this is bbc news i'm shaun ley. the headlines at eleven. prince andrew categorically denies having sex with an american women who says she was forced to sleep with him when she was just 17. ican i can absolutely, categorically tell you it never happened. the duke of york said he does not regret his friendship with the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. in the election — the conservatives promise all migrants will be treated equally after brexit — regardless of where they come from —— but the foreign secretary rules out setting a target for the number of people entering the uk. it is not just it is notjust the volume. it is also the kind of immigration we have got. we want people coming here who wa nt to got. we want people coming here who want to contribute but we have to control the costs.

the labour leader, jeremy corbyn refuses to confirm whether or not free movement of people from the eu will be included in the party's general election manifesto. my my instinct is to recognise that the economies are interdependent around the world, that we all benefit from people moving to and working in different societies. the government and the armed forces are accused of covering up illegal killings by british troops in afghanistan and iraq. and, at 11.30 in dateline london, carrie gracie and the team discuss the trump impeachment inquiry, the ongoing crisis in hong kong, and climate change. prince andrew has "categorically" denied having any sexual contact with a woman, who says she was forced to have sex

with him when she was seventeen. he told bbc‘s newsnight he could not have been with virginia roberts on the day in question in 2001 as he was at home after spending the afternoon at a pizza express in woking with his daughter. the prince was also grilled about his friendship with the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. our royal correspondent, nick witchell reports. in the state rooms at buckingham palace, a senior member of the british royal family, prince andrew, second son of the queen, is preparing to be interrogated about allegations of sleazy behaviour and gross misjudgment. 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' 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 that 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 and 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 judgment, andrew now says — "i let the side down". 0verall, did he think his behaviour had damaged the royalfamily? i don't believe it's been damaging to the queen at all. it has to me. i wonder what effect 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. joining me now is simonjones who is outside buckingham palace. had there been any reaction from the palace to the interview? no reaction from the palace itself. plenty of reaction from the people who have gathered here at the changing of the guard this morning. the events here seem very much a sideshow compared with that interview yesterday evening. some of the tourist here told me they tuned in and the feeling was that they felt prince andrew didn't come across well and thatis andrew didn't come across well and that is certainly reflected in the front pages of this morning's papers. this is the mail on sunday. astonished nation watches prints

squirm. talking about the moment prince andrew said he wasn't dancing swiftly in a nightclub because he didn't sweat at the time. the paper feels he wasn't really giving any sort of remorse for what had happened. prince andrew was hoping by speaking out it might draw a line under what happened, but he may well be disappointed. 0ne royal commentator said they are expecting this to be a bit of a train crash of an interview but then they said after having watched it it was more like a plane crashing into an oil tanker then exploding and setting of a tsunami and that causing a nuclear bomb to go off, it was that bad according to them. some people have been saying that prince andrew came across as quite self—assured, but at the same time they didn't feel he came across with any sort of self awareness about what had happened.

0ne awareness about what had happened. one person who has defended him is his former wife sarah ferguson. she described him as being honest and truthful about what he was saying so she gave him some praise. but certainly a lot of people, royal commentators, tourist and people watching that interview right around the world are very much questioning whether this was a sensible thing to do. joining me now is pr specialist mark borkowski. you have had a few hours to reflect on last night's interview. what effect do you think it will have on this story with would it help or hinder the effort that he is making to damp down the flames of interest? it certainly doesn't dump anything down. in fact, it certainly doesn't dump anything down. infact, it it certainly doesn't dump anything down. in fact, it inflate the story and brings up so many questions that we re and brings up so many questions that were answered but nuanced in such a

way that people are not clearly happy about. it was an illjudged thing to do. it was far too long and he didn't have to do it. there were plenty of other occasions he could have chosen to do, use pr to do a softer interview. all praise to the production team who got hold of the interview. it was 45 minutes. there was nowhere to hide. and he represents an older, less aware man in terms of having to deal with a very modern world. and he didn't convince anybody and he certainly didn't drawa convince anybody and he certainly didn't draw a line under this particular issue. it was a good opportunity, or must have seemed a good opportunity at the time. but had you been inside this team when the approach was made by the bbc, what were the sort of question you

would have asked yourself before you offered advice to accept an interview of this kind?” offered advice to accept an interview of this kind? i think it is well reported in many of the project that his pr advisers who advised him not to do it are no longer there. this was his own decision. but you want to somehow grapple with the production team to get as much control as possible out of it. there wasn't any prearranged questioning. it was a very pure editorial attack on him. there was no ability, perhaps, to train for some of the curve balls. 0ne no ability, perhaps, to train for some of the curve balls. one could argue that he should have seen the likelihood of some of the more damaging questions being fired at him. but it was an innocent in a lions den and the best you can actually do is take control. but more importantly you have to look at who is going to support you and before the interview i don't think

prince andrew have made any effort 01’ prince andrew have made any effort or have failed to get any messaging across about what his role is and how he has contributed to charities. certainly, he has aided british industry. there has been no dialogue, no other supporters in that beforehand. he described how sarah ferguson has stepped in. his former wife? yes, she has been very good to him. but who are the other voices? and when an interview like this breaks and cracks, where at the legions of supporters he needs to bolster his confidence by giving him a slap on the back? there has been none of it. he is very old school and perhaps if he looked at his younger nephews, who are very astute in their media relations, there is a huge chasm between the various departments within advisable about

how not to do it. this is clearly an example of how not to do it. how would you advise to limit the damage? he should have thought about that before he did it! the horse is so that before he did it! the horse is so far across the hill now, that the sta ble so far across the hill now, that the stable doors... you have to sort of look at this as a sporting team who have taken one hell of a battering. you need to analyse what has gone wrong and need to start rebuilding but there is nothing he can do. one could argue that two events coming up could argue that two events coming up that he probably has to contemplate. his daughter's wedding and his 60th birthday, the next public engagement he is going to be seen public engagement he is going to be seen at. these are tactical opportunities you have to think about how you address those. but you

have thrown petrol on this fire and i think that description of the train crash and nuclear explosions is actually true. i thought this is not where he wants to be at the moment. so you have got to start rebuilding. and pr people with a lot of grey hair seem to think that in every crisis there is an opportunity. 0ne hopes he can take that opportunity. unfortunately, he doesn't enjoy doing the media side of things. he has a grumpy a cce pta nce of things. he has a grumpy acceptance of what he has to do. and he has not got many friends in the media. he hasn't built up relationships over the years so he is going to have to rethinking a more modern approach to how he tackled the media in the future. thank you very much for that. he is apr thank you very much for that. he is a pr specialist. he is a pr specialist. the conservatives have set out more details of their plans for immigration after brexit,

saying migrants will be treated equally regardless of where they come from. but they've refused to set a number for the number of people coming into the country. meanwhile, jeremy corbyn has refused to say whether he would favour the continued free movement of migrants after brexit. 0ur political correspondent susana mendonca was listening to the foreign secretary speaking on his party's immigration plans. in terms of their line today, they are talking about immigration and the need to end freedom of movement. and labour? the conservatives are specifically looking at what they would do when we leave the european union saying that people would need a job offer whether they are coming from the eu or anywhere else. saying that the charge would increase for foreign migrants from £400 a year to £650 a year. also saying that migrants wouldn't be able to claim benefits for five years. that is their pitch today. then we have the labour party also got their ma nifesto labour party also got their manifesto which we are going to get

clear details later on this week. we understand they hammered it out yesterday. there was a bit of a question about what happens in terms of freedom of movement because at the party conference grassroot members had said that they wanted to extend freedom of movement. jeremy corbyn has addressed that issue today. we understand that in their ma nifesto today. we understand that in their manifesto there is not going to be an explicit attempt to extend freedom of movement but he was talking about how from his perspective what he thinks those members were talking about is family reunion. those immigrants who had come to the uk and the right they have to bring their family over later on. he was saying they are being agreement with the principle of that but it obviously needs to be looked at in some detail. explaining that element of it. we understand that element of it. we understand that in the labour party manifesto there is going to be some policy in their around regulating employment of the people don't feel as though they have —— they are being undercut

by foreign workers. he was asked whether freedom of movement would end? he wouldn't be pinned on the detail. he did say they would be a great deal of movement after mixing. there will be a great deal of movement. you will have to wait until thursday. i know you are very impatient. you will know on thursday. overall immigration has been a huge issue around brexit and different voices in the labour party are four different things. i am trying to work out whether your instinct is far more free movement of people around the world, including the eu. my instinct is to recognise that economies are interdependent around the world, that we all benefit from people moving to living in and working in different societies and we benefit massively from the vast number of overseas students had come here. i don't want to turn my back on that andl don't want to turn my back on that and i don't want to become an isolated society. i am proud of the

diversity of our society and country andl diversity of our society and country and i want that to be a basis of how we live. in terms of the conservatives, we have heard from dominic raab today, the foreign secretary. the conservatives have had a bit of a difficult time with theissue had a bit of a difficult time with the issue of immigration because they have talked about bringing it down to tens of thousands, never actually meeting that target. dominic raab was asked about this today. would you be able to set a target for how loud you would get immigration? and he was very clear he didn't want to be drawn on the numbers and it seems to be a tactic from different government ministers about this issue that they are talking about not setting arbitrary targets because if you don't set a targets because if you don't set a target that you can't be accused of not hitting that target. here is what he said. we will make sure that the government and parliament has got control over immigration so we get the advantages, the benefits and the innovators coming here, creating jobs... we also control the cost and

the pressures that immigration that is controlled undoubtedly places. we can make sure that by exercising a points—based can make sure that by exercising a points— based system can make sure that by exercising a points—based system we have got control year by year and i think thatis control year by year and i think that is the way you bring down immigration but you do it responsibly in a way that gets the advantages but also control the cost. it immigration comes down by one person, if in five years time net immigration is 226,000—1, is at a success? not on its own but... people will want to know it is not just a you which we are committed to bringing down but also the kind of immigration. we want people coming here who want to contribute, to our economy, public services. but we have to control the cost. dominic raab there. the other parties, the big other parties, the liberal democrats and the snp are kicking up over the election debate. it is not something that has been addressed. they are very unhappy they will not be involved in this big debate on tuesday between jeremy corbyn and

borisjohnson and tuesday between jeremy corbyn and boris johnson and they have not been included. the snp, we heard earlier that they are taking legal action in order to try and get them included in this debate and they are very unhappy. people were sending mps to parliament and you need to have the plurality of voices in that debate. everyone must be represented. we have now got a multiparty system and i think one of the difficulties is theresa may and borisjohnson have never come to terms the fact they are a minority government and they will have to rely several other parties sending mps to the house of commons. we may be in a minority government situation i think it is right that the public hear the views of the other parties that are standing in the selection. that is democracy and fairness. i think it isjust a democracy and fairness. i think it is just a sign democracy and fairness. i think it isjust a sign of how high the sta kes isjust a sign of how high the stakes are in this election because we could end up in a situation where you have the snp or liberal democrat holding the balance of power so really keen to be involved,

as you heard from ian blackford there. sport, a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. good morning. raheem sterling is expected to return to the england team later today as they face kosovo in pristina in their final group game. he was dropped from the team which beat montenegro last week after his confrontation with team—mate joe gomez at the training camp. gomez won't play because he's injured. but england will be hoping for another big win over kosovo, we have got a lot of good attacking players. that is the beauty of this team, that we can... it is difficult for defences to focus on one person to try and stop them because three, four other players can step forward, score goals, create goals. the movements are good and the individual ability is good, so i think we are quite difficult at the moment for the opposition to plan for. it's going to be a long couple of days for wales,

who know a win on tuesday at home to hungary will seal their automatic qualification for euro 2020. they beat azerbaijan in their penultimate match, while group rivals slovakia lost. obviously delighted with the result. the performance was good as well. there are always things that you can do better but overall it is not a easy place to come to and for us to show the composure that we did, i was really pleased. northern ireland though will have to try to qualify for via the play—offs. they drew 0—0 with the netherlands after captain steven davis missed a penalty in belfast. scotland already knew they were consigned to the play—offs, so their win over cyprus was just a morale—boosting consolation. 2—1 the final score. next up kazakhstan on tuesday. saracens begin their european champions cup title defence today when they take on racing 92 in paris. but still the pre—match headlines are all about their pending domestic points deduction and huge fine for breaching the premiership's salary—cap regulations.

saracens are not challenging a story in a newspaper today which claims they won't be contesting the sanctions. the deadline is midnight tomorrow. joss butler hit a century in england's final warm—up game ahead of their two—test series in new zealand. but the game ended in a draw in whangarei. butler's 110 runs helped england make 405 in reply to the new zealand a side's 302—6 declared. and despite three wickets each forjofra archer and sam curran, england couldn't bowl them out in time, so it was drawn. the first test is on wednesday in tauranga. stefanos tsitsipas will face dominic thiem in the final of tennis's world tour finals in london this afternoon. it's the first time tsitsipas has qualified for the tournament, and he caused a big upset in the semifinals, beating roger federer. the greek player, who's 17 years, younger than federer took an early lead and eventually the first set. federer was flawless in beating novak djokovic earlier in the competition but was well below par as tsitsipas eventually took the match in straight sets.

that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. the government and armed forces have been accused of covering up illegal killings by british troops in afghanistan and iraq. an investigation by bbc panorama and the sunday times has spoken to a dozen british detectives who say they found credible evidence of war crimes. but the investigators say strong cases were not prosecuted. the ministry of defence has denied the claims. richard bilton has more. across two decades, british soldiers have fought wars in afghanistan and iraq. most did their duty and came home. but some were accused of committing war crimes. panorama has found evidence

the state covered up what they did. like the killing of rahid al—musawi in basra in 2003. translation: when rahid opened the door, the british soldier was crouching behind a pile of rubbish in the street. as soon as rahid walked out, the british soldier shot him here. detectives from the iraq historic allegations team investigated the case. they wanted to prosecute one soldier for the killing and his commanding officer for covering up what happened. but no one was charged. this detective asked to be interviewed anonymously. the ministry of defence had no intention of prosecuting any soldier of whatever rank he was unless it was absolutely necessary and they couldn't wriggle their way out of it. ihat looked at hundreds

of cases, but in 2017, the investigation was shut down, along with operation northmoor, which was looking at killings in afghanistan. there were no prosecutions. panorama has spoken to insiders in both investigations. they say cases were covered up. key decisions were being taken out of our hands. there was a more and more pressure coming from the mod to get cases closed as quickly as possible. the mod says military operations are conducted lawfully, and that decisions not to prosecute were made independently and after extensive investigation. richard bilton, bbc news. and you can see the full story on panorama, tomorrow on bbc one at 9pm. students affected by a huge fire at their accommdation block are being offered an alternative place to stay, an emergency grant and emotional support. two people were injured on friday night after flames reached all six floors of the halls

of residence in bolton. the bbc‘s olivia richwald is at the site in bolton and joins us live. good morning. obviously, a lot of the down work has been what now add the down work has been what now add the investigators trying to establish? the firefighters are still here at the scene and they are expecting to be here for the next few days. this is the part of the building that hasn't been affected by the fire but behind this bit the whole of the top three floors have been completely burnt away and behind this building there is a fire service aerial platform which has been coming up and expecting the building. the cube was home to around 200 students, all of whom have had to find new temporary accommodation and as you said the university of bolton has offered stu d e nts university of bolton has offered students at least a week's worth of new accommodation and grants of £500. iam new accommodation and grants of £500. i am told that the emotional and mental health support will be

starting for those students, many of whom are very traumatised, from tomorrow. will this have any impact on the university's handling of a future students? are they looking now at having more students in their own accommodation than relying on private landlords? they haven't talked about that yet but i'm sure thatis talked about that yet but i'm sure that is something they are going to look out over the next few days. this was a privately owned block and they are supporting their students and putting them into either hotels or temporary accommodation. olivia, thank you very much. time for the weather. matt, it was misty, foggy and murky this morning. it is now bright and sunny here. how was looking for the rest of the country? still a bit misty and murky in some spots. very good morning. a bit of wet weather around. northern england and the midlands. the sound

for... showery rain across scotland and northern ireland clears to something sunnier by the end of the afternoon. brighter in the south—east corner away from... wherever you are, another chilly day. there will be changes to the next 2041 was. clear risk of developing but we will hold on to cloud across england, wales and east anglia. outbreaks of rain later on and a bit of a breeze. temperatures five or 6 degrees. cold enough thrust elsewhere. where the blue colours are on the track, scotland, northern ireland. mist and fog. very little rain on the chart at last. there will be some. east anglia and south—east most prone, especially close to the coast. for most a dry day, sunny but are still chilly, especially where that fog lingers. goodbye for now. hello, this is bbc news with me, shaun ley. the headlines: prince andrew categorically denies

having sex with an american women who says she was forced to sleep with him when she wasjust 17. i can absolutely, categorically tell you it never happened. the duke of york said he does not regret his friendship with the convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein. in the election, the conservatives promise all migrants will be treated equally after brexit, regardless of where they come from. but the foreign secretary rules out setting a target for the number of people entering the uk. it's notjust the volume. it is also the kind of immigration we have got. we want people coming here who want to contribute, but we have to control the costs. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, refuses to confirm whether or not free movement of people from the eu will be included in the party's general election manifesto. my instinct is to recognise that the economies are interdependent around the world, that we all benefit from people moving to and working

in different societies. the government and the armed forces are accused of covering up illegal killings by british troops in afghanistan and iraq. now on the bbc news channel we are going tojoin our now on the bbc news channel we are going to join our colleagues at dateline london. 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.