welcome to bbc news. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: bring it on! president trump says he wants an impeachment trial in the senate. he hopes it'll help his re—election. there should never be an impeachment. this is not an impeachment. that phone call was totally appropriate. the four main contenders in the uk general election take part in a bbc question time special, with uncomfortable moments for them all. an island group that's part of papua new guinea is voting on independence. bougainville could become the world's newest country. bolivia's interim government takes legal action against the ousted president, evo morales, after he called on his supporters

to maintain blockades in the country. as prince andrew's pictured riding with the queen, a growing list of sponsors sever links following his bbc interview. president trump says he would welcome a full impeachment trial in the senate, if the house of representatives votes to impeach him. politicians in the us are examining whether he tried to force ukraine to investigate his political rival, by withholding military aid. nada tawfik has more. adjourned. less than 2a hours after two weeks of dramatic and contentions public impeachment hearings ended, president trump is out with his counter—attack. —— contentious. increasingly, every waking moment

in washington seemed to hang on the latest revelations from these 12 us officials, called as fact witnesses by democrats to bolster their case that president trump abused his office for personal political gain. with impeachment all but certain and pressure building, the president rang into his favourite programme, fox and friends, for a nearly hour—long interview. mr president, you expect an impeachment vote. do you expect to get impeached, and would you say you embrace the idea of... no, i don't expect it. you don't expect it? you don't expect democrats will vote for this? i think it's very hard for them to impeach when they have absolutely nothing. still, the president has begun strategizing with republicans and claims he wants a senate trial. but what of the key question, whether a white house meeting in us aid was expressly tied to the ukrainians announcing investigations into the bidens? perhaps the most damning testimony against the president came from the us ambassador to the eu, gordon sondland. was there a quid pro quo? the answer is yes.

the president again denied it and claimed a reported phone call with sondland about the investigations never took place. there was no quid pro quo. i want nothing. democrats believe they have enough evidence to draft articles of impeachment. with a full house vote possible by the end of the year, the president's fate moves in 2020 to the republican—controlled senate and then, perhaps, to voters. meanwhile, john bolton accuses the white house of having denied him access to his personal twitter account since he resigned as national security advisor in september. he wrote: let's talk more about this with our washington correspondent chris buckler.

chris, going back to the president appearing on fox news there, he was very punchy, but how much of substance did he offer in terms of rebutting the allegations made this week? i think truthfully, rebutting the allegations made this week? ithink truthfully, duncan, what he was doing was, with the potential of an impeachment trial looming, he was doing his best to set out his case for the defence, and actually, if you listened to it, it was much more attack than defence. he wasn't getting into the nitty—gritty of what had been claimed. rather, he was attacking the witnesses who had given evidence, suggesting that president trump had been pushing for this investigation into his political rival, joe biden, and his son hunter, who had business dealings in the country. when you listened to him, he was attacking one witness for apparently not hanging up his picture on the embassy she was in control of, attacking another witness for, in his view, not telling the truth. all of it is really about pushing this idea that president trump is in some way a

victim of what he calls a witch—hunt, and certainly you get the idea that he wants this impeachment trial to take place in the senate, because he believes it is an opportunity to fight back, potentially even settle some scholars. it is why, for example, in that fox news interview, he was talking about the idea of bringing forward as a witness the whistleblower, who of course has not been somebody who has been publicly named. he wants to try to get that was a bowler to give evidence about the phone call that got president trump into what some would argue was dismissing the first place, and also, he suggested, he wanted to bring joe biden‘s son hunter forward and make him give evidence during a potential impeachment trial. remember, hunter biden is the son of joe biden, who is one of those democrats was lining up to try to challenge donald trump in november 2020. that means he also has his mind on the election, as well as impeachment. on a not on related topics, those tweets from former ambassadorjohn bolton, quite

extraordinary. —— unrelated. what is going on there? yeah, and felt like quite a tease, frankly. john bolton has been relatively quiet since he was basically fired by president trump after a series of pollen —— foreign policy disagreements. but what we have heard in the impeachment enquiry are lots of suggestions from other witnesses thatjohn bolton had real concerns about what president trump and some of his associates were up to in the ukraine. you might remember that one witness, for example, said john bolton figured that rudy giuliani, the man who is the personal lawyer to donald trump, was a "hand grenade waiting to go off" because of his involvement in ukraine. he also suggested at another point that some of those who had been working for mr trump were really involved in what he described as something like a drug deal, basically involved in dodgy business in ukraine. and what john bolton is suggesting on twitter is that it seems there is a story

there. now, he has not cooperated with the impeachment enquiry. in fa ct, with the impeachment enquiry. in fact, here in —— he suggested he would only give evidence if he was forced to by a judge. however, it seems on social media he has his voice back and i suspect everybody wa nts to voice back and i suspect everybody wants to hear what he has to say, and that includes the president, the democrats, and even usjournalists. indeed, chris buckler, thank you very much. as always, you can find much more detail and analysis about these impeachment proceedings on our website. just head to bbc.com/news, or download the bbc news app. let's get some of the day's other news. the first british children to be returned from the area formerly british prime minister borisjohnson has welcomed the return of a group of british children who were orphaned in syria. they have been flown back to the uk from an area that used to be controlled by the islamic state group. they were brought back to britain at the request of a high courtjudge.

russia's hopes of competing in next year's tokyo olympics have been dealt a blow with the governing body of world athletics suspending its readmission to the body. the agency has taken this step because of new suspected breaches of anti—doping rules. a former cia agent has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiring to spy for china. jerry chun shing lee left the cia in 2007 and was recruited by chinese agents in hong kong. prosecutors say he was then paid to divulge information on us national defence. the high court in hong kong has suspended its own ruling against a government ban on protesters wearing face masks. china had reacted angrily to the court's decision earlier this week that the measure, introduced by hong kong's chief executive carrie lam, was unconstitutional. with less than three weeks to go until the uk's general election, the leaders of the four biggest parties appeared on the bbc to answer voters‘ questions. they appeared individually but members of the audience got a chance to compare their views. john pienaar‘s report contains

some flash photography. he's looking confident — it's what he does — but this campaign's just getting going. everything's still to play for. just look atjeremy corbyn. young voters often like him and he needs them. 0h jeremy corbyn! tonight, though, he wants to reach more than just the converted. so does the lib dem leader jo swinson, maybe keen to build more momentum. and snp leader nicola sturgeon. looking forward to tonight, first minister? looking forward to it, yes. for them all, it's a big night. first up, the labour leader, and from jeremy corbyn a clear answer to the brexit question that's dogged him. will you campaign to remain or leaving the eu if elected? why would anyone vote for labour without knowing the answer to that question? the answer was neither one and his frustration showed. one, we will negotiate a credible leave deal with the european union.

laughter let me finish, please. i'm trying to answer the gentleman's question. secondly, we will put that alongside remain in a referendum. i will adopt a neutral stance so that i can credibly carry out the results of that, to bring our communities and country together. then, a question that hurt him. anti—semitism in the party, his own treatment of a jewish woman mp. ruth smeeth, a jewish mp, was heckled out of that press conference and there you are at the end of the press conference chatting happily to that same heckler. i don't buy this nice old grandpa, i see that video and that tells me all i need to know. misogynism, racism in any form is absolutely not acceptable in any form whatsoever. there's a big question over the union. the snp wants a referendum, he says not his priority, so when? what does the early years mean, year two, year three, year four? the early years, the first two years, at least. another answer that'll be

remembered, but nicola sturgeon wants more and hoped to get it if no party wins the election outright. if there is a hung parliament, what is the price of your cooperation with a minority government? i could not in good conscience ever put borisjohnson into number 10 downing street. applause in terms of what i would seek to win from a minority labour government, obviously i would ask for and expect jeremy corbyn to respect the right of the scottish people to choose their own future. and if she wanted another brexit referendum why was one vote on independence enough? would you want a confirmatory vote? no, because... ok, so you want a referendum for brexit, a second one, but not for your independence deal? the point i'm making is i don't think the position we're in right now with brexit had to be like this. that was down to the bad planning, the lack of planning. jo swinson next, she's a potential power broker, too, but the lib dems, to one

questioner, were still carrying the baggage of being junior partner to the tories in coalition. do you regret consistently voting with the conservatives in favour of harsh and uncaring benefit cuts? there are far, far too many people in our country living in poverty and life is too hard and we did not get everything right. the lib dem pledge to block brexit came with a cost — the anger of leavers. is revoking article 50 confirming to 17.4 million people that you think we're stupid and didn't know what we were voting for? you want to leave and i don't think that makes you a bad person and i want to remain in the eu and i hope you think that doesn't make me a bad person. you can disagree with me, but you lost. i haven't changed my view on whether i think we're better off in the european union. but anger too from people who never wanted brexit at all. but the liberal democrats standing on a manifesto to unilaterally cancel brexit and the electoral pact has absolutely cost you my vote.

this is the essence of democracy. i am standing here and telling you honestly what i would do if i was elected as prime minister, i would revoke article 50 and if you vote me into that position, i will do what i've said i will do. then, the one they all want out of his job and straight away a tricky one for borisjohnson, who's so often accused of bending and breaking the truth — this time to his face. how important is it for someone in your position of power to always tell the truth? i think it's... i think it's absolutely vital. and i think that the issue of trust in politics is central to this election and fundamental to the corrosion of trust in politics at the moment is... so why do you think you were being asked that question? ..let's be clear, is the failure of politicians to deliver brexit. because the people have, yes... hang on. hang on a minute. we have a deal and it's a good deal. applause it will allow us — it's a great deal, it's

there and ready to go. as i never tire of saying, oven ready. so a potentially awkward moment used to make the case for brexit. no shortage of tough ones, though, this one to the man who compared muslims in burqas to bank robbers and letterboxes. racist rhetoric in this country is completely rife. will you admit that you have personally contributed to this and say the words "i'm sorry"? i've written many millions of words in my life as a journalist and i genuinely never intended to cause hurt or pain. what i was really doing was mounting a strong liberal defence of the right of women in this country to wear what they choose. and again, could the country believe what he says? why on earth should i now believe yet another pledge that you will recruit an additional 6,000 gps over the course of the next parliament? well, richard.

5,000 more doctors this year than last year. we are making progress. yes, of course i want more gps and of course i want more investment in the nhs. and we're putting in, now, the biggest ever cash boost into the nhs under this one nation conservative government. he'd survive the ordeal, they all did. borisjohnson even seemed pleased or at least relieved with how it had gone. trust is an issue for all the leaders in this campaign and somehow they all seemed rather defensive. john pienaar, bbc news, sheffield. the brexit party has unveiled its policies for the election, promising fundamental change for the uk after it leaves the european union. instead of a traditional manifesto, party leader nigel farage published what he called a contract with the people. he said votes for his party will produce a political revolution that puts ordinary people first. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, a tight schedule for two british stars adapting a bestselling book into a musical.

president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy was a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world, the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told the cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash. cuba has declared nine days of mourning. castro developed close ties

with the soviet union in the 19605. it was an alliance brought the world to the brink of the war with the cuban missile crisis. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president trump has told fox news that he wants a trial in the senate and that he'd like to hear from the whistleblower whose report led to the impeachment inquiry. uk prime minister borisjohnson has been asked about trust as the four main contenders in the general election have taken part in a special question time leaders special. topics included brexit, spending policies, the nhs and racism. an historic independence referendum is under way in bougainville, all part of a deal that ended a decade of civil war.

bougainville is currently part of papua new guinea. phil mercer has more on the vote. the people of bougainville will a nswer the people of bougainville will answer a straightforward question: should they have greater autonomy or independence from papua new guinea? reports suggest most want to be part of the world's newest nation. bougainville's civil war lasted from 1988 to 1997. up to 15,000 people died, or about 5% of the region's population. the conflict was brutal and fuelled by anger over a huge gold and copper mine. locals felt dispossessed and exploited. the referendum on independence from papua new guinea was at the heart of a 2001 piece agreement. many on

bougainville have long had secessionist ambitions and the signs are they will vote to break away. we wa nt to are they will vote to break away. we want to get our independence and rule our own island. the referendum... translation: this is an important referendum, it's the people's right and they'll be able to vote on how they see things. it's pa rt to vote on how they see things. it's part of the peace process and part of our culture. translation: people are of our culture. translation: people a re really of our culture. translation: people are really excited and waiting to vote, box number two. translation: i'm going to vote with my family translation: i'm going to vote with myfamily and translation: i'm going to vote with my family and my community. i can say 100% we will vote for independence. voting will take place over two weeks. the result is expected in december. bougainville is an autonomous region of papua new guinea, or png. it has its own government but still depends on national authorities for most of its income. any vote for independence would need to be approved in time by

the png parliament. phil mercer, bbc news. bolivia's interim government has accused the former president, evo morales, of terrorism and sedition. mr morales, who disputes the allegations, has been blamed for organising roadblocks to prevent food from entering cities. at least 29 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters. gareth barlow reports. bolivians waiting in line, thousands ata time, bolivians waiting in line, thousands at a time, to buy basic goods from a single check into a single bottle of gas. this the impact of the roadblocks set up by supporters of evo morales, who has urged them to maintain their blockades. in doing so, the interim government argues mr morales committed treason and sedition. translation: the people don't deserve to be enclosed. i deeply regret what we're going through here in the city of has. its people do not deserve a blockade on

getting fuel. a evo morales, who fled to mexico following the disputed election, is keen to maintain a presence in politics back home, but the interim government is working to hold fresh elections to quell weeks of division and instability. translation: people are still worried because they blame the current president. i believe if she calls for elections, people will relax and hopefully this time there won't be any kind of fraud. translation: we can't leave the nation in a vacuum. the president has a time limit and the political hole must be filled. dozens of people have died in unrest following october's pole. the army and opposition politicians deny staging a coup. but a evo morales and his supporters are determined to make their voices heard. gareth

barlow, bbc news. a growing list of companies and organisations have been breaking links with the duke of york. support for prince andrew's business mentoring initiative has been waning following his controversial interview with bbc newsnight. royal correspondent nicholas witchell has the latest. not a good week for the royal family. a disastrous one for andrew. more organisations cutting their ties to him — the english national ballet, the royal philharmonic orchestra dropping him as patron. others expected to follow. barclays, the latest financial institution to end its support for pitch@palace, that's andrew's initiative helping new businesses. and quite what role, if any, he will have with that going forward is unclear. all this as his private office here at buckingham palace is being wound down, possibly closed completely, and his private secretary amanda thirsk is moving across to be chief executive of pitch@palace. it's a demonstration of the queen and the prince of wales acting this week very assertively when they perceived a reputational risk to the monarchy itself.

for andrew, there may yet be further difficulties. the bbc has said today that its panorama programme investigation will be transmitted on the 2nd of december. that will contain the first british television interview with the young woman, virginia roberts. the boy in the dress is a best selling children's book, written by the tv star and author david walliams. now it's been turned into a musical with the help of the royal shakespeare company, and the singer robbie williams. arts editor will gompertz went to meet them. # though it feels so right to me, how do i know that it isn't wrong? you gave us two weeks! two weeks to write 24 songs. # feel like i belong... elton john wrote the songs for billy elliott in one week. yeah, but i can go... mimics gibberish but, you know, i can't... i don't know how to do that!

words are very different. i bet eltonjohn did, but i bet you... lee hall, i think, wrote the lyrics. well, i bet you lee hall took about two months to think of the words. 0k, all right. # you have to admit that's a perfect fit # i've never dressed up like a girl # you wouldn't ever know it... it's written before you had a child. it's written before instagram and social media has become a big thing. if you were writing it today, would you write it differently? um, i hope not because i think the theme is always relevant, because the theme is what it is to be different and the celebration of someone who has the courage to be different and do their own thing. the interesting thing is that debate has kind of moved on a lot in ten years, because when the book came out, it wasn't much of a success commercially because i think that people were quite resistant to maybe the title of the book.

and then, the creative process? my process is, "i'm going into the studio today to get a hit." you know, where i think that other people that may have written musicals before are thinking about the book and the journey and where it needs to go and the elements, it's like, each individual song, i'mjust thinking, should be a number one somewhere in the history of music. # dance, dance, dance # forget about the world outside... does this show relate to shakespeare? i think it does in a way. there was a point where i decided on a cunning piece of programming, which was that we would do as you like it and the boy in the dress, so the girl in the trousers and the boy in the dress. you know, rosalind in as you like it puts on her trousers and understands a different perspective on humankind and i think dennis does the same in the boy in the dress. # dance, dance, dance!#

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. rain is the main concern over the next 2a hours. there are various met office warnings warning about that persistent rain, but there could be some travel disruption, even possible flooding. it's certainly been wet through the evening and night across the south—west and wales and across northern ireland. that rain's been moving northwards, so the warnings come into force as well through the midlands and then northern england, eventually parts of scotland too. so, given that we've already had well in excess of what we'd normally see through the autumn, rain—wise, there is a concern that there will be some further flooding because we could see another half a months worth of rain in some parts of england, wales and later up into scotland as well. it looks pretty wet

for northern ireland as well. all this rain is meandering around an area of low pressure sat towards the south—west. so, even once the main rain clears, there'll be showers around, some quite hefty ones. may dry up for a time, but we'll have a legacy of drizzly and rather cloudy weather, low clouds and some hill fog around as well. you can see the day looks quite wet through the midlands, northern england and through the afternoon as well. that rain's creeping up into eastern parts of scotland. so, the north—west, after a chilly start, might see the best of the sunshine. the northern isles as well doing quite well in terms of dry and bright weather on saturday, but the rain then arrives through the evening and overnight, across eastern and north—western parts of scotland. elsewhere, well, we see a brief ridge of high pressure, so that's a window of drier weather, 12 to 2a hours for most of us before the next low pressure rolls in by the end of sunday and into monday. so, sunday does look like the drier day of the weekend for most of us — not all of us, but most of us. however, there'll be a lot of grey weather, some morning fog. of course, after all that moisture around, that takes a long time to clear in november because we're lacking strength in the sun,

and then it just lifts into low cloud. we've got a much wetter day for the northern isles and here comes the rain later on. the winds won't be as strong tomorrow as they will be today, so it'll feel cold today just because of the wind as well as all the cloud. but that's easing tomorrow. but still, it's only 9s to 11s, which is about average bit for the weekend, rain is definitely the concern. particularly, as we say, in england and wales and then into parts of scotland. it does look drier for many of us on sunday. the warnings are on the website.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president trump says he would welcome a full trial in the senate if the house of representatives votes to impeach him. he told fox news the process would help him get re—elected. mr trump added he'd like to hear from the whistleblower whose report led to the inquiry. with less than three weeks to go to the british general election, the leaders of the four biggest parties at westminster have been given a grilling by members of the public, in a special edition of the bbc‘s question time. there were uncomfortable moments for them all as they made their pitches. the people of bougainville are voting on whether to seek independence from papua new guinea and become the world's newest country. the referendum in the island group was part of a peace deal agreed almost 20 years ago which ended a decade of civil war.