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.

britain's retailers say sales plunged last year — john lewis may not pay their annual staff bonus. and tipped for stardom — the singer from brighton who's been named the bbc‘s sound of 2020. and in the sport on bbc news, james anderson says he hopes to be fit in a few weeks, after a broken rib rules him out of england's tour in south africa. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the royalfamily are said to be hurt and disappointed after prince harry and his wife, meghan, announced last

night they're stepping back from royal duties. it's understood the couple did not consult the queen or anyone else in the royalfamily about their decision. there are now huge questions about where the couple are going to live, and how they're going to earn an income. buckingham palace says there are complicated issues to work through. our royal correspondent sarah campbell joins us now from the palace. sarah. prince harry and meghan were unhappy and that was obvious, they said as much in interviews, but what was genuinely surprising is the way they have gone about making their intentions public, the fact they didn't feel the need to inform the queen, the prince of wales or prince williams before publishing their statement yesterday evening. we understand that has caused disappointment and hurt. on tuesday, harry and meghan arrived at canada house. it was their first engagement after a much—needed six—week break

spent with their son archie away from the media glare. at the time it was assumed this hailed their return to work as high—profile members of the royal family. that assumption couldn't have been more wrong, as their statement, released yesterday evening, revealed. it's not yet clear what that progressive new role might mean for the couple and their position within the palace hierarchy. i see them now, to some extent, as setting up a kind of rival royal court or institution away from things, which frankly never really works because the main job of the royal family is to support the monarch, whoever that happens to be. prince philip, princess anne,

absolutely brilliant, they were always there when they needed — when they weren't needed they quietly pursued their own endeavours, and i don't see why you can't work within the system. may 2016 — the wedding which delighted millions around the world now seems a very long time ago. they represented inclusivity, and in many people's eyes they broadened the appeal and relevance of the royal family, but that harry and meghan were very unhappy was clear in interviews they gave during their tour of southern africa last year. my british friends 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?" prince harry had accused the uk tabloid media of conducting a ruthless campaign against meghan. many of their supporters believe at least some of the attacks on her are racist in nature and that

their decision to take a step back from royal duties is completely understandable. the best way we can compare this is probably to diana when she left the royal family after the divorce, shortly before her death. she strived to set out on her own, her own charitable humanitarian works, her own foundation, her own funding in that way because of who she was and that is going to benefit the couple in terms of people are interested, invested in them in that way, want to support them and the great causes they have championed but the question is how they do that outside the official royal funding and outside the royal family while still supporting the queen? so what now? the couple plan to divide their time between the uk and north america, striving to become financially independent, and will soon launch their own charitable foundation. a brief statement released by buckingham palace after the couple's intentions had been made public described the situation as complicated.

there has been no more official comment from buckingham palace today other than to wish catherine the duchess of cambridge are very happy 38th birthday. i'm sure most people in the palace would wish that was the only royal headline of the day. moving on from that rather terse statement released last night, the bbc understands there is within the palace a sense of willingness to move on, to make this work somehow, as it is within the best interests of everyone in the royal family that there has to be an understanding this will be complicated, particularly the financial aspects. after all, this new role of park royal, part private royal has not been tried before and there is a lot to work out. sarah campbell, thank you very much indeed. what is the reaction across the atlantic? laura podesta is correspondent for cbs news in new york. laura, what do meghan markle's fellow americans make of the announcement? i think ithinka i think a lot of americans have

immense sympathy for meghan because they know she fell in love, she left her great career as an actress to move to another country, and she has been attacked by the british tabloids, who have scrutinised her relationship with the queen, with other royals. and as far as social media here in the us, they are responding a little bit tongue in cheek saying happy wife, happy life. so if this is something meghan feels she needs to do, remove herself from being a senior royal with harry, then both of them will be a whole lot happier. there are also questions about what they will do with some of their new free time and in order to become financially independent. will they be driving an uber or opening a restaurant? there arejokes about uber or opening a restaurant? there are jokes about how meghan markle will be able to teach prince harry to do his taxes or meal prep before

going to work each day. a lot of americans are obsessed with the netflix series the crown and are wondering if in the future meghan will be able to play herself. on a more serious note too, vince harry has talked about his mental health issues, and meghan has talked about how she is so immensely unhappy, so they are happy for her that they are making this decision in this new year to carve out a new place whatever that will be in the royal family. laura, thank you very much. harry and meghan say they intend to become financially independent. running a royal household will entail significant costs, not least on security, but some commentators have suggested the couple could develop lucrative business ventures. our correspondent keith doyle has this assessment of how the couple might earn their income away from the royal family.

this report contains flash photography. the duke and duchess of sussex say they are becoming financially independent. in receipt of the sovereign grant, they are currently unable to earn money. the royal duties are paid for by the taxpayer. they say just 5% of their costs are paid for by the sovereign grant, the rest co m es paid for by the sovereign grant, the rest comes from the prince of wales‘ duchy of cornwall income. prince charles gave £4.9 million to his sons last year. it is thought harry received just less than half of that. harry and meghan say they want to be released from the financial tie of the sovereign grant. that will open up many lucrative sources of income to them. keeping their titles will no doubt be an income booster. they have recently trademarked their sussex royal brand

on products including t—shirts and books. meghan may restart her lucrative lifestyle blog, shut down when she got married. that was created by the same toronto —based company that made the new royal sussex website. the obvious areas where they potentially could make money will be in writing books or appearing on television or even going on the lucrative american lecture circuit, but all of these areas are fraught with danger. it is like walking into political territory and there must be considerable doubt as to whether this will work in the long run. so how much will they need to sustain their new lives? they are both already wealthy, harry is thought to have inherited £7 million from his mother diana‘s estate, as well as a trust fund set up by his grandmother the queen mother thought to be worth £3 million. meghan earned as much as £4 million from her acting career.

the couple say they will keep frogmore cottage in windsor which the taxpayer paid towards renovating last year. but dividing their time between the uk and north america will mean increased travel and security costs, as well as running two houses and private offices. harry and meghan hope what they call their progressive new role will allow them to be financially independent. the question is, at what cost to the monarchy? the royal couple have strongly criticised the media for what they call frequent misreporting. and they now plan to restrict press access to their official engagements. let‘s talk to our media editor amol rajan. they‘ve had a pretty complicated relationship with the press, how do they want that to change? as you say there is a long history here because the princes william and harry have been deeply suspicious of journalists a long time, going back

to the death of their late mother princess diana. in october prince harry issued a furious statement about royal coverage, particularly from tabloid papers. i think there isa from tabloid papers. i think there is a really interesting generational point which is they are of a generation when social media is the primary source of news rather than print or broadcast and they have less of an attachment to newspapers and a need for them as previous generations. previously there has been a system called the royal rotor where certain privileged journalists get a ccess where certain privileged journalists get access in return for deeper embedded reporting. prince harry and meghan markle have said they will pull out of the royal rotor. where they do grant access as part of their privileged role, they will favour journalists who are their privileged role, they will favourjournalists who are young and seem to be onside with their particular causes, and they will use their own social media channels to control their public narrative. there may be a logic to that, but

tabloid newspapers may be weak but they are not dead yet and not going away, and this has been interpreted by tabloids as something of a declaration of war so i suspect in the short term they can expect a barrage of very nasty headlines. amol, thank you. accident and emergency departments in england saw record waiting times for patients last month. one in five patients seeking emergency care was forced to wait more than four hours in december — that‘s the worst figure since the target was introduced 16 years ago. nearly 100,000 of the sickest patients faced hours stuck on trolleys, and waiting in corridors, while beds were found for them. dominic hughes reports. accident and emergency departments across england are busier than ever. during 2019, a million more patients attended than the previous year. an earlier—than—expected outbreak of flu hasn‘t helped, but doctors say staffing shortages combined with a growing and ageing population are putting the system under intense pressure.

it‘s very, very busy. patients are queueing up and hospitals are jam—packed. this is as bad as it‘s been over the last few years. i do remember it one year worse, was when we had the flu epidemic about ten years ago, but since then it‘s been a steady ramping up of pressure and it‘s as bad now as it‘s been in my recent memory. in december alone, more than 2 million people attended a&e departments in england, a rise of 6% on the previous year. only four out of five people were seen within four hours, well below the 95% target. ambulance services also saw their busiest month, managing an average of more than 25,000 incidents a day. but the whole system is struggling. paul goddard has already been waiting months for a much delayed hip replacement operation. my problem has been going on since 2018 and since i started on this road i've seen doctors and specialists, physiotherapy teams and i got to the point where,

we think the operation's going to be done on easter 2020, now they're telling me it could well be christmas 2020. growing patient demand and a shortage of qualified doctors and nurses is taking its toll, so hospitals are asking people to think carefully before visiting a&e. we are opening more beds and to do that we need more nurses but it's really important that the public stay healthy if they can so there's still time to get your flu jab because flu is still around, and there are other services that can give you health advice such as our 111 call lines and local pharmacies. experts say the entire health and social care service is facing its toughest winter in years. while solutions are available, things are unlikely to improve any time soon. there is light at the end of the tunnel but the tunnel is very long. to really be able to improve the performance of the nhs we need to be able to recruit 100,000 staff. the government has committed to recruiting 50,000 nurses.

that won‘t happen overnight. nhs managers spent months planning for the pressures this winter would inevitably bring but today‘s figures show that soaring demand is placing immense strain on services. dominic hughes, bbc news. borisjohnson has spoken by phone to the iranian president hassan rouhani and called for an end to hostilities between the united states and iran. the prime minister also urged tehran to comply with the international agreement to curb its nuclear programme. president trump has already pulled out of the deal and is calling on britain and other allies to abandon it as well. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, has this report. as long as i‘m president of the united states, iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. at the heart of this week‘s crisis in the middle east are donald trump‘s fears about iran getting nuclear weapons. that‘s why two years ago, he signed this document —

pulling the united states out of the iran nuclear deal. under the accord, known by its initials as thejcpoa, the international community agreed to lift some economic sanctions in return for iran restricting its nuclear ambitions. but amid increasing aggression by iran in the middle east and a number of confrontations in the gulf, the us decided the deal wasn‘t working and withdrew its support. in turn, iran began restarting work in some of its nuclear laboratories. britain and its european allies tried to save the deal by promising iran economic help. but after talks in washington with his us counterpart, the foreign secretary, for the first time, has threatened to pull the plug on the nuclear agreement, by triggering a special dispute mechanism known as the drm. we‘ve obviously been committed to thejcpoa, but we‘ve reached a point where non—compliance has been so acute in the most recent steps taken by iran, that obviously we‘re going to be looking very hard at what should happen next. we want see iran come back to full

compliance and we will be looking at all measures, including potentially triggering the drm. and that matters because the chances of seeing the kind of military confrontation we‘ve seen this week will rise if the nuclear deal dies completely. for now, both sides appear keen to step back from the brink. we‘re receiving some encouraging intelligence that iran is sending messages to those very same militias not to move against american targets or civilians, and we hope that that message continues to echo. much depends on what iran does now with its nuclear programme. this morning, boris johnson called president rouhani, who he met last year, and told him the nuclear deal was the best arrangement currently available. carefully chosen words to leave the door open for change in the future. james landale, bbc news. iran says the ukrainian passenger plane that crashed with 176 people on board was trying to return to tehran airport when it came down, killing everyone on board.

meanwhile, a senior ukrainian official says four theories as to the cause of the disaster are being examined — engine failure, the plane being hit by a missile or colliding with a drone, or a terrorist attack. jonah fisher reports from ukraine. the vast majority of those on board the plane were destined not for ukraine but canada, and in iranians communities there, the sudden loss of husbands, wives and children is being mourned. and the demand for an explanation is gathering pace. our government will continue to work closely with its partners to ensure that this crash is thoroughly investigated. canadians have questions and they deserve answers. this is where the plane came down shortly after take—off, killing all 176 on board.

this morning, the results of iran‘s initial investigation were released. it states that the plane was on fire as it fell and that an attempt had been made to turn it around and return to the airport. it‘s evidence that supports iran‘s claims that the crash was probably caused by a catastrophic technical failure. that explanation is not being accepted unchallenged in kyiv. as ukraine‘s president paid his respects to the lost flight crew, he was sending a team of experts to iran. they‘d been tasked with looking at all options — including the possibility that the plane was shot down. the key to understanding what happened is likely to be in the flight recorders, these so—called black boxes, which will have documented the plane‘s final moments as it came down. they‘ve been recovered,

but iranian officials have been suggesting they might be damaged and that they might not be handed over for further analysis. if that turns out to be the case, it will fuel the suggestion that iran has something to hide. jonah fisher, bbc news, in kyiv. the time is1:21pm. our top story this lunchtime: the royal family are said to be "hurt" and disappointed by prince harry and meghan‘s decision to step back from royal duties. and coming up — whirlpool offer to replace or repair half a million washing machines which could be at risk of catching fire. coming up on bbc news, great britain are beaten in the quarterfinals of the atp cup, losing 18—16 in a doubles tie—break to hosts australia. the authorities in australia are urging people living in areas threatened by bushfires to leave their homes

or risk becoming trapped. hotter weather tomorrow will increase the risk of the fires spreading. so far, they‘ve killed 27 people. our correspondentjonathan head reports now close to the town of tom—erong in new south wales. in the fire—bleached bush along australia‘s south—eastern coast, gary simpson‘s backyard has taken a beating. some of his tallest trees, badly charred, have had to be felled and dragged a safe distance from his house. he‘s been clearing up ever since a raging fire swept through last saturday, and preparing for more fires once the weather heats up again. when this happens, i mean, do you ever have second thoughts about living in a place like this, surrounded by bush? er, sometimes you do, but it‘s such a great place to live. you‘re self—sufficient, you‘ve got plenty of space. it...

..it was fine, it‘s fine, and we won‘t be going anywhere, we‘ll stay. this was what was happening here last weekend. the whole forest around his house was ablaze. at one stage i said, "this doesn‘t look good." this whole area was awash with flames. it‘s a pretty scary feeling. yeah, it can be scary, yeah, most definitely. we‘ve been very lucky, we saved the houses. there were people down the coast, off the coast of new south wales, they‘ve been completely devastated. they‘ve got only the clothes that they stand in. his voice breaks: that's a horrible thing. it has been cooler this week, though the hazy skies and the smell of smoke are still there. it‘s given gary and his neighbours a very welcomed break, and they‘re not letting the thought of what might happen this weekend spoil theirfun.

jonathan head, bbc news, tomerong, new south wales. last year was the worst on record for british retailers, according to new figures. the british retail consortium says sales fell for the first time in a quarter of a century. even the all—important christmas period saw a decline. meanwhile, john lewis has warned staff they may not be paid their annual bonus. our business correspondent, emma simpson, reports. edgar the dragon, the star ofjohn lewis‘s big festive campaign, but it didn‘t set fire to sales. # i can‘t fight this feeling any more. ..# they were down 2% compared with the previous year. profits are also going to sink and staff may not get a bonus for the first time since the ‘50s. meanwhile, britain‘s biggest retailer, tesco, scraped a bit of growth in its most crucial few weeks, just 0.1%. that‘s deemed a success

in the current market. it‘s been challenging at marks & spencer too. food‘s done well but clothing and home is down again and online weak. it feels a bit flat, christmas not delivering what many retailers had been hoping for. did you spend a bit more or a bit less this christmas? probably a bit less. why was that? financially, can't do it any more. slightly more because there were a lot of offers on before christmas and i thought i'd seize the moment. christmas was weak for retail. new figures out today from the industry trade body show that if you add november and december together, sales actually fell. that‘s rare, and for 2019 as a whole, it was the worst year on record. a backdrop of political uncertainty, the timing of the election around that crucial trading period and the transformation that we‘re seeing in the way that we all shop

have really contributed to that poor result over the year as a whole. other data today, though, shows we‘re spending more on experiences, from takeaway food to cinema. as ever, some retailers have done well but this year starts with another round of store closures. six debenhams will go by the end of this week, a reminder of how tough the going is for many of our biggest names. emma simpson, bbc news. a recall is beginning today of half a million hotpoint and indesit washing machines thought to be a fire risk. customers were warned before christmas not to use them, after dozens of the machines caught fire. their manufacturer — whirlpool — is offering to replace or repair the models in question. here‘s our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz. 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 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 a 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. a young singerfrom brighton has topped the bbc s sound of 2020, which aims to predict the biggest and brightest new stars in music. celeste, who‘s 25, follows in the footsteps of previous winners, like adele and sam smith. she was chosen by a panel of 170 figures from the music industry. here‘s our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba. # it wouldn‘t move # what could i?do...#

the soulful sound of celeste. # i touch your? head...# the young singer raised in brighton, who‘s been named the bbc‘s sound of 2020. well, i can‘t wait now to see what the rest of the year looks like. i think you can never predict, even though sometimes you really want to, like look into a glass ball and see what‘s going to happen. but, no, i‘m just like so thrilled and excited and, yeah, i can‘t wait. # i don‘t want to put on pressure when i‘m talking to you...#. she‘s already made appearances on shows like later withjools holland and now she‘s following in the footsteps of previous sound of winners, the likes of whom include ellie golding, sam smith and adele. one of the most important things for me is that it will hopefully mean that more people hear my music and are aware that i‘m making music.

a confident live performer who played glastonbury‘s introducing stage in 2019, 2020 will bring different pressures. there‘s an element that like now there‘s a heightened expectation, potentially, that you really want to make sure you live up to it. but ultimately, like i said, it is encouraging, so, yeah, it‘s cool. the new year will bring new music, which she hopes willjustify the industry‘s faith in her. lizo mzimba, bbc news. # from strangers to friends, friends and lovers...#. time for a look at the weather, here‘s lucy martin. thank you, good afternoon. quite a lot going on in the weather today. we have seen some wet and windy weather and for some of us, some snow. this photo sent in by ed in southern scotland. the radar picture

from earlier shows the rain