you re watching bbc newsroom live. it's ham and these are the main stories this morning: senior royals are said to be "hurt" by prince harry and meghan‘s decision to step back from the family. the couple will split their time between the us and uk. meghan and harry have torpedoed the palace and the ripple effects have even hit here in hollywood, where they're rolling out the red carpet for pretty much the two biggest a—listers in the world. december was the worst month for a&e departments in england since the current targets were introduced — with a fifth of patients waiting more than four hours to be seen. america says it is ready to engage in serious negotiations with iran, the day after its bases in iraq were hit by iranian missiles.

whirpool begins its recall of dangerous washing machines. hundreds of thousands of machines could be affected. a roman fort on hadrian's wall has been donated to the nation by its owner — and could now reveal its secrets. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. senior members of the royal family are said to be "hurt" after the duke and duchess of sussex announced that they're stepping back from their royal roles. harry and meghan‘s decision is believed to have shocked the royalfamily, with reports the couple didn't consult the queen or prince william. in a statement released yesterday, the couple said they made the decision "after many months of reflection and internal discussions". buckingham palace said there were "complicated issues" to work through.

our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. they'd had a six—week break and they'd clearly been considering their future. back in london on tuesday, during a visit to canada house, harry and meghan seemed settled, yet they were about to spring a major surprise on the wider world and even on their own family. they did not consult the queen, the prince of wales or prince william before issuing their personal statement: welcome to the canada gallery. the statement leaves many questions unanswered. what is a progressive new role? how do they intend to become financially independent? only one real detail was given. they will henceforth,

they said, balance their time between the united kingdom and north america. buckingham palace issued a terse statement, saying: the clearest indication there can be that they think sussexes have not thought this through. at the same time it was being made clear that senior members of the royal family, including the queen and harry's father and brother, felt disappointed and hurt with the way in which the sussexes had behaved. 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. my british friend said to me, "i'm sure he's great "but you shouldn't do it because the british tabloids "will destroy your life." and i very naively, i'm american, we don't have that there, "what are you talking about?" it's all a far cry from their wedding 20 months ago when a british prince married his american bride. they brought a freshness to the royal family and seemed

to engage with a new audience. now, some at least of those hopes have been dashed. for a royalfamily which is looking more and more to the core group of younger members, the partial withdrawal of the sussexes is a setback and coming so soon after the controversies around another second son, prince andrew, it is, as officials have indicated, a disappointment. nicholas witchell, bbc news. earlier i spoke to our royal correspondent, sarah campbell. i think if you have watched prince harry and meghan over the last few months, listened to those interviews you heard there in that package, it was clear there were issues. so the fact that they might have been looking for a different way of working, the fact that they were unhappy, shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. but i think initially, when we are talking about it today certainly, it's the manner in which they have gone about this announcement which really seem so shocking, really. that is what many of the headlines

in newspapers are talking about today, the fact it has caused the queen, prince charles, senior members of the royal family, hurt. because although our understanding is they were aware a week ago prince harry and meghan were planning a move of this sort, it is our understanding that it was in early stages and that was the understanding at buckingham palace. then this statement dropped at 6:33pm yesterday evening, which showed harry and meghan were in a very different headspace and that is what caused the problems. and there are so many questions about how the couple would make this progressive new role work. there are so many questions and questions to which we really haven't got answers for at the moment. they talked about the fact that they want to be financially independent. they say while continuing to honour and support the queen. now, interestingly they also launched yesterday a new website,

sussexroyal.com. if you look at that website, there are some detailed answers to some of those questions. they talk about things like they value the ability to earn a professional income. does that mean they want to go and getjobs? perhaps, yes. we knew they would launch a charitable foundation this year, that's still part of their plans. they plan to balance their time between the uk and north america, possibly canada. this is where they have spent the last six weeks mulling these thoughts over in their heads. will they continue to live at frogmore cottage? the cottage in the grounds of windsor great park which was given to them by the queen for their use. they said they would like to continue having frogmore cottage as their uk base. then there is a question, if you are not a working royal, will you be expected to pay rent? so money is a huge issue which people will be asking questions. they get money from the sovereign grant at the moment and are also funded by, the majority

of their expenses are funded by the prince of wales's private income, the duchy of cornwall estate. that has to be ironed out as well and many commentators speaking this morning and saying they don't see how this half in, half in being a royal, honouring the queen and helping her doing her work whilst also being this global ambassador for their own personal charities, how is that going to work? it hasn't been tried before. people commentating saying today they can just see it as a very, very difficult thing. in the statement released by buckingham palace last night, and a statement that was very terse, buckingham palace said, "we understand their desire to take a different approach but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through." the couple have said they intend to become financially independent and have outlined on their website where their funding has come from until now. the sovereign grant, which is money paid from the government to the royal family, covers 5% of costs for

the duke and duchess. 95% of their funding comes from income allocated by the prince of wales, prince charles, generated through the duchy of cornwall. harry carried out 98 engagements last year, which included a tour of south africa. meghan — who was on maternity leave for some of 2019 — carried out 28 engagements. dan wootton broke the news of harry and meghan spending more time in canada in yesterday's sun. he says the sussexes rushed the news out following his story. it's going to be a lot more difficult for them now, because of the fact that they did rush the statement out when we broke the story yesterday in the sun. the plan was for there to be many weeks of discussion with the queen, prince charles, senior members of the royal family. but harry and meghan like to own their own narrative and so for them it was important

to rush the announcement. however, that has gone down like a bombshell among the royal family, the queen deeply disappointed. i'm told prince charles and prince william are incandescent with rage. that is not the usual type of thing you hearfrom senior members of the royal family. in my story yesterday, i did point out that one of the long term options would be for prince harry and meghan relinquishing or being stripped of their hrh title. you have to think that that is a stronger possibility today after the way they've chosen to handle this announcement. always interesting to get your take on that. that was one of the questions i was going to ask you, about their titles. talks, as you say, were going on about the future of the sussexes and their role but clearly they have decided at a much earlier stage

than the rest of the royal family were hoping to make this announcement. what does it say about the relationship currently between meghan and harry and senior members of the royal family? it's incredibly bad. there is a civil war going on amongst the royal family. for a long time, people have tried to tell reporters like me who have been on the story for a long time, you are exaggerating, things are not that bad, surely prince william and harry are getting on. the reality is, there is a civil war right now, this has now exploded into the open, so how do they deal with it, what is the next step? there are so many basic questions that are not answered right now. will they stay in frogmore cottage? harry and meghan say they will be but that is up to the queen, she owns it. the publicjust renovated it to the tune of £3 million. what about their security? who will pay for that? will it bejustin trudeau and canada who have to foot that bill?

or will harry and meghan expect the queen to fund that? so many questions, and again i reported in the sun this morning, they want to start taking on commercial deals. again, there is a reason why members of the royal family don't take on commercial deals, because as you've seen with prince andrew how difficult that can get. so lots of questions. right now, there are no answers for any of them. some breaking news just some breaking newsjust coming in aboutjob some breaking newsjust coming in about job losses some breaking newsjust coming in aboutjob losses that will be affecting south yorkshire and south wales. liberty steel group is planning to cut 355jobs after a review of its uk business, it says in response to what it calls challenging market conditions and a lingering reduction in demand for uk

steel products, so liberty steel group planning to cut 335jobs in south yorkshire and south wales. a&e units in england have experienced their worst month since modern targets were introduced in 200a. the target is 95% butjust 79.8% of patients were seen in four hours. it is the third month in a row performance has sunk to a new record low. our health editor hugh pym has been giving me more details about the figures. it is the lowest ever figure since records began in terms of the number of patients being treated or assessed within four hours in the a&e units in england, the key benchmark, for the first time, below 80%, 79.8% in december, down from 81.5% the month before. yes, it has been very busy in hospitals. yes, the argument‘s being made by nhs england, they are seeing more patients, more patients come through

the doors, they do get treated, but the percentage within the four hour benchmark has fallen again. england is now once again below scotland, its performance for november, we have not had december yet, it was 85%. wales and northern ireland are below where england was. we are hearing reports across the nhs about how busy hospitals are this week. they always are in the first week of the new year. people come back to work, and more gp surgeries are open referring patients, but even so, we have heard of real stresses, patients in corridors waiting a long time in some hospitals. it should be stressed that staff are working flat out, patients we spoke to have not complained about the staff, but there are workflow

problems to get the right numbers for primary care. after the election, we had all the talk about funding and social care, but this is right now and winter seems to be challenging and flu seems to be picking up which is another challenge facing the nhs. family doctors are under intense pressure and general practice is running on empty — that's according to the royal college of gps. it says severe staff shortages are causing "unacceptable" delays for patients in england. in a letter to health secretary matt hancock, its chairman says ministers must take urgent action to deal with the lack of gps. the government said it had recruited a "record number" of gp trainees and ministers are committed to recruiting 6,000 more gps in england by 2025. professor martin marshall is chair

of the royal college of gps. thank you for coming to talk about death. 6000 more gps in a in five yea rs, death. 6000 more gps in a in five years, is that likely? it's a welcome promise, at least it shows the government is committed and understands the impact that struggling general practice has on patients and the rest of the nhs, but is it enough and soon enough? not soon enough, gps take at least three years to train, ten years from entering medical school to becoming a gp, maybe this will be a solution in 2024 but the problem is now. do you think it's possible to get 6000 in place by 2025, let alone deal with the current crisis? there are a number of ways of addressing the workforce problem, partly it's about

getting students into posts, partly retaining the current workforce and thatis retaining the current workforce and that is a major issue. a lot of gps when they find a work stressful cannot provide the quality of care patients expat, they are either retiring early or going part—time, it's also about trying to recruit from overseas but that is a problem every country in the world is struggling with. tell me more about the letter you sent to that health secretary and whether there has been any response. because this is such a significant problem the college has been working on this area for some time, we produced a report which lays out the key issues, the scale of the challenge and a series of solutions. we publish that report today and have sent it to the secretary of state. so you haven't had a speedy response, that would be very rapid but the mood music from matt hancock, are you hearing the

right things? the mood music is positive in terms of his commitment to general practice, his understanding of the importance of general practice, doing what it needs to do well for patients and the wider nhs, there still a big issue about the ability to this promise. five years ago there was a similar promise and we are now down on where we were five years ago. we we re on where we were five years ago. we were mentioning those amd figures for last month, the worst figures since current targets were introduced in 2004. given what you are saying about the issues for gps, are saying about the issues for gps, are you surprised that is happening in a&e? no, the nhs is connected, we have primary care services and emergency departments, if one part of the system struggles the rest

struggles and general practice is important in keeping patients out of hospitals so when it struggles, it's inevitable that will result in increased demand in casualty departments. it's not the only cause but it is one important cause. professor martin marshall, thank you. the headlines on bbc news: senior royals are said to be ‘hurt‘ by prince harry and meghan‘s decision to step back from the family — the couple will split their time between the us and uk. december was the worst month for a&e departments in england since the current targets were introduced. one in five patients waited for more than four hours to be seen. whirpool begins its recall of dangerous washing machines. hundreds of thousands of machines could be affected. and of machines could be affected. in sport, james ant hopes and in sport, james anderson says he hopes to be fit in a few weeks after a broken rib ruled him out of the

remainder of england's tour in south africa. ken henman described britain's atp quarterfinal exit to australia is disappointing. they lost 18—16 in a champions tie—break. and leicester city drew i—i champions tie—break. and leicester city drew 1—1 with aston villa. leicester boss brendan rodgers was critical of their slow start. i will have the full update in15 start. i will have the full update in 15 minutes. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, says talks in washington with his us counterpart about how to deal with iran have been "positive and constructive". the meeting with secretary of state mike pompeo came after tehran fired missiles at air bases housing american troops in iraq. the attack was in retaliation for the killing of the top iranian military commander, general soleimani. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. another tense night. foreign government buildings, including the us embassy,

are based in baghdad's green zone, where several rockets fell. the iraqi military said there were no casualties. on tuesday night, the pentagon says iran launched 16 short—range ballistic missiles against two us bases. again, there were no casualties. but it was a gesture of retaliation that met with strong support on the streets of tehran. donald trump's response was measured. he suggested iran was standing down and that americans should be grateful. but iran and the us are still locked in a tense stand—off. the question is — what happens next? in washington, the british foreign secretary met with his us counterpart to discuss the ongoing crisis. we are absolutely committed, as our american and european partners are, to avoiding iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. we've obviously been committed to thejcpoa but we've reached a point where noncompliance has been

so acute in the most recent steps taken by iran that obviously we are going to be looking very hard at what should happen next. ever since the killing of the iranian general, qasem soleimani, there have been questions about the trump administration's claim that there was an imminent threat to the united states. us senators have now been briefed about the intelligence that led to the attack. i am convinced that had decisive action not been taken, we could very well be standing here today talking about the death of dozens, if not hundreds, of americans at the hands of shia militias working as proxies for the iranian regime. democrats in the house of representatives plan to vote on a resolution designed to curb the president's military actions against iran. the international rhetoric may have softened, but mr trump still faces strong opposition at home. peter bowes, bbc news. ukraine's president has declared a day of national mourning after the plane crash in iran that killed 176 people, including

three british citizens. volodymyr zelensky says he has received an initial report about the flight bound for kyiv — but so far no evidence has been made public to suggest it was anything other than a catastrophic technical failure. a team of ukrainian experts and officials has arrived in tehran to assist with the investigation. the president has urged people not to speculate or spread conspiracy theories. translation: the priority for ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash. we will surely find out the truth. a thorough and independent investigation will be concluded in accordance with international law. i ask everybody, especially ukraine who was in the middle of information were, to refrain from speculations and

conspiracy theories, hasty judgments and unverified theories. it is not a subject for hype on social networks. we need patience, restraint and wisdom. the recall of more than half—a—million potentially dangerous whirlpool washing machines begins today. if you're affected, you'll be offered either a repair or a replacement. but the consumer rights group which? says that's not enough and is urging the manufacturer to offer refunds instead. our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz, has the details. dealing with the backlog built up because your mum can't use her washing machine. it was ok at first. it wasjust, like, a couple of loads. but now, it's just constant. alex from west sussex has had to take in all her 75—year—old mother's dirty clothes. to blame, a whirlpool washer, one of the ones at risk of catching fire because of a faulty electronic door lock. all of her washing is here, everything in my house. it's not even about the washing. this has cost us in so much money in electric, it's

cost her so much money in petrol. the first customers heard was on the 17th of december. they were told then to unplug affected machines or use them only on the cold cycle. only today, more than three weeks later, is whirlpool offering a solution. owners will get an email to choose a repair or replacement. there are no refunds on offer. they can then click on a link to book a date for the work. 60,000 affected machines have been located so far. the plan is these will be dealt with in a matter of weeks. whirlpool told us last month what effort they were putting into the recall. this is a complex situation and i wish it could be done overnight, i truly do, but we're working flat out to make sure that we have all of our people trained, we doubled the staff, we're adding service engineers. whirlpool‘s already having to replace dryers with a fire danger. now, it's got more than 500,000 risky washing machines to find. to date, only a fraction of the washers have been located, so this whole recall process

could take months. simon gompertz, bbc news. with me now is robert jervis—gibbons, who is the public affairs manager at the electrical safety first charity. thank you for coming in. generally our recall is an effective way of getting potentially dangerous products out of circulation? they are but in terms of electrical goods, only 10—20% of records are effective, which is inadequate, we need to improve on that so we have seen today that whirlpool will start this recall process but we need to make sure this one is successful compared to the tumble dryer recall situation which started in 2015 and the recall for that only started six months ago. when we buy analytical item we are generally given a packet with paperwork which i guess not many of us sent off to register we

have bought that item, obviously some people do that and whirlpool has their contact details but eve ryo ne has their contact details but everyone else, do they not hear about this recall? why are only 10-20% of about this recall? why are only 10—20% of people to respond? about this recall? why are only 10-20% of people to respond? people assume when they buy a product that it is registered immediately with the manufacturer but that is not the case. what we need to start thinking about is that the item is registered at the point of sale. there has been at the point of sale. there has been a precedent when you bought a tv, your information was passed to tv licensing so to improve on that 10-20% licensing so to improve on that 10—20% figure, if the item was registered at the point of sale we would be in a better situation when it came to read calls. it seems like a sensible idea and you mentioned this happens in the usa. why isn't it happening here? we have never had

a centralised data base it happening here? we have never had a centralised database for recalls, so the public don't know who to go to when it comes to looking for recall information, that has been pa rt recall information, that has been part of the problem. we need the government to start thinking about a centralised point of information like a one stop shop for that information is available for the recall of electrical goods and that information is available for them to ta ke information is available for them to take action. how long does this recall last? as long as the manufacturer or able to find their customers. their problem is finding customers. their problem is finding customers because the items are not registered at the point of sale so it's difficult to find out where they are. whirlpool told us they have found 60,000 customers so far but there are 519,000 of these washing machines that still need to be found. so it's helping people see an interview like this and that

triggers our thought process of checking their machine. yes, and the most important thing people do today, if they have a hotpoint or indisit washing machine they need to contact whirlpool to make sure they get a replacement as soon as possible. 2019 was the worst year on record for british retailers, according to new figures. the industry's trade body says the all important christmas period also saw a decline in sales. the british retail consortium says total sales fell by 0.1% over the year, marking the first annual decline since 1995. our business presenter, dominic o'connell, has been telling me it's notjust these figures that are giving a cause for concern for the retail sector. there are other numbers out from retailers this morning which suggested retail is going into austerity mode, discretionary mode. those figures were in grocery sales, where it looks to have been flat across christmas

for the first time ever. normally grocery scales grow 1% a year, that's the long term growth rate in the uk. for the last 3—6 months, it's been completely flat, which is very unusual for the uk and suggests a big change in consumer behaviour. just a word of caution on brc numbers, they take in a big chunk of the high street but don't include amazon. amazon is a member of the brc but don't provide their sales numbers to the survey. amazon is about £30 billion a year of sales in the uk. if you included amazon, perhaps it wouldn't be completely flat but they do give a pretty good snapshot of high street being a tough place to do business at the moment. tell us about some of the figures out this morning? john lewis partners, tesco and m&s. the most eye—catching werejohn lewis and m&s. tesco did ok over christmas.

john lewis, sales were down at waitrose and thejohn lewis partnership and paula nickolds, managing director, is going to leave. she has been with the firm 25 years. whether they will pay her a bonus or not, they had the lowest bonus ever last year, lowest since 1953. they may not decide to pay a bonus at all in february. that would be extraordinary. yes, extraordinary, the first ever forjohn lewis and partners. there will be a board meeting in february to decide. the chairman, who runs the whole partnership, is leaving to be replaced by sharon white, the former head of ofcom. soa so a big change atjohn lewis and a very tough times. marks & spencer, which didn't have a bad christmas, but particularly general merchandise, which includes clothing, was down again. the market reaction has been quite sharp. marks & spencer shares have lost 10% this morning. what was not a terrible christmas trading statement just shows investors are quite nervous about retail in general and perhaps nervous about the marks & spencer turnaround plan and the clothing revival plan altogether.

if you lines from man mike's spokesman cindy has had a phone call with the onion precedent which lasted about 20 minutes calling for an end to hostilities and the spokesman seen the prime minister also underlined uk commitment to the run nuclear deal. a run nuclear deal. the spokesman was also asked for comments on the situation with the duke and duchess of sussex and their plans to spend part of the year outside the uk and to withdraw from the rules as senior royals and the spokesman said that was a matter for the royal household. not being drawn in terms of any further comment on that.

now it's time for a look at the weather. the weather stays pretty unsettled over the next few days, a pretty active weather system and the forecast, a couple through to the one giving us rain until snort moving north—east but the next one moves south—west giving a thundery rain into the evening. as one weather system clears lots of dry weather system clears lots of dry weather and sunny spells towards the north—west of scotland, the midlands and the next batch of rain spreading across the south, pretty mild for englund and wills, to pitchers 14 or 15, chill from the north. the ring continues to move east, quiet for many, pat patches of fog and frost, to pitchers don't remain this one.

friday dry and bright, cloud increasing for scotland and northern ireland with a strengthening wind and heavy ring. hello this is bbc newsroom live, the headlines. senior royals are said to be ‘hurt‘ by prince harry and meghan‘s decision to step back from the family. december was the worst month for a&e departments in england since the current targets were introduced. one in five patients waited for more than four hours before being seen. whirpool begins its recall of dangerous washing machines. hundreds of thousands of machines could be affected. america says it is ready to engage in serious negotiations with iran —— the day after its bases in iraq were hit by iranian missiles. a roman fort on hadrian's

wall has been donated to the nation by its owner. good morning. so what next then forjames anderson. england's leading wicket taker faces another spell on the sideliners after breaking a rib in the second test against south africa in cape town. it's his second major injury in the last year — having missed most of the ashes with a calf problem. he hopes to be fit again in a few weeks but will miss the rest of england's tour in south africa. former spinner phil tufnell says he'd be surprised if the 37—year—old hadn't considered retirement, but another former bowler believes he's still got plenty to give. the older you get, those little niggles take a fraction longer to heal. injuries start creeping in but he will be determined. he is very driven, he's a fantastic bowler and he offers so much and i think, let's notjust write him off.

as you get older, i think, you need to keep the body going, and you need to bowl as much as you possibly can and i think it is difficult for him, as a bowler, knowing myself, when you stop, when you have a week's break, it is difficult then to get back into a rhythm, but he will come back fit and stronger, absolutely no doubt, and he's still got so much to offer england. it was an epic quarter final at the atp cup between great britain and australia — with jamie murray and joe salisbury had four match points before losing in the deciding doubles rubber. after cam norrie was beaten and dan evans won, it went all the way to a champions tie break at the end. australia's nick krygios and alex de minaur eventually came through 18—16 to reach the semi finals of the inaugural team competition in sydney. barry hearn, the man who runs the world snooker tour, has been speaking to the bbc about his new 10 year plan for the sport. hearn, who took over the commercial side of the game in 2009, wants to double the current prize fund of 17 million pounds and continue the sport s global growth by staging new tournaments around the world.

when i compare snooker with other major sports like golf and tennis, have a huge way to go. i would be very disappointed offending extend yea rs we very disappointed offending extend years we haven't doubled the prize money but it does depend on everyone doing theirjob and pulling together and having a common purpose and inspiring people around the world to see this game is notjust entertaining, it is also interesting to play and people will be inspired to play and people will be inspired to follow some of the great players we see currently on television. it's emerged that bet 365 aren't the only betting company to have bought rights to show fa cup coverage. a total of seven uk bookmakers have acquired rights for the next five seasons. there has been criticism that it clashes with the fa's

stance on mental health. and their policy of distancing themselves directly from betting organisations. fans can see the matches with bet 365 if they place a bet or open an account. despite admitting his side started slowly, leicester city boss brendan rodgers felt they deserved to beat aston villa in the first leg of their league cup semi final. villa unexpectedly took the lead at the king power stadium, with frederic guilbert prodding the premier league strugglers ahead. leicester levelled the match when they capitalised on some villa indecision in midfield, setting up kelechi iheanacho for his sixth goal of the season. the return leg is at villa park in just under three weeks' time. meanwhile the manchester united captain ashley young's on his way out of the club. he's agreed to join the italian side inter milan when his current contract expires in the summer, but he could still move injanuary if united allow him to go. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. let's get more now

on the decision by prince harry and meghan markle's decision to ‘step back‘ as senior members of the royal family duncan larcombe is the author of prince harry: the inside story — and he is the former royal editor of the sun. he joins us live now from kent. do you think this was a hasty decision to announce this move? they have been unhappy for a while but it seems quite soon. it does but they say they give it a lot of thought, they have been in canada for six weeks but it is only 20 months since the got married in front of a tv audience of 2 billion people and as you cast your mind back to that day, it seems extraordinary how quickly they have reached the decision that basically royal life is not for them. what seems very interesting as eve ryo ne them. what seems very interesting as everyone tries to figure out what has been going on as the couple were clearly in discussions with the palace but other senior royals have

been taken by surprise that they have gone ahead and made this announcement when clearly they still thought there were tops to be had. —— talks to be had. thought there were tops to be had. -- talks to be had. there is a suggestion the queen on the land of the decision watching television last eight which is extraordinary of true. harry has been a bit of a rebel, since he was a teenager you a lwa ys rebel, since he was a teenager you always expect the unexpected with him buti always expect the unexpected with him but i don't think the royal family has any idea that fm are reaching this decision they were going to go public with extra soon after their arrival after christmas and it is a case that the statement of the palace of the ways to look like a holding statement to buy some time to work out what on earth happens next. the are clearly going

to try to do that but as much as it may have come as a surprise in terms of the taming of the announcement to other senior royals, you think this could be a good thing for the royal family? we have the idea is the editor of the sun was seeing of the model of barack obama and michelle becoming influencer is, working on huge charitable projects, a modern face. it would be unfair for someone like me who has said the ten to spend their lives about 24 years behind the rest of us to criticise harry and meghan markle font wanting to do things their way rather than at has always been done but i think long—term this is a terrible time,

we have seen the royal family put to bed 2019 and then the poor health of prince philip and the scandal over prince andrew and suddenly only a few days into a new year and the most popular member of the royal family after the queen, prince harry, the rock and roll star royal has suddenly said i not doing it, i am walking away and having my own life. that is a bombshell to drop on yourfamily. life. that is a bombshell to drop on your family. especially given the easier they had last year. —— given the year. thank you. a roman fort on hadrian's wall has been donated to the nation by its owner. carrawburgh roman fort in northumberland has been cared for byjennifer du cane's family since 1950, and has undergone little archaeological investigation in comparison to many of the other forts along the wall. the site will now be looked

after by english heritage. i'm joined now by mike collins in newcastle — he's the inspector of ancient monuments at historic england, and he was at the site. this is a new addition rather old addition to the portfolio and offers exciting opportunities and to explore and uncover some new facts about the wall and the sport. —— this fort. absolutely, it is an amazing gift and we are extremely grateful for the philanthropy giving this site to the nation, an exciting opportunity to really key areas, a chance to present and explain roman frontier to the public, being able to see a whole section across it with the fort, the civilian settle m e nt with the fort, the civilian settlement and temples and defences but also a site that hasn't been

extensively explored and there are so many questions to answer of headroom is more more generally but also at this site. there are few better days and i have had in myjob than today coming at this site and to the national collection. considering this was once the very edge of the roman empire, what's was going through your mind?m edge of the roman empire, what's was going through your mind? it was the disposability that comes with owning this kind of site thatjennifer and herfamily have this kind of site thatjennifer and her family have looked after extremely well but have taken that decision to present extruding nation and that responsibility re—in historic and our colleagues in anguish heritage have no to not only protect it but explain it and bring it to life for people. it is a responsibility and an amazing and exciting opportunity and we are

looking conformity to it. when something like this becomes your responsibility to kick it off on the future, it has been in private hands and they were in public ownership, what are the first steps, what do you do to protect that number you wa nt you do to protect that number you want —— numberyou you do to protect that number you want —— number you want to interfere with the site too much. we have a huge advantage and that the fort is in excellent condition, the stewardship provided over the last 70 years have left it and a fantastic state, it doesn't have problems of management issues we mightfind problems of management issues we might find occasionally on other sites so we are in a good place already and then it is the question of what is the best way of protecting this site but also bringing the stories to the public. it is right next to an existing

english heritage site, and just temple set up by soldiers that is pa rt temple set up by soldiers that is part of the national collection for a long time and this is the chance to know at the fort that host those soldiers that built the temple to that landscape. there is just soldiers that built the temple to that landscape. there isjust that ability to present a whole tranche of the roman frontier on one site is a great opportunity and it is fair to say that we have scratch the surface, no pun intended of our understanding of hadrian is wall and this site and the rest of the wall we're looking to future archaeological research for all of us the ability to keep researching a site and keep understanding more about it is a really key part of making it a living and breathing landscape for the people that we serve and a great innovation of the

last 20 years has been the increasing involvement of the public directly in a charger research on site on —— archaeological research, the potential for future research at places like carrawburgh, it is a great opportunity and i can on us and not remember many better days and not remember many better days and myjob. and not remember many better days and my job. thank you for talking to us. very exciting for everyone, carrawburgh no under the protection at historic england and english heritage. in a moment we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news... senior royals are said to be ‘hurt‘ by prince harry and meghan's decision to step back from the family — the couple will split their time between the us and uk.

december was the worst month for a&e departments in england since the current targets were introduced — with a fifth december was the worst month for a&e departments in england since the current targets were introduced — with a fifth of patients waiting more than four hours to be seen. whirpool begins its recall of dangerous washing machines. hundreds of thousands of machines could be affected. i'm victoria fritz in the business news the boss of the department store john lewis quits afterjust two years at the top — as the company warns of lower profits. paula nickolds has worked at at the partnership for 25 years. meanwhile, marks & spencer's shares take a tumble after it reported another fall in clothing sales and shaky sales online. john lewis and m&s are not alone. a retail lobby group says 2019 was the worst year on record for uk retail. and airline veteran willie walsh steps down as the chief of british airways's parent company — iag.

the transport secretary grant shapps says he believes the northern rail franchise can only continue for "a number of months." a final decision on whether to strip arriva of the franchise completely and bring it under public control will be taken later this month. john lewis — the poster child of traditional british retail — has just lost its boss. paula nickolds is stepping down next month after just two years in the top job. why? profits are down, they're expected to continue to be down, and —— this is after a pretty dismal performance last year and the christmas season — which is normally a boon for retailers. they're not the only ones feeling the pain. m&s has failed to build on signs of a recovery in its clothing business — and high levels of waste have hit its profit margins on food. tesco's been talking today about a subdued market in the uk. in fact, the brc, the retail lobby group says 2019 was the worst sales year on record for the industry,

what should we make of all this? lets get the insights of kristen davis from shoppercentric — a specialist agency working across major retailers here and across the eu. sales havent been this bad since at least 1995. what's behind it? it is big news coming through, i think one of the big things we are seeing is a classic stretch scenario, both the bottom and the top benefiting and middle ground where the larger retailer likejohn lewis and tesco and the big supermarkets are vying for the pennies they can get from the shoppers on a regular basis and that is tough, they don't appear to be offering what people are necessarily looking for this past christmas but we only had an an environment that is stressful at the moment with uncertainty so many factors driving

it. what are we spending our money on instead? we are still spending, it is a good question. cinemas and pumps are up, which hints at the idea that people are spending more unexperienced than products. we are starting to look for more feeling when buying, not necessarily more stuff which comes from lots of different areas for thatis from lots of different areas for that is about sustainability are less plastic on having less money and your pocket and thinking about how to make christmas feel special but not be extravagant. we've had years of headlines about disappointing sales & big challenges on the high street. at this stage, what aare you telling retailers in the uk about how to keep trading? we are telling them to think about it from the shopper perspective,

there is always a business perspective happening but what we are seeing in terms of the real winners this christmas, the discounters and small format stores and what they are doing is a number of different things, offering special products at a cheaper price and what people are doing is not just about saving money, it is about whether i spend money elsewhere. the other thing is opening more stores which gives mortgage to customers but what is important here is actually offering a format that is easier to shop, more targeted, they have specific products they go in there to look for and what is really interesting at the top end of the markets like cardinal and online opportunity doing extreme they will —— extremely well and discounters and it is about quality and trust and it is about quality and trust and being targeted and control at the end of the day. people will

spend more fa feel they can control their expenses in other areas. thank you. let's check in with other stories. liberty steel group is planning to cut 355jobs in south yorkshire and south wales. the company announced the decision this morning after reviewing its uk business in response to what it "challenging market conditions and a lingering reduction in demand for uk steel products". saudi arabia s state—backed tanker company, bahri, is temporarily suspending shipments of oil through the strait of hormuz following iranian missile strikes on us military bases in iraq. 21% of oil used in 2018 passed through this narrow passage — which has iran on its northern shore. the pound has fallen to a two week low. mark carney said the bank of england s monetary policy committee was weighing up the merits of a short—term stimulus to boost

britain s tepid economy. a new government town of the year competition has backfired spectacularly after officials failed to realise that it was being launched in a place that has been a city for 19 years. wolverhampton was one of three towns named as a millennium city after a decade—long campaign by local mps and councillors, fighting off competition from 36 other places. a little embarrassing for the communities secretary, robertjenrick, who was born and educated in wolverhampton ? which became a city when he was 18. a look at the market... that's all the business news. transport strikes across france are entering their 36th day

as unions continue to denounce planned changes to the pension system. let's find out more from our paris correspondent, lucy it is not just it is notjust transport it is not just transport workers involved in these strikes. these are rolling strikes built and owned the transport unions who have been the mainstay of it, they have been on strike for the longest transport strike for the longest transport strike in french yesterday, over a month of continuous disruption to trains and metro and other forms of transport. they are rolling strikes and the abbey enjoyed by everyone from hospital workers, lawyers, and the abbey enjoyed by everyone from hospitalworkers, lawyers, oil refinery workers because these are reforms that affect so many different people and so many different people and so many different ways and they are a key fight for the unions. talk to us in terms of public support, is it waning after so many days? is there

any sign of a resolution and accommodation on agreement between those striking who are so opposed to president macron's reforms and what the government is trying to do? yes it seems to be waning in little bit, several surveys are carried out and they show that public support is dropping little bit after so much disruption. some say it is dropped below 50%, some say around 60% but it is starting to wane. support for some sort of change and the pension system here is quite strong, people do think the country needs economic reform but that is great scepticism about president macron, whether he can do it fairly so it is quite a mixed picture of how people quite actually feel and that is what a sensitivity around which pensions get affected and how. as for the glimmers of light at the end of the

tunnel, the prime minister is set to meet unions tomorrow to talk about alternative ways of financing the government plans, they say an ageing population means more money has to come from somewhere and the unions have said we will set stone and work—out another way of doing it that does not require us to raise the retirement age, one of the key proposals they are against. that is not yet any real sign of a breakthrough so it looks like these strikes will continue little longer. thank you. now it's time for a look at the weather. some wet and windy weather in the first cast, cleaning away the north, low and the far south—west of england, length and with the area of low pressure moving in. across the

north went into the more pressure also cleaning but it might stay quite cloudy and damp across eastern areas of scotland through this afternoon. in the south—west of the rain which will contain thunderstorms as well remove gradually north and east, for most a dry afternoon, maybe even brighter skies and sunshine breaking through but look at the difference and temperatures, between ten and 15 for englund and wales, chilly and scotla nd englund and wales, chilly and scotland and northern ireland between four and six. through tonight ring spreads east through southern areas, eventually cleaning, a few fog patches developing in the north but until friday the low pressure clears and a ridge of high pressure clears and a ridge of high pressure moving and to settle things down, some fog but also frost and north areas, temperatures down to —5 or —6, not quite as cold for the south. plenty of sunshine, a quiet

day for many of us but the sunshine lasting into the afternoon. more cloud and rain eventually moving into northern ireland and the west of scotland, in strengthening wind, gail is expected later. temperatures using, between six and nine then enter the weekend the rain moves graduate south and east, the white lines quite close together, really strong winds expected across the north and west with gales and heavy rain, up to 100 metres and parts of argyll could cause flooding. gradually moving south and east and for much of stay dry on saturday with bright skies must temperatures up with bright skies must temperatures up again, turning myra, 11 or 12. the wrinklies to the south—east into sunday, replaced by a mixture of sunny spells and showers, potentially wintry over the higher ground and potentially charlie and again soa ground and potentially charlie and again so a roller—coaster of temperatures, between six and ten

bet remaining quite wet and windy into next week.

you re watching bbc newsroom live. it's midday and these are the main stories this morning: senior royals are said to be hurt by prince harry and meghan's decision to step back from the family — they will split their time between the uk and north america. the rock and roll style royal has suddenly said i'm not doing it, i'm walking away and having my own life and that is a bombshell to drop on yourfamily. a&e departments in england experience their worst month on record since targets for treating people within four hours were introduced. america says it is ready to engage in serious negotiations with iran, the day after its bases in iraq were hit by iranian missiles. a roman fort on hadrian's wall has been donated to the nation by its owner — and could soon start to reveal its secrets.

whirlpool begins its recall of dangerous washing machines. hundreds of thousands of machines could be affected. good afternoon. welcome to bbc newsroom live. i'm annita mcveigh. senior members of the royal family are said to be "hurt" after the duke and duchess of sussex announced that they're stepping back from their royal roles. harry and meghan's decision is believed to have shocked the royalfamily, with reports the couple didn't consult the queen or prince william. in a statement released yesterday, the couple said they made the decision "after many months of reflection and internal discussions". buckingham palace said there were "complicated issues" to work through. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, reports. they'd had a six—week break

and they'd clearly been considering their future. back in london on tuesday, during a visit to canada house, harry and meghan seemed settled, yet they were about to spring a major surprise on the wider world and even on their own family. they did not consult the queen, the prince of wales or prince william before issuing their personal statement: welcome to the canada gallery. the statement leaves many questions unanswered. what is a progressive new role? how do they intend to become financially independent? only one real detail was given. they will henceforth, they said, balance their time between the united kingdom and north america. buckingham palace issued

a terse statement, saying: the clearest indication there can be that they think sussexes have not thought this through. at the same time it was being made clear that senior members of the royal family, including the queen and harry's father and brother, felt disappointed and hurt with the way in which the sussexes had behaved. 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. my british friend said to me, "i'm sure he's great "but you shouldn't do it because the british tabloids "will destroy your life." and i very naively, i'm american, we don't have that there, "what are you talking about?" it's all a far cry from their wedding 20 months ago when a british prince married his american bride. they brought a freshness to the royal family and seemed to engage with a new audience. now, some at least of those

hopes have been dashed. for a royalfamily which is looking more and more to the core group of younger members, the partial withdrawal of the sussexes is a setback and coming so soon after the controversies around another second son, prince andrew, it is, as officials have indicated, a disappointment. nicholas witchell, bbc news. sarah campbell is at buckingham palace for us now. hello again, sara. one can only wonder what is going on behind those walls as the royal family, other senior royals try to decipher what is happening next, indeed do even megan and harry note the extent of this new life they are talking about? that is the question, i'm outside buckingham palace and to give you an idea of how harry and meghan, they are global figures,

give you an idea of how harry and meghan, they are globalfigures, i'm surrounded by broadcast media from all different countries, australia, canada, america, european countries, there is so much statement —— interest in the statement released yesterday and the story today is how it was released, how it has come about because we understand as close asa about because we understand as close as a week ago, the queen and prince of wales, prince william, knew of harry and meghan matt's intentions but even at that point that talks we re but even at that point that talks were ina but even at that point that talks were in a very early stage, there is a lot of complexities, nobody has done this before, been half and half out of the royal family and we understand when the statement was released at 6:30pm yesterday it wasn't that the prince of wales, they didn't know it was coming and thatis they didn't know it was coming and that is telling about how the relationship has changed between prince harry and meghan and the rest

of the family so that is almost as interesting as what they plan to do. you heard that they want to divide their time between north america, we presume canada, a commonwealth country, and the uk. they launched a website yesterday, sussex royal dot—com, that has some details, it looks like they intend to keep their uk base at frogmore cottage in the grounds of windsor park that they currently live in with archie. they wa nt to currently live in with archie. they want to cut that financial type with auk want to cut that financial type with a uk tax payer and that is not part of theirfunding a uk tax payer and that is not part of their funding comes from the sovereign grant, which comes from the queen so they want to cut that tyke and become financially independent. the majority of their funding comes from the duchy of cornwall‘s estate so presumably they will continue to take money from

that. they will also launch a new charitable foundation so clearly see themselves as continuing to promote themselves as continuing to promote the causes they want to so still many questions, many commentators wondering how this will work because when members of the royalfamily have tried to set up businesses and earn money in the past there have been accusations that they are cashing in on their world status so thatis cashing in on their world status so that is a potential catch point for them that they will have to watch out for so lots of questions still to be answered. thank you, sarah campbell at buckingham palace. around 12:30pm we will speak to robert hardman, author of queen of the world and vice countess hinchcliffe, an american who has made a life for herself in britain. a&e units in england have

experienced their worst month since modern targets were introduced in 2004. the target is 95% butjust 79.8% of patients were seen in four hours. it is the third month in a row performance has sunk to a new record low. our health editor hugh pym has been giving me more details about the figures. it is the lowest ever figure since records began in terms of the number of patients being treated or assessed within four hours in the a&e units in england. that is the key benchmark, for the first time, below 80%, 79.8% in december, down from 81.5% the month before. yes, it has been very busy in hospitals. yes, the argument‘s being made by nhs england, they are seeing more patients, more patients come through the doors, they do get treated, but the percentage within the four hour benchmark has fallen again. england is now once again below scotland — its performance for november,

we have not had december yet, was 85% although wales and northern ireland are below where england was. we are hearing reports across the nhs about how busy hospitals are this week. they always are in the first week of the new year. people come back to work, and more gp surgeries are open referring patients, but even so, we have heard of real stresses, patients in corridors waiting a long time in some hospitals. it should be stressed that staff are working flat out to do their best in hospitals, and patients we have spoken to are not critical of the staff, but there are workforce problems, rota gaps. it's often difficult to get the numbers into the front line positions to enable timely care. this is a real challenge in the nhs. we had all the election debate about more hospitals, more nurses, more money, from all the parties over the next few years. this is the nhs and social care in england right now.

and based on these figures, it looks really challenged. flu is picking up now which is yet another issue facing the nhs. a short while ago, the nhs medical director, professor stephen powis, gave his reaction to today's figures. there are certain things we need to do, our staff there are certain things we need to do, ourstaff are there are certain things we need to do, our staff are working hard, we wa nt to do, our staff are working hard, we want to open more beds, that requires more nurses so it's important we get more nurses, we need a strong social care system to ensure people don't stay too long in hospital when they don't need to and i know some of our a&e departments are reaching a capacity they were not designed for and we need to rebuild them and provide a better environment for patients. let's speak to the shadow health secretary, jonathan ashworth. thank you for coming to talk to us. as professor stephen power suggested, there needs to be a

grassroots approach to sorting out theseissues grassroots approach to sorting out these issues because we have been talking about gps, he was talking about social care, all the things that will ease the flow of people into a&e departments. no, we need the prime minister to sort this out. we have had ten years of cutbacks in our nhs, we have seen 15,000 beds cut, support for staff cuts which means we are short of the doctors and nurses we need in these figures have shown for the third month in a row a&e department performance is deteriorating further, we have an nhs in crisis, a&e departments over ground and behind every figure there isa ground and behind every figure there is a patient waiting longer on a trolley, often in a corridor, waiting for treatment. it's unacceptable and my challenge to the government is you have a big majority now, you have promised us

40 new hospitals, you promised 50,000 extra nurses, you promised us 60,000 extra gps. start getting a grip now of this nhs crisis. you have no excuse not to. how will you plan on holding the government to account on that? if you look at getting 6000 more gps in england by 2025, the chair of the royal college of gps says when you look at that figure you have to look at people coming through medical school, getting them into that system but also retaining gps and recruiting others from overseas, so how will you hold the government to account in all these parts of the health ca re ecosystem ? in all these parts of the health care ecosystem? we have secured a key debate in the house of commons next week on the expenditure for the nhs. i believe it needs more money under social care system which has been cut by the conservatives needs more investment so i will bring

about to the house of commons and all these new tory mps elected in traditional labour seats telling their voters they will stand up for their voters they will stand up for the nhs will be put on the spot, they can either vote for my motion to increase funding for the nhs or vote it down and we will see if their commitment to the nhs is as genuine as they have made out. jonathan ashworth, thank you for your time. still to come, the latest on the plane crash in ukraine, and today is the third anniversary since the assembly at stormont went into the deep freeze with efforts under way to try to get that up and running again, and of course we will have more for you on our main story, the news that the duke and duchess of sussex have said they are to step back from their role as senior royals is to spend their time

between the uk and north america. all that still to come for you. right now we will say goodbye to viewers on bbc two and thank you for watching. ukraine's president has declared a day of national mourning after the plane crash in iran that killed 176 people, including three british citizens. volodymyr zelensky says he has received an initial report about the flight bound for kyiv — but so far no evidence has been made public to suggest it was anything other than a catastrophic technical failure. a team of ukrainian experts and officials has arrived in tehran to assist with the investigation. the president has urged people not to speculate or spread conspiracy theories.

translation: the priority for ukraine is to identify the causes of the plane crash. we will surely find out the truth. for this purpose, a thorough and independent investigation will be concluded in accordance with international law. i ask everybody, especially when ukraine is in the middle of an information war, to refrain from manipulations, speculations, conspiracy theories, hasty and categorical judgments, evaluations and unverified theories. it is not a subject for hype on social networks. we need patience, restraint and wisdom. jonah fisher is in kyiv for us. he says it will be interesting to see what happens to the two black boxes that have been recovered from the crash site near tehran. the head of the civil aviation organisation in iran has been speaking this morning and has confirmed that the boxes have been recovered and they have seen that the memory cards are intact inside those black boxes but that they have

been damaged. that raises the possibility that all that data about the last moments of the plane, the voice recordings, the information about altitude, all that information might have been lost so it will be an important question as to what the iranians do with those black boxes and whether they are willing to give them up, for example to bowen, for further analysis. —— boeing. the prime minister has spoken to president rouhani this morning after recent tensions between the us and iran. he called for an end to hositilities and underlined the uk's commitment to the iranian nuclear deal. meanwhile the foreign secretary, dominic raab, is in washington and has held talks with secretary of state mike pompeo about how to deal with iran. the meeting came after tehran fired missiles at air bases housing american troops in iraq. the attack was in retaliation for the killing of the top iranian military commander, general soleimani. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. another tense night. foreign government buildings, including the us embassy, are based in baghdad's green zone,

where several rockets fell. the iraqi military said there were no casualties. on tuesday night, the pentagon says iran launched 16 short—range ballistic missiles against two us bases. again, there were no casualties. but it was a gesture of retaliation that met with strong support on the streets of tehran. donald trump's response was measured. he suggested iran was standing down and that americans should be grateful. but iran and the us are still locked in a tense stand—off. the question is — what happens next? in washington, the british foreign secretary met with his us counterpart to discuss the ongoing crisis. we are absolutely committed, as our american and european partners are, to avoiding iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. we've obviously been committed to thejcpoa but we've reached a point where noncompliance has been so acute in the most recent steps

taken by iran that obviously we are going to be looking very hard at what should happen next. ever since the killing of the iranian general, qasem soleimani, there have been questions about the trump administration's claim that there was an imminent threat to the united states. us senators have now been briefed about the intelligence that led to the attack. i am convinced that had decisive action not been taken, we could very well be standing here today talking about the death of dozens, if not hundreds, of americans at the hands of shia militias working as proxies for the iranian regime. democrats in the house of representatives plan to vote on a resolution designed to curb the president's military actions against iran. the international rhetoric may have softened, but mr trump still faces strong opposition at home. peter bowes, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news: senior royals are said to be ‘hurt‘ by prince harry and meghan's decision to step back from the family — they will split their time between the uk and north america. a&e departments in england experience their worst month on record since targets for treating people within four hours were introduced. and whirlpool begins its recall of affected washing machines. let's go back to the bbc sport centre and joined james. james anderson has been ruled out of britain's tour of south africa. he picked it up in the second test at cape town and he hopes to be fit again ina cape town and he hopes to be fit again in a few weeks. the former

spinner said he would be surprised if the 37—year—old hadn't considered retirement. the older you get, there was little niggles take longer to heal, injuries start creeping in but heal, injuries start creeping in but he is very driven, he's a fantastic bowler and offers so much and let's not write him off, as you get older you need to keep the body going and bill as much as you can and it's difficult for him as a bowler, when you have a weak‘s break it's difficult to get back into a rhythm but he will come back fit and strong, he still has so much to offer england. great britain's atp cup captain tim henman says it is hugely

disappointing to exit the atp cup at the quarter final stage. they were beaten in a memorable doubles rubber by hosts australia. after the singles matches were shared, it went all the way to a champions tie break at the end. jamie murray and joe salisbury lost four match points before nick krygios and alex de minaur eventually came through 18—16 to reach the semi finals of the inaugural team competition in sydney. it's emerged that bet 365 aren't the only betting company to have bought rights to show fa cup coverage. a total of seven uk bookmakers have acquired rights for the next five seasons. there has been criticism that it clashes with the fa's stance on mental health and their policy of distancing themselves directly from betting organisations. fans can see the matches with bet 365 if they place a bet or open an account. despite admitting his side started slowly, leicester city boss brendan rodgers felt they deserved to beat aston villa in the first leg of their league cup semi final. villa unexpectedly took the lead at the king power stadium, with frederic guilbert prodding the premier league strugglers ahead. leicester levelled the match when they capitalised on some villa indecision in midfield, setting up kelechi iheanacho for his third in this years competition. the return leg is at villa park in just under three weeks' time. you're up to date.

i'll have more for you in the next hour. it's three years since power sharing in northern ireland collapsed. talks are continuing at stormont as the british and irish governments and the five main parties attempt to restore devolution. let's cross live to stormont and speak to our correspondent, chris page. this three—year anniversary really a source of frustration for many people in northern ireland who want local politicians making local decisions but is there any prospect of those talks producing a resolution? today is an unwanted milestone, three years since martin mcguinness, the former deputy first minister leading sinn fein, resigned as deputy first minister and that precipitated the downfall of the power—sharing executive made up of sinn fein and the dup. negotiations since then have failed to bring back

devolved government so northern ireland has been in administrative autopilot, civil servants have been running the place but cannot make major decisions so it has impacted public services and there is a sense that relationships instrument art so bad that people have been questioning whether devolution may ever come back. the latest round of talks under way at the moment, there isa talks under way at the moment, there is a legal deadline and that is this coming monday. the northern ireland secretary gillian smith and the irish foreign secretary simon coveney a re irish foreign secretary simon coveney are leading the british and irish government is negotiating teams as well as the five parties here, sinn fein, the dup, the uup, the sdlp and the cross—community alliance party. everyone is primed for something to happen here at this

spotin for something to happen here at this spot in stormont, politicians can address the media here but there is no sense that is about to happen or movement towards any firm deal although the northern ireland secretary has said if there is no deal by the deadline, no bluffing, there will be a fresh election to there will be a fresh election to the stormont assembly. new site no bluffing, is not really the case there will be a move towards fresh elections as opposed to some sort of extension to this process? the parties seem to be taking seriously that there will be an election if there is no agreement by monday, as we all know in northern ireland when deadlines come, but there is a sense because the deadline is laid down in law that there is a serious threat, we would go to an assembly election. if you look at what happened in the general election last month and that

european elections earlier last year, we had a change in the dynamics, the alliance party making significant gains and the two big parties lost a share of their vote in the general election, sinn fein retained the same number of seats and the dup lost two seats but both parties suffered a loss in share and that could be interpreted as voter frustration with the logjam at stormont, especially the health service which is acknowledged to be ina service which is acknowledged to be in a state of crisis, that is an issue of concern for people and waiting lists here being the longest in the uk and health service workers taking industrial action, there was a strike yesterday and another one scheduled for tomorrow so that has been concentrating the minds, the two main parties may not welcome going to the polls so soon as they might suffer losses but still sticking points, especially the legal status of the irish language,

republicans want a lot to protect it, you just want broader legislation which will incorporate british cultural elements and another point is what's called the petition of concern, a cross—community veto mechanism that means some contentious measures have to be approved by a majority of unionists and nationalists to pass so it is complex stuff, talking is going on, but no sense either way as to whether a deal is likely by monday, but the consequences of a deal or no deal will be profound for northern ireland. chris, we will leave you to wait for any sign of movement. some struggling families are being pushed into homelessness by failures in system designed to keep a roof over their heads, according to a watchdog. the local government ombudsman says that some local authorities in england are miscalculating housing benefit payments. it upheld eight out of 10 of the hundreds of complaints it investigated

about the benefit in 2018—19. let's speak to nigel ellis, chief executive of the local government. thank you for your time today. it sounds like it could be a bureaucratic nightmare, but how was the system working in such a way that housing benefit payments were miscalculated, it wasn't working, i should say? it should be straightforward matter to administer housing benefit and this is notjust a technicality, these are families who are living in very difficult circumstances and if things go wrong it can literally lead to some families being made homeless and certainly being put through a very stressful ti mes certainly being put through a very stressful times so we are seeing m ista kes stressful times so we are seeing mistakes being made, examples, you

said eight out of ten cases we investigate, we have to uphold, something has gone wrong, so we are seeing far too many mistakes that can only lead us to suspect some councils are not sufficiently clear about what their statutory duties are or theyjust don't have the proper processes in place. hard to really define why those mistakes we re really define why those mistakes were happening but you know they are happening and then some of these local authorities were curtailing the rights of appeal, in essence what does that mean for families trying to keep a roof over their heads? they say information is power and the people we spoke to felt pretty powerless because they didn't understand what they could do to appeal because it wasn't being explained to them in some instances and in other cases the appeal was running but the council started to claw back the benefit payments before the period of appeal had even

finished so that's why i'm saying our examples show the councils we have seen haven't fully understood how they should be operating and thatis how they should be operating and that is crucially important to the people who rely on housing benefit. some authorities say the funding they receive to administer housing benefit falls short of its cost. is that the case and would not alone explain the you found? that's not what our investigations are finding, of course there are pressures on funding, it seems there always have been to1 funding, it seems there always have been to 1 degrees or another but that's not what we are seeing, we are seeing administrative errors that really should not be happening in the first place, resulting in one case, we had a man who was left in limbo for two years because he couldn't understand because the council didn't understand what the situation was with his housing

benefit and yet he was still receiving letters that were threatening to reclaim that benefit, even though the council couldn't understand the situation itself. this was about administrative errors, simple things that most councils get right so we are seeing today, be aware of work problems do occur, check for yourself if you are responsible for these services and the impact on people is so serious, you cannot afford to make these mistakes. these sound like shocking errors and you say many authorities are getting them right so for days authorities who were making these mistakes, either sanctions? a report medically that when a case comes to the ombudsman to investigate b would recommend changes are made to the system of financial payments are made to the

individual, whatever comes out of her investigation is what you would recommend and we do that and each case we investigate. those are followed up by councils and individual circumstances. the point about the report today as this is a much bigger problem than we would expect so we are saying to all local authorities just take here about this, housing benefit is received by 3.5 million people in this country. eventually universal: oh place at but not sooner so please do not take cry the ball. thank you. after 12 that it will be speaking to the government association for the reaction to the study. quite a lot going on in the weather today, a wet start across southern and central scotland, northern england and how

snow on the radar from earlier, working east. the next area of rain is pushing south—west and working east but southern england has heavy bass of rain and there, also thunder and a good deal of dry weather elsewhere, cloud thick in the eastern areas for drizzle but the best brightness in the north and west and a contrast and attempt just, between three and six and the north, double figures from the south and east. through tonight the rain works to the east, clear spells spending in from the north, a few showers resin the usb could see patches of ice across the north and a frosty start here but temperatures dipping and a coordinate across the south with temperatures staying above freezing and dry weather to come into tomorrow, coming cloudy and where to later. —— wetter later.

hello this is bbc newsroom live, the headlines senior royals are said to be ‘hurt‘ by prince harry and meghan's decision to step back from the family — they will split their time between the uk and north america. a&e departments in england experience their worst month on record since targets for treating people within four hours were introduced. borisjohnson speaks by phone to the iranian president and calls for "an end to hostilities" a roman fort on hadrian's wall has been donated to the nation by its owner — and could soon start

to reveal its secrets. some news from iran, these are lines quoted on state television coating and rainy and commander and senior iranian commander saying the miceli attacks on us targets to retaliate for the killing of the general started an operation that will continue across the region. that fits with much of the analysis that this was not it as far as the iranian retaliation was concerned. quoted that the missile attacks on the two bases home to us troops are neededin

the two bases home to us troops are needed in have been the start of an operation that will continue but this commander continues to say the aim was not to kill us troops but to damage america's military machine. a significant statement there. that comes as the us has been indicating that it comes as the us has been indicating thatitis comes as the us has been indicating that it is prepared to enter serious negotiations with iran. the recall of more than half—a—million potentially dangerous ‘whirlpool‘ washing machines begins today. if you're affected, you'll be offered either a repair or a replacement.but the consumer rights group, ‘which?', says that's not enough and is urging the manufacturer to offer refunds instead. our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz has the details. dealing with the backlog built up because your mum can't use her washing machine. it was ok at first. it wasjust, like, a couple of loads. but now, it's just constant. alex from west sussex has had

to take in all her 75—year—old mother's dirty clothes. to blame, a whirlpool washer, one of the ones at risk of catching fire because of a faulty electronic door lock. all of her washing is here, everything in my house. it's not even about the washing. this has cost us in so much money in electric, it's cost her so much money in petrol. the first customers heard was on the 17th of december. they were told then to unplug affected machines or use them only on the cold cycle. only today, more than three weeks later, is whirlpool offering a solution. owners will get an email to choose a repair or replacement. there are no refunds on offer. they can then click on a link to book a date for the work. 60,000 affected machines have been located so far. the plan is these will be dealt with in a matter of weeks. whirlpool told us last month what effort they were putting into the recall. this is a complex situation and i wish it could be done

overnight, i truly do, but we're working flat out to make sure that we have all of our people trained, we doubled the staff, we're adding service engineers. whirlpool‘s already having to replace dryers with a fire danger. now, it's got more than 500,000 risky washing machines to find. to date, only a fraction of the washers have been located, so this whole recall process could take months. simon gompertz, bbc news. our main story this hour — buckingham palace says it understands the desire of the duke and duchess of sussex to take what it describes as a "different approach" in future. the palace was responding to the couple's statement last night in which they said they intended to carve out a "progressive new role" within the institution. prince harry and meghan say they intend to become financially independent and have outlined on their website where their funding has come from until now. the sovereign grant, which is money paid from the government to the royal family, covers five percent of costs

for the duke and duchess. 95 percent of their funding comes from income allocated by the prince of wales, prince charles, generated through the duchy of cornwall. some of the money goes towards official engagements. harry carried out 98 last year, which included a tour of south africa. meghan — who was on maternity leave for some of 2019 — carried out 28 engagements. welljoining me now is robert hardman, royal correspondent for the daily mail, and author of "queen of the world". as well as viscountess hinchingbrooke — julie montagu, an american, who has made a life as an aristocrat in britain. interesting to get your perspective on this, meghan a fellow american, what a jamaican of the news? —— what did you make of the news?” predicted this a few months ago saying that the more the british press attacks her and they are a

ruthlessness against them my new edward push them and i kept saying they are being pushed away, they can go to america any time and that is what is happening and there's nothing here that has to hold them here, it is an unwritten rule book the royal family and they do not necessarily have to abide by it, he has sex on line and i think they have had enough and north america they are he is sixth online. do you think they have been put under extra pressure, this individual this rather hastily. i think they are doing it so hastily that the even tell the queen or prince of wales who after all and going to carry on funding them whether they become financially independent, their bills will still be met by the prince of

wales when he becomes king. it has been very hasty and badly handled. i understand the other deeply unhappy with the royal predicament, they wa nt with the royal predicament, they want to change that which is understandable, i do not subside to the view has been some sort of ruthless campaign, in that is what was said last year. there has been a very deal of positive coverage about what they do because of back to the wedding and 2018 it was the most amazing day, there was huge promise, we all wanted ads to work and effort hasn't what it is for a number of reasons and it is in everyone's interest to reach a happy conclusion but the way they have done it putting out there this is what we will do like lump it is not the way to do it. do you agree with that, julie? should they have handled it differently and expected of them

feeling clearly unhappy that there was a better way to do it that would allow them to step into this new role. philip back at the queen mother's unofficial motto which was never complained, never explain they have broken that and from day one of the all about complaining and explaining what they are complaining about. he is the biggest supporter of his wife as he should be and he has seen what has happened tragically to his mother when at the press gets a hold of that and he has come out statement after statement trying to protect out and of course there was that small honeymoon of a period when we saw the wedding when it was american and english past and present, modern and traditional, anglican and episcopalian and it was wonderful but very short—lived and that the press started to turn on them. she cannot even step foot out of her dog without somebody criticising what she is winning. you

as an american who has stepped into that lifestyle, do you think this transition has been more difficult for meghan than she anticipated? absolutely, i was posting something similarandi absolutely, i was posting something similarand i have absolutely, i was posting something similar and i have a absolutely, i was posting something similarand i have a lot absolutely, i was posting something similar and i have a lot of followers and america and they are very supportive of the decision. it is really the british that are not but what is interesting as the comments i see coming through from the british are saying she knew about this, what she was getting herself into. no she did not. i can tell you as an american living into the aristocracy it is different, it is harder. the leeway in which this statement came out, the speed with which it came out giving that talks we re which it came out giving that talks were ongoing with other royals who clearly thought the talks had a way to progress before any further announcements were made, does that indicate a worsening relationship

between harry and meghan and other senior royals? i subtly think that has been a cooling inside the palace between the different households because people feel let down by the way this has been handled. there is a sympathy for the fact they are clearly very and happy with the situation, people want to sort that out but as history has shown negotiating in public is a lot harder than negotiating in public is a lot harderthan and negotiating in public is a lot harder than and private. ultimately they need each other. they are a great asset, this idea somehow they should be forced to do things the royal way, there is a cinderella narrative i have seen on social media particularly in the us that this poor couple have been put upon by the hidebound instant institution and ghastly immediate making their lives a misery and it is much more

nuanced than that. the press happy written things about them but it is not been a what are very positive, clear that they do not like the situation as it is and i think everyone should understand and acce pt everyone should understand and accept that and they should be ultra find a new way of doing it but you cannot carry on being royal, the duchy of conroe paying for stuff and then doing duties when you feel like it. do you see them adopting this obama model where they become an international power couple and take on these you charitable projects and can somehow that come to a accommodation with the rest of the royalfamily? accommodation with the rest of the royal family? it is accommodation with the rest of the royalfamily? it is a accommodation with the rest of the royal family? it is a wait and see what will happen but that is a way of doing it but also she is

american, aug american work ethic and it would not surprise me if she goes back to acting and that is properly one of the things i suspect they are trying to negotiate, i think they want to work and run the charitable entity but also go back and do what she loves as a wait and see. thank you. the royal family has wished the duchess of cambridge a very happy birthday on twitter. buckingham palace's official account shared three images of kate with the queen, to mark her 38th birthday. clarence house has also sent birthday wishes to kate, along with a series of pictures of her with the prince of wales, duchess of cornwall and duke of cambridge. kensington palace has thanked the public for their "lovely messages". now with all the business news. the boss of the department store john lewis quits afterjust two years at the top —

as the company warns of lower profits. paula nickolds has worked at at the partnership for 25 years. meanwhile, marks & spencer's shares take a tumble after it reported another fall in clothing sales and shaky sales online. john lewis and m&s are not alone. a retail lobby group says 2019 was the worst year on record for uk retail. and airline veteran willie walsh steps down as the chief of british airways's parent company — iag. the transport secretary grant shapps says he believes the northern rail franchise can only continue for "a number of months." a final decision on whether to strip arriva of the franchise completely and bring it under public control will be taken later this month. millions of savers who leave money in the same account for years should get a better deal. or at least that's the hope from regulators.

under proposals put forward by the city regulator, banks would have to set a single long—term interest rate for all easy access savings accounts. it wouldn't stop them from offering one year introductory offers. there's a huge range in interest rates available. savers could be receiving as little as 0.1% interest. the best offer 1.4%. so that's a difference of £130 a year in interest on a savings pot of £10,000 — even at a time of low interest rates. christopher woolard is from the fca. the easy access savings has about 40 million people, about 10% shop and

owned regularly to get best rates particularly older people who rely on savings and retirement but the vast number of people in this market tend to leave their money where it is and what we see as those rates moving down for those customers added can be a very confusing market, about 2500 easy access accou nts market, about 2500 easy access accounts on the market of which roughly do the same thing but have a very different interest rates. not a huge number of people are switching so does this mean you are giving up on the idea of people switching and finding a better deal themselves? not at all. we are trying to do two things, the first for those people who do switch regularly and shop around, we want them to be rewarded and get those best rates on the market but we are also really thinking about how real people behave and their daily lives,

changing your current account or savings account in this case is not necessarily number—one priority they will have so lets try and make sure people do get a decent rate for their savings when staying in the same place. it will also mean it is far easier to see what your bank or building society is offering as a single easy access account. in one case for example be have seen a bank with 82 different savings accounts ordering roughly the same thing but with very different rates of interest attached. i want to read this statement from uk finance which said regulation adds cost to banks and that may be recovered through higher rates for loans and mortgages are some of this be at the expense of borrowers? there are also dynamics different markets. at the moment and the market we can see for a variety of reasons a lot of competition and deals out there. this is targeted at what has been a

long—term problem and the market around those who leave the savings with the same bank, citizens advice me to complain about the loyalty penalty. with actors about getting a good dealfor penalty. with actors about getting a good deal for those savers and the long—term and we don't think that a fix that anywhere you have just described. thank you. that will go to consultation and hope it will come into effect next year, 40 million savers could potentially benefit. more later. some struggling families are being pushed into homelessness by failures in system designed to keep a roof over their heads, according to a watchdog. the local government ombudsman says that some local authorities in england are miscalculating housing benefit payments. it upheld eight out of 10 of the hundreds of complaints it investigated about the benefit in 2018—19. let's speak tojohn fuller,

deputy chairman of the local government association. the local government ombudsman saying that not only did some authorities miscalculate those housing benefits, then compounded the problem by failing to explain to some of the people affected what rights they had to appeal, why did this happen? i cannot top about individual cases but housing benefit isa individual cases but housing benefit is a £23 billion per year paid to 3.6 million claimants. the housing ombudsman looked at 78 detailed cases and and about 50 found to be errors sites get this in perspective. 50 cases too many but the vast majority of housing benefits are done first time the right time and i know from my own experience of my own council and norfolk we have a dedicated people who do not just norfolk we have a dedicated people who do notjust the administrative process of paying the benefit but to

try and solve problems because so often someone applying for housing benefit does not just often someone applying for housing benefit does notjust the money but more complex issues which need to be fixed. but we are talking about really serious cases were people potentially we are being pushed into homelessness. and the chair of the ombudsman a few minutes ago when i asked why was this happening he said difficult to get to the bottom of it but in some areas and some authorities people do not seem to know what they want doing with the administering of this benefit will stop ——. administering of this benefit will stop --. i am not here to defend the indefensible but when the council made mistakes and resulted in overpayment people received too much money which was quad bike far too quickly and without the right process , quickly and without the right process, i will not defend that but a note before can help themselves but when people make a claim they have all the paperwork, notjust

bank statement but payslips and rent agreements and sometimes if they need some help on the cannot get to a council office. we visit people in their own homes so we get it right first time out of 2.3 million claimants per year and i can tell you the woodsman has found 50 cases which is 50 to many but we are trying to help people keep a roof over their heads. when someone falls into homelessness that is really expensive, it is bad is this not just for people concerned but for the taxpayer and nobody is interested. —— is an nobody‘s interest. thank you. a roman fort on hadrian's wall has been donated to the nation by its owner. carrawburgh roman fort in northumberland has been cared for byjennifer du cane's family since 1950, and has undergone little archaeological investigation — in comparison to many of the other forts along the wall. the site will now be looked

after by english heritage. it is an amazing gift and we are extremely grateful for the philanthropy giving this site to the nation, an exciting opportunity to really key areas, a chance to present and explain roman frontier to the public, being able to see a whole section across it with the fort, the civilian settlement and temples and defences but also a site that hasn't been extensively explored and there are so many questions to answer of hadrian's wall more generally but also at this site. there are few better days and i have had in myjob than today welcoming this site and to the national collection.

considering this was once the very edge of the roman empire, what's was going through your mind? it was the responsibility that comes with owning this kind of site thatjennifer and her family have looked after extremely well but have taken that decision to present the nation and that responsibility re—in historic and our colleagues in anguish heritage have no to not only protect it but explain it and bring it to life for people. it is a responsibility and an amazing and exciting opportunity and we are looking forwarto it. and we are looking forward to it. when something like this becomes your responsibility to kick it off on the future, it has been in private hands and they were in public ownership,

what are the first steps, what do you do to protect that? nor do you want to interfere with the site too much. we have a huge advantage and that the fort is in excellent condition, the stewardship provided over the last 70 years have left it and a fantastic state, it doesn't have problems of management issues we might find occasionally on other sites so we are in a good place already. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. there are some fairly mobile weather over the next few days, which means we're looking at some spells, wet and windy weather, and that's certainly what we saw this morning, parts of southern central scotland, northern england. so outbreaks of rain and hail, snow,

you can see it clearing towards the east here. the next rain already working in towards the southwest, satiated with this area of low pressure, gradually pushes its way east as we move through today. so this afternoon, they'll be outbreaks of rain heavy at times across southwest england. southern england could be the odd rumble of thunder in there as well. a good deal of dry weather, that could just be a cloud thick enough for northeastern areas of england. eastern parts of scotland spot drizzle, some brightness coming through for northwest scotland, northern ireland. but a noticeable contrast in temperatures after a cold start. highs of around three to six degrees celsius in the north. seven to 12, 13 degrees celsius. further south. and then as we go through this evening and overnight, outbreaks of rain in the south will gradually work towards the east, will see clear spells spreading in from the north. a few showers for western parts of scotland. temperatures dipping away in the north. i think we could see minus five, minus six degrees celsius. parts of northeast scotland. and we could see some issues with ice. first thing on untreated surfaces and a cold night. further south. so it will be a fresh start to the day tomorrow, but temperatures above freezing. we're looking at a good deal of dry and fine weather, some sunshine as well. the cloud will increase. we'll see outbreaks of rain,

the wind strengthening as well. we see the temperatures tending to level out. so less of a contrast tomorrow. highs around six to nine, perhaps ten degrees celsius as we move into the weekend. then we'll see this weather front pushing in to the northwest. you can see the isobars fairly tightly packed across the board. so we'll be a blustery day to come on saturday. outbreaks of rain heavy and persistent. at times, parts of argyll could see around 100 millimeters of rainfall. we could see some localised flooding. but staying a bit drier, further towards the south and east, the temperatures picking up again back in the double figures. highs around 12, 13 degrees celsius into sunday. the early rain clears the southeast. and then we're looking at a day of sunny spells and showers. showers could be wintry over high ground. and it will be a less windy day than saturday. the temperatures starting to come down from what we'll see on saturday, perhaps just holding to the double figures in the southeast.

the royalfamily are said to be hurt and disappointed as prince harry and his wife meghan announce they're stepping back from royal duties. the couple say they're going to carve out a progressive new role for themselves and become financially independent, but there are questions about where they'll live and how they'll earn an income. here at buckingham palace there is disappointment that neither the queen no senior members of the royal family were informed prior to the announcement. we'll also talk to our media editor about the couple's plans to restrict press access to their engagements. also this lunchtime... last month was the worst on record for waiting times at a&e departments in england. borisjohnson speaks by phone to the iranian president and calls for an end to hostilities.