this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: in hong kong, just 100 activists remain inside the university campus stand—off — with supplies of food and drink running out. we will use whatever means to continue to persuade and arrange for these remaining protesters to leave these remaining protesters to leave the campus as soon as possible. the trump administration reverses four decades of us policy — saying israeli settlements in the occupied west bank aren't illegal. prince andrew loses sponsorship from a major internationalfirm — following revelations about his relationship with sex offender, jeffrey epstein. and — tiny manuscript —

but a big price. one of the first works by charlotte bronte is sold for half a million dollars. hello to you. we start in hong kong, with activists still under siege inside the polytechnic university. but around 100 protesters — including 50 under—18s — have been led from the buildings as part of a deal negotiated by a group of head teachers. there's been more violence as police try to keep the activists trapped inside. some have tried to escape by abseiling onto the highway. outside the university protesters have tried to break police lines. police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. 0ur correspondent, rupert wingfield—hayes has the latest. for a few minutes today, it looked like the siege of hong kong polytechnic university might end peacefully. the young protesters began

streaming down the stairway, that on sunday was set aflame to block the police from storming the campus. but seconds later, riot police began firing tear gas grenades, sending the young protesters scattering in confusion. some did not escape. the clear message from the police today — if you surrender, you will be arrested. hundreds of protesters are still holed up inside the university, and some of them, still preparing for a fight. this young man's brother is one of them. he is 22 years old, he graduate last year in poly university. he was, go to the school after work. and we reached him by whatsapp. as we know, he is safe now but he cannot come out because police forces around the school.

he's trying to, he trying to come out last night but not successful. this evening, a small group made another break for it, abseiling down ropes from one of the university footbridges to a roadway below and being taken away on awaiting motorcycles. as night fell in kowloon, thousands of other protesters began coming onto the streets in support of those still besieged inside the university. soon the streets of kowloon were once again ablaze. down the street behind me here, about half a mile away is the hong kong polytechnic university, which is still under siege. around it, in many, many places tonight are scenes like this of complete chaos, of running street battles between protesters and riot police. this, where we'e standing here, is next to many 5—star hotels. this is the heart of hong kong's tourist and shopping district. trapped in their rooms, tourists gazed down at the scenes below.

late tonight, a handful of underage protesters were allowed to leave the university campus. but for everyone else, police here are now taking an increasingly hard line. in the last few hours, hong kong's chief executive carrie lam has been giving her weekly address to the media. in her statement, she claimed that the presence of people's liberation army troops in the city streets — who had been seen helping to clean up debris left in the wake of the protests had not been at her request. this voluntary act of the garrison did not come under any provisions in the basic law, that is to say it is not in response to my request, 0k? that is the second point. and you asked about when we would resort to formally inviting the garrison to

help. i would assure you that we remain very confident that we are able to cope with the situation. she also refused to rule out the use of force against the protesters currently occupying the polytechnic university. we have about 200 of these under 18s, who have come out of the campus and have been dealt with in a humanitarian manner. that is something we will continue to adopt as an important guideline. the reason i cannot give you a guarantee is because the situation is changing. if we were seeing life—threatening incidents on the campus, then as i said, the police are on the reactive side and they would have to take the necessary action to prevent any tragedies from

happening in hong kong. let's speak to alvin lum, reporter for the south china morning post who is at the polytechnic university campus. can you tell us about the scene there? pain is a picture. basically, it's very quiet now. —— paint us. some of the student protesters have left, those under 18 yea rs protesters have left, those under 18 years old, they were allowed to go, there are about 200 of them, and about 100 who are 18 years old. some have been arrested. some protesters,

as we speak, we are touring around the building. there is leaking in the building. there is leaking in the underground floors of the buildings. we have been seeing pictures of people let out by fire officers, this relates to what carrie lam said, asking for minors, people under 18 to be treated humanely and encouraged to come out peacefully as he put it. she said they would not be arrested but their personal data would be taken by police. that will surely worry some of them? yeah, but those taken out by firefighters, they risk the chance of being arrested. but what they have been telling the media is that food is running out and so they

have no choice but to come out and receive the treatment. theyjust wa nt to receive the treatment. theyjust want to and the incident as soon as possible. alvin, some of the protesters had said they were threatened by police with the use of force if they didn't give up. as you understand, there are people still inside, will the police come into get them? the feeling on the ground is that most people are already leaving or trying to leave. but of course there is a court trying to stay to the end —— core. there are also some trying to find a way to

leave the campus. most of the surrounding roads are under surveillance. another reporter for the —— alvin lum, reporterfor the south china morning post, thank you for that update. my pleasure. let's get some of the day's other news. four soldiers and two porters have died in an avalanche on the siachen glacier in indian—administered kashmir. the patrol was 5,800 metres up in the himalayas when they were hit. rescue teams managed to pull all the men out and helicopters evacuated seven, critically injured. six later died from hypothermia. thousands of people in bolivia have taken part in a demonstration in the streets of la paz, calling for the resignation of the country's interim leader, jeanine anez. supporters of the former president, evo morales, say ms anez has played a key role in a right—wing coup backed by the army and the police. more than 20 people have died

in protests since mr morales resigned last week and was given asylum in mexico. protest organisers in lebanon are trying to prevent mps gathering for a parliamentary session on tuesday. protesters say they'll block roads leading to parliament to try to stop a controversial amnesty law to be discussed. they say it could allow corrupt officials to evade justice. a series of concessions to the protesters, including the resignation of the prime minister, saad hariri, have so far failed to quell public anger over corruption. the us secretary of state has announced that washington no longer considers israeli settlements built in the occupied west bank to be illegal. the move breaks with four decades of american foreign policy. the settlements are widely considered illegal under international law, although israel has always disputed this. palestinians want this disputed territory as part of a future independent state. calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international

law has not worked. it hasn't advance the cause of peace. the hard truth is there will never be an international resolution to the argument and arguments about who is right and long as a matter of international law will not bring peace. this is a complex political problem that can only be solved by negotiations between the israelis the palestinians. the united states remains deeply committed to helping facilitate peace and i will do everything i can to help his cause. the united states encourages the israelis and the palestinians to resolve the status of israeli settlements in the west bank in any final status negotiations, and further we encourage both sides to find a solution that promotes, protects the security and welfare of palestinians and israelis alike. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu welcomed the news and said the us review of the legality of west bank settlements recognizes the rights of the jewish people to "settle in their land".

translation: people of israel, this is a historic day, and another great achievement to our policy. the us administration has now put an end to the lie that settlements are illegal. i thank president trump and i thank the secretary of state pompeo. the palestinian chief negotiator, saeb erekat, added that "this is turning the international community from the rules of international law, the rules of solving conflicts by peaceful means, into the rules of the jungle." israeli settlements including injerusalem are not only illegal under international law, they are war crimes. and the statement of pompeo — secretary of state to the united states — is absolutely rejected and must be condemned because once superpowers, once the trump administration decides to undermine international law, once they become

a administration that is pro—israeli occupation, pro—israeli war crimes, this constitutes a major threat to international peace and security. so how does the trump administration explain this u—turn? here's the bbc‘s north america correspondent david willis. the trump administration, the secretary of state mike pompeo saying that previous policies as far as this was concerned were "inconsistent" in his words. and the trump administration was reversing a0 years of policy in regard by declaring that these settlements were not in breach of international law. now, that puts the united states at odds with the eu, the united nations, and of course american allies in the middle east. as far as the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is concerned, howeverm, it's probably music to his ears.

his opponent has of course, benny gantz has until wednesday to form a government. if he cannot do that, there will be a third election in israel and this could play into the hands of benjamin netanyahu, who i might add, has rung president trump this evening thanking him for making this move. it is seen as the third pro—israel move on the part of the trump administration, the recognition ofjerusalem as the capital of course and the recognition of the annexation of the golan heights earlier this year. david, you probably are speaking to your colleagues, but palestinian analysts who have been speaking to our other correspondents said that international law has not helped very the growth of settlements which already has pretty much killed any hope of a two—state solution.

this will not give any hope of the palestinians. the feeling is that itjust encourages the annexation, is rarely annexation of the west bank, and this is something that benjamin netanyahu has floated in the past on two occasions, before the two election that israel have seen this year, but you are absolutely right, there is a feeling that this kills stone—dead, any possibility of a two—state solution which has long of course been the approved, favourites template for some sort of peace in the middle east. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: unusually heavy early snowfall and avalanches cut off thousands of people in parts of austria and italy. 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 fast—growing european anti—nuclear movement. the south african government has announced that its 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 world news. the latest headlines: in hong kong, the stand—off at the polytechnic university campus appears to be coming to an end with protesters surrendering to the authorities.

the trump administration has reversed decades of us foreign policy by announcing that washington no longer considers israeli settlements in the occupied west bank illegal. britain's prince andrew is facing more pressure in the wake of his bbc interview when he was questioned about his friendship with the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein who died earlier this year. one major internationalfirm has just pulled out of a project involving the prince, and he's been urged by victims ofjeffrey epstein have to help american investigators with their inquiries. the prince has consistently denied allegations about his own conduct. this report from our royal correspondent nicholas witchell contains flashing images. in los angeles tonight, a lawyer for some of jeffrey epstein‘s alleged victims and a young woman who says she was raped by epstein at the age of 15. and in no uncertain terms, prince andrew was urged

to step forward and tell the fbi everything he knows about the behaviour and activities of his formerfriend, jeffrey epstein. he described in his interview this weekend that jeffrey epstein‘s home was "like a railway station." well, a lot of the people in his homes that were coming in and out were minors, underage girls. it's not something that anyone should close their eyes to. these are somebody‘s children. these are kids. it would help the victims, ms allred said, if prince andrew would take the initiative and submit himself to being questioned. it's the honourable and right thing to do. but will he? there's no absolute commitment so far that prince andrew will agree to be questioned by the us authorities. the palace line at the moment is that, if a request is received, it will be considered. two nights ago,

prince andrew did his best to answer the central allegations with categoric denials of impropriety. 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. but today, a further sign of the damage this is doing to the prince's reputation. one of his initiatives is called pitch at the palace — it's a scheme to help entrepreneurs. tonight, the accountants kpmg announced that they were withdrawing their sponsorship for the scheme. the decision was taken before the newsnight interview, but it's understood that the ongoing controversy around prince andrew is one of the reasons for it. but for all the criticisms,

andrew's officials say he's determined to carry on. there is no question of him stepping back in any way from his royal duties. nicholas witchell, bbc news, buckingham palace. in europe, thousands of people have been left stranded after avalanches across northern italy and southern austria cut off towns and villages, leaving them accessible only by helicopter. 0ne austrian village has been cut off from the outside world since thursday. this report from rich preston. in the austrian alps, the picture—perfect area in east tyrol. but for days now, this has been the only way in and out. avalanches have left this town of over 1,000 people cut off. two people had to be evacuated with medical emergencies. on sunday, 70 people had to be evacuated after an avalanche hit another nearby village. translation: we had to evacuate people in the village via helicopter.

we could only reach there via helicopter. they were flown here to the fire station and lodged at friends or in hotels. translation: the situation is so sensitive. we have to get food here, this will be a big problem. at the moment, we still have electricity, but tomorrow, fresh snow is expected and it will be dark again. we will have a problem. there have been similar problems in south tyrol over the border in italy. over the weekend, the village of martel was covered in snow and more than 900 residents cut off from the outside world. heavy machinery has been brought in. translation: our biggest problem is to free the people. approximately 250 people are closed off. there are approximately 4,000, 5,000, even 6,000 cubic metres of snow.

we have three excavators and lorries. forecasters say the risk of more wet snow avalanches is still high, meaning for now, these villages remain isolated and worse may be yet to come. rich preston, bbc news. research by brazil's space agency shows deforestation in the amazon is at its highest level in more than a decade and up 30% on last year. the total amount of trees cleared in the year to august was almost 10,000 square kilometres. to put that into perspective, around 2,000 football pitches a day. greenpeace brazil's spokesperson for the amazon cristiane mazzetti said she wasn't surprised by the data. this data is the highest since 2008 so it is a very large area, taking into consideration that we should be going towards a little bit less than 400,000 square kilometres. this is the milestone of the government for 2020 which isn't very far away and this is a direct result of bolsonaro's administration's agenda,

which has been dismantling environmental agencies and policies that should be in place to reduce deforestation. the bolsonaro government would say and has been saying that this figure really is nowhere near as high as the early 2000s and the years before that, and that he hasn't actually changed any laws. right, it's not as high as it was back there, but then, many, many measures, many policies were implemented that dropped deforestation by a little bit less than 5,000 square kilometres in 2012, so what bolsonaro has done is he removed — his government removed lots of mechanisms that were there, in place, to reduce deforestation so the prospects are not great for the following years. yes, i was going to ask you — where do you see things going from here? so, i see that until the government doesn't refer to this anti—environmental agenda and puts

in place very concrete and effective policies, we are not going to reduce deforestation. the trend is that it will keep going up. if we look at the alerts for the following period, we can see that from august to october, there was already an increase of 100% in the area with deforestation alerts, showing that there is a trend of deforestation going up and up again. a tiny piece of literary history has sold for more than $500,000 in paris. it is a miniature magazine by the author, charlotte bronte. lucy williamson has the story. paris, april 17... inside this tiny book, charlotte bronte covered the world. stories of heroes and adventurers, feuds and love affairs in far—flung corners of the globe. the manuscript,

called the young men's magazine, was written for her brothers‘ toy soldiers. today, it sold for 750,000 euros to the bronte parsonage museum in howarth. it already has the other four surviving little books. we're absolutely delighted. i could almost hear the whoops of delight all the way from howarth. it's the second time they've tried to buy this manuscript. the first time, they tried and failed in 2011, when it was bought by the collection that is being dismembered here. and to finally bring it home for them now, it's a great moment. packed into these 4,000 tiny words are early clues about charlotte bronte's literary ideas. in one story, she describes a man in a burning bed, a scene that's revisited in her most famous work, jane eyre. after a journey of almost two centuries, the little book that allowed charlotte bronte to explore the world outside howarth is finally coming home.

lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. more for you and any time on the bbc website. thank you for watching. hello there. the largely dry and sunny conditions of the next few days will be very welcome across much of the country, particularly for england and wales, which have seen so much rainfall over the past few weeks. this morning we're starting off on a cold, frosty note with some fog around. some of it could be quite dense. it looks like it will stay sunny for many areas through the day. a ridge of high pressure bringing these fine, settled conditions. this weather front pushing into western areas means that temperatures will be starting on such a cold note, as they will be further north and east. perhaps —9 or —10 degrees in one or two spots in scotland and around —5, —6 for northern england, so a bitterly cold start to the day with a hard frost across the country. dense fog patches through the midlands, into southern england, wales, could cause some issues

through the morning. they'll tend to lift into low cloud, perhaps drift northwards into parts of lincolnshire and yorkshire, spoiling the sunshine a little bit here. but for most, it should be cold and sunny. this weather front bringing outbreaks of rain into parts of northern ireland, western fringes of wales and into the south—west of england where there will be less cold here, but it's supposed to be another chilly day for all. on into tuesday night then, picking up more of breeze from the south, so although it starts off cold, by the end of the night, it looks like the frost will be limited more towards scotland and the north—east of england. but still, quite a chilly start for wednesday. variable amounts of cloud, some spells of sunshine too. this weather front across the west will be producing further rain for northern ireland, perhaps western wales and in towards the south—west of england. but most places should be dry. temperatures reaching 10 degrees, belfast, plymouth, but still single values elsewhere. now, into thursday, subtle change as this area of low pressure, this weather front, just wriggles a bit further eastwards. so it could introduce outbreaks

of rain through thursday to western parts of england, wales, northern ireland, perhaps into south—west scotland too. could see just one or two showers moving up the east coast affecting the north—east of scotland. these will be wintry on the high ground. a breezy day with the wind blowing up from the south—east. again, temperatures reaching double figures across the south, maybe 11 or 12 in plymouth. single—figure values elsewhere will remain fairly chilly and dry and bright with some sunshine. as we head into the latter part of the week into the weekend, low pressure skirts by southern parts of britain, heads on into the central mediterranean, but another low—pressure system will push into western parts of the country through the weekend, perhaps into the start of next week, bringing very mild air to our shores but also could push some rainfall across more central and eastern parts of the country as well, so turning a bit more unsettled into the weekend.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: in hong kong, it appears that the stand—off between democracy activists and police at the polytechnic university is coming to an end. protestors have been surrendering to the authorities after running out of food and water. it's not clear how many still remain inside the campus. the trump administration has declared that israeli settlements in the occupied west bank — widely seen as illegal under international law — are not illegal. that reverses four decades of american policy. israel invaded the area in 1967 and has built hundreds of thousands of homes forjewish settlers since. the multinational accountancy firm, kpmg, is not renewing its sponsorship of an initiative started by britain's prince andrew. it's understood a major reason is the revelations about his ties to the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein.