our this is the briefing — i'm ben bland. our top stories: mounting pressure on prince andrew as lawyers representing victims of the convicted american paedophile, jeffrey epstein, urge him to tell all. there's more to come from the impeachment inquiry but after the biggest day yet, the white house says the evidence exonerates the president. anger in malta as protesters demand the prime minister's resignation, accusing him of protecting the killers of an outspoken journalist.

plus, tackling climate change and the critics. we catch up with coldplay‘s chris martin. in business car clash! gm sues fiat chrysler for racketeering — accusing its rival of bribing unions. fiat calls the lawsuit ‘astonishing'. a warm welcome to the programme — briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. as always on the programme, you can be part of the conversation: a new bbc survey suggests that 40% of adults in the uk would fake a sickie if they needed to take a day off at short notice. is it everjustified? have you been caught out? tell us what you think — just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing.

lawyers for alleged victims of the us sex offender, jeffrey epstein, have welcomed a statement from prince andrew that he will cooperate with law enforcement agencies. they say he should go to the states immediately to speak to police. the prince has stepped back from royal duties because of his links with epstein, who killed himself injail. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. he and buckingham palace accepted his position had become unsustainable. in a statement, prince andrew said:

and finally and significantly: the tone was notably contrite, something of a contrast to saturday night's broadcast. any sense now of guilt, regret or shame about any of your behaviour in your friendship with epstein? as far as mr epstein is concerned, it was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010. do i regret the fact that, that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? yes. unbecoming? he was a sex offender. yeah, i'm sorry, i'm being polite. buckingham palace will be hoping that andrew's statement and his withdrawal from public duties will stem the criticism. they will be hoping, too, that the epstein allegations have now run their full course.

nicholas witchell, bbc news, at buckingham palace. will bring you more on the story later. the white house claims testimony from a us diplomant in donald trump's impeachment hearing "completely exonerates" the president. the former vice president, joe biden, said it was clear the president didn't want to face him on the 2020 election. earlier, the diplomat gordon sondland told the enquiry mrtrump diplomat gordon sondland told the enquiry mr trump directed efforts to have joe enquiry mr trump directed efforts to havejoe biden investigated. republicans said he was exonerated. defying orders from both the white house and the state department not to testify, gordon sondland provided the most stunning evidence at this enquiry so fara the most stunning evidence at this enquiry so far a wealthy hotelier was made ambassador to the eu on the strength of $1 million donation to

donald trump's inauguration committee, he told of the campaign led by the president, orchestrated by his personal lawyer and known to the most senior members of the trump administration. i was acting in good faith. as a presidential appointee, i followed the directions of the president. we worked with rudy giuliani because the president directed us to do so. we had no desire to set any conditions. we had no desire to set any conditions on the ukrainians. the president has repeatedly denied withholding millions of dollars in military aid to ukraine in return for an investigation into his political rival, joe biden. gordon sondland provided a direct link between the two. was there a quid pro quo? as i testified previously, with regard to the requested white house call and the requested white house call and the white house meeting, the answer is yes. and according to mr

sondland, everyone was in on it. his president, the chief of staff, the vice president and the secretary of state. everyone was in the loop. it was no secret. everyone was informed via email onjuly 19 was no secret. everyone was informed via email on july 19 days was no secret. everyone was informed via email onjuly 19 days before the presidential call. one source of comfort to the white house, mr sondland conceded he never heard the president directly connect aid money to the biden enquiry, a fact seized on by mrtrump to the biden enquiry, a fact seized on by mr trump had his prescription lines carefully prepared. ready? you have the cameras rolling? i want nothing. that's what i want from ukraine, that's what i said. i'd wa nt ukraine, that's what i said. i'd want nothing. i said it twice. republican assertions that ukraine wasn't aware of the withholding of military aid until two weeks before the hold was lifted were called into question by another with this, defence department official laura cooper. she said staff received a

query about it the day of the fateful telephone conversation between president trump and his ukrainian counterpart. my staff showed me to unclassified emails that they received from the state department. one was received onjuly 25 at 2:31pm. that email said that the ukrainian embassy and house foreign affairs committee are asking about security assistance. the second email was received onjuly 25 at a:25pm. that email said that the hill knows about the fmf situation to an extent and so does the ukrainian embassy. two more witnesses are due to testify later today whereupon no further public hearings in this impeachment enquiry are scheduled. david willis, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. google is introducing stricter controls on political advertising. campaigns won't be able to target people based on their political persuasions, and examples of deliberate misinformation will be removed.

the new policy will come into effect in the uk next week, and then be rolled out to the rest of the world. efforts to form a coalition government in israel have collapsed again, two months after the most recent general election. prime minister benjamin netanyahu's main challenger, benny gantz, announced he'd been unable to form an administration by a deadline that passed earlier. some of the last protesters remaining at hong kong's polytechnic university have tried to escape through sewers. dozens are still barricaded inside the campus, surrounded by police. the five—day standoff has also rippled overseas, with the un's human rights office urging a peaceful resolution, while the us congress passed new legislation supporting protesters' demands. australia's biggest city, sydney, has again woken to a thick layer of smoke from bushfires. visibility is extremely low

and with more hot and windy weather forecast, the authorities have warned people with respiratory and heart conditions to remain inside with their windows closed. angry protesters in malta have demanded the resignation of the prime minister, joseph muscat, after police arrested a prominent businessman in connection with the murder of a journalist, daphne ca ruana galizia. demonstrators — who accuse the prime minister of protecting those responsible for the murder — gathered outside parliament in valletta, shouting "mafia" and "get out". gareth barlow reports. protesters gathered outside the maltese parliament, swarming around the justice minister's car, chanting "assassin", "mafia", "corrupt". somebody needs to shoulder political responsibility. there is so much going on. how are we letting this this happen?

angry at the investigation into daphne caruana galitzia's murder, they accuse politicians of protecting those responsible. they are all in it together! they must shoulder political responsibility and resign instantly! we cannot go on like this. earlier on wednesday, armed police arrested a prominent businessman, yorgen fenech, aboard his yacht. the prime minister, joseph muscat, has promised to leave no stone unturned in the investigation. ms caruana galitzia's son welcomed to the arrest. so the arrest of yorgen fenech is obviously a welcome development in the investigation into my mother's assassination. it's overdue and it's very important. the 2017 car bombing that killed the prominent investigative journalist and anti—corruption blogger rocked the small mediterranean state. three men have been charged with detonating the bomb. the suspected middleman has also been arrested. but the prime minister said he could be

pardoned if information is provided to prosecute the mastermind. two years on from daphne ca ruana galitzia's murder, the desire to uncover the truth of her death and the cases she worked to expose continues. gareth barlow, bbc news. a bbc survey has discovered two in five workers in the uk would fake sickness to get a day off work. among the 16—34 age group — it's over half! people also admitted to stealing, and taking credit for their colleagues' work. the office for national statistics says the average worker takes around four sick days a year. simoney kyriakou from the financial times is here. in some ways, i'm surprised it is only two in five admitting to it. absolutely. no—one wants to admit to

deliberately stealing from their employer, whether it's time or ideas. personally i've never had to pretend to throw a sickie and also had an understanding employer would have had to take days off but you can understand people in high—powered, high pressured jobs or in small teams, sometimes you do need to take a mental health day and perhaps more employers should be mindful of why their employees are having to throw a sickie. that might lend itself to more questions on mental health and wellness. it's an interesting distinction you make. it's one thing for someone to pull a sickie, take a day off because they fa ncy sickie, take a day off because they fancy going shopping because their friend is available. spending a day having fun. and then you've got a situation where people feel so under pressure that they are not physically sick and overwhelmed and

we are seeing employers starting to introduce this idea of if you are feeling to the point where you are really buckling, take a mental health day and that's a recognition of the importance of having time to think and recover. absolutely. some employers will do personal days, you might be allowed to a year, others might be allowed to a year, others might allow a duvet day and other things like relaxation rooms to allow people to take an hour to recharge their batteries and those sorts of things might help more workers your mindful that they will support me if i'm undergoing stress at work and that might be the main reason why people tend to be sick for a sick day because they can't face getting up. 20 more authorised to talk through that story about and we will go through that and some of the others in the paper. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: from the special one

to the spurs one. jose mourinho's set to face the world for the first time as tottenham manager. 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 it's 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. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: after the impeachment inquiry‘s biggest day yet — the white house says the evidence exonerates the president. there's mounting pressure on prince andrew — with lawyers representing victims of the convicted american paedophile, jeffrey epstein, urging him to tell all. the bbc‘s emily maitlis who conducted the interview with prince andrew last week spoke to gloria allred, the lawyer representing jeffrey epstein's alleged victims. she asked for her reaction to the announcement. iam very i am very glad that prince andrew

has indicated that he will be willing to speak to law enforcement. i don't know what he means when he says, essentially, that if it is required. because i don't know if it is here that if he is requiring a subpoena or what. my clients, who are the arms of geoffrey epstein, did speak to law enforcement. the criminal investigators for the justice department for the southern district of new york. and they did not require a subpoena or anything else. they recognise that it was important to assist this investigation by providing any information that may be relevant to the criminal prosecution of anyone who may have conspired with mr epstein to sexually trafficked underage girls. so i don't know why he did that, prince andrew, and added that to his statement. all i

can say is that he should volunteered to co—operate with law enforcement with no condition and without any more delay. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. he's been the special one. the successful one. he even called himself the happy one. now he's the spurs one after they sacked mauricio pochettino. jose mourinho is the new tottenham manager and has his first press conference later. mourinho's been out of work since he was dismissed by manchester united last december, although he's turned down a number of offers. he won three premier league titles in two spells with chelsea. he takes over a spurs side that are 14th in the premier league and without a win in their last five games. in relation to the premier league i think we know where we are and we know that we do not belong there. we

should just play match after match, the next match we want to win and thatis the next match we want to win and that is the same about the next and the next and the next until the last. at the end of the season we will see where we are but i know we will see where we are but i know we will be in a different position than we are now. i look forward to the challenge and for the responsibility to bring happiness to everyone who loves the club. the holders croatia are out of the davis cup after losing to spain. that was a second successive defeat for croatia in the re—vamped competition. roberto baustista agut beat nikola mektic in the opening rubber before world number one rafael nadal beat borna gojo is straight sets to give spain an unassailable lead in the tie. nadal won 6—4, 6—3 — and spain then won the doubles to seal their place in the quarter—finals where they'll face one of the two best runners—up. the davis cup continues later — france, last year's runners—up,

take on serbia in their final group game. novak djokovic eased them into the quarter finals on wednesday with victory over japan. he beat yoshihito nishioka here 6—16—2. a win over france on thursday will mean serbia will top the group: every when counts regardless of the fa ct every when counts regardless of the fact that we won this time it is important to try and get 3—0, a clea n important to try and get 3—0, a clean sheet, which gives us a bit more room to breathe even tomorrow, evenif more room to breathe even tomorrow, even if we do get to, god forbid, lose to france, we still have a good chance to be the second best and go to quarters. but these are all calculations. the european tour season ends with the dp world tour championship in dubai which starts on thursday. many of the world's top players are on the course already — tommy fleetwood is due out soon following his victory last week

in the nedbank golf challenge in south africa. this concludes the season—long race to dubai, which is europe's answer to the fedex cup in the united states. and lebronjames wasn't the only one entertaining the fans when he got his 86th career triple—double against oklahoma thunder. this is what happened in the la lakers halftime show. seven—time grand slam winner venus williams showing us her best moves. and not to be outdone — actor and chat show host james corden decided to strut his stuff as well. i will show you my best moves but i am hearing... sorry, we are out of time. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me chetan pathak and the rest of the sport team, that is your

thursday sport briefing. if only we had known we could have given him a little more time two years after the head of the grammys said women need to "step up" if they wanted to be recognised, female artists are dominating the 2020 nominations. five of the eight album of the year nominees are women, ariana grande and lana del rey among the front—runners. meanwhile, lizzo and billie eilish are shortlisted in all of the ceremony‘s "big four" categories: best new artist, best song, best record and best album. the grammys were mired in controversy in 2018, after only one woman won an award during the televised ceremony. coldplay have revealed they won't be going on tour to promote their new album — because it's bad for the planet. lead singer chris martin has been speaking exclusively to the bbc and says the band will spend the next few years researching ways to make gigging around the globe ‘carbon neutral‘ before they hit the road again. colin paterson has more.

chris martin, here we are. in jordan. why are we here? well, we wa nted jordan. why are we here? well, we wanted to basically pick somewhere in what we consider the middle of the world and in the middle of the biggest area where we normally do not get to play. and bands like us do not come here very often. also, it is just so beautiful. it makes me fizzle with excitement. how difficult is it for bands who believe in environmental issues to go on believe in environmental issues to goona believe in environmental issues to go on a world tour at the moment?‘ great question. we are not touring this album. we are taking time over the next year or two to work out how can it not only our be sustainable but actively beneficial? how can we

harness the resources that our tour creates and make it have a positive impact. the hardest thing is the flying side of things. for example, ourdream is to flying side of things. for example, our dream is to have a show with no single use plastic, for it to be largely solar powered. now you have cropped up a few times on the main stage and paul mccartney will headline next year. any chance of coldplayjoining headline next year. any chance of coldplay joining the bill? headline next year. any chance of coldplayjoining the bill? no. i did p0p up coldplayjoining the bill? no. i did pop up on stage last year and i loved doing so. and then i saw a tweet after it that said you can a lwa ys tweet after it that said you can always rely on him to come on in a tracksuit and ruin everything. so i was... you know what, i should work on my trousers and b, i should not be out of line and perhaps, c,

perhaps watch glastonbury for a year or so. perhaps watch glastonbury for a year or so. did that hurt? yes. i am human. does it ever hurt you that critics have never taken to coldplay in the same way that fans have? no. no. i was once a tottenham game, next to the away stand so i was hearing both sets of songs and i was like,, it is not that hard being in coldplay. at least when we play a stadium it is full of ourfans. least when we play a stadium it is full of our fans. we least when we play a stadium it is full of ourfans. we do not least when we play a stadium it is full of our fans. we do not have a section of non— fans. full of our fans. we do not have a section of non- fans. so it is not as hard being coldplay as it is being a football player? that is the message

of the album. i was keen to hear your thoughts on this bbc survey that found in the uk two fifths of people admitted they would fake a sick day if they needed a day off. here is the article there. is all about morals and honesty and... sorry, zooming there on the picture, someone sorry, zooming there on the picture, someone faking a sickie. many of you have been in touch. charles says that the article also forgot to mention that some parents often take sick days for their children in order to take a holiday and others do not give the game away. it is a case of lead by example and also had a tweet saying 40% people say they are

surprised or offended when figures demonstrate how unproductive this country is compared to other nations. if you would like to join the conversation, don't forget to hashtag us. hello there. after a cold and frosty start to the week, the weather has turned milder and over the next few days it will continue to turn milder days it will continue to turn milder day and night. the reason for that is that the weather is turning more u nsettled is that the weather is turning more unsettled with more rain in the forecast. at the moment, most of the rain is anchored around that area of low pressure, it is slow—moving to the south—west of the uk. most of the south—west of the uk. most of the rain will be in the south—west. could be a few showers, towards the south—east of scotland. any showers that move away from northern ireland may get brightness and sunshine across the northern half of the uk grey through the midlands towards the midlands that meant south—east

of england. highest temperatures in the south—west of england and south wales where we will see the wettest weather developing through the afternoon. in the evening the rain is still around in the south—west of england, heading further into wales towards the south—east of england. behind that rain it does turn quite showery across the southern counties. some showers further north as well. adding to that cloudy sort of feel and it should be mild as well. temperatures 3— six degrees. a messy picture on friday. not only do we have a lot of cloud and limited sunshine and showers, the development of this rain is forecast for the south—west of england, the west country, perhaps into the west midlands and wales. that is an area that could see heavy rain developing through the day. those temperatures are still around nine or 10 degrees for many parts of the country. more wet weather to come on saturday. we have another area of low pressure that will push some rain northwards, mainly across england and wales but

perhaps heading up towards the central belt and into northern ireland during the afternoon, allowing something brighter in the south. the position of the rain could change over the weekend. it is a weekend dominated by low pressure. that first one will decay as the rain drifts northwards. the next area of low pressure coming in, the position of that could change but it will bring winter weather and probably some windy weather as well during the second half of the weekend. we start with remnants of rain across scotland and then we have an idea of a wet and windy weather arriving across england and wales, spawning things as we head into the afternoon and temperatures 8-11 into the afternoon and temperatures 8— 11 celsius.

this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. car clash! gm sues fiat chrysler for racketeering — accusing its rival of bribing unions. fiat calls the lawsuit astonishing. plus — pulling a sickie. more than half of young british workers say they would fake illness to avoid going to work. is it a sign of bigger problems with today's workplace? and on the markets, global shares stumble on renewed us china tensions — as the us congress passes a bill in support of the hong kong