but another chilly day with temperatures in single figures for the vast

majority. into this evening and overnight, not as cold as last night. parts of the north west england, the midlands and wales won't have a frost but across scotla nd won't have a frost but across scotland there will be a touch of frost but bright weather to start sunday. sunny conditions developing in northern ireland with sunny spells continuing in the midlands, east anglia and the south. english channel showers and through parts of wales, south—west england and northern england still cloudy and some of the showers could be heavier across north—east england tomorrow. another chilly day with temperatures in single figures. many temperatures fade away as we go into monday. here is the window of dry weather, not particularly big, but monday starting on a dry note with some frost and fog around. maybe a few showers in the eastern district of england close to the coast but for most it is a dry and sunny day. that will be the case for many on tuesday

again after a frosty and foggy start but as we go into the second half of the week we see rain head our way. temperatures should start to rise a bit.

hello and welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie. this week... he says his style is modern presidential. but will impeachment hearings leave the american public agreeing with donald trump on that? "pushed to the brink of total breakdown". grim warnings from hong kong police. and this week's tv pictures may look like apocalypse now but climate

scientists say these fires and floods are just the start. so how are politicians framing their message on averting apocalypse ahead? my guests today. chinese writer diane weiliang, american broadcaster jef mcallister, stefanie bolzen of german newspaper die welt portugese writer eunice goes. thank you for coming in. for most politicians it would have been a day to hide. a former ambassador gave startling evidence against his administration and a former close adviser was convicted on counts of lying to congress, obstruction and witness tampering. but this is donald trump and instead of hiding, the us president took to twitter to undermine the former ambassador to ukraine even as she delivered her testimony in congress. so is trump still teflon with his supporters or will his enemies succeed in tarnishing ‘modern presidential‘ over the course of these impeachment hearings?