you're watching bbc news at nine with me annita mcveigh. the headlines: lawyers representing the victims of the sex offender jeffrey epstein say prince andrew should put himself forward to be interviewed by us authorities. he should volunteer to cooperate with law enforcement without any condition and without any more delay. labour will launch their election manifesto this morning — promising the biggest council house building programme in decades. our plan is to build 100,000 council houses by year five every year making sure we have the housing stock we need to the people and families who are struggling at the moment. the number of people being sectioned by police in england and wales is up by a fifth. we'll speak to the mental

health charity, mind. regardless of who the biggest band in the world is, you will have to realise that you're going to be polishing ed sheeran‘s boots. in a world exclusive, coldplay‘s chris martin speaks to the bbc about why he's taking the band off the road to save the planet. and england make a promising start to the first test in new zealand. they're 241—4 at close with ben stokes 67 not out. good morning, and welcome to the bbc news at 9. lawyers for women who say they were sexually assaulted by the convicted paedophile, jeffrey epstein, have urged the duke of york to give a sworn legal statement about his links to the american financier.

prince andrew said yesterday he was willing to help investigations into epstein "if required". he's also withdrawing from public duties because of what he called his "ill—judged association" with epstein, who killed himself injail. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. he and buckingham palace accepted his position had become unsustainable. in a statement, prince andrew said: he went on: and finally and significantly:

all i can say is he should volunteer to co—operate with law enforcement without any condition and without any more delay. 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.

lisa bloom is a lawyer representing five of jeffrey epstein‘s alleged victims. she told charlie stayt on bbc breakfast what she thought of the prince's latest statement. it isa it is a good first step, but it is long overdue, and the apology he is making to the victims is also long overdue. i think we saw how he really feels during his interview a few days ago where he was completely lacking in compassion for the victims but now, going forward, he says he will cooperate with law enforcement and that is a good first step and i hope it means law enforcement in every country that is doing investigations as well as the private civil suit by attorneys like me who are trying to getjustice for the victims. can i ask, have you spoken to any of the five people you are representing? and have you got any sense from them what they make of what the duke of york has said?

they were very upset by his initial interview and it just seemed they were very upset by his initial interview and itjust seemed like he was someone interview and itjust seemed like he was someone who had a lot of sympathy forjeffrey was someone who had a lot of sympathy for jeffrey epstein was someone who had a lot of sympathy forjeffrey epstein and miss maxwell but not the victims. we do think it is a good, positive step that he says he's going to cooperate with law enforcement but we'd like to see that happen. is he going to, for example, fly to the united states and voluntarily meet with our fbi? will he sit for depositions? in the civil cases, will he submit evidence like e—mails and calendars and travel logs, that all of us would like to see as part of our investigations? will he allow his staff to come and answer questions about his travels and where he was and what they saw? so a lot remains to be seen. looking up the wording of the statement, one section says, the bit you are referring to, i think, of course, iam you are referring to, i think, of course, i am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required. what do you make of that?

the devil is in the detail. it's one thing to make a nice public statement when you're under attack, but it's another thing to truly cooperate and turn over everything so cooperate and turn over everything so that the dozens and dozens of victims who have come forward, and i believe there are probably hundreds if not thousands of them, so we can all getjustice and put together a timeline and find out who else was involved. it's not just timeline and find out who else was involved. it's notjust about prince andrew or miss maxwell, there are many other recruiters, there are other prominent political figures, celebrities who are involved in this so celebrities who are involved in this so it's time for us to get to the bottom of what happened and clearly prince andrew has some critical information. can i ask you in a practical sense, in terms of the legal process, where do you see this going in relation to the duke of york? well, i as an attorney have the right to subpoena witnesses to

come and take depositions. those are oui’ come and take depositions. those are our court statements where they swear to tell the truth, they come into my office and they have to a nswer into my office and they have to answer my questions. if i as an attorney deemed the individual to have relevant information. it's not going to be easy to subpoena someone like prince andrew as he is honestly not walking down the street where someone can not walking down the street where someone canjust not walking down the street where someone can just hand not walking down the street where someone canjust hand him a piece of paper. it's a lot more complicated. if he refuses to come we might have a diplomatic situation between your country and mine. i hope it doesn't come to that. i take him at his word that he says he will cooperate and i hope that is what is going to happen. 0ur royal correspondent sarah campbell is outside buckingham palace. good morning, sarah. talk to us first about the practical implications of this decision by the prince to withdraw from public duties and how was that decision made? who would have been involved in it? good morning. every day since

the newsnight interview aired on saturday there have been more revelations and more apparent inconsistencies revealed in what prince andrew had said. bbc panorama was due to broadcast an investigation in the next couple of weeks, and there was that drip drip from companies and organisations and charities involved with him who were trying to distance themselves from prince andrew and there was an inevitability before the statement was published before 6pm yesterday evening. so what does it mean? 0ur understanding is that it was a personal decision taken by prince andrew but this was following discussion with the queen and with prince charles who have courses on tourin prince charles who have courses on tour in new zealand the moment. he is not resigning any of his 200 or so patrick images or positions but he is stepping back from them —— patrickjenny‘s he is stepping back from them —— patrick jenny's and we he is stepping back from them —— patrickjenny‘s and we understand that many of those organisations

might wish to find themselves a new patron and there is an understanding on the part of the palace that that will happen. he was stepping back from public duties and he will not carry out any public engagements but our understanding from the palace is that he will appear at royal events, so potentially the next time we might see him is at sandringham at christmas, the traditional time when most of the senior members of the royalfamily come most of the senior members of the royal family come together. interestingly one of the main organisations that he has been involved with in the last five years orso, an involved with in the last five years or so, an initiative he set up to bring entrepreneurs, big businesses and organisations together, some of the sponsors we have been hearing from this week have said they want to distance themselves from him have been involved through that organisation and our understanding from sources is that the duke will continue to work and look at how he

ta kes continue to work and look at how he takes it forward outside of public duties and they say there will be a period of time while this transition ta kes period of time while this transition takes place. in terms of what the duke said about people being willing to do investigations into epstein again, what does that mean in practice? because certainly his coming under some pressure from lawyers, isn't he? absolutely and this was in the statement from him that was released yesterday, the exact wording is are that he says he is willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required but we have not had anything more expansive as to what that means going forward, but as we've been hearing this morning organisations, lawyers for the alleged victims ofjeffrey epstein, they take issue with the phrase if required. they want him to voluntarily come forward and give his side of the story to help in any way he can in terms of the civil

suits that they are taking out against the estate ofjeffrey epstein. that is one legal side. the other legal side is the criminal investigation which is ongoing involving the fbi. and the law enforcement agency that the prince refers to in his statement but on thoseissues refers to in his statement but on those issues it's a bit of a wait and see. sarah, thank you very much. i'm late at this hour we will be hearing from will king, one of the founders of pitch at palace. labour will unveil its general manifesto this morning as the party sets out its plan for government should it win the election. jeremy corbyn says the programme represents the "most radical and ambitious plan to transform the country in decades". it's expected to include proposals for a windfall tax on oil companies. labour says it wants to shift the uk towards a low—carbon, green economy. they say they'll set up

a new green transformation fund worth £250 billion to be paid for through borrowing. housing is another core issue in the manifesto, the party says it will expand social and affordable housing, building 100,000 council homes a year in england by the end of the next five—year parliament. they've also promised to build 50,000 affordable homes. the conservatives, meanwhile, have put forward their own proposals to boost the housing stock, help first—time buyers and spend more on social care. let's get some more analysis on what we can expect. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is at the labour manifesto launch in birmingham. good morning. how much of a bounce will labour be hoping to get from this big launch today in the polls?

i think they will really need one. certainly in 2017jeremy corbyn credited the manifesto is the very thing that gave him a boost to his flagging fortunes and he said it was a popular document, the star of the campaign so they are going to have to better that. i think perhaps it might also have something to do with theresa may's manifesto on how she conducted herself to, but never mind. it's the policies they put forward they say will be more radical in 2017, but some of their much the same. but overall we will see an increasing role for the state and an active role for government, so may be the renationalisation of the railways, the water industry and these were previous proposals and we had them preannounced, the partial renationalisation of bt to provide a free broadband but we will also see a big role for local government as well as national, so more powers for local government over schools in

their area and that big announcement today on housing as well, to give you an idea of the scale, the last time hundred thousand home was back in 1977 time hundred thousand home was back in1977 in the time hundred thousand home was back in 1977 in the era of punk rock. 0nly in 1977 in the era of punk rock. only 3000 were built in the last year and so to build and by the end of the next parliament is a big programme and there are some doubts being about the capacity about angela rayner, the shallow end —— education secretary said this morning she was confident that labour could deliver it and also offer hope to people young people who are finding it very difficult not to get just who are finding it very difficult not to getjust on the poverty line are even finding somewhere to rent. we have to make sure that brownfield is important and we have to get that land back up to scratch to make sure we can use it on the public sector has a lot of land that is not being

utilised and to make sure that happens we will protect the green belts because the important thing about our house—building programme is notjust how many units about our house—building programme is not just how many units we willed —— build, but bringing communities together. angela rayner confident they can deliver the target of 100,000 homes by the end of the next parliament with labour in government in england. the manifesto ranges more widely than that and there is an eternal row as to whether they will stick to conference policy to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and my understanding is that will be fudged when we get the ma nifesto will be fudged when we get the manifesto and a couple of hours' time, but party insiders are stressing how radical the environmental policies are going to be and there will be a million more jobs in green industries, that's a private estimate and there will be a new emphasis on public transport, re—instituting bus routes and extending the entitlement to free bus travel as well. they have

already announced taxes on people earning more than £80,000 per year and that will go up and corporation tax will go up and internally there will be a windfall tax on the oil industry, so will that call disinvestment in the north sea. it was deftly a draft of the manifesto on saturday and i'm being told we will stick with that when a formal document is launched in two hours' time. ian, thank you very much. business presenter dominic 0'connell is here to let us know how industry is reacting to labour's manifesto plans. good morning to you. let's talk first about housing because both labour and the conservatives are talking about that, ambitious house—building programmes. how well set is the construction sector to respond to something like this? labour is talking about building a extra homes per year but at the moment the entire industry produces

£160,000 -- 160 moment the entire industry produces £160,000 —— 160 thousand a year and thatis £160,000 —— 160 thousand a year and that is the highest number it has been since the banking crisis, so labour is talking about roughly doubling it and also roughly 100,000 of those come from councils and at the moment councils build only about 3000 homes per year. it is suggesting that what is at the heart of this is what were called direct labour organisations where councils directly employed people and did their own building and this was the case until 30 years ago but these we re case until 30 years ago but these were big labour strongholds, highly unionised workforces and big forces in social housing and they were taken away by margaret thatcher with competitive tendering and now we have a situation where councils don't build many houses so we're talking about a huge expansion of the roles of councils in building and there are big question marks whether the people and resources exist to do it but labour are confident they can. let's also talk about the proposal for a windfall tax on oil and gas. what are those

proposals and a bit more detail, but how that might impact england and scotla nd how that might impact england and scotland question what we don't know the level of tax and if the ma nifesto the level of tax and if the manifesto says it they might, but if it's a windfall tax rather than a continuing tax, that is one thing but people will be nervous north of the border because there is history here. most incoming chancellors look at the north sea and thing here is a chance for us to make some money. george osborne recently did it and put extra taxes on the north sea not long after he came into power and almost immediately had to reverse them and change the tax to the north sea because of a disastrous drop in investment and if you talk to the north sea firms they say that more taxation might mean they do not do any more drilling in the north sea which if you're moving to a green economy might be the whole point of the policy anyway. dominic, thank you very much. the conservatives are also talking about building houses today. boris johnson will announce plans to deliver a million

homes in five years, with extra help for first—time buyers. the proposals include an overhaul of the planning system. the headlines on bbc news. lawyers representing the victims of the sex offender jeffrey epstein say prince andrew should put himself forward to be interviewed by us authorities, after his statement saying he would step down from royal duties. labour will launch their election manifesto this morning, promising the biggest council house building programme in decades. the number of people being sectioned by police in england and wales goes up by a fifth in two years. england have made a promising start to the first test in new zealand, ending the first day on a respectable 241 for 4. ben stokes finished 67 not out whilejoe denly hit 7a. jose mourinho will speak to the media for the first time since taking over as spurs new head coach this afternoon.

mourinho says he will make fans smile again and take tottenham back up the premier league table. golf's most lucrative tournament the dp world tour championship is underway. tommy fleetwood has got off to a superb start with an eagle two on the opening hole in dubai. i'll be back with more on those stories. prince andrew is stepping down from his royal duties. but as the controversy grows, what does it mean for the duke's business engagements? well, this morning entreprenuers have come out in support of andrew's business scheme for start—up firms over fears that it may not continue. well, i'm joined now by will king — who is a founding member of the duke's organisation ‘pitch at the palace‘ as well as ‘king of shaves‘. thanks for coming along. talk to us about the organisation and how long it has been running and what it

does. it's a fantastic sea -- a scheme set up in 2014 super note entrepreneurs using pitch at the palace, saint palace in order to help businesses scale in the last thing was asked was about connections and advice and guidance and then investment if that was available. the audience that would come in would be amazing quality level chairmen, ceos, businessmen, private and critique companies and we‘ve had over a thousand people pitch their businesses. it‘s generated over £1 billion in economic activity. 97% of those businesses are still trading and i think it would be a real shame if it did not continue. these investors coming in are presumably impressed by the royal setting, by the involvement of a member of the royal family. has prince andrew been involved right from the start? yes, backin

involved right from the start? yes, back in 2013 there was a breakfast meeting chaired by amanda thirsk and a lot of business people were invited to look at what we could do to use the royal assets, whether they are palaces or individuals to further promote british entrepreneurs and scale ups which has turned into an enormous worldwide success. when you watch the newsnight interview with the prince, did you immediately see that there would be problems? i'm here to talk about pitch at palace and when it‘s associated with prince andrew and allegations against him, there‘s going to be issues around that and the number of corporate sponsors have stepped down but with regard to the initiative and worth, as i said on bbc radio four, perhaps there is an opportunity to rotate in other members of the royal family,

an opportunity to rotate in other members of the royalfamily, even prince charles, where we can put different agendas and opportunities to the audience and further continue the programme. you are making the point it is pitch at palace, don‘t pitch at the prince and another royalfamily pitch at the prince and another royal family member could become involved. if it was pitch at the prince, it‘s not a graham norton show, it doesn‘t have the name in it. it was very much about the environment and the uk system that will be built up. a huge amount of effort has been put in, notjust by the small team who run the initiative but thousands of entrepreneurs, business people who have given their time and support an effort to help grow british businesses opportunities and give the opportunities of leveraged for taxpayer assets in a very positive way. you are primarily here to talk about pitch at palace, but prince andrew, and i want to get your

thoughts on this if you would, if he had used the tone from his latest statement in that interview, would things have perhaps been easier to handle? perhaps. you are not prepared to speculate further? 0bviously prepared to speculate further? obviously in the latest statement he has talked about his concern for the victims and so on, which he did not express in that interview and clearly that has unsettled a lot of people who work with him in various organisations. yes, i saw the statement that came out before 6pm last night i know i understand he is making himself available for any investigation and he has expressed unconditional support for the victims and wished he had said that first time around. has anybody at the palace said that someone else from the royal family would become involved in pitch at palace or is it too early? not to my knowledge. perhaps too early. but you are clearly hopeful that something that has been so successful initial

period of time can continue?” has been so successful initial period of time can continue? i think it would be an extraordinary shame if such a successful initiative, which has done so much good and help so many people was cast aside as collateral damage with regard to what has happened to the duke of york. how much contact have you had with prince andrew through the organisation? how do you feel about him at the moment? do you feel sorry for him, the position he is in, and what are your thoughts? it must be a complex chain of thoughts going through your mind at the moment. i‘ve met him at the occasions of pitch at palace events and there we re pitch at palace events and there were boot camps held where we would elevate the people pitching to make sure they gave their best presentation. it is a very difficult time and i‘m sure everybody concerned, but my primary concern is that pitch at palace is a fantastic platform and it continues. thank you very much for talking to us. 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. the fire service says around fifty bushfires are burning in the state of new south wales. you may have seen our report yesterday on the rescue of a seriously injured koala from one of those bushfires in australia. now toni doherty who came to his aid in the fire in new south wales has been reunited with him. she‘s been visiting him at a koala hospital, the only one of its kind in the world and named him lewis after her grandson, as keith doyle reports. this is the koala bear who was plucked from the flames, now recovering in a koala hospital in port macquarie in new south wales, 240 miles north of sydney. these distressing pictures show the bear being plucked from a burning tree,

rescued from certain death and doused with water to help treat its burns. these shocking pictures have been viewed widely and shared on social media. the woman who rescued the koala, now named lewis, was reunited with him at the hospital. is he here? this he's here. i knew if we didn‘t get him down from the tree, then he would have been up there in amongst the flames, so just immediately thought, just get to him, put the fire out and as soon as i caught him i realised we had some water in the car and yeah, just natural instinct. he's got burns under his arms, his nose is burned, and a bit of his private parts are burned as well and he's singed all over. but look at him, he's eating really well. keith doyle, bbc news. it's thought around 350 koalas have

died in the fires which have spread from the east coast of the state of victoria. six people have died and 500 homes have been destroyed by numerous fires across three states. smokehouse shrouded sydney for another day and while firefighters have brought blazes under control in some areas, the hazardous conditions are expected to continue for some time. good to see he is being well cared for. in a moment the weather but first here‘s chloe tilley with details of what‘s coming up in the victoria derbyshire programme at 10. we will talk to the dad of bethany, an 18—year—old woman who is being held in a controversial secure mental health facility. he says she has been told that experts fear for her life and she needs to be moved immediately. and the mother of 19—year—old harry dunne tells us she feels the family have been misled by

the foreign office into believing a prosecution was imminent in the case of the american woman suspected of killing their son in a motorbike crash. join us at 10am on bbc two, the bbc news channel and online. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. good morning. for some of us it‘s been a chilly start with clear skies by night but for most it‘s been a fairly cloudy day ahead with some sunshine and the sunshine will be with a south easterly breeze in the sunshine will be hazy. talking of a south easterly breeze we could see a few showers coming up the east coast into the northern isles but we have rain out towards the west and that rain out towards the west and that rain could be heavy at times. temperature wise, disappointing for the time of year with the highest temperature in plymouth at 10 degrees. as we head through the evening and overnight a band of rain moves steadily northwards, moving into northern england and northern ireland and southern scotland.

behind it, a new band comes our way and we will see clear skies by night and we will see clear skies by night and that is where we could see pockets of frost in the morning. we have the remnants of the rain moving out of northern england into scotla nd out of northern england into scotland and northern ireland and it will be more persistent pulling in through the rest of the uk, but a little bit milder. hello this is bbc news. the headlines: lawyers representing the victims of the sex offenderjeffrey epstein say prince andrew should put himself forward to be interviewed by us authorities, after his statement saying he would step down from royal duties. he should volunteer to cooperate with law enforcement without any condition, and without any more delay. labour will launch their election manifesto this morning promising the biggest council house building programme in decades.

0ur our plan is to build 100,000 council houses by year five, every year, making sure we have the houses that we need for the people and families struggling at the moment. the number of people being sectioned by police in england and wales goes up by a fifth in two years. and coming up, in a world exclusive, coldplay‘s chris martin speaks to the bbc about why he‘s taking the band off the road to save the planet. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. in a moment we will be speaking to our reporterjoe tidy, who‘s looking at how digital and social media platforms are being used during the campaign. let‘s start by having a quick look at the papers — because one story dominates.

it‘s also one of our most read stories on the bbc news website this morning. it‘s prince andrew‘s decision to step down from his royal duties for the foreseeable future following scrutiny of his friendship with the disgraced american billionaire, jeffrey epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial over sex trafficking charges. well, in his statement,

released yesterday, the prince said he is "willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required". bbc breakfast spoke to speak to the former fbi agent, bobby chacon. he was asked how prince andrew could help the on—going investigation in tojeffrey epstein. if it is based in new york city, where jeffrey epstein was confined at the time of his death, that is where the investigation is centred, if they choose they want to interview prince andrew, for example, in the uk, the fbi maintains an office in london and has had a permanent office in london for decades, it is at the us embassy, it has us fbi agents, staff, living and working in london, staffed round—the—clock. they would make a request, the investigators in the state would make a request of the state would make a request of the agents in london, we would then probably contact their counterparts in london, in law enforcement, they would help to facilitate the contact and conduct the interview.

as promised, our reporter joe tidyjoins me now. let‘s look at the digital election campaign and look at google to begin with, they have announced much more strict rules on political advertising. they announced a number of different measures overnight that they are putting across the world, main headline, no longer allowing granular advertising, targeting people by their political means. this has not happened in the uk a nyway this has not happened in the uk anyway so does not affect the uk but will affect the us and other markets, what is interesting, why it is significant, another example of a big tech company self reforming. not any rules or regulations around political advertising online, we saw twitter banning advertising on the platform, that comes into effect tomorrow. facebook trying to do as transparent think they can be about the kind of advertising targeting on their platform and google is halfway between the two, saying, you can still advertise it with us, but we

are taking away some of the parameters. —— trying to be as transparent as they can be. one thing we want to talk about, i think it is social media against real campaigning. with a particular sting in the tail for one politician. dominic raab, yesterday, we talked about this yesterday morning, he came on bbc breakfast and he said, we don‘t care about social media, nobody cares about it, does not matter in this election, because they were criticised for rebranding a twitter account is a fa ct rebranding a twitter account is a fact checking account. quickly afterwards, this person, very influential writer, tweeted this and got this hashtag going. and it was one of the biggest trends on social media on twitter yesterday, and there were some nasty ones but also lots of rather funny ones. not sure dominic raab will find them funny...! dominic raab will find them funny. . .! probably dominic raab will find them funny...! probably not dominic raab will find them funny. . .! probably not but might make him think twice about what he says about social media and its influence. shall we see some

examples? here we go... may his socks slide down the inside of his shoes... make your cup of tea always be to hot to drink when you get it and too cold to drink by the time you get back to it. thousands and thousands of them, and what it shows is that they may not care about social media social media can bite back! as mentioned, labour launching the manifesto a little later this morning, is that trending already? well, they are trying to get the conversation going, what is interesting, they have chosen these two really old leaflets, to post on facebook and instagram, harking back toa facebook and instagram, harking back to a different time, i suppose. brighten a style check. reminding people they have ownership over the nhs, according to the party. -- nostalgic. we have seen a couple

of times now that they have put out batches of these advertisements, going to various different people, looking at prescriptions, so, for the moment, england is the only nation in the uk which does not have free prescriptions, it seems to be one of the main lines of campaigning that the labour party are taking, on facebook and instagram, but we are not seeing it for some reason on the campaign trail, so i wonder... and we we re campaign trail, so i wonder... and we were not seeing it here until a second ago, thankfully the technical side of things have been worked out. not the prettiest of adverts, i think we can safely say, not the most brilliantly designed... functional? yes, they have done dozens functional? yes, they have done d oze ns of functional? yes, they have done dozens of these adverts, very targeted, only going to 65... 65 to seven—year—olds, the older men, it is no women seeing this either. i wonder whether or not we will hear

more about this pledge, this ma nifesto more about this pledge, this manifesto promise, today, when they announce the actual campaigns. let's watch and see. time to have a look at what you are watching and reading on the bbc news app, number one on the most red, this story about workers in the uk pulling six days to avoid going to work, according to a survey for the bbc, two in five adults say that they would take a sick day if they needed a day off, if you read on through it says younger staff lying more often than elders but more willing to stand up for colleagues. the average worker, according to the 0ns, takes four sick days a year, the most common reasons are common cold, back pain, mental health conditions and other issues. of course, sickness due to lying was not included in those statistics! and, looking down at the most watched, these are astonishing

images, talking about the bushfires in australia. this has been described as a sea of fire, racing across an australian field, let‘s ta ke across an australian field, let‘s take a look at that, and, it does look like a crest of a wave, especially in the shots just about to come up, this one, quite astonishing, adelaide, north of adelaide, city of adelaide, firefighters again in the south australia area, fighting bushfires that are affecting so many parts of the country. and, you can seejust how quickly those flames move, and therefore how difficult it is to put fires out. and that is number one on the most watched this morning, that is it for the morning briefing. time to catch up with the latest sports news, and sally nugent is waiting to tell us about that. england have made a promising start to the first test in new zealand,

ending the first day on a respectable 241 for 4. the runs were slow to come by at first and debutant dominic sibley was dismissed forjust 22. rory burns then hit a half century, beforejoe denley helped build england‘s lead with a solid 74. captain joe root went cheaply but ben stokes will return to the crease in mount maunganui 67 not out. i thought the guys early in the day did a good job against what was a ball that swung for considerable amount of the day. the crosswind going across the ground had a lot to do with that. ben stokes showing that there are runs out there to be had, good batting wicket, not that much lateral movement, or any at all, off the wicked. it took a good bowling display to keep england at the run rate for the majority of the day. i thought that england were disciplined in the way they went about it. jose mourinho says he will make fans smile again and take tottenham back up the premier league table.

he has signed a deal as the club‘s new head coach until 2023, replacing mauricio pochettino who was sacked on tuesday. mourinho spoke to the club‘s in—house tv channel yesterday but will speak to the media for the first time since taking over this afternoon. in relation to the premier league, we know where we are, and we know we do not belong there. match after match, the next match we want to, and that is the same about the next and that is the same about the next and the next and the next, until the last. and at the end of the season, we will see where we are. but i know that we are going to be in a different position than we are now. i look forward to the challenge, i look for the responsibility, to bring happiness to everybody who loves the club. let‘s have a look at some of this morning‘s back pages and the face of one man dominates.

his opening bit of business making sure that harry kane stays at the club. it also focuses on the reaction in spain to gareth bale holding a banner saying his priorities are wales, golf and madrid. the express goes on a similar theme whilst also focusing on andy murray‘s efforts for great britain in the new format davis cup yesterday. great britain will be back in davis cup action when they face kazakhstan in about half an hour‘s time with the team aiming to reach the quarter finals as group winners. andy murray will be rested today after helping the team to beat the netherlands in their first group match yesterday. murray got great britain off to a winning start beating the world number 179 tallon griekspoor in three sets. defeat for dan evans though meant the tie came down to the doubles.

jamie murray and debutant neal skupski held their nerve, winning their doubles match in straight sets. extremely important when, if we had lost that one, it becomes difficult, uphill battle going into tomorrow in the group stages. i am absolutely thrilled that we have managed to win the tie. a long day, a difficult day. well, if you want to keep across the action from the davis cup you can do today. golf‘s european tour has reached it‘s season—ending climax with the tour championship taking place in dubai. in the last hour england‘s tommy fleetwood has made a fabulous start to his round. he scored an eagle two with this

shot at the first hole. rory mcilroy is making good progress, early into his round the northern irishman is 4—under. mike lorenzo—vera of france leads on 8 under par. and finally, we know american sports take their half time entertainment seriously — but fans of the basketball team, the la lakers were treated to something special in their latest match. step forward james corden, — whojoined in with the team‘s cheerleaders — and not looking too out of place! tennis player venus williams alsojoined in as did various other celebrities. and finally spare a thought for the makers of the new premier league sticker album. panini had printed the new album the day before spurs announced their managerial change so they have been forced into some emergency repair work. i‘m not sure that is going to cut it, they are going to need to reprint! timing is everything!

laughter 0fficialfigures suggest there has been a 20% increase in the number of police detentions under the mental health act in england and wales over the past two years. the police federation has described the situation as shameful as emma glasbey reports. for as long as i can remember, i have felt like i should not be here, i have been diagnosed with major depression, severe anxiety and borderline personality disorder. i struggle with self— harm, borderline personality disorder. i struggle with self—harm, and suicidal attempts. megan has been sectioned under the mental health act several times. sometimes by west yorkshire police. i have had my arms and legs restrained, it can be a shock when

you come around. are things that bad? that the same people who deal with dangerous criminals are dealing with dangerous criminals are dealing with me? that is quite hard to swallow. over the past two years, there has been a 20% increase in the number of detentions under the mental health act by police. last yearin mental health act by police. last year in england and wales, there we re year in england and wales, there were more than 28,500 detentions by officers, the police federation has described it as shameful. my collea g u es described it as shameful. my colleagues will never step away from helping somebody in a time of need, but the police service very often not the right organisation to deal with them. society really needs to decide what it wants, and whichever government comes into power, in december, we need them to step up and treat this as the crisis that it is. last year, megan reached out for help at crisis point but says she was sent home to bca a few days later. instead she was sectioned by police. —— sent home to be seen a

few days later. the fact people are getting sectioned by the police, things are being left to such an extreme point, if services are not able to offer anything, or they get toa able to offer anything, or they get to a point where, like me, they don‘t want to turn to services because it hurts even more to ask for help. then to be turned away. the nhs trust providing mental health services in leeds has apologised for any distress caused to megan, and has contacted her to understand what went wrong. after two years of waiting, megan has started a treatment and she is hopeful it will make a difference. vicki nash, head of policy and campaigns for the mental health charity mind joins me now. thank you for coming along, clearly, as far as thank you for coming along, clearly, as faras mind thank you for coming along, clearly, as far as mind is concerned, you don‘t want people to be getting to crisis point where they potentially need to be sectioned in the first place. it is a real indication of the kind of stress the system is

under, where you are having to get police to come in to help people because they are so unwell they cannot get support at an earlier stage for mental health. if people get to that crisis point, are you saying there are other alternatives to being sectioned as well? sectioning might be the best option for them, to feel safe and supported in that environment, there is lots of other options available, to receive help, to help people when they are in a crisis, crisis houses, sanctuaries, it doesn‘t have to be a hospital. really we are looking for services to come in at a much earlier stage, so you are not going into a crisis to get the help that you need to using the term section, for anyone not absolutely clear about what that involves, can you explain. when you are sectioned under the mental health act, often you are very vulnerable and unwell, you are very vulnerable and unwell, you could be, you could be worried about harming yourself, you could be having a psychotic episode, really

one of the most vulnerable circumstances you will ever come across. to be picked up by the police, it makes people feel like they have been criminalised but they have done nothing wrong, they are u nwell have done nothing wrong, they are unwell and they need to help. this is someone being picked up by police and being taken to a psychiatric hospital or facility. alternative place of safety to be checked out to see if they need to be detained. mind has been looking at these figures and drawing attention to a racial disparity in the way people are treated, tell us about that. we know that we have racial discrimination within the system, one of the fundamental problems, one of the main areas where the mental health system and legislation is simply letting down large parts of our communities, particularly the black african caribbean community, they are detained often for longer, subject to draconian treatment and much more likely to be held on community treatment orders, almost, it is like being let out of hospital but on rains, much more likely to be

detained under those conditions than white people. what do you want to see happen to address that and to address this wider trend, the number of people being sectioned going up? we know how to fix this problem, first we need to have that urgent review of legislation so we have legislation that is fit for purpose, there was an independent review nearly one year ago, it made a series of recommendations, and the next uk government has to implement those recommendations as a matter of urgency. we also need to see investment in services and staffing so that people get the right support at the right time in the right place. i talked to so many people on health stories to say, we know how to fix this problem. i wonder how frustrated you are, i wonder, do you have any belief that the solutions will happen? very frustrated because we have known how to fix this for a long time, what we have seen are a

lot of missives from people, from politicians and from the nhs, now time to see this delivered, to make sure the money is reaching the front line. a good example of that, is to make sure that when you are investing in improving hospitals, you make sure mental health hospital isa you make sure mental health hospital is a part of that because we need people, when they are going to hospital, to be in a safe environment, not an unsafe environment, not an unsafe environment, as it is for some people these days. thank you very much. 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. they‘re one of the uk‘s most successful bands, selling out huge venues across

the world for the last two decades. but coldplay won‘t be touring their new album because it‘s bad for the planet. lead singer chris martin says they want to make gigging around the globe "carbon neutral" before they hit the road again. in a world exclusive, he gave his only interview to our entertainment correspondent, colin paterson. chris martin, here we are. in the 0man citadel. 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 a world tour at the moment? that is a 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 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 glastonbury stage and paul mccartney will headline next year. any chance of coldplay joining the bill? no. why not? i did pop up on stage last year and i loved doing so.

stormzy, kylie. and then i saw a 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, a, 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. did that hurt? yes. iam human. does it ever hurt you that critics have never taken to coldplay in the same way that fans have? 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 our fans. we do not have a

section of non—fa ns! so it is not as hard being coldplay as it is being a football player? that is the message of the album. a former royal marine has returned home from climbing the world‘s 14 highest mountains in record time. nirmal, or "nims", purja gave up his job to take on the challenge and has beaten the previous record of eight years by a pretty big margin. he did it in six months and six days. that is dedication! an international aid charity is hosting a lottery to win a picasso painting.

it‘s the "nature morte" painting by pablo picasso, valued at one million euros. tickets priced at 100 euros each, that‘s roughly £85, in the hope of raising millions for its aid work in africa. the funds raised by this sale will be used to finance a project of the ngo care, in africa. the first million will be used to recompense the current owner. all the rest, around £16 million, will be invested in the project. the us—born giant panda bei bei has arrived in southwestern china after a 16—hour flight, with plenty of bamboo for him to munch on as he settled into his new home. the four—year—old cub, whose name means "precious, treasure" in mandarin, has been ambling around his new cage at a research centre in sichuan province. bei bei travelled aboard a specially outfitted boeing 777f cargo plane called the "panda express". now it‘s time for a look at the weather forecast, with simon now it‘s time for a look at the weatherforecast, with simon king. now it‘s time for a look at the weather forecast, with simon king. few clear skies out there at the moment, dumfries and galloway there, some sunshine here, and elsewhere

quite cloudy. pick a cloud towards the west of the uk, bringing outbreaks of rain this morning, that weather front is not moving far. —— thicker cloud. the best of any sunshine across scotland, northern parts of england, the kraut cloud will tend to fit in a bit, staying cloudy elsewhere, and this reign will edge a little bit further east, south—east wales. —— the cloud. temperature is about 10 celsius. seven, eight celsius elsewhere, risk south—easterly wind, bit chilly. through tonight, this band of rain will continue to move north and east, finally making the move north, turning quite showery, temperatures overnight down to about four to 6 degrees. and then into friday, that first band of rain will move north, it will tend to disappear, and then looking at another band of rain

moving through south—west england, central southern areas, edging north into the south east midlands, and that rain could turn heavy later on in the day on friday. further south, drier, brighterweather, in the day on friday. further south, drier, brighter weather, if in the day on friday. further south, drier, brighterweather, if you sunny spells, further north, with a few showers. into the weekend, area of low pressure moving north, bringing weather system here, bringing weather system here, bringing weight and rain north during the day, but it will linger across south—western areas across wales, more rainfall to come, and rain falling where we have flood warnings in place. further outbreaks of rain, staying largely dry, but temperatures up by a degree or so, ten or12 temperatures up by a degree or so, ten or 12 degrees. as we go into sunday, the next weather will be moving in, this area of low pressure, that will push these weather fronts in from the south—west. still uncertainty on the exact timings and positions of this rain, likely to move to the far south—west of england, as we go into

lunchtime, into the afternoon, gradually north and east, and for many more eastern areas, dry for much of them on sunday. still some uncertainties.

hello, it‘s thursday, it‘s 10 o‘clock, i‘m chloe tilley. lawyers for some of convicted paedophilejeffrey epstein‘s victims are urging prince andrew to put himself forward to give evidence to us investigators. will he submit evidence, like e—mails and calendars and travel logs, that all of us would like to see as part of our investigations? will he allow his staff to come and answer questions about his travels and where he was and what they saw? it comes after prince andrew announced he‘d step back from public duties following scrutiny of his friendship with jeffrey epstein. we‘ll talk to a royal expert and a lawyer about what should happen next. this programme has exclusively seen a leaked letter which says that reforms to double jeopardy laws around child abuse cases, suggested by the victims‘

commissioner, will not happen.