look of the outside source. prince entrance analyses to be there from royal duties saying his association with jeffrey epstein royal duties saying his association withjeffrey epstein scandal has become a major disruption to the royal family. this posted become a major disruption to the royalfamily. this posted interview with the bbc in which he was criticised for lack of empathy with epstein‘s victims and for saying he didn't regret his friendship with him. a key witness in the picture inquiry in washington says the white house did link policy towards ukraine with investigating the president's rivals. was there ape quid pro quo? as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the meeting, the answer is yes. but

donald trump has not taken a backward step, this is what he said in the last two hours. i don't know him very well, i have not spoken to him very well, i have not spoken to him much. this is not a man i know well. seems like a nice guy though. the election campaign continues. the liberal democrats have launched their manifesto saying to stop brexit to generate a £50 million bonus. conservatives are making promises or national insurance and have all the latest on westminster. this is a huge numberfor the royal family. prince interest to be back from royal duties of the following from royal duties of the following from his bbc news the interview continues. a few hours becky released this statement which he can

find online in full, in it he says the circumstances well, let's hear the reaction of the royal commentator. his vision was untenable when it came to the after the interview, he went into the interview believing it was crisis management but created a crisis instead of managing it. there was no other direction he could go to my sponsors were falling by the wayside. kpmg sponsorship and finished in october and not renewing but other sponsors have said they are not renewing at the end of the year went their contracts were terminated. the organisations can't cope and can't function without sponsors. so everything was falling about him like dominoes but he was really left with no alternative but

to step back from public duty. very difficult for prince andrew, you've got to put the royal family to one side. they are feeling desperately sorry for him that one of their own has been confronted with all this and had to step aside in terms of public duties, but it's andrew that's got to come to terms with it. he's not out of the woods yet. the fbi investigators would you talk to him, the litigators lawyers want to talk to him and that want to talk to him under oath so he still got that to face. does he do in the states or do it in the united kingdom? that is still to be decided. but he really got to come forward and say exactly what happened. a lot of flailing in the interview on saturday night. the photograph you just shown, he said that's in an upstairs room but i've never been in the upstairs room. if he's never been in that room how did he's never been in that room how did he know it was there? all sorts of things that sort of fell by the wayside. contradicting himself. he's got to take stock of what he wants to do, how he wants to handle it and

is he going to answer questions put to him from the other side of the atlantic? it is not going to go away until such time he does answer those questions and then maybe, maybe i say, the clouds were clear away. these are allegations at the moment and until such time they are proven to be fact we have to accept they are allegations. in a few minutes' time we will speak to the royal correspondent with more reaction to that announcement. this is been the worst day of the intergenic inquiry for donald trump. gordon sunderland is the us ambassador to the eu. gordon sondland is us ambassador to the eu, he's seen as an ally of the president — we know he gave a million dollars to the trump inauguration — and we know he was central to the trump administration's policy on ukraine. the accusation is that mr trump connected us policy on ukraine — with demands for investigations into his political rivaljoe biden. and that mr trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani was orchestrating it all.

today — gordon sondland said this. mr giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a white house visit for president zelinski. mr giuliani demanded that ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of the 2016 election d&c server and brees ma. mr giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the united states and we knew these investigations were important to the president. let's unpack that statement. bbc‘s washington dc bureau chief paul danahar mr sondland was appointed ambassador to the eu last year —

he'd previously run a lucrative hotel business. fast forward to the spring of this year and volodymyr zelensky had just been elected president of ukraine. in the process of congratulating him, donald trump indicated he'd like to invite mr zelensky to the white house. gordon sondland says the prospect of this visit became entangled with other issues — and that president trump instructed him to work with his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani on ukraine. and that mr giuliani wanted ukraine to announce an investigation into company called burisma which had hired swipe joe biden‘s son hunter. add into this, america was delaying the release of military aid too — though it's unclear if ukraine knew about that. so did all of things connect? was the delivery of a white house visit and military aid made conditional on an investigation that would benefit doanld trump politically? here's ambassador sondland's answer.

in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid,i explanation for the suspension of aid, i later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 elections and brees my as mr giuliani had demanded. and the military aid is both strategically and symbolically important. since 2014 ukraine has been fighting pro—russia separatists who have seized territory in the east of the country — this image was taken earlier thie month. bill taylor, the acting us ambassador to ukraine, testified last week — and said, "0ver witness after witness in these hearings has testified that ukraine needed the funds to fight the rebels who are supported by russia.

today gordon sondland agreed. my my goal at the time was to do what was necessary to get the aid released, to break the logjam. i believe that the public statement we have been discussing for weeks was essential to advancing that goal. you know, i really regret that the ukrainians were placed in that predicament. but i do not regret doing what i could to try to break the logjam. the former us ambassador to russia michael mcfaul has respnded. ..

i guess the question for chris is, whether he did that effectively and whether he did that effectively and whether he did that effectively and whether he prodded that he provided enough evidence to back up his perception of what he was being asked to do. i think the reality is it depends whether you want the democrat side over republican side and it feels like everybody here in washington has a site at the moment as to whether or not you believe thatis as to whether or not you believe that is the case. certainly there we re that is the case. certainly there were moments that gordon sondland testimony struck worrying notes particularly for democrats as he used some phrases that almost seemed designed for the headlines. for example, we designed for the headlines. for exa m ple, we followed designed for the headlines. for example, we followed the president's orders. that they follow the express direction of president trump to allow his personal lawyer to push ukraine and to launching investigations into his political rivals. purely for the benefit of

donald trump's own agenda and domestic agenda as opposed to the interest of the united states. at the end of this, democrat as far as they are concerned they all came across the significant and troubling. but they also have these comments from republicans saying as far as they're concerned they did not believe they had his fingerprints to push ukraine to launch this investigation with the threat of taking away or holding military aid. mr solomon had made clear that president trump had not said to him it was contingent on investigations about military aid being given. perhaps that what they will try to say time and time again. certainly president trump has made clear from the white house and as far as he's concerned he has done nothing wrong. he insists again and again there was no so—called quid pro quo. but ultimately i do think

mr sunderland has raised some issues that will determine the democrats to feel they need further investigation. a couple more things to ask you about. a statement from the us state department spokeswoman saying... that you have the state department directly contradicting what gordon sondland has said. it's also worth pointing out that he's altered his testimony since he first given death that deposition behind closed doors. he originally said there was not any direct connection between these investigations into joe biden direct connection between these investigations intojoe biden and the delivery of military aid. now he is saying there was a direct connection. under questioning he also admitted his orders never came directly from president trump. well, mrtrump has directly from president trump. well, mr trump has been talking about the ambassador and here he is a little

bit earlier. here's my response. if you want if you were not fake news he would cover it properly. i want nothing, i want nothing, i want nothing, i want nothing, i want nothing, i want nothing, i want nothing, i want no quid pro quo. tell dolinsky, president zelinski to do the right thing. i want nothing, i want nothing. i want to know quid pro quo. tell zelinski to do the right thing and then he says, this is the final word from the president of the united states. i want nothing. to that point, that he offered no evidence that the president had directly ordered him to do anything, what are the democrats say to that? well, he said as far as he was concerned he assumed and basically put two and

two together and as far as he was concerned made for him thinking that the only logical conclusion was that president trump was pushing this agenda and this idea that military aid would be connected to investigations. and that that was something he wanted. the argument for the democrats is that often the way president trump goes about his business. he encourages people to go down a certain route and speaks sometimes encoder. and president trump's words were certainly interpreted by ambassador sondland as being ones that wanted him to try and push that agenda. there is no doubt the white house watched the proceedings with a certain amount of nervousness. you saw the president come out there and he sat and watch the first of those impeachment hearings and just like me he took his own notes. he came out with a scribbled pieces of paper in which she said those words that you heard there. i want nothing, i wants nothing, i want to know quid pro quo. that is going to be his

argument going forward and republicans are also pointing out as much as they keep on talking about this idea that military aid could be withheld or would be withheld, actually in the end military aid is paid. as faras actually in the end military aid is paid. as far as they're concerned if you will persist as an impeachment crime of sorts where exactly is the evidence of the crime? thank you very much. prince andrew has announced he is stepping back for his royal duties. as the fallout of his newsnight interview. he released a statement earlier you can read the whole thing online. he says he continues to unequivocally regret his illjudged association with jeffrey unequivocally regret his illjudged association withjeffrey epstein. except he was anything but unequivocal in the bbc interview when he was asked if he regretted his friendship with jeffrey when he was asked if he regretted his friendship withjeffrey 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. do i regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? yes. unbecoming? he was a sex offender. i'm sorry, i'm being polite, in the sense that he was a sex offender. he also says in his statement... during the bbc interview he passed on numerous opportunities to express sympathy and support for the victims of jeffrey epstein. let's bring in the most serious allegations made by the american woman in virginia godfrey. she said she was forced to have sex

with them when she was 17. in the bbc interview prince andrew said he had no recollection of ever having met herfor had no recollection of ever having met her for that's despite a photo of them into thousand one. prince andrew said he has no memory of the photo being taken and also raised doubts about whether he had been doctored. since the interview was broadcast on saturday some companies have been distancing themselves from the prince and some of his organisations. let's bring in daniela. you've covered the royal family for a number of years. i wonder what your reaction was when you saw the statement come through. i have not seen anything like this. it's hard and you cannot stress enoughjust how it's hard and you cannot stress enough just how different and unusual this statement is. nothing of its kind from within the modern royal family. of its kind from within the modern royalfamily. a of its kind from within the modern royal family. a senior figure of its kind from within the modern royalfamily. a seniorfigure in that family having to step back from public life because really of a scandal that surrounded them and have not been able to shake off. so

be very different from what we are used to seeing happening here about buckingham palace. what you're adjusting about a statement as evening was the town was so different to the tone the prince andrew took during the interview at the weekend. he seemed to address all the criticisms that had come his way after the interview, so he did in his statement offered sympathy to the victims ofjeffrey epstein. he did recognise that his relationship with him was now impacting on the day—to—day work of the british royal family and he also said he would, if requested, contribute to any legal investigation in the united states. all of those issues very different to the tone and content of what he had to say at the weekend. in terms of the practicalities of what the glow procedures he may face, what possible outcomes are there from here on in? yeah, it's very difficult to predict. he could obviously go to the us and take part

in any kind of fbi investigation. he can make some kind of signed statement to be contributed to the investigation in the united states. the problem you have of course is that prince andrew said he knew nothing, he saw nothing that was suspicious so you have to think well, wonder what value he could have two any investigation. so it's difficult to see what he could contribute but the mood music is different now. a couple of days ago he was saying if requested he would consider taking part in a legal investigation and now he's saying if requested he would absolutely do so. thank you very much indeed. more information on that story as well through the bbc news app. police in malta investigating the murder of the journalist, daphne ca ruana galizia, arrest a prominent businessman on board his yacht.

appliance it was forcefully removed from a debate in ghana. asked about security when he tried to return to his seat he had reserved for the debate. the president of the oxford university act to make african society has welcomed this news. send a strong message that that sort of behaviour and conduct by leaders is unacceptable, right now we are still pressing forward with the rest of our demands which include a competition to him and the punishment of the security person responsible for the assault. we are aware that he and his lawyers are talking with the unit and how to address these issues and will continue to follow closely to ensure that justice is continue to follow closely to ensure thatjustice is fully continue to follow closely to ensure that justice is fully served.

prince andrew as we have just been discussing has announced he is stepping back from royal duties, saying that his association with the jeffrey epstein scandal has become a major disruption to the royal family. a maltese businessman has been arrested as part of the investigation into the murder of journalist daphne caruana galizia. she was known for her work highlighting corruption in malta — and was killed by a car bomb near her home in 2017. eight months before her death, she published an article about a company called 17 black alleging that it was connected to maltese politicians. the owner of that company is yorgen fenick. and he's been arrested after his luxury yacht

was intercepted at sea. damian grammaticas with more. he is extremely wealthy businessman and is interest just he is extremely wealthy businessman and is interestjust go to the energy sector and six years ago a firm of his was part of a consortium that one a contract in a project where hundreds of millions of euros to build a gas fired power station on the island of malta. that was one of the key projects of the current government. now, he is now in custody. police have 48 hours to charge or release him. already three other people in custody. two brothers and a friend of theris have been charged with triggering the car bomb. they were arrested close to two years ago. yesterday, malta's prime ministerjoseph muscat also

thank you very much forjoining us. are you satisfied that the investigation is now developing some momentum? it's an important step certainly that other person and possibly involved in the assassination of daphne has now been identified. we are following the situation very closely. it still developing in the place of not charged them. a bit premature to speculate too much in the role there. but it is an important step. in terms of your ability or others to cover the story in malta, do you think the death of daphne caruana in malta, do you think the death of daphne ca ruana galizia in malta, do you think the death of daphne caruana galizia has affected that? absolutely. notjust in malta either. the assassination of daphne caruana galizia either. the assassination of daphne ca ruana galizia since either. the assassination of daphne caruana galizia since chuck was around the world and it was unthinkable that the country's most prominent journalist unthinkable that the country's most

prominentjournalist to be killed in broad daylight in an eu state and that marks the start of a darker period across europe. the murders of journalists in europe that followed and the fact that more than two yea rs on and the fact that more than two years on still notjustice, release of their worrying signal. so we continue to fight for full justice in my fulljustice, continue to fight for full justice in my full justice, we continue to fight for full justice in my fulljustice, we need every single person involved in any aspect be identified and persecuted. that means the hit man, and the middleman and that means all masterminds. so we continue to call for fulljustice for daphne. you mentioned the european union, malta is an eu states, have you been satisfied with the fe states, have you been satisfied with the ee response to the story and the commitment to respecting journalists? strong forces within the eu and mostly within the european parliament. and elsewhere within the international community. the work of the council of europe has been important in that regard and appointed a special reporter, he

developed a strong report and sent a time window in particular on the issue of the public inquiry. which issue of the public inquiry. which is still very needed. please to see progress enough front. did the state no ensure they have known about what was going to happen? could they have protected daphne and what lessons can be drawn to protectjournalists still working in malta ? can be drawn to protectjournalists still working in malta? because that isa still working in malta? because that is a key point. very fewjournalist going after this investigating reporting just like she did and they do so at great risk. thank you very much for speaking to us. general motors has filed a racketeering lawsuit against fiat chrysler automobiles, alleging that it engaged in bribery samira hussain is in new york... tell us the story. betweenjune 11

and 2015 gm is accusing fiat chrysler of bribing people within the union to give chrysler a competitive advantage. gm is saying they did things like allow fiat chrysler to have more entry—level positions and that was something that was not afforded to gm. this is all coming from a big federal investigation that led to several criminal charges against people within their executive body and within their executive body and within members of the union. gm has said they will sue for damages but have not specified how much. fiat chrysler has responded saying they are astonished by the lawsuit and wait for that to say they think it's just a way for them to really interfere an ongoing contract negotiations. you covered all the bases, thank you very much. appreciate it. the next half of outside source we will turn back both to impeachment

inquiry in washington and prince andrew stepping back from royal duties. good evening. it's time to take a look at the weather elsewhere around the world before we talk about the exceptional heat across australia and the catastrophic wildfire risk here we will talk about the usa were we've also had wildfires and strong and gusty winds across the north of california are not good news so would you have long lasting and much—needed rainfall. may lead to use flash flooding. heavy showers worth their weight use words and join forces with a developing area of low pressure as we go towards the week. could soaking rains and potentially wintry problems as well. i have that though heavy showers like in dallas and for phoenix, wintry weather in denver but a respite to as the rains in

vancouver. what across parts of the northern philippines and flash flooding and landslides 200 to 300 mm of rain. and it had sent to type a and it's very wet indeed, would not like to roll up showers either. it's receiving use was about ten to 15 degrees to what we would expect this time of year. it's dry as well and very arid. even though we pick up and very arid. even though we pick upa and very arid. even though we pick up a southwest front and as the heat receipts eastward to sell a dry picture for many parts of australia injusta picture for many parts of australia injust a few picture for many parts of australia in just a few showers and they could be thunder as well. particularly on that weather front of the moves from west to east. across europe the

weather stuck up and dominating the north and east. blocking the passage of these fronts. driving south across france and cross in the mediterranean into italy. more snowfall for the alps and across the balkans towards greece and turkey. heavy rain forecast sequence to the cold air blocking the high—pressure blocking the passage of these low— pressure blocking the passage of these low—pressure systems. still well below average across much of scandinavia. and it's not particularly warm for the south and west and bear in mind all these weather systems also affecting morocco, algeria and tunisia across the north of africa. that show a risk that you can see continues for athens on and off for the next few days and it's cold in the north of helsinki and moscow and its heavy showers from madrid and gibraltar. some easing for the weekend but moore rained by that stage coming back into the uk. quite widely and then uncertainty over the weekend as to how far north this rain will

spread but is ever more on that and i got more uk weather in half an hour. goodbye.

hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. prince andrews and nancy is stepping down from duties saying that the jeffrey epstein scandal has become dismissed or the royal family. jeffrey epstein scandal has become dismissed or the royalfamily. the bbc afterwards criticised for lack of empathy with the victims and for saying that he did not regret the friendship. a key witness in the impeachment inquiry says the white house did leave policy to ukraine with investigating the presidents rivals. was there a quid pro quo was made as attested by previously with regard to the white house call and the white house meeting, the answer is yes. the uk election campaign

trail, the democrats have launch the ma nifesto trail, the democrats have launch the manifesto dog to stop brexit and the liberal democrats have launched their manifesto. here's the event in london. the liberal democrats have one thing that makes them stand out in this election — they say if they are elected they won't hold a second referendum they will simply revoke article 50 and stop brexit altogether — it makes them by far the most ardent remain party in the race. here's their leaderjo swinson.

if you want to stop borisjohnson and his hard—line brexiteers, then you need to vote for the liberal democrats. we are the only party that can win a significant number of seats from the conservatives and deprive them a majority. at the centre of their manifesto is what they're calling a "remain bonus" of £50bn which they say is extra money that will be available to the government over five yeas as a result of the stronger economy that's forecast if the uk remained in the eu instead of leaving. they want to spend some of that on education, proposing 20,000 extra teachers in england. and there's a green target for electricity — by 2030 they'd aim for 80% of the uk's power being generated from renewable sources. that's double the current level. the bbc‘s reality check team that puts them second only to the greens in terms

of their green election ambitions. 0ur political editor has been asking her about that. ido i do believe it has become a national embarrassment for a country when you speak to other countries looking at us and they look at us with puzzlement. would you think that means to the lee voters that say that? there very candid and you are seeking to overturn what was a narrow but clear decision from a majority of voters in this country. i recognise that the vote in 2016 had that result. but the debate since then and listening to the mps in parliament to support brexit, not being able to agree amongst themselves about what brexit would

look like, theresa may's still was not good enough for borisjohnson or jacob rees mogg and they would disagree. remainders have disagreed as well, there is been disagreement across the board. the people who wa nt across the board. the people who want brexit do not even know what it looks like that leads me to be concerned about is i do not think there is a majority in this country for any specific form of brexit. and thatis for any specific form of brexit. and that is why i think it is very rewarding to embark on a path in the government analysis says it will make us more poor, will costjobs, be bad for the nhs, back to the environment, if we do not even have confidence if that's what the majority of the population actually wa nts. during this campaign the party has been pushing its leader jo swinson as a potential prime minister — that's quite a stretch, going by the bbc‘s poll of polls they're at about 15% having seen their support actually squeezed since the start of the campaign. in the event of a hung parliament — like in 2010 or 2017 — the liberal democrats could still be a decisive player —

and jo swinson could find herself in the role of kingmaker or coalition partner with one of the two big parties — in the event of a hung parliament — like in 2010 or 2017 — the liberal democrats could still be a decisive player — and jo swinson could find herself in the role of kingmaker or coalition partner with one of the two big parties — although her opposition to brexit could complicate that. susan hulme joins us from westminster it is interesting that there has been a change in her pitch at the start of the campaign, she was talking very much about her becoming a potential prime minister. it started off this campaign on how unpredictable it was. but things

have crystallized a little bit since then. a couple of things have happened. we have had the brexit party withdrawal from those seats in the conservatives held them the last time. that helped consolidate the conservatives chances against the lib dems and the seeds of the lib dems are challengers and those calls that you mention, they have not really shown that big search thatjo swinson had hoped for and she has been talking about what would be a big step to become prime minister, leaving her with a situation where she would be talking about people asking her about what she would do if there is a hung parliament, if the lib dems are in that position of being kingmakers. the liberal democrats, i also want to talk about the prime minister borisjohnson because the conservatives have made a big announcement and it seems, it

is unknown if it was planned or not, this was borisjohnson a little earlier. low taxes for people that are the working people. and what i have said in the last few days, we are going to be cutting national insurance up to 12,000, we are going to be making sure that we cut our business rates for businesses, we are cutting taxes for working people. and susan, the prime minister of engineering plans, it says that lots of people were tweeting that did he just say that? that sounds very expensive and very significant policy. that cost quite a bit of surprise, especially within his own team. he was talking about an ambition of cutting national insurance threshold, it is about

£8,600 now which you can earn before you start paying it. however, that is the sort of big announcement as prime minister that you would expect him to making a speech or a ma nifesto, him to making a speech or a manifesto, which we have not had yet from the conservatives. not an a nswer to from the conservatives. not an answer to what was rather a hostile question from someone in the audience. so i think it did come as audience. so i think it did come as a bit ofa audience. so i think it did come as a bit of a surprise stop the 12,500 that he was talking about in the press releases, they were saying thatis press releases, they were saying that is an ambition, it is not something that is going to happen immediately if the conservatives win power again in the first instance, what we would be looking at would be a slightly lower threshold, 9500 which would be giving people about £85 a year and that is of their image and the short term, ambition for 80,500 much more expensive, no

timescale on that that we have heard so far. let us switch to scotland. in scotland the scottish national party are by far the dominant party with 35 mps — more than half of the total. they oppose brexit, but they do want scotland to leave the uk. nicola sturgeon their leader, the first minister of scotland, spoke earlier in dundee. make no mistake, it is no crystal—clea r, make no mistake, it is no crystal—clear, it is multiple threats to scotland, their economy and the living standards to the nhs and the living standards to the nhs and other public services. that is why this election is so vital. it will determine what paths scotland ta kes. will determine what paths scotland takes. with these threats become reality? 0r takes. with these threats become reality? or will we decide to from the by taking ourfuture into our hands? and after that speech nicola sturgeon was asked how scotland after indepdencence would manage confronting a uk that's headed in a very different

direction outside of the eu. we will be in charge of the decisions and leave the country that we wa nt decisions and leave the country that we want to be. yet the talk tables of the european union, we have seen ireland demonstrate the power and influence that a small country with the european union will benefit from this single market, eight times the size of the uk market. be able to be a bridge between the uk and the european union with massive economic potential as a result of that. every independent country faces challenges, but far better to be in charge of the decisions that shape the country that we are, rather than have our path determined by westminster. for more details, you can find that on the bbc news website whenever you want. today, the us ambassador to the eu says that president trump did directly connect specific us policies on ukraine to demands that ukraine investigate his political rivaljoe biden. let's look at where this

leaves the process. asking a foreign power to intervene in an us election is illegal. ukraine investigate his political rivaljoe biden. let's look at where this leaves the process. asking a foreign power to intervene in an us election is illegal. that's clear. but it's also commonly agreed that a president can't face criminal charges as everyone else can. a president can however be removed from office — congress can do that via an impeachment prcoess such as this one. that doesn't mean that it'll happen in this case — but the possibility is there. my colleague ritu prassad in washington has made this video on how the process works. there are few actions as consequential as the impeachment of a president. it is not often that a president faces getting kicked out of office. but this is the predicament the donald trump finds him in. they have been trying to impeach me from the day i got elected. i've been going through this for three years. when charges

of wrongdoing are brought by the lower chamber of the us congress called the house of his —— house of representatives. for that to happen, the upper chamber of congress has to convict the president after a trial. two presidents have been impeached before. but none have ever been removed from the white house. this could be what happens to trump if he is impeached in the lower chamber of congress which is controlled by democrats, but not convicted in the upper chamber, which is controlled by donald trump ‘s republican party. so as ritu explained, some of the 53 republicans in the senate would need to vote with democrats for president trump to be removed from office. here's cristina marcos from the website the hill on how likely that is. so far we have been seeing in these hearings, when they go on television, do you support the

people when it comes to holding the party line? republican members on the house intelligence committee that are considered centrists and have offered mild criticism of donald trump in the past, but they have been holding the party line and they had been questioning and they are not giving any indication that they would vote to impeach president donald trump. and what is the basis of their argument? what is their co re of their argument? what is their core defence of the president? the thing about the republican defences that he keep shifting. last week was the initial batch of witnesses and they said that this testimony is second—hand, that quickly changed with the witnesses this week that did have some that were on the phone call between president trump and the ukrainian president or the interacted directly with president trump, like the ambassador to the european union. so whether they are arguing about process or the fact that the a to the ukraine went

through, that is after this whistle—blower complaint, republicans, while it is not undermining the core narrative that the democrats are laying out here, it is the purpose of keeping republicans united and opposing the impeachment of president trump. can you imagine any information or circumstances during the impeachment inquiry for you might change your mind about the position on impeachment? 65% of them said no, nothing they could hear in this inquiry would change their mind on whether the president should be impeached. that is an extraordinary figure, here's christina's reaction to it. national polls of americans are showing that support for impeachment has remained pretty sta ble impeachment has remained pretty stable since democrats announced this two months ago. polling shows that a lot of americans are paying

attention to these hearings, but the majority that are paying the closest attention already support impeach of president trump, most democrats are saying that they're paying the most attention to these hearings. support or opposition to president trump himself is already quite big didn't with most americans, so the same applies to impeachment here. it shows you that polarisation is going to be the narrative of this impeachment inquiry and as long as house republicans can stay in mind as the investigation continues here and presumably when it reaches the house floor, that will make it almost difficult for the republicans once they start a trial over there. a former employer of the consulate says he was beaten and blindfolded by the chinese authorities. it is all connected to the unrest in hong

kong. millions of people are going without dental care in england, according to bbc analysis of newly released figures. they include one and a half million people, who've been unable to get an nhs appointment. nhs england says steps are being taken to tackle the problem. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports on how some people are now relying on a charity. desperately needed emergency dentistry. being carried out in a van outside dewsbury town hall. the dentaid charity normally works in developing countries. but today it is helping people like basir afsal, who has had to live with excruciating tooth pain for months. i was in too much pain, nobody could help me. nobody could help me. none of these nhs services, nobody would help me at all. basir is far from alone. over the course of two days, staff saw 50 patients, extracting 20 teeth that were causing pain.

any pain there? bbc analysis of data from nhs england shows that 4.3 million adults in england are going without dental care. of these, 1.5 million people have tried and failed to get treatment on the nhs in the last two years. the rest are either stuck on waiting lists, put off by the costs, or cannot find a dentist. people like lindsay, with toothache, cannot find someone to deal with. the 111 service is who they phone, they're usually kept on the phone for hours and usually offered an appointment a couple of weeks down the line. if you're in acute pain and can't sleep and need the tooth out, that's why we come. the british dental association says there are similar issues in wales. in northern ireland and scotland where checkups are free, it's less of a problem. but for many in dewsbury, this kind of emergency treatment is all that is available. a charity filling the

gaps left by the nhs. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story is? prince andrew announces he's stepping back from public duties — saying thejeffrey epstein scandal has become a "major disruption" to the royal family. israelis are facing the prospect of a third general election in less than a year, after prime minister benjamin netanyahu's main challenger failed to form a government. benny gantz announced he would not meet a midnight deadline — which was set after mr netanyahu had himself tried and failed to form a government himself. myanmar says the its civilian leader aung san suu kyi will personally defend her country at the international criminal court next month, against accusations of genocide committed against rohingyas.

more than seven—hundred—thousand members of myanmar‘s muslim minority have fled the country since a military campaign against them began two years ago. female artists are dominating the 2020 grammy nominations. five of the eight "album of the year" nominees are women including ariana grande and lana del ray. this comes two years after the head of the awards said women need to "step up" if they want to be recognised. in a moment, i'll update you on the stand—off between police and protestors at a hong kong university stand—off. first though — a former employee at the british consulate in hong kong has told the bbc he was tortured in mainland china and accused of inciting political unrest in hong kong. the man in question is simon cheng — he says he was ‘shackled, blindfolded and hooded' when he was detained for a fortnight in august. here's been talking to the bbc'sjohn sudworth.

i have been shackled, handcuffed and i have been shackled, handcuffed and i have been blindfolded and hooded. and then they handcuffed me like this. so your hands are cuffed and they hang on something? yes, exactly. in they asked me, they instructed me to mingle with the protest, they would list me as the mastermind and i cried and i said, there is no need to torture me. i will say anything you want, but i wa nt to will say anything you want, but i want to make 100% clear that there we re want to make 100% clear that there were no materials resources or anything like that. one girl came and one of the interrogators taught

me that she was injured because the protest. these allegations have immediately caused diplomatic tensions between the the uk and china. here'sjohn sudworth again. the detention of staff anywhere in the world is a pretty rare event which after his release, simon cheng was so concerned for his safety that he asked the uk government not to make any public statement. now his position has changed, the uk government has spoken out too. it will further put serious strain on uk and china relations over the issue of hong kong. after his release, simon cheng was so concerned for his safety that he asked the uk government not to make any public statement. now his position has changed, the uk government has spoken out too. here is the foreign minister, dominic raab.

we are outraged by disgraceful mistreatment that he faced while in detention in mainland china, i summoned the chinese ambassador to see me and we clear that not only is this outrageous and disgraceful behaviour, but also we expect the chinese authorities to review and to hold to account those responsible as is their obligation under international law. this is the response of the chinese foreign ministry. the chinese investor will show the outrage from the uk government involving hong kong. we hope the kick to be careful with its words to not interfere in hong kong affairs china's internal affairs will stop otherwise eventually this will hurt the uk's interests. he released a

statement a couple of hours ago and he says the circumstances relating to my former association with jeffrey epstein has become a major interruption to my family's work. we have not had a statement of this kind from the royal family recent yea rs kind from the royal family recent years and it is really significant in the number of ways, particularly in its tone, how it is addressed and individually all of the criticisms that came out of that bbc interview in the weekend, will he co—operate with the fbi, he has talked about feeling sympathy for the victims, he has addressed how this is impacting his day—to—day work so all of those areas in which he was criticised, he is now understanding why he was criticised in really responding those questions. we just do not hear

the statements like this surrounding a scandal in which a member of the royal family would step back from their work. it is very different to their work. it is very different to the statement that we're used to hearing from buckingham palace. pressures been building with companies such as bt choosing not to associate with organisations with which prince andrew has an association, also taking a similar decision with some commentators saying that perhaps it was inevitable given the mounting pressure following the broadcast on the bbc. if he did not see the interview, in the uk, it is available to the bbc iplayer and if you're watching outside of the uk, it is available on youtube, you can find both very easily. give a major star we have been covering is the testimony of the american ambassador to the european union who says that there was direct instruction from donald trump that there is a

connection between military aid to ukraine and investigations against joe biden. see you tomorrow. hello there. it has been a record—breaking wet autumn and places. but we do not need us any extra rain given that the ground is com pletely extra rain given that the ground is completely saturated. but we do have some more weather on the way over the next few days. an area of low pressure around 36 satellite days are here, low pressurejust pressure around 36 satellite days are here, low pressure just has not moved. why? because it is pumping into this enormous area of high pressure covering a good chunk of russia, coming up against not moving through and low pressure becoming trapped close to our shores. looking at the weather picture for thursday, but you can see a change in the wind direction coming from the southeasterly direction, that pushes out outbreaks of rain generally away

from northern ireland and bring in much cooler air here's a look and feel quite chilly compared to the weather we had on wednesday. elsewhere, a fair amount of dry weather in the could be a little bit ofa weather in the could be a little bit of a drizzle at times across the coast of eastern scotland and maybe the hills as well and torts of west england later in the day. yes, we do have some more rain on the way, often cloudy with temperatures 69 celsius and quite chilly in the breeze as we go through thursday afternoon. 0vernight, we can see a little bit more rain attends a customer the scotland of the heavy mind you but the same time will start to see some shower rebirths of rain extending across england and wales through the night, given that the cloud is not particularly a court may compared to recent nights but anywhere we do see clear spells and have a touch of frost. but friday then, it is still an u nsettled friday then, it is still an unsettled looking weather picture, low pressure in charge and it is often would be cloudy and there will be some burst of rain extending northwards across england and wales, it has not been particularly wet here in recent months and it is

starting to turn milder with temperatures reaching double figures for cardiff and for london. now for the weekend forecast, saturday looks like were going to see an area of low pressure developing and push a brand of rain and that not a welcome drain, we'll get to them look like a circus water flooding, quite a bit of rain across parts of england for example and they'll be more rain moving again, these are all quite sensitive areas really. part of the scotland, will stain trained and bright —— stay dry and bright. going to the jet stream, will happen is will break the jet stream and have this, it cut off low that will be developed somewhere around the mediterranean. the significance for us is that we could have air rising due to thejet us is that we could have air rising due to the jet stream configuration, which would give us an unsettled weather were descending, which would give us relatively dry weather. two scenarios, sunday, one does this, bring a band of heavy rain to the southwest which would be bad considering the ground is completely

saturated, but a few computer simulations have a weakening area of rain crossing scotland and the weather will be significantly less wet across england and wales and the better of the two scenarios i think for many of you, i am sure you will agree. as far as temperatures go, it is likely to be relatively mounted to the south with temperatures around 11 degrees. beyond that into next week, theory of high pressure is still low across, it will start to edge away but we still have low pressure moving across the uk and still on that, fairly southward track as well, next week, we will expect for the spells of rain will be quite windy at times of the rain coming from a south—westerly direction with a mild start to the week but potentially, it could be quarter across northern areas later on. “— quarter across northern areas later on. —— quarter.

tonight at ten, prince andrew steps down from royal duties because of the intense controversy over his links with a convicted sex offender. the prince, who's 59, acknowledged this evening that thejeffrey epstein scandal had become a "major disruption" to the royal family. it follows his widely—criticised interview with bbc newsnight last week, when he said his friendship with epstein was not a matter of regret. do you regret the whole friendship with epstein? um... now? still not. we'll have the latest from buckingham palace on how this decision was made, and the more contrite tone from the prince this evening. more from nick in a moment as we report on the wider implications of

the prince's