this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story: breaking with tradition...again! harry and meghan announce they'll be stepping back as senior members of the royal family. washington says the assassination of iranian general qasem soleimani was self—defence and americans are now safer. another day of national protests in france making the transport strikes the longest in modern french history. and in business briefing, snack—sized streaming! could quibi be the future of entertainment? we hear from the hollywood mogul and the tech tycoon who are betting on it.

a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. today we're asking — what do you think about harry and meghan‘s decision to step back as senior royals and carve out what they call a "progressive new role" — is it the right choice? get in touch. just use the hash tag #bbcthebriefing. let's bring you more detail on that story right now. the duke and duchess of sussex are to step back as senior royals and work to become financially independent. the personal statement from prince harry and meghan was a surprise announcement, apparently made without consulting any members of the

british royal family, which is said to have left the family feeling hurt. the couple say they will continue fully to support the queen, but now plan to split their time between the uk and north america. there is flash photography in this report from our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. canada house in london yesterday. harry and meghan had just returned from their extended break in canada. laughing it's now clear that although they'd been discussing a new role for themselves with other members of the royal family, they did not tell senior members of the family or their officials that they were about to issue a personal statement setting out their intentions. the bbc understands buckingham palace is disappointed — that's unusual. in their statement, the sussexes said:

cheering quite what a progressive new role means is unclear, though the statement says they plan to balance their time between the united kingdom and north america. cheering the signs that the couple were unhappy with their royal life have been apparent for some months, notably during and since their tour of southern africa, when both of them gave interviews. harry conceded that he and his brother, william, were not as close as before. just 20 months ago at their wedding in windsor, it had all seemed to offer such promise. a young prince and his american bride, harry and megan were a couple who, it was said, and as they demonstrated,

could bring something fresh to the british royal family and reach sections of the population, which were otherwise largely indifferent to the royals. but now, some at least of those hopes have been dashed. i think this is the most extraordinary news, but it's also very sad. i mean, harry and meghan are very much loved, and if we're not going to see so much of them, i think that's a real tragedy. so, the sussexes have taken the initiative — without waiting for the approval of the queen or the prince of wales, they have made their own announcement about their new life. there isn'tjust disappointment at the palace, there is hurt at the most senior levels of the family. nicholas witchell, bbc news. many of you have been in touch already with your thoughts on that story. also later in this programme we will be talking to another royal expert as it were to get their take on that decision. in iraq, at least two rockets have been fired into in the heavily fortified green zone in the capital, baghdad. meanwhile in washington,

senators have been briefed about the trump administration's justification for the killing of iranian general qasem soleimani. our north america correspondent peter bowes has the latest. another tense night. foreign government buildings including the us embassy are based in baghdad's green zone where several rockets fell. it is said there are no casualties. on tuesday night the pentagon's as iran lodged i6 short—range ballistic missiles against two us bases. again, there we re against two us bases. again, there were no casualties. it is a gesture of retaliation that met with strong support on the streets of tehran. donald trump's response was measured. he suggested iran was damping down and that americans should be grateful. but iran and the us are still logged —— locked in intense downer. the question is what

happens next? i believe we are safer today than before president trump ordered our military to take out qasem soleimani. this was a man who had been leading a terrorist state sponsored organisation in the region, sewing violence. but what president trump, our commander—in—chief, demonstrated that we have a president that is also willing to use american literary might to protect american life. ever since the general's death, there was an imminent threat to the united states. us senators have now been briefed about the intelligence that led to the attack. iam intelligence that led to the attack. i am convinced that had decisive action not be taken, we could very well be standing here today talking about the deaths if not dozens of americans. democrats in the house of representatives planned to vote on a

resolution designed to curb the president public military actions against the run. the international rhetoric may have softened, but mr trump still faces strong opposition at home. france is preparing for another day of protests by transport workers with teachers, lawyers and air traffic controllers set tojoin them. rolling strikes against president macron's proposed pension reforms have severely affected transport in the country since early december with paris being particularly hit. our paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. president macron's economic reforms are meant to unblock france. gridlock is, some say, all part of the process. two—thirds of intercity trains are still not running in the paris metro is down to a skeleton service each day. more than a month after these strikes began, public support for them is starting to

fall. the prime minister has been trying to resolve union opposition to the government's pension reforms, including how to finance the scheme. translation: i have proposed to all the trade unions and employers organisations that we meet again on friday morning to decide together how to fund this. the idea is a good one, but we need to agree on the aims of this plan and the timeframe for it to succeed. but many union leaders say they will never accept government plans to raise the retirement age to 64, and and special privileges for certain professions. france currently has dozens professions. france currently has d oze ns of professions. france currently has dozens of separate pension schemes, which means some workers can retire a decade earlier than normal. many french presidents have wanted to reform the system. why has it been so reform the system. why has it been so difficult? the idea is to try to increase the retirement age of people at the lowest to try to push

everyone, but this is a very long process which is difficult to do because people are able to leave early, they want to keep that. with their christmas shows grant cancelled, ballet dancers striking for the right to retire at 42 gave a free performance on the steps of the opera house. far better appreciated than the other public dance between government and unions, but still going on. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. in business briefing, we will be alive to paris in about 20 minutes for more on that story. for now, let's talk about what the world bank is saying. it has cut back its growth forecasts for 2020. it now says the global economy will barely improve on 2019, which was the worst year for growth since the financial crisis. the bank is forecasting growth of 2.5% this year, up from 2.4% last year,

because of a slower—than—expected recovery in trade and investment. jonathan charles, director of communications at the european bank for reconstruction and development, joins me now. good morning. growth, we are talking about growth. 2.5%. i remember this time last year people were predicting procession in 2020.” time last year people were predicting procession in 2020. i am in two minds about this. there is no doubt they are predicting another year of slow growth. it is not great growth but it is at least growth. we should remember we are into a decade of growth globally from the recovery from the economic crisis. that is a long upswing. the markets, as we all know, at the same time are busy thinking about when is the recession going to come? it is clearly not going to come? it is clearly not going to come this year or next year according to the forecast that we should be grateful there is any growth at all. they could be wrong of course. they could be wrong. if you look at what is going on, there

isa you look at what is going on, there is a lot of nervousness. we are probably at the end of the upswing, how many more years will this continue? having said that, we know the pointers are there as to why growth, the difficulty of global trade, growth there is quite slow. yes, there will be a phase one agreement between china and the us in order to try to defuse their trade row, but it is not going in the way that it wants to. we're not talking about global fuelling global growth. absolutely, and there is a whole new way of thinking in some people's minds. what about this fresh global debt crisis that they are highlighting? that is an interesting one. how big a worry is it. you can look in most countries and you are saying that over the past decade there has been a build—up of debt to levels where not going down towards 60% which people think is healthy, but more towards 100% of gdp countries borrowing, depends what they are borrowing for, but taking advantage of low interest

rates in order to rack up some sort of investment. that is fine as long as interest rates stay low, and as the world bank themselves are pointing out, this would become a major crisis if interest rates start to go up significantly. it doesn't look like that will happen at the moment, but we have been here before. i remember there were various times in the past 20 years where interest rates were low and people said we were in the new normal of low interest rates and that all changes. it all changes very quickly also thank you for now. jonathan is back later. the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, says his government will make sure a plane crash in iran involving many people travelling to canada is thoroughly investigated. he said 138 of the 176 passengers on board the ukrainian plane were connecting to canada. gareth barlow reports. the smiling family photos of some of the 176 people who died when the ukraine international airlines

flight ukraine international airlines flight crashed in iran on wednesday. candles and flowers at care fairport, grief for those lost aboard the aircraft that never arrived. —— kiev airport. the vast majority of those on the flight were connecting to canada. the country's prime minister, justin trudeau, has promised a thorough investigation. prime minister, justin trudeau, has promised a thorough investigationlj am promised a thorough investigation.” am confident we are going to be part of the investigation, that is certainly something we take very seriously and it is something which canada is one of a handful of countries with a high degree of expertise when it comes to these sorts of accidents. but the investigation might not be as easy as the international community, as families and as boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, might like. iran says it will not hand over the plain's data recordings to either boeing or the us, but the ukrainian investigators can be present. with tensions between iran and the west already strained, finding answers

and easing grief is going to require time, patience and cooperation. gareth barlow, bbc news. so much more to come still here on the briefing. still to come: fresh warnings and evacuation notices in australia as hot windy weather returns, threatening towns and communities. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief! after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established.

teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. you're watching the briefing. our top story: the royal family are believed to be disappointed by the announcement that prince harry and his wife meghan will step back from their current roles, and work to become financially independent. australia's prime minister scott morrison has been outlining his plans to deal with

the country's bushfire emergency. he confirmed 27 lives had been lost and over 2000 properties destroyed by the wildfires. and he's promised more money would be allocated to help towns rebuild. we can cross live now to melbourne to talk to the bbc‘s katy watson. tell us more about where you are. i'm at food bank here in melbourne, it isa i'm at food bank here in melbourne, it is a charity that has been except in public donations for over a week now, especially since some of the most now, especially since some of the m ost exte nt now, especially since some of the most extent bushfires we have seen in the past week. you can see how somebody is dropping off food, they have been putting them in these big pallets a nd have been putting them in these big pallets and they are just coming... there have been over 3000 donations in this warehouse since it opened its doors about a week ago. people arriving, bringing horse trailers, wheelbarrows, cars and trucks with a queue that went on for about a

kilometre. people are dropping off their food, if you kilometre. people are dropping off theirfood, if you come over kilometre. people are dropping off their food, if you come over here, you can see people packing it up. they will be sending it to towns and from there, you have got the army taking it into some more isolated areas, areas damaged by bushfire. aiming to wrap up getting the public donations by the weekend however we are expecting temperatures to rise in the coming days and especially if those high winds continued in this bushfires will intensify. it is a case of what checking and seeing what is going to be happening in the next few days. and it is all about timing, isn't it? while they have had a lower temperatures there have been a lot of work to get supplies to those communities that have been almost cut off. there have been a few days of respite with the cooler

temperatures and rain, firefighters have been able to strengthen containment lines but there are plenty of fires that have not been put out, with higher temperatures and strong winds, the fires can extend and there is a concern, especially in the north—east of victoria that some of these bushfires could join together with others in new south wales where we have also seen huge devastation and there could be a so—called mega blaze, certainly in parts of victoria, they have extended an area of disaster, so there is still very big concern about what might happen these next few days. thank you, for now. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm katie shanahan, and this is your thursday sport briefing. we start with tennis, and the news that maria sharapova has been given a wildcard for the first grand slam of the year — the australian open,

which starts a week on monday. the five—time grand slam winner has slipped down the rankings to 147 in the world. a shoulder injury restricted her activity last year after her return from a doping ban. the russian, now 32, has also been suffering from a virus but says it's very special to get the wildcard to play in melbourne. on to football, and in england, it's all—square after the first leg of the league cup semi—final between leicester city and aston villa. frederic gilbaire put villa in front after 28 minutes, with kelechi ianacho equalising for leicester late in the second—half. the second leg is in three weeks time. real madrid are through to the final of the re—vamped spanish super cup after beating valencia 3—1. the competition, which used to be played pre—season between the spanish champions and copa del rey winners — is now a four—team tournament. and, this year's edition, is being played in saudi arabia

for the first time. real madrid took the lead after only 15 minutes thanks to german midfielder, toni krose, who scored directly from a corner. isco and looka modric both scored either side of the break, before valencia got a late consolation goal. real madrid will now face barcelona or atletico madrid in sunday's super cup final. their semi—final gets underway in jeddah later. atletico madrid, who were runners up in la liga last year, last won the cup in its previous format back in 2014. the revamped competition has had its fair share of criticism. spain's public broadcaster refused to bid for the rights, because of concerns over saudi arabia's human rights record. oklahoma host houston later, one of four games in the nba. they'll do well to match the drama

of tuesday night when thunder's game with the nets went to overtime. chris paul starred, scoring 28 points. the game was tied at 103 points each, before paul made consecutive jump shots. this was oklahoma's 10th victory in their last 12 games. and finally, if you've ever wondered how a professional footballer spends his or her time when they're injured then here's an insight. this is diego costa passing the hours while he recovers from back surgery. doesn't look too injured here, definitely a dive though. the atletico madrid striker has been out of action since november but hopes to be fully fit by march. you can get all the latest sports

news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me katie shanahan and the rest of the sport team, that's your thursday sport briefing. more now on our top story. the decision by harry and meghan to step down as senior members of the royal family. royal expert and trustee of the royal society of st george, the queen's charity in america, sandro monetti joins me now from los angeles. welcome to the programme, what do you make of their choice? meghan and harry have torpedoed the palace, and the ripple effects have even had here in hollywood where they are rolling out the red carpet for pretty much the two guest a listers in the world. the thing that really interested me about their statement was the talk of financial independence. well, now, free of the

rules and restrictions of royalty, they will be able to command the kind of $1 million speaking fees from corporations that the likes of ex— presidents and prime ministers get, which could be very good for their sussex royal brand, which i think perhaps even threatens the royal family think perhaps even threatens the royalfamily as think perhaps even threatens the royal family as an iconic brand. think perhaps even threatens the royalfamily as an iconic brand. it isa royalfamily as an iconic brand. it is a huge shock and disappointing. you say disappointing, why do you think they made this decision?” think they made this decision?” think that it has always been a plea for independence. we could see it coming with them getting their own instagram account, their own brand, set up marketing materials. i think meghan who is very savvy given her background as an internet blogger has seen this coming for a while, andi has seen this coming for a while, and i say it is disappointing because with the talent and

popularity of harry and meghan, they could have achieved so much positivity if they had stayed within the royalfamily, positivity if they had stayed within the royal family, but positivity if they had stayed within the royalfamily, but breaking out of it is, as some have said, a declaration of war. one issue they talked about in an interview in africa when they were on tour there is the scrutiny by the media there. harry talking about his memory of what that meant for his mum and the tragedy that led to. surely this decision won't reduce that focus on them. doesn't seem they are running away from the spotlight, rather they are running towards at. it is going to be very interesting how they manage the narrative. looking at the reactions on social media, at least here in america, there seems to be a lot of support for the couple, but if they continue to wine, and that is how some of their complaints have been seen, life really isn't that

bad living in a palace, and meghan certainly knew what she was getting into. she was very much adored, universally hair in america, and this decision has not gone down well 100%, because this is going to be the greatest soap opera in the months to come. thank you very much indeed. so what do you think about this? you have not held back. victoria says i am deeply saddened by harry and meghan's actions, they have proved both reckless and selfish from the beginning. chris says to get away from the uk press or to remain here, and prince harry has watched them tear apart his wife's life in much the same way they did his mother. and another

viewer says just get rid of the monarchy, it's 2020, nobody has cared about them since the 1980s. i will be back with the business stories in a moment. hello. weatherwise, we are serving up a full menu, we have frost, filed, gales, snow, heavy rain, and possibly even some thunder and lightning. it is a chilly start to the day across northern scotland after light winds overnight, wet and windy thanks to this area of low pressure across a central swathe, and a second low piles into the south—west through the afternoon. not a very pretty picture for the rush hour across northern england or southern uplands of scotland, snow for the highest routes, heavy rain at lower levels and as the system clears the cutting north—easterly wind making it feel particularly raw down the north sea coast. to the south, it is unseasonably mild, this area of low pressure rolls

in through the afternoon bringing some heavy rain, possibly with hail and thunder and again some risk of gales particularly for the channel islands and isles of scilly. temperatures of 12 degrees in plymouth, just three in aberdeen. things start to improve overnight, spells of wet weather across southern england through the evening before this low pulls off into the continent and the winds start to fall light, high pressure starts to build, and it is a very quiet start to friday and a chilly one as well. temperatures just held up a little longer in the south—east because the cloud won't clear quite so quickly but generally a widespread frost, but light winds through the day, sunny spells. in the afternoon, more cloud coming into the north—west and rain will approach scotland and ireland before the afternoon is out. temperatures single figures, a much chillier feel for friday but then comes saturday, we are back into mild air as we pick up a strong south—westerly airflow, the yellow and the amber on the map behind me. that warm air can hold a lot of moisture in this weather front

will bring a lot of heavy rain to the northern half of the uk before it whips away southwards before the second part of the weekends. so very wet on saturday for scotland, northern ireland, in northern england with widespread gales, warnings have been issued. further south it is drier and it is brighter, but it is relatively mild again on saturday, in fact unseasonably mild for some 12 or 13 degrees. sunday, the fronts away to the south—east, the skies are clearer, there is more sunshine and the winds are lighter but it is a much chillier feeling day and there will be some wintry showers around particularly across the north—west of scotland.

this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. pension deadlock: france braces for another day of protests over president macron's reforms as the cost of the strikes spirals into billions of dollars. plus, snack—sized streaming could quibi be the future of entertainment? we hear from the hollywood mogul and the tech tycoon who are betting on it. and on the markets, a relief rally: stocks rebound as the us and iran step back from the brink of a wider conflict. safehaven assets such as gold and us treasury bonds retreat.