welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: prince andrew denies having sex with a17—year—old girl. in an exclusive bbc interview, the duke of york speaks publicly for the first time about the allegations against him. i can absolutely, categorically tell you it's never happened. do you recall any kind of sexual contact with virginia roberts, then or any other time? none whatsoever. angry crowds take to the streets in iran as petrol pricesjump by 50% and fuel is rationed. leaked documents reveal new details about the mass detention of china's uighur muslims. and a shock defeat for roger federer at the atp finals in london, losing in straight sets

to stefanos tsitsipas, 6—3, 6—4. prince andrew has told the bbc he categorically denies having sexual relations with virginia roberts who says she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 years old. in an interview with bbc‘s newsnight, he's answered questions for the first time about his links with the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. the duke of york said a "sense of honour" led him to continue his association with the disgraced financier. our royal correspondent nick witchell reports. in the state rooms at buckingham palace, a senior member of the british royalfamily, prince andrew, second son of the queen, is preparing to be interrogated about allegations of sleazy

behaviour and gross misjudgement. your royal highness, we've come to buckingham palace in highly unusual circumstances. at issue, which of these two people is telling the truth? andrew or virginia roberts, 17 years old when this photograph was taken? groomed, she says, to provide sexual favours to powerful men. even the photo is contentious. andrew says he has no memory of it. tramp, a nightclub in central london. virginia roberts says she was there with andrew one night in march 2001. she says they later had sex. andrew says he was with his family. and he told the bbc‘s emily maitlis, there's a medical reason why ms roberts's allegation cannot be true. she was very specific about that night. she described dancing with you... no. and you profusely sweating, and that she went on to have...

there's a slight problem with the sweating, because i... i have a peculiar medical condition which is that i don't sweat — or i didn't sweat at the time. is it possible that you met virginia roberts, dined with her, danced with her in tramp, had sex with her, on another date? no. do you remember meeting her at all? no. you can say categorically that you don't recall meeting virginia roberts, dining with her, dancing with her at tramp or going on to have sex with her in a bedroom in a house in belgravia? i can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. do you recall any kind of sexual contact with virginia roberts, then or at any other time? none whatsoever. the other key figure in all of this isjeffrey epstein,

the new york financier who befriended andrew. epstein employed virginia roberts and many other young girls. in 2008, he was convicted of a child sex offence and sent to prison. so... do you regret the whole friendship with epstein? now, still not, the reason being that the people that i met and the opportunities that i was given to learn, either by him or because of him, were actually very useful. in 2010, andrew visited epstein after his release from prison and stayed for several nights at his home in new york. a wrong judgement, andrew now says, "i let the side down." 0verall, did he think his behaviour had damaged the royal family? i don't believe it's been damaging to the queen at all. it has to me.

i wonder what effect all this has had on your close family? you've got daughters of your own. it has been what i would describe as a constant sore in the family. finally, as he looks back... i wonder if you have any sense now of guilt, regret or shame about any of your behaviour and your friendship with epstein? as far as mr epstein is concerned, it was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010. do i regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? yes. "unbecoming"? he was a sex offender. yeah. i'm sorry, i'm being polite. andrew will be hoping that his answers will allow him to move on. that remains to be seen. nicholas witchell, bbc news. well, nick has more on that interview and where it leaves the prince now.

well, the jury is well and truly out, i would say. it's a big gamble for him. i think he very much wanted to do this interview, supported by his closest official. i don't think the queen's officials at buckingham palace have had very much to do with this. now, he will certainly hope to gain credit for having answered all the questions that were put to him, nothing was off limits, fairly relentless interrogation, 45 minutes. he will hope to be relieved of his denials, given the impression that he is a man with nothing to hide and certainly he seemed quite open and quite relaxed actually during the interview. where i think he will struggle more is his refusal to regret the friendship with jeffrey epstein. his statement earlier that he was somehow too honourable to have broken off that friendship, he now accepts that that was a wrong judgement, and apart from the credibility, i think it's the underlying sense of an element of arrogance, of naivete, of a lack of self—awareness that perhaps people will find rather surprising.

one other thing he left open — the option of a sworn deposition which of course is what the american authorities are hoping that he will now agree to. and you can find out exactly what the duke of york had to say about his friendship with the late jeffrey epstein by watching that full newsnight interview here on bbc world news on sunday at 11:00 gmt. as protests widen across iran over fuel price rises and rationing, iran's interior minister has issued a warning to those demonstrating. he says security forces will act to restore calm if protesters damage public properties. the demonstrations have been going on right across the country, including in the capital tehran. two people have been killed in clashes with police in other cities. rich preston reports. demonstrations continued into a second day after friday's unexpected announcement. prices rose by at least 50%. in tehran,

demonstrators blocked roads, even calling on the police tojoin them. tear gas was used to break up the crowds. violent clashes were reported across the country. iran's interior minister has warned security forces will restore calm if a tax on property continue. fuel is heavily subsidised in iran, but american sanctions over its nuclear programme have hit the country's economy hard. president rouhani says the money saved by lowering fuel subsidies will be redistributed to help the neediest people. but that message has not appeased many who've taken to the streets in anger at their leaders. chinese communist party documents leaked to the new york times

have revealed new details about the mass detention in western china of uighur muslims. china officially describes detention facilities where uighurs are being held asjob training centres. but the internal documents illustrate the calculated and coercive nature of the ongoing campaign targeting muslims in the province of xinjiang. austin ramzy wrote the piece for the new york times and joins me now from hong kong. in summary, what did you learn from the documents? the documents show the documents? the documents show the chinese leadership at various levels creating the conditions pushing lower—level officials to begin to open the camps, and we also see those lower—level officials are quite aware of the difficulties and the hardships and misery caused by locking up so many hundreds of thousands of people, and not really

being able to respond other than to sort of tell people that the party will take care of them. i understand that in some of the documents, terrorism is described as if it is a medical illness. can you explain? that's right. there is one quite chilling document that is a guide for officials to talk to students whose parents have been put in camps, and it describes the parents as suffering from almost a medical condition, an infection that needs to be cured and in the pseudo— medical language they talk about the camps where people go to have these ideological infections treated. was it any ideological infections treated. was itany sign ideological infections treated. was it any sign in the hundreds of pages you reviewed of internal dissent against the policy from officials? that was one of the surprising things. aside from the leak itself, there were a couple of cases of

officials who resisted efforts, including one who released some people who were not supposed to be released. these officials are not great human rights champions or anything like that, but they were people that were recognised in the practicality of this programme and the fact it would create resentment and also economic harm in the places they were responsible for. did you learn much about the role played by the president? it is quite interesting. there is a collection of speeches from 2014 during his first trip there as president, and you can see him sort of searching, pushing for an answer to separatism and extremism, and he doesn't directly order the camps in any of the documents that we saw, but after his speeches in early 2014,

small—scale camps begin to develop and you can see how he influenced that. and finally, did you get a sense of just the that. and finally, did you get a sense ofjust the sheer size and scale of china's policy here? u nfortu nately, scale of china's policy here? unfortunately, the exact numbers seem to be one of the most closely guarded secrets, and so there were no specific numbers in the camps. scholars have done estimates based on satellite photos and other information that have allowed them to come up with estimates of1 million or more people, but even within these sensitive lecture documents, there are no specific numbers. thank you very much for joining us. pleasure. more than a hundred people have been arrested in paris one year on since the start of the so—called ‘gilet jaune' or yellow vest movement. the first major demonstration a year ago demanded an end to a rise

in fuel tax, but the movement has widened since then. from paris, lucy williamson reports. in paris today, a reminder that the anger that sparked this movement a year ago hasn't gone away. the number of protesters much smaller now, but for the rioters and police, the tactics remain the same. translation: today is one year since the gilets jaunes took to the streets, to demand social, tax and economicjustice. one year later, nothing's changed. we're still angry and we're still here, and still they gas us and they beat us. it was enough for police to ban the main protest at place d'italie. tear gas and water cannon clearing the square within hours. tonight across the city, small pockets of demonstrators are still battling with the police.

the worry for the government will be that this isn'tjust a one—day protest, but a whole new wave of opposition. president macron is facing a string of different protests over the next few weeks from unions, students and public sector workers. isolated fires are one thing. the danger is they'll unite to become an inferno. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the first of around 700 cuban doctors have started flying home from bolivia on saturday. cuba says it is terminating its medical mission in bolivia after it said bolivian officials were fostering violence against the doctors by claiming they were instigating rebellion. the communist—run nation was a key ally of former president, evo morales, who resigned on sunday and fled to mexico. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we meet the 9—year—old electrical engineer who's more than just a bright spark.

benazir bhutto has claimed victory in pakistan's general election and she's asked pakistan's president to name her as prime minister. jackson's been released on bail of $3 million after turning himself in to police in santa barbara. it was the biggest demonstration so far of the first growing european anti—nuclear movement. the south african government has announced that it's opening the country's remaining whites—only beaches to people of all races. this will lead to a black majority government in this country and the destruction of the white civilisation. part of the centuries—old windsor castle, one of the queen's residences, has been consumed by fire for much of the day. 150 firemen have been battling the blaze which has caused millions of pounds worth of damage.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: in an exclusive bbc interview, prince andrew has categorically denied ever having sex with the american virginia roberts, and said some of her story is false. protests have erupted across iran after the government unexpectedly announced it was sharply increasing the price of petrol and rationing supplies. counting of votes is under way in sri lanka after people cast their ballots in a presidential election with a high turnout of around 80%. the main contest is between the former defence secretary, gota baya raja pa ksa, and the housing minister, sajith premadaasa. the election comes just seven months after a terrorist attack killed more than 250 people. the bbc‘s yogita limaye reports from colombo. buses carrying muslim minority voters attacked by unidentified gunmen in sri lanka's north—west.

no—one was injured, but it meant the election started on a nervous note. as voting got under way, worries about continuing violence began to dissipate. people came out in large numbers. in a country that saw fear and religious divides after deadly bombings this year, it was a sign ofjust how much this election matters. we do not want the separation. muslims, burghers, singhalese, tamils — all must be together. there's a bomb that went off quite close to my house. when we heard that, it's like "that is my family. we might be gone." we never know what might happen, right? so i want my country to be stabilised again. the attacks that took place inside this church and at several other locations in sri lanka carried out by islamist extremists were the worst instances of violence this country has seen since its civil war

ended ten years ago. they brought the issue of national security back into the spotlight. he's been pitching himself as the man who can keep the country safe. gotabhaya rajapa ksa, a controversial former defence chief credited with ending the civil war but accused of human rights abuses by minority groups. the other big contender is this man, sajith premadasa, sri lanka's housing minister. he's projecting himself as the more democratic leader, but many believe the government he's a part of failed to prevent the easter attacks. sri lanka's future is on the cusp of two divergent paths. in these boxes, the people's choice. yogita limaye, bbc news, colombo. democrat adam schiff, who is leading the us house of representatives impeachment

inquiry of president donald trump, has accused the president of thinking he is "above the law". but he notably emphasized that the way to remove him from office was voting. speaking at a democratic party convention in california, mr schiff added this. the most profound threat to democracy today is not from russia. nor put on's desire to rebuild the lost empire. nor is it from china, though china is busy exporting its digital form though china is busy exporting its digitalform of though china is busy exporting its digital form of totalitarianism to other nations. no, the greatest threat to the life and health of our democracy comes from within. from a president without ethical compass, without an understanding of or devotion to our constitution, and the beautiful series of checks and bala nces the beautiful series of checks and balances it established. setting ambition against ambition, so no—one branch of government could overwhelm

another. and, most importantly, so no despotism could take root. adam schiff there. police in the czech capital prague say at least 200,000 people have attended a demonstration against the prime minister, andre babis. prosecutors recently halted a criminal investigation into claims he defrauded the eu of subsidies. but organisers of saturday's protest held on prague's letna park on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of communism are still calling for him to step down. rob cameron reports. they gathered at a symbolic time, in a symbolic place, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the velvet revolution, at the site of the largest demonstration of november 1989. but not against a totalitarian regime, but a democratically elected politician. andrej babis dismisses the protests against him. what matters for him are the opinions of his voters. and mr babis remains way ahead in the polls.

translation: they are big numbers but, compared to the number of votes that mr babis receives from their elections, they are almost insignificant. but for the students of 1989, democracy is about more than just voting every four years. simon panek was one of the main student leaders back then. amidst a wave of populism in central europe, he says he does not want his country to go the way of its neighbours. i also fear that the recent government might have a tendency to cross some of the limits or frames of the constitutional democracy, which is not the case yet, but i think it is very important to show that the civil society citizens are here and are ready to fight for fully fledged, functioning democracy. people are still streaming into this protest long after it started. andrej babis says he doesn't understand the point of this demonstration, now that criminal charges against him have been dropped. but for the people arriving

here at letna, the spirit of 1989 lives on. rob cameron, bbc news, prague. dominic thiem will play stefanos tsitsipas in the final of the atp tennis event in london. thiem beat alexander zverev, while tsitsipas beat roger federer. the greek won in straight sets 6—3, 6—4. austin halewood reports. if battling against rafa nadal yesterday was not tough enough, for stefanos tsitsipas, it was only the warm—up. next up, roger federer — a man who has done it all before, perhaps the greatest of all time. but even the greats still feel the pressure. commentator: 0h, commentator: oh, no! after a near three—hour battle with nadal, anyone would be forgiven for feeling the strain, but tsitsipas was on top of his game. the greek at his powerful, clinical best. and eventually, after the seventh time of asking, he took the first set. when federer won his first grand slam title, tsitsipas had not started school.

with 17 years between them, the greek looked to use age to his advantage, forcing federer around the court and forcing the mistake. the frustration clear to see. he was ahead by a double break at one point but still, federerfought back, holding his serve when it mattered most. but by then, the damage was already done. match point taken at the first time of asking. well, that's a brilliant performance! federer heading home — even tsitsipas could not quite believe it. i grew up watching roger as a kid. watching him here. i wished i could step out on the court one day and face him, and today, i am here, living the dream. and for me, it was just... you know, i could never picture myself standing here, but it did happen — dreams do come true. last year, tsitsipas won the next generation tour finals. he was one for the future. now, he is right at the top of the sport.

austin halewood, bbc news. a nine—year—old boy from belgium is about to become the world's youngest ever university graduate. laurent simons, who is originally from 0stend — is studying for an electrical engineering degree in the netherlands. if all goes to plan, he'll graduate next month. the bbc‘s tim allman has the story. laurent simons likes nothing better than a little soldering and tinkering with electronics. a young man with a photographic memory and an iq of 145, he is living life at quite a speed. translation: i did the first year of my primary school and then it went faster and faster. i did the remaining five years in one year, i did my secondary school in 1.5 years, and at university, i do a course every week. laurent is studying at the eindhoven university of technology. and although he doesn't spend all that much time with his fellow students, his family believes

he is in the right place. translation: i think he would have missed a lot of his youth if he was still in school. now it is just like a playground here, so he can do whatever he wants. like many boys of his age, he likes robots, but we're not talking about toys — laurent is a lot more ambitious than that. translation: my goal is actually extending life, replacing part of human beings by technology. so, for example, artificial organs and robot arms, robot legs — things like that. next up, he is aiming for a graduate degree. just imagine what he will do when he is ten. tim allman, bbc news. don't forget, you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews.

in the news last week, you might remember that venice was hit with severe flooding, and we have got similar weather conditions on the way for today. later on, around midday we will see the high water coming in around 1.6 metres above normal — that makes it one of the highest of the last 90—odd years. perhaps not quite as high as it was on tuesday, but it will still be widespread, big flooding the city. those flooding conditions are caused by an area of low pressure in the mediterranean, drawing up these strong winds, pushing a bulge of water from the adriatic. there will be some thunderstorms as well fairly widely in italy. that low pressure will get close to us, as we will see injust a moment. for the time being over the next few hours, where we have clear spells, we are seeing things turn pretty frosty, particularly in scotland,

the odd patch across parts of southern england as well. so for some, a chilly start of the day on sunday. for others, a cloudy start with fairly persistent but mainly light outbreaks of rain affecting north—east england, becoming quite patchy in nature as it works across northern england into the midlands and wales. probably no huge rainfall totals building up, just some dull and damp weather. brighter in the south. we should see some sunny weather moving into scotland and northern ireland during the day, although there will be some showers across northern scotland, driven in by a north—west wind. it will feel quite chilly here. through sunday night, the skies will clear further across the northern half of the uk, really, so as that happens, we will see temperatures plummet. there will be a widespread frost. temperatures down to around —4 in edinburgh, colder in the countryside. some mist and fog patches to take us into monday. then, that area of low pressure bringing flooding to venice later today, here is the low coming around europe, and coming quite close to the uk on monday. this area of high pressure, though, it looks like it

will stop its progress, but it is something we are monitoring carefully, given the saturated ground conditions and the flooding problems we have in places. any rain would not be helpful. at the moment, it looks like it will be mostly kept at bay so for monday, it will be a cold start to the day, widespread frost and mist and fog patches, a lot of dry weather with sunshine, highs of around three degrees in edinburgh. you could just about see some of that rain getting into parts of eastern england. after that as we get into tuesday and wednesday, low pressures from the atlantic are going to take over. as that happens the wind will back around more to a south—easterly direction, which means we will see rain spreading into eastern wales across the midlands, which of course is not great news.

this is bbc news, the headlines. prince andrew has told the bbc he categorically denies having sexual relations with virginia roberts, the woman who says she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 yea rs have sex with him when she was 17 years old. have sex with him when she was 17 yea rs old. protests have sex with him when she was 17 years old. protests have erupted across iran after the government announced it was sharply increasing the rationing of petrol. chinese communist party documents linked to the new york times have revealed new details about the best attention of wea ker details about the best attention of weaker muslims and shin jane. details about the best attention of weaker muslims and shinjane. the eternal documents illustrate the calculator nature of the