stay with us on bbc news, still to come: this is bbc news — welcome if you're billy eilish and lizzo lead the charge watching here in the uk, as the nominations are announced on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. for next year's grammys. our top stories: so we followed the president does make orders. —— president's orders. benazir bhutto has claimed victory in pakistan's general election, and she's asked pakistan's president a key witness in the impeachment inquiry says to name her as prime minister. donald trump wanted him to press ukraine to investigate a political rival. jackson's been released on bail the president hits back. of $3 million so here is my answer — i want nothing. after turning himself in i want nothing! i want no quid pro quo! to police in santa barbara. it was the biggest demonstration queen elizabeth's son, prince andrew, steps back so far from public duties after of the fast—growing controversy over his links to a convicted sex offender. european anti—nuclear movement. chanting. anger in malta as protesters demand the prime minister's resignation, the south african government accusing him of protecting the killers has announced that it's opening of an outspoken journalist. 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 # i check my nails. baby how you of the white civilisation. doing? and female artists dominate the grammy nominations. part of the centuries—old among the front—runners — windsor castle, lizzo and billie eilish. 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. it was a day of explosive this is bbc world news. testimony in the impeachment inquiry, as the us ambassador the latest headlines: to the eu gordon sondland gave evidence. he said he was acting a top us diplomat has told at the express direction the trump impeachment inquiry of the president on ukraine. he was acting under presidential orders, the democratic—led house of representatives is investigating when pressuring ukraine to launch whether or not the president investigations against a rival. improperly put pressure on ukraine to investigate his political rival the former vice presidentjoe biden. queen elizabeth's son prince andrew has announced the bbc‘s north america he's stepping back from public duties, amid renewed controversy over his links with a convicted sex offender. editorjon sopel reports. let's have more on that now. the day a simmering pot boiler the bbc‘s emily maitless, became a blockbuster drama, who conducted the interview with this unlikely character with prince andrew last week spoke to dai davies,

as the leading man. a former head of royal protection and chief superintendent of the metropolitan police. gordon sondland, a wealthy hotelier, was made ambassador she asked him what to the european union on the strength of $1 million donation to donald trump's should happen now. inauguration committee. now he'd come under oath to eviscerate the president's while i am delighted that he is account of his dealings with ukraine. going to co—operate because we tend i was acting in good faith. to forget the victims which allegedly have been abused by his as a presidential appointee, i followed the directions friend. i think he is doing the of the president. right thing. i think it was pushed we worked with mr giuliani rather than involuntarily doing so because the president but i am glad he has and so now i directed us to do so. would like to see the f v! and the we had no desire to set any conditions. we had no desire to set any conditions on the ukrainians. french authorities combined with the british authorities in whatever agency is appropriate to look as to the president has denied repeatedly there was a quid pro quo, whether he can give material witness or as democrats now 01’ whether he can give material witness or whether that evidence, if it is call it, bribery. properly probed might lead to him in other words, unless the ukrainians delivered what donald trump demanded, being interviewed under caution. —— vital military aid and a white house meeting would be withheld. was there a quid pro quo? fvi. do being interviewed under caution. —— f vi. do you understand fully why it as i testified previously was thrown out the evidence?”

with regard to the requested white house call and the white house f vi. do you understand fully why it was thrown out the evidence? i do not. i have been involved in this meeting, the answer is yes. for a little while and i cannot and according to sondland, everyone was in on the plan — understand, having seen some of the the president, the vice president, testimony that have come forward, secretary of state, chief of staff. particularly as the allegations they all knew what was going on. everyone was in the loop. against miss maxwell are concerned, it was no secret. you know, trafficking women for everyone was informed sexual offences anywhere in this via e—mail on july 19th, days before the presidential call. country, in the virgin islands or in the united states, by british but one important source of comfort citizen is a very serious criminal for the white house — sondland said he never heard offence. if those allegations have directly from the president conditioning aid on an enquiry been made to scotland yard i would like to know, very respectfully, who into the bidens, decided it did not warrant any kind of investigation and then at what and that's been seized on by the president, who had his script lines carefully prepared. level wasn't that decided. did it go ready? you have the cameras rolling? all the way to commissioner? did it i want nothing! go further up the train because of that's what i want from ukraine. that's what i said. the home secretary is ultimately i want nothing! responsible for the protection of i said it twice. the royal family so the question needs to be asked why if proper gordon sondland was faced with a binary choice in his evidence today. evidence was put forward, did tie himself to donald trump, somebody decide in their wisdom it did not warrant even preliminary

be vague about the decisions made and hope forfuture protection. or he could throw the president investigations. now they may have and his personal emissary, done some, i do not know. you know rudy giuliani, under the bus and take the vice president and secretary of state with them. the metropolitan police well, you have worked closely with the royals, you think this would have been he chose option two. raised at the highest levels in the false and somebody would have taken it's hard to believe he will be eu the decision not to go further?m ambassador for much longer. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. isa the decision not to go further?m is a question i think legitimately asking now all this is coming up. the world is crying out for clarity sincejon sent this report, the deputy assistant secretary smack of defence, laura cooper, on this matter. you tried your very best and succeeded in many ways but, gave her testimony to the panel, in which she blew holes into president trump's defence that the ukrainians weren't aware in one sense, all you did was open about the withheld aid until this the floodgates. there are so many was made public. other questions that need to be asked, but regularly of the prince but also some of his associates and i have, however, since learned some those who advised him and possibly additional information about this subject from my staff. travel with him on some of these prior to my deposition testimony, i avoided discussing my testimony with members of my staff or anyone other occasions. what on earth was going than the attorney. on? the met looked at the it's based only on my allegations and took them seriously personal knowledge. and did not have enough evidence to my deposition testimony was publicly was leased on november 11, 2019. proceed. let me ask you of some of

the details or we learned, the pizza express , the details or we learned, the pizza members of my staff read express, alibi or defence, an the testimony and have come to me since then and have explanation of prince andrew's whereabouts? i did not accepted for provided additional information. one moment. he knows perfectly well specifically on the issue of ukraine's knowledge on the hold it does not open until 10:30pm and or of ukraine asking questions about the possible issues with the flow of assistance, my staff showed me two unclassified he says he did not know where the emails that they received from the state department. bar was and he has been going there one was received onjuly 25 at 2:31pm. and you could not possibly not to that email said that the ukrainian embassy and house foreign know where the bar was. you asked so affairs committee are asking about security assistance. the second email was received many questions and, unfortunately, onjuly 25 at liz25pm. that email said that the hill knows we do not have half—an—hour for me about the fmf situation to go through them with you but i to an extent and so does would like them to be drilled down into a would like them to be drilled down intoa number of would like them to be drilled down the ukrainian embassy. into a number of areas. angry protesters in malta have demanded the resignation of the prime minister, joseph muscat, after police arrested a prominent businessman so how important is in connection with the murder laura cooper's testimony of a journalist, in wednesday's impeachment hearings? amy mackinnon is a staff writer daphne ca ruana galizia. demonstrators, who accuse the prime minister of protecting those for foreign policy magazine. responsible for the murder, gathered outside parliament in valletta, shouting that was an explosive revelation "mafia" and "get out". gareth barlow reports.

protesters gathered outside the maltese parliament, from laura cooper because it can't swarming around the justice minister's car, chanting "assassin", "mafia", "corrupt". they must shoulder political responsibility. —— one of the key lines there is so much going on. from the republicans is it can't how are we letting this this happen? have been agreed to though because the ukrainians didn't know that the aid had been stalled. angry at the investigation her testimony today into ms caruana galitzia's murder, brings the timeline right back into july they accuse politicians and suggests as ofjuly 25, of protecting those responsible. the day when trump and zelensky had a phone call which they are all in it together! triggered the complaint, they must shoulder political the ukrainians would have been aware there was something going on with aid which had been stalled responsibility and resign instantly! the week before. does this make her we cannot go on like this. words a game—changer? her words could potentially be a game—changer, certainly undercuts one of the key republican lines of defence here, earlier on wednesday, armed police arrested a prominent and are beginning to grasp at straws businessman, yorgen fenech, here in defending the president aboard his yacht. and sometimes the president's defenders have been the prime minister, joseph muscat, has promised to leave no stone unturned in the investigation. zooming out to say, why daphne caruana galitzia's son welcomed to the arrest. would anyone be interested, the arrest of yorgen fenech

that it's boring and too complicated, americans aren't interested. you are seeing them shifting is obviously a welcome development their lines of defence. how does what she said build on what the ambassador said. in the investigation into my mother's assassination. it's been an explosive it's overdue and it's day in washington. to be honest, i wasn't expecting when these hearings went very important. public to hear a lot of new information. everybody referred from publicly the 2017 car bombing that had already testified killed the prominent behind closed doors and those investigative journalist testimonies were released publicly and anti—corruption blogger rocked the small mediterranean state. and poured over by the press but what's been interesting in the public phase now of these hearings is how the testimony has given, three men have been charged kind of triangulate each other, with detonating the bomb. the suspected middleman and they are corroborating each other and for those who have had gaps in their testimony behind closed doors or had some has also been arrested. inconsistencies, you are seeing but the prime minister said he could be pardoned if information is provided their mind that out as we saw today to prosecute the mastermind. two years on from daphne with gordon sondland who decided ca ruana galitzia's murder, the desire to uncover the truth of her death and the cases she worked to expose continues. to not only throw the president gareth barlow, bbc news. two years after the head and rudy giuliani under the bus, of the grammys said women need to "step up" if they wanted to be recognised, female artists are dominating but several other senior the 2020 nominations. administration officials. where is the case the democrats five of the eight album of the year are trying to make a stand?

nominees are women — it's looking inevitable that the democrats will draft ariana grande and lana del rey among articles of impeachment and that may the front—runners. well past the house but the big meanwhile, lizzo and billie eilish are shortlisted in all question is what happens when this reaches the senate of the ceremony‘s which is controlled "big four" categories: by the republicans and it best new artist, best song, seems to be unless there is a significant change of heart among republican best record and best album. senators which seems unlikely, we may end up in a situation where president trump is technically impeached and has claudia rosenbaum is a senior correspondent for the american music the mark against his name and is not and entertainment magazine, removed by a senate trial. billboard, in los angeles. she gave me her view about the number of women nominated. it has been a huge year prince andrew has announced he will not undertake any royal for the grammys for women. duties for the foreseeable future. the prince acknowledged that his links with the late, there has been a lot of changes disgraced financierjeffrey epstein had become a major disruption to the royal family. since that happened, this follows the prince's widely—criticised interview with bbc newsnight last week. that president stepped down, in a statement, andrew said he deeply sympathised and we have a new female president with epstein‘s victims. out the grammys and, actually, our royal correspondent after the former president stepped down in 2018, the grammys started this diversity and inclusion task nicholas witchell has the story. force where they invited 900 new people to become voters and this was, you know, people driving himself into under the age of 35, buckingham palace yesterday, women, people of colour, the only sighting of prince andrew people of all backgrounds and that since the newsnight clearly has had an effect interview was broadcast. on what we are seeing today.

are these nominations the sign of a lasting power shift in the industry? i think these women, lizzo, ariana grande, billie eilish hostility towards him has shown they put together amazing music no sign of lessening. but they also have a cultural "poison prince" and "pariah prince" were just two movement behind them. of the newspaper lizzo for her body inclusivity and headlines this morning. bille eilish isjust embracing... at the same time, sponsors of his various initiatives i mean, she is 17 and one and charities have of the youngest nominees continued to distance themselves from him. in the whole group. all this in response to a notably misjudged interview in which he failed to find so hopefully it will either the right tone or the right words to respond to his association have a lasting impact. with jeffrey epstein. tonight, he and buckingham palace accepted that his position had become unsustainable. in a statement, prince andrew said: a question i thought i would never ask about the grammys, but what about the men? there are many men still nominated. "i have asked her majesty if i may step back from public duties many of the categories such he went on: as hip—hop are a lot of male nominees. and what about behind—the—scenes, and finally and significantly: production, produces. do you see a rise in female producers reflected in the nominations?

another thing that the grammys did was when they started their diversity and inclusion task force they also started making headway and including more producers and engineers and doing the tone was notably contrite, what they could to encourage more something of a contrast to saturday night's broadcast. women to be involved in that aspect. any sense now of guilt, so it has resulted in more nominees regret or shame about any of your behaviour in your friendship with epstein? for women in this category as well. as far as mr epstein is concerned, it was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010. do i regret the fact that, are you tempted to sing along? that he has quite obviously conducted himself in you can reach me on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews. a manner unbecoming? thank you for watching. yes. unbecoming? he was a sex offender. yeah, i'm sorry, i'm being polite. for the queen, fulfilling royal duties tonight on this, earlier this week we saw the coldest her 72nd wedding anniversary, it must be both upsetting weather of the autumn so far and unwelcome. but since then things have been andrew has always enjoyed her particular support but by this morning, it will have become evident that his position was untenable. turning a little bit milder. thus, for the first time, one of her own immediate family has most places yesterday had a dry day,

been forced by public with a little bit opinion to step back. of sunshine coming through. we will see the temperatures i've never seen such a reaction continuing to rise a little bit to a royal interview. i mean, there have not been that day and night but it many royal interviews is turning milder because the weather is more but the reaction was just unsettled, with more rain so condemnatory in the forecast. most of the rain today will be and he came across so badly. near the area of low pressure that has been with us for a while, sitting to the south—west. not once expressing regret that is we will see for those, or sympathy, most of the rain. for the victims of few showers coming in off the north sea threatening epstein's behaviour. towards the north—east of scotland and we have a few showers to come buckingham palace will be hoping that andrew's statement across northern ireland. they should fade away, and his withdrawal getting blown away by from public duties will stem the criticism. brisk south—easterly winds. they will be hoping, too, a grey day for the midlands, that the epstein allegations towards the south—east of england, have now run their full course. feeling chilly in the breeze, sunshine further north but the rain will be in the south—west and south wales and this is where we will find the highest temperatures, perhaps double figures. the rain can be heavy and will push its way overnight tonight's decision has been taken towards the south—east after discussions between andrew, of england, further north across wales into the midlands the queen, the prince of wales who's in new zealand and senior officials. and a few showers in the northern in practical terms, he is not areas as well. a lot of cloud around, resigning any of his patronages ray never far away so not but i am told if charities too cold as temperatures want to find a new patron 3—6 degrees. showers to come on friday. that will be fully understood.

nicholas witchell, bbc news, a massive sort of day. at buckingham palace. a messy sort of day. things could develop wetter towards the south—west with those showers heavy for a while merging bringing some pictures from into longer spells of rain thailand, live pictures of the pope through the south—west of england. the west midlands, and the beginning of his three day into the west country and wales tour of the country in a specially through the day. that is an area to watch as things get wetter with temperatures designed pope nabeel. he is going with one of the cardinals there, typically nine, 10 degrees. heading into the weekend meeting christians to form less than and the weekend is dominated by low pressure. 196 meeting christians to form less than we have one slow—moving 1% of the population. —— popemobile. area of low pressure over the uk which is why we see that rain develop. how far north it gets, uncertain. it isa 1% of the population. —— popemobile. it is a buddhist majority thailand was that he may talk about catholic could see most of the rain across england and wales missionaries. perhaps heading towards let's get an update northern ireland as far north on the situation in hong kong, as the central belt, where some of the last allowing something a bit drier protesters remaining and brighter to arrive at the polytechnic university have across southern parts of england tried to escape through sewers. dozens of protesters and wales with temperatures are still barricaded inside the campus, surrounded by police. the five—day standoff has again typically 9—11 degrees. also rippled overseas, with the un's human rights office urging a peaceful resolution, some rain around on saturday. while the us congress passed new legislation and while that rain will peter out, supporting protesters' demands. as the low pressure tends to fill, we have another one coming in from the atlantic and this one looks a little deeper and it means 0wan li is the students

representative at polyu council. the wind will be stronger. he says he managed to escape two days ago before all again, the position could change entrances were blocked. but at the moment it looks as if while we have residual rain to clear away from scotland, the wet and windy weather should be towards the south—west of england, spoiling the afternoon in wales and into the midlands i'm not yet inside anymore but temperatures again because luckily i can escape better than they have been, typically 9—11. from campus before the police force block all the entry and exits however i also keep in touch with the people who are still inside the campus closely and they tell me their frustration, desperation or anger because of the police brutality and they have only limited resources to maintain their life. and they don't want to surrender, is that correct? exactly. theyjust don't want to surrender, however, the government officer and police officer claimed they should surrender, otherwise

they should escape peaceful, even escape peacefully, they will be considered as rioters and they will be sent to jailfor ten years because the ride is such a serious accusation in hong kong. would you or some of the protest movement accept that what happened here by the protesters was simply in the end a tactical mistake? i won't say they are very serious mistakes but i will say it is imperfect, which is acceptable. they are not rioters and only this is bbc news, the headlines: the pro—student protesters, they only defend for the university a top us diplomat has told campus because university campus the trump impeachment inquiry have the unique social status that he was following presidential which is not allowed police orders when the us put pressure brutality or even police force, on ukraine to open investigations not allowed on the campus. against a political rival. someone hong kong would have looked democrats have described at scenes of protesters and thought, this is not the protest the testimony as troubling. movement that want briefly. i would say the police brutality started queen elizabeth's son, first, also defending prince andrew, says he's stepping the university campus. back from public duties we should appreciate their courage over his links with a convicted instead of putting blame us sex offender. on the victim. 00:14:55,172 --> 2147483051:44:12,301 in hong kong, they should bear 2147483051:44:12,301 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 the legal consequence. a recent attempt to clear the air in a bbc interview was widely deemed to be a public relations disaster. he said he unequivocally regretted

knowing jeffrey epstein, who killed himself injail. protesters in malta have demanded the resignation of the prime minister after police arrested a prominent businessman in connection with the murder of a journalist, daphne ca ruana galitia. demonstrators accusejoseph muscat of protecting those responsible for her death in 2017.