this is bbc news, i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at two: prince andrew categorically denies having sex with an american women who says she was forced to sleep with him when she was just 17. i can absolutely, categorically, tell you that it did not happen. 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 the kind of innovation coming into the

country. people who want to contribute to our economy, the look services. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, refuses to confirm whether or not free movement of people from the eu will be included in their general election manifesto. my instinct is to recognise that economies are interdependent around the world, that we all benefit from people living to a living 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 half past two, the leading cities team is in london, taking a special look at how the british capital continues to reinvent itself to meet the needs of the people who live and work there.

good afternoon. the duke of york has been widely criticised in the media following an interview with the bbc in which he denied having a sexual encounter with a 17—year—old girl in 2001. virginia roberts says she was groomed by prince andrew's friend, jeffrey epstein, a billionaire who was also a paedophile, to have sex with the prince. he's admitted that staying with epstein after the businessman was convicted was a mistake. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. your royal highness, we've come to buckingham palace... the interview has been heard, andrew's answers have been noted, with incredulity in some quarters and, one suspects, with something close to despair within the royal household. the reaction to his words in most cases has been negative. the consensus, in pr terms, the interview was

extremely ill—advised. andrew's denial of impropriety with the then 17—year—old virginia roberts is based in part on his recollection that, on the night in question in march 2001, he was at this pizza restaurant in woking in surrey. how had he managed to remember a specific night so many years ago? because going to pizza express in woking is an unusual thing for me to do. a very unusual thing for me to do. i've never been... i've only been through woking a couple of times, and i remember it weirdly distinctly. as soon as somebody reminded me of it, iwent, oh, yes, i rememberthat. in the united states, home to most of the young women who say they were trafficked to perform sexual favours, lawyers are saying andrew should now repeat his testimony under oath. whether a person is a prince ora pauper, ifanyone has evidence or information that might be relevant to an investigation of a criminal case, that person should provide it to the law enforcement.

in this case, it would be the federal bureau of investigation. and from those who have worked for the royalfamily and who are familiar with prince andrew, there is a feeling of weary resignation. they will be wondering, was the right decision made? who made the decision to put him on? did he make it himself, or did he seek advice within the palace? my guess is that he bulldozed his way in and decided that he was going to do it himself, without any advice. it was supposed to be the interview which drew a line under the story for andrew and allowed him to move on. that moment is certainly some way off. nicholas witchell, bbc news. joining me now is simonjones who is outside buckingham palace. has there been any response at all

from the royal family to the interview and the media interest generated? no response. you settle and get the impression of this is something the queen would have very much like to keep out of. we understand the decision to do this interview was made by prince andrew himself and his advisers, it's unclear whether he consulted any other members of the royal family before going ahead with it. here at buckingham palace, it is certainly the talk of the day. throughout the day, we have seen people arriving, torres outside the building. at 11 o'clock, lots of people gathered for the usual service of changing the guard. it really has it been the spectacle that everyone has been talking about today, they have been wanting to talk about that documentary, that interview last night. i have been speaking to tourists from around the world who all eagerly tune in last night, the overwhelming response seems to be that it may have done the prince

more harm than good overall. 0ne royal commentator said that a of this interview, they are expecting it to be a bit ofa this interview, they are expecting it to be a bit of a train wreck. then having seen it, it was a bit like the equivalent of a plane crashing into an oil tanker which then sets off a tsunami, which then monty is a nuclear bomb. it was that bad, according to them. we have heard that prince andrew was very keen to draw a line under what has happened. what it has done has lodged this debate, once again, that was perhaps falling away from public consciousness, he felt he wanted to have a say, to be clear about what happened. many commentators saying that it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. 0ne view that has been coming across is that he did seem very self in giving his a nswe i’s did seem very self in giving his answers during that interview. perhaps there was a degree of a lack of self—awareness about how some of this might be coming across,

particularly, his refusal, refusal to say that his friendship with jeffrey epstein had been wrong, he said there had been some benefit to it. his former wife, said there had been some benefit to it. his formerwife, sarah said there had been some benefit to it. his former wife, sarah ferguson, has come to his aid, saying that he is an honourable man that speaks of the three. i think a lot of people will need a lot of convincing that this was the right thing to do. joining me now is catherine mayer, a royal biographer and journalist and founder of the women's equality party. you watch the interview, what did you make of it? it was as bad as i expected, probably worst. it was bad if that was supposed to be an exercise in exculpation and reputation management, it was disastrous. it was also terrible because it is raised the victims of epstein,. he was given the chance at the end, anything else you'd like to say? he said, no, no, ithink you

dug it out for me. he didn't mention those women once. he mentioned them only in the sense that he may not have noticed them in epstein's house because he was to do is to being surrounded by said events, servants oi'i surrounded by said events, servants on people so you do not notice them. extraordinary, but also unsurprising for me because i had been around the royals a lot. you have met him. can you give us an insight into what sort of person he is? it's strange. i went sort of person he is? it's strange. iwent on sort of person he is? it's strange. i went on a trip to china with him when he was uk trade ambassador, in 2004 this was. like many other royals, i actually ended up, a lot of the time, feeling sorry for him. it was because he was so out of his depth. all of them are, in the sense that the queen was my children have been brought up in in this bubble

where they are told they are very special, that they have this very special, that they have this very special role but they cannot determine the role. they both have entitlement and now agency, they have no real world experience. some of that like it explains some of what you are seeing, he is not a bright man at all. you say that, he may have also been a very poorly advised in this case. no, he has pushed back every time someone has tried to give him good advice. you have seen his pr adviser has resigned because of this interview. i think because they have so little control over their own lives, when they can assert themselves, they very often do. andrew is particularly prone to that. shouldn't we give him some credit for attempting to face the music? no. we are seeing a culture of impunity. originally, whatever the

situation, whatever he did or didn't do, in being photographed by epstein after he had emerged from jail as a convicted paedophile, he was essentially giving cover and credibility to him. one of the reasons i'm so angry about this, but also link it through to the campaigning we do our own mps accused of sexual misconduct who have not resigned, this is about organisations that reflexively protect their own, instead of actually dealing with the problem, looking at the victims unravelling. to stick with prince andrew, yes, jeffrey epstein was convicted. but you will know that we do have to be careful these days, don't we? about a lwa ys careful these days, don't we? about always believing the victims. i'm sorry to say it, but it is part of this discussion, isn't it? the numbers of people who have been

proved to have make false accusations are vanishingly small. the number of people making accusations and not being heard and being advised is huge. that is what the need movement is about. of course people seize on the tiny movement, but it is vanishingly small. there are very many people who had been denied justice because epstein took his life. one of the things i do hope about prince andrei's interview is that that actually prompts a deeper investigation to give them some kind ofjustice. we should say that prince andrew has categorically denied any kind of sexual contact with the virginia roberts. thank you for joining with the virginia roberts. thank you forjoining us. immigration is dominating the debate in the general election campaign today. the conservatives have been giving more details on measures they want to see to try and reduce the number of people coming here — whilejeremy corbyn has said there would continue to be plenty of movement of people in and out of britain under

a labour government. susana mendonca has the latest. the arrival of people from across the european union has changed the face of high street like this one in peterborough, and raised concern among some people about the issue of immigration — which could be a vote winner or a vote loser in next month's election. labour's leader says he's promising a more welcome approach. they say a labour government led by me will bring in a hostile environment... very, very simple, a very easy question — will free movement end when we leave the eu? there will be a great deal of movement. a great deal of movement? so free movement will not end? no, look... you will have to wait. how much movement isn't clear, and during talks to pin down labour's election manifesto yesterday, the party decided against any explicit attempt to extend the freedom of movement for workers, which had been favoured by its grassroot members. mr corbyn said labour would negotiate a customs union

with the eu and put the deal to a referendum. and he said his negotiating team wouldn't just be made up of remainers. there would obviously be a team of people who would be involved in this, and they would be representative of all parts of the uk and of areas that have different views. the conservatives have also been setting out their immigration plans, which they say would have require immigrants from all countries to have a job offer before they arrived and pay more for nhs care. but, no detail on numbers from a party that's been stung in the past for failing to meet its immigration targets. we are not going to fix on an arbitrary target. the problem is, that if you don't fix on any kind of target, we have no way ofjudging whether your policy has been a failure or a success. no, that's wrong. because, actually, what we will do is make sure that the government and parliament has got control over immigration. the foreign secretary also promised more control over industries like fishing after brexit, but couldn't say if the price of a eu trade deal might lead

to the eu getting more access to british waters. susana mendonca, bbc news. 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. gunfire. 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 0peration 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 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 watch more on that story on panorama tomorrow at 9pm on bbc one. the headlines on bbc news: prince andrew categorically denies having sex with an american women who says she was forced to sleep with him when she was just 17. 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. and, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, refuses to confirm whether or not free movement of people from the eu will be included in their general election manifesto. the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, says he has concerns about the use of any sort of cladding on buildings after a fire at a block of student flats in bolton on friday. the fire service has confirmed that the material on the building is not the same type as used on grenfell tower in london, but mr burnham says it raises issues that need to be addressed. kevin fitzpatrick reports. it was a fire that spread rapidly and ripped through the top three floors of this building in the town centre. people were panicking and coming out because there was a real fire and there was a lot of smoke. so, people were panicking and everyone ran out. heard, like, banging on the door,

and saying, "fire!" and i grabbed, like, my phone, like, the jacket and shoes and ijust ran. 220 students are registered as living there, and by saturday afternoon, the fire service said they'd spoken to every one of them. people were crying, talking about their possessions. it was mostlyjust uni work — a lot of people had uni work that they believe must have been destroyed, passports and laptops and valuables just all gone. the fire service say this blaze was ferocious and it spread quickly through the top floors of this six—storey building. at its peak, 40 fire engines and appliances were battling the fire. it took around five hours to get it under control. i really want to praise the actions of my firefighters and officers. their early intervention and quick decision—making that evacuated this building at pace early on in the incident has made a real difference to the outcome. the mayor, andy burnham, said that swift evacuation was due to a recent change in approach. as well as a fire command,

which would always be sent by the fire service to any incident of this kind, they sent an evacuation command, which was a learning of their own from grenfell. the mayor confirmed that the cladding on the building is different to that which caused the grenfell disaster, but it was still considered to pose a risk in a subsequent fire safety inspection in 2017. the authorities believe work to remedy that has taken place, but an investigation will now establish whether it was done to standard. the prime minister visited a support centre for those who've been displaced. bolton university is providing temporary accommodation, food and clothing for those affected. in the meantime, an investigation is under way to establish how this blaze began. kevin fitzpatrick, bbc news, bolton. hundreds of bikers have gathered to ride in memory of harry dunn, the teenager whose crash death led to a diplomatic row with the united states. the bikers took to the streets close

to the spot where harry died after the motorbike he was riding was struck by a car. the main suspect in the crash, the wife of an american diplomat, left the country and returned to the us claiming diplomatic immunity. harry's family said the support from the public was "the only thing keeping them going." a fragile ceasefire seems to be holding in gaza after an outbreak of the worst fighting in months. it was triggered when israel killed a leaderfrom the palestinian militant group, islamichhad, saying he posed an imminent threat. the fighting also sparked internal tensions and led to a deadly airstrike on civilians — which israel said it's investigating. barbara plett usher reports from gaza. in a split second, life changed forever. they lost parents, home,

brothers, sisters — struck by israeli missiles while they slept. this is a family member. "i can't describe enough my feelings and the consequences of what happened," he says. the israelis were after a islamichhad militant. now they admit they may have made a costly mistake here. the violence started when israel killed one of the group's top commanders, accusing him of masterminding attacks against them. islamichhad avenged his death with barrages of rockets but the more powerful islamist movement which runs gaza, hamas, did notjoin in. even though it often takes the lead in fighting israel and some countries deem it an international terrorist group. for most of the week israel did not hold hamas responsible for the violence like it usually does.

both of them seemed to be trying to avoid a wider conflict. this time it was the smaller, more radical islamichhad group that was centre stage. hamas leaders were criticised here for staying on the sidelines. they say they are acting in the palestinian interest. the palestinian interest of this time is to avoid as much as possible any further escalations, a new war because the situation on the ground is so difficult, so worst, and the regional and international atmosphere is not so helpful at this time. things look different when you are not in government. here, they want more rockets, more assistance, as they call it. there is a ceasefire, but it is fragile. life is getting back to normal in gaza, but in regard that life is never normal. people are caught between a crippling israeli blockade and the militant palestinian groups. i can't tell whether it is over or not because at any moment something might come up and we are not ready to face it. i'm 24 years old but i don't feel

like i am living my life the way i am supposed to. ijust want to live. this latest round of fighting seems to be mostly opened but the seemingly endless war is not. in some of the most dramatic scenes since protests in hong kong began more than five months ago, protesters have shot arrows and thrown petrol bombs at police as fresh violence erupted at the polytecnic university. riot police responded with tear gas canisters and water cannon. 0ur south asia correspondent, robin brant, is there and explained earlier how the situation unfolded. it has been a week where the protesters have changed their tactics, some have been demonstrating on a daily bases on their lunch hours, others have been more aggressive. it has been protesters, some students, who have

taken over university campuses. it began in chinese use universities. it has been repeated here for the last 48 hours at polytecnic university. for the last eight hours 01’ university. for the last eight hours orso, we university. for the last eight hours or so, we have had a confrontation between police and protesters, that has been to and through, there have been to your gas and petrol bombs. now, the police are surrounding the police on perhaps five different fronts. let's look at how it unfolded about eight hours ago. the police are now trying to move in on two fronts, the tear gas is coming from there, another group there. and here there is a holdout of the students, throwing bricks and petrol bombs. at the moment, its remains a stand—off but it feels like the police are definitely going to try and move in soon and reclaim this area. this is how the police have chosen to end the stand—off, we have

been here for a couple of hours, there have been tear gas and petrol bombs. now, the water cannon is moving in, a lot of armoured vehicles as well, trying to push the protesters back. they are holding in a line. we can see some fire on the floor. this is the most aggressive move we have seen floor. this is the most aggressive move we have seen from the police. all this is happening, just over there, ten metres away, several soldiers of the chinese liberation army are looking on. the reason that this area so important is because we are on a bridge. yet again, protesters are blocking the road here and the roads below, one of the entrances of hong kong's free tunnels that take you to the island. it is of real strategic importance. for people going to work tomorrow morning, they do not want to see bridges and roads, particularly in his seized blocked by bricks and debris and the efforts of protesters. i' m

debris and the efforts of protesters. i'm just to show you beyond the crowd, there are police station over the other side of the bridge. police on a new footbridge over there, trying to push protesters back. also police are not that footbridge which went up in fla mes that footbridge which went up in flames about an hour ago. after eight hours of confrontation, the protesters have despaired. in terms of grant one, the police do not seem to be making much process to stop all this happening with the barracks of china's pla armyjust over there, looking on. sri lanka's election commission has declared the former wartime defence minister, goata baya rajapa ksha, as the winner of the presidential election. election offiocials say mr rajapaksha has secured just over 52% of the vote. he received overwhelming support in sinhalese majority areas, while his main rival, did better in the tamil—dominated north and east. the election is sri lanka's first

since a deadly terror attack in april in which militants — linked to the islamic state group — targeted churches and hotels killing more than 250 people. the photographer terry o'neill has died at the age of 81. married to the film actress faye dunaway for four years, he took this iconic photograph of her after her 0scar win in 1976. he had a long association with david bowie, and he captured some of the most famous images of film and music stars of the ‘60s and ‘70s. he rose to fame in the ‘60s, photographing the rolling stones and the beatles long before they were famous. he died at home after a long battle with prostate cancer. singer and songwriter eltonjohn has paid tribute on twitter a short time ago. he said:

a nine—year—old boy from belgium is about to become the world's youngest ever university graduate. laurent seemons — 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 seemons likes nothing 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 a year and a half. 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 believe 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'sjust 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 parts 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's ten. tim allman, bbc news.

now it's time for a look that has been a bit of cloud around, some sunshine, especially across parts of scotland, northern ireland and parts of england. a thick cloud and parts of england. a thick cloud and other bit of rain will push these words, clear skies crossing north and west. he cold and frosty stock to scotland, northern ireland and into wales. high pressure is going to bring some sunny and dry weather for most of the country through monday, indeed, into tuesday. that will assist them over the near continent could bring some cloud, stronger winds, a few showers over the south—east, it should stay is sunny later in the day. elsewhere, a sunny day with light winds, were mist and fog lingers, it could stay quite chilly otherwise, 7 to 10 celsius