iran strongly denies it shot down a ukrainian passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board. western governments believe the plane was brought down by an iranian missile — probably by accident. the iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. the foreign office is advising against all travel to iran. also this lunchtime... the duchess of sussex goes back to canada amid talks to try and find new roles for her and prince harry. an assault on prison staff by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts is being treated as a terrorist attack. could there be a breakthrough

on a deal to bring powersharing back to northern ireland? and from dark satanic mills to bright airy workspaces — the regeneration of northern landmarks. and coming up on bbc news, brighton goalkeeper matty ryan pledges around £260 for every registered save in the premier league this weekend. good afternoon, and welcome to the bbc news at one. iran has strongly denied claims it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board. the us, british and canadian

governments now believe the jet was brought down by an iranian anti aircraft missile shortly after taking off from tehran airport. there are suggestions it could have been a catastrophic mistake, coming at a time of heightened tension between iran and the united states. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins reports. iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders which should provide vital evidence about events leading to the crash. iranian authorities say they may ask for assistance from other countries to analyse the data. they are warning it could take one or two years to com plete it could take one or two years to complete a full investigation but they continue to insist no missile strike was involved. translation: the thing that was clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that we can say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. as i said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the airand the minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the

pilot was attempting to return. but many governments dispute that. even if the pilot was trying to land after catastrophe struck, the canadians, who suffered the greatest loss of life after iran itself, are convinced from satellite reports it was struck by surface to air missile, probably unintentionally. the result of a terrible iranian mistake, britain agrees. the iranian regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get that truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims and understanding of what happened to their loved ones. but iran has already brought heavy and earth moving equipment onto the crash site. not the normal procedure if you are trying to search for and protect every fragment of debris. all the evidence which normally helps investigators build a complete picture of happened. we know that

the site of the crash has been compromised with heavy machinery operating throughout the crash site. so now we are very distressed because they can't be guaranteed that the crash site has maintained its integrity. it is now a week since the rainy and general qasem soleimani was killed by the american drone strike. it's been a shocking week for hundreds of families around the world. still, there are hopes that because foreign governments are willing to see any iranian missile strike on the airliner as a terrible error, internationaltensions strike on the airliner as a terrible error, international tensions could be eased, not intensified. if this was a case, as it looks increasingly likely, that that was not something that they would then use against iran, they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems in a scenario which is already looking pretty unstable. nothing can soften the immediate painfor nothing can soften the immediate pain for all of those mourning the

dead on the flight from tehran but there is no doubt they will expect there is no doubt they will expect the full truth of what caused their loss. james robbins, bbc news. our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley is in beirut. caroline, all eyes now whether the iranians will allow a really thorough independent investigation into this disaster? that is right. the vitally important question and certainly they are under intense pressure to do so. i think iran is keen to be seen to be cooperating with the outside world on this, particularly as it is such a fraught moment in the middle east. it says has invited all countries which had citizens on board that plane to take part in the investigation, as well as american safety investigators and boeing. there are teams of ukrainian investigators on the ground already andi investigators on the ground already and i understand that a team of about ten canadians are on their way

and that is despite the fact that canada and iran don't have any diplomatic relations. but iran is, as you head, sticking to its side of the story, it is also saying it wa nts to the story, it is also saying it wants to download the contents of the flight recorder itself. and this morning, a journalist from the american network cbs went to the scene and said she found no security there, no cordons, she said she found scavengers poring over the site, taking things away and she also spoke to witnesses who said that yesterday the bulk of the wreckage had been removed from the site with heavy equipment. now, iran has denied bulldozing the site. caroline, thank you. caroline hawley reporting from beirut. the us house of representatives has approved a largely symbolic resolution seeking to limit president donald trump's ability to pursue military action against iran. the measure was passed by a comfortable majority in the democrat—run chamber but will struggle to get approval

in the republican—held senate. democrats accused the president of acting recklessly in ordering the drone strike which killed the iranian general, qasem soleimani. the duchess of sussex has travelled back to canada, following the news that she and prince harry are stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family. the queen, the prince of wales and the duke of cambridge have asked officials to come up with a workable agreement on what harry and meghan will do next. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell is here. nicholas, talks are under way to try and accommodate, really, the royal couple? yes, talks and results expected or demanded by the queen of their officials within days, we are told. it seems to me the starting point must be to try and answer two fundamental questions. how much work do they intend to continue to do? official royal work? and how do they

imagine they will become financially independent? on the work question, we have all focused on this phrase in their personal statement, we want a progressive new role. it's rather presumptuous to assume they are the only people who can find a progressive role but they go on to say, a progressive new role within this institution. we focused on how they are going to divide their time between the united kingdom and north america but they continue to say they will continue to honour their duty to the queen, the commonwealth and our patronage is. it would seem clear that they do want to continue having a programme of official engagements, supporting their charities, some of which operate abroad, southern africa for example, combating hiv. what about his military positions question but does he imagine he will continue to appear on remembrance sunday, laying appear on remembrance sunday, laying a wreath on that occasion? on the question of finance, the trickiest area of all of this, the palace officials will be most anxious to prevent them developing any ambition

to trade on their royal status. they are, of course, in an environment in north america where it is extremely tradable. thank you. nicholas witchell, our royal correspondent. the metropolitan police say they are treating as a terrorist attack — an incident yesterday when two inmates wearing fake suicide belts stabbed a prison officer. four other members of staff at hmp whitemoor in cambridgeshire were also injured. one of the prisoners involved in the attack was serving a sentence for planning to kill a british serviceman. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. brusthom ziamani was jailed four yea rs brusthom ziamani was jailed four years ago for plotting to behead a soldier. he had been arrested while carrying this large knife and hammer. ziamani is now one of two men suspected of a vicious attack on prison officers yesterday morning. police say it was a terrorist attack. the assault took place on a

wing of whitemoor prison, a high security jail with a long wing of whitemoor prison, a high securityjail with a long and sometimes controversial history of holding terrorist prisoners. two inmates wearing fake suicide belts and shouting allahu akbar attacked and shouting allahu akbar attacked an officerfrom and shouting allahu akbar attacked an officer from behind and shouting allahu akbar attacked an officerfrom behind as he opened an officerfrom behind as he opened a store cupboard. they were carrying home—made knives. five prison staff ended up in hospital, including a female officer and a male nurse. this was a cowardly, vicious attack on our members, which hospitalised five members of staff. in many respects, from the information that i've received, we are very lucky that i'm not standing in front of the cameras today talking about the murder of a prison officer, it was that serious. the prison service has been repeatedly warned by one former senior been repeatedly warned by one former senior governor been repeatedly warned by one former senior governor about the risk that convicted terrorists pose to prison staff, who are obvious targets for

any inmates wanting commit violent political acts. there has been a colossal failure of intelligence here, in terms of protecting prison staff from somebody who was clearly very radicalised. that is really important because if we can't recruit and retain and train and protect front line prison staff, who are dealing with some of the most dangerous and sophisticated terrorists in the country, we are going to have a very serious problem. whitemoor prison is where osman khan was held, he was the release terrorist prisoner who carried out the attack on fishmongers hall in november. people who'd been trying to rehabilitate him. daniel sandford, bbc news. a draft deal has been published aimed at restoring power sharing in northern ireland. the british and irish governments say the proposals are a fair compromise and contain something "for everyone". northern ireland has been without a government since it collapsed three years ago — injanuary 2017 when the dup and sinn fein clashed over

a green energy scandal. our ireland correspondent chris page is at stormont. chris. yes, in this part of the uk, there has been no devolved government since january of 2017 and plenty of people have asked questions as to whether power—sharing would ever come back. but now the british and irish governments, after an intense round of negotiations, believe they have come up with a plan to end the stormont stalemate and they are asking the stormont parties to nominate ministers to the devolved government by the end of today. after months of negotiating with political parties, the northern ireland secretary was holding a different kind of discussion this morning. we've got some hard questions and i am a bit nervous. the talks at stormont have been intense, but now he says politicians must do business. we have gone for three years without government, without politicians taking the right decision.

we have had three years where mlas have been paid their salary. time is up, we need to get to work. last night, he and the irish foreign minister, simon coveney, made a bold move to break the deadlock. this deal enables the journey for northern ireland, from peace to power—sharing, to prosperity to continue. they have made proposals to settle the most contentious issues. there are plans for two commissioners, one would protect and promote the irish language, which is particularly important for nationalists. the other would work on ulster—scots language and culture, which are more associated with british identity. and the rules for stormont‘s cross—community veto system would change, so it can only be used as a last resort. the leader of the largest party has said the deal is good enough for her. it is not a perfect deal, it is certainly not one that was written by the democratic unionist party. but i feel it is a way forward. people want us to have our own government here. sinn fein will also need to agree if devolution is to return.

its senior members are meeting to make their decision. well, scenes like this have helped to concentrate political minds over the last few weeks. nhs workers, including nurses, are staging a third day of strike action over pay and staffing levels. one of their messages is, the devolved government needs to come back to deal with a health service that is widely acknowledged to be in crisis. i think it is important for people to get back into government. at the end of the day, our nurses and our staff deserve as much as anybody. we are going to keep fighting until the government is restored and we get our money. for more than 1,000 days, no ministers have been in office to run northern ireland. the problems have piled up. but the biggest one ofjust putting a government in place, may be solved very soon. the draft deal features plans as to how ministers could cut hospital waiting times, which are the longest

in the uk, how they could reform the education sector, how they could bring forward big new infrastructure projects. the british government has promised financial help but it hasn't spelled—out any cold hard figures. it says it will do that within a few days, if stormont is restored. whether that does happen in the coming hours will depend on that meeting sinn fein is holding in belfast at the moment to decide whether it will endorse what's on the table. chris, thank you very much indeed. chris, thank you very much indeed. chris page at stormont. sussex police have recovered a body from the river ouse which they believe is that of anthony orpington who disappeared in december after going to a pub with friends in my pity. a member of the public found a body the denton island near newhaven harbour. more questions have been raised about the safety

of boeing's 737 max aircraft — after the company released hundreds of messages as part of what it calls its commitment to transparency. the 737 max was grounded last year after two crashes that killed almost 350 people. in one communication an employee said the plane was "designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys". our business correspondent theo leggett is here. remind us about the disasters involving the max. the plane was the successor to the 737 that had been around for years. within weeks of coming to the market it was involved in a tragedy in indonesia in which 189 people were killed. boeing allowed it to keep flying, then some months later one came down in ethiopia after taking off from addis ababa, and 157 people we re off from addis ababa, and 157 people were killed, so soon after that the 737 max was grounded, and it has

been ever since. regulators still have not cleared it fly. the company has released these messages from staff, hundreds of them, you have been trawling through them, what do they say? what they sow is bullying and police telling lies, covering up problems, treating regulators with co nte m pt problems, treating regulators with contempt and reinforcing the impression that boeing put production levels and efficiency over safety. if i can quote one of them, it said "this airline is... that was an expression of frustration by one boeing employee. another who was dealing with the 737 max simulator said, would you put yourfamily on max simulator said, would you put your family on it? max simulator said, would you put yourfamily on it? i wouldn't. there isa yourfamily on it? i wouldn't. there is a tremendous feeling of frustration about the management of boeing and the way the company was being run from these messages but whether or not all of this is damaging to boeing is another

question. the reputation of the company has already been savaged and it could be said that there is no harm in being transparent about failures in the past, as it tries to gearupfor failures in the past, as it tries to gear up for the future, and to get this plane flying again. our top story this lunchtime: iran strongly denies that it shut down a passenger plane killing all 176 people on board. and coming up, why the nhs wants more young male blood donors. coming up in the sport on bbc news, former premier league referee bobby madley speaks out on his sacking and the impact it's had on his life and career. fresh evacuation orders have been issued to nearly a quarter of a million australians as hot, windy weather this weekend threatens to fan new bushfires.

27 people have died so far in the fires, and there are fears two of the biggest blazes could merge into a so called "mega blaze". it comes as numerous celebrities and sporting stars — including former australian cricketer, shane warne — have have raised money to help the victims. katy watson now reports from the state of victoria. a sleepy town in the line of fire. and authorities not prepared to take any chances, preparing to tell an entire village to evacuate before it's too late. going house to house, speaking to everyone. i'll certainly be watching the sides of the hills here, when the wind changes. not all residents were taking the advice to leave. i suppose it is a resistance, but we probably do expect at the same time that a lot of people will stay. it's perhaps a bit of a typical australian thing that people do want to stay and protect their properties, but i guess the learnings from previous fires is that people

can lose their lives by staying and defending their properties. this is a rural part of australia with communities with houses sometimes miles apart from each other. so, it's a massive job to tell everybody to evacuate. renata and terry have stopped taking calls from worried relatives. they tell them there will be in touch if there is a problem. they are prepping their house in case the flames approach. they have filled the bath, and got the masks and goggles at the ready, and they are feeling pretty positive. are you nervous, are you on edge? well, you are aware of it, but if it got to that stage the heart and mind both say... you are going to stay? you are going to get to get to this stage, if we get palpitations, we are out of it. all day, helicopters were landing and refuelling and heading out again to drop water on the bushfires over the mountains. higher temperatures and strong winds have fanned the fires across south—eastern australia. bushfire season doesn't usually get

started until february here in victoria, so this year, authorities are stretched. there has been a huge outpouring of support from celebrities, both at home and abroad, raising money for the victims and firefighters. former cricketing legend shane warne auctioned off his baggy green cap to raise more than half a million pounds. this has been a bushfire season like no other. but renata and tony aren't afraid. que sera sera, says the sign on the gate, a bit like their approach to these fires. what will be, will be. katy watson, bbc news, north—east victoria. a woman who posed as a teenage boy to sexually assault up to 50 girls — some as young as 1a — is being sentenced. 21—year—old gemma watts created an online persona as jake waton, a 16—year—old boy, and used social media to strike up relationships with girls. duncan kennedy is at winchester crown court.

this is an extremely unusual case on so many levels. first of all, as you said it is very rare for a woman to be convicted of grooming young girls online which is what gemma watts did using snapchat and instagram but almost unprecedented for that woman gemma watts to pose as a boy online in order to attract her young victims and then turn up in person asa victims and then turn up in person as a boy, where she met those victims. i'll explain what i mean by showing you these two photos of gemma watts. on the left is the real gemma watts. on the left is the real gemma watts, 21—year—old from north london and on the right, this is her posing as this "boy" that she called jake waton. she was so convincing that not only did she fool the young victims into, but also their pa rents, victims into, but also their parents, many of whom she met, and she did this by hiding her long hair ina hat, she did this by hiding her long hair in a hat, and wearing baggy clothes. and in court where the judges now

sentencing her for sexual grooming sexual assault, we had some victim impact statements from the victims, many of whom said that they have been left suicidal, so traumatised have they been by gemma watts. police say they have four victims in this case, but ultimately, there could be as many as 50 victims of gemma watts. we have been hearing that she has been sentenced to eight yea rs that she has been sentenced to eight years in prison. the presenter samir ahmed has won her sexual —— sex discrimination in pay case against the bbc. our media editor amol rajan joins us now. the judicial officer has just tweeted this. it is a unanimous decision that is found in her favour was that this is a huge

moment for the bbc and employment law across britain. the context is that samira ahmed argued that her work presenting bbc news watch was equivalent to that ofjeremy vine for his work presenting points of view, they found that the bbc‘s argument was not persuasive and that sex discrimination was a factor, here. so the bbc will have to think about what jobs it here. so the bbc will have to think about whatjobs it gives the what people and how staff are paid across the organisation and i think this could be quite a big moment in equality law across the whole of britain. there will be thousands of people looking at this and taking inspiration from this case. thank you, our media editor, amal rajan, with that news just in. the nhs is appealing for more young men to donate blood amid concerns about a gender imbalance. for every 100 women

who started giving blood last year, only 70 men did. but the high level of iron present in male blood makes it especially helpful to patients who rely on regular life—saving transfusions. lisa hampele reports. do you want that ending, or the other side ending? jo daniels‘ life turned upside down when her sight began deteriorating at an alarming rate. over four weeks she went from seeing normally to being completely in the dark. i was absolutely terrified that that was the end of my career and my daughter was very small at that point when it first started, and again, i was really scared that i was never going to see her grow up. literally to see her grow up, so it was really quite a scary time. numerous treatments for her autoimmune disease, sjogren's syndrome, failed, but a last—ditch attempt using serum made from the plasma from male blood donors changed all of that, and now she can see. if not enough men donate, this treatment will no longer be available forjo and others. it's absolutely vital for these drops. they can't be made without male blood donations, and there

are so many people who are affected. male donors are crucial, because men have higher iron levels necessary for patients who receive many hundreds or thousands of transfusions over their lifetime. and women can produce antibodies during pregnancy. this makes their blood unviable for many specialist transfusions and blood—based product, such as complete blood transfusions in newborn babies, and for making fresh, frozen plasma. so, why aren't men coming forward? women are more easily recruited via social media, and donor sessions in offices have stopped. that's where we used to get a lot of our male donors from, so we have less coming from there. and we also think men don't always — well, from our research — understand the importance of donating, how it is used. sharp scratch. nhs blood and transplant says ordinary men can become extraordinary simply by donating blood. lisa hampele, bbc news.

a man who went on the run to brazil after taking part in an armed robbery at the luxury gleneagles hotel has beenjailed for more than 11 years. deanjones was a member of a three—man gang who stole rolex watches worth over £500,000 from the five—star perthshire hotel in 2017. in the months afterwards, he travelled to spain, morocco, turkey and brazil. he was arrested and extradited back to scotland last year. two other men, richard fleming and liam richardson, were convicted in 2018 for their roles in the robbery. the mills of northern england still dominate skylines across many towns which were once considered the workshops of the world. but today many mills are derelict and empty and in the first survey of its kind, historic england has found almost 600 of the buildings could be prime candidates for conversion into homes and businesses. coletta smith reports. with thousands of workers heading in for shifts, this old textile mill was the beating heart of wigan

for nearly 100 years. but now, pagefield mill is just a shell, totally derelict. it's only vandals and pigeons within these walls now. it's been empty since 2006. the council would love that to change, but they know it needs to happen quick. we need to keep working to get a viable scheme that brings as much of the building back into use as it possibly can. i think we are otherwise in danger of actually getting to a tipping point where that becomes incredibly difficult. historic england say, if we do not act now, within the next few years, hundreds of mills could be lost forever. it's the skyline that we all know and are aware of and it is what built the towns and cities that we all use and live in, so the buildings and the chimneys are really critical to our heritage in the north—west and yorkshire. so, here we've the access ways into each of the apartments... there are some developers willing to take that risk, stump up the money and wait longer

for the work to be done. you have got the old beams and you've got exposed brickwork and exposed flooring and all of these different things that you can really make the most of and bring out. these flats sell in central manchester, but it would not work in a little town, would it? in some of those other towns, i think the public sector does need to get involved. without that, they're just — some — at the moment, anyway, some of those buildings are just going to get worse and worse and worse. if you can save those buildings and regenerate them, that is what then attracts people to want to live in those towns. and that's exactly what they have done here in halifax. 5,000 staff used to work here in dean clough mill as crossley‘s carpets was once upona time the biggest carpet maker in the world. it has been a gradual process, restoring one little section at a time. this beauty has taken more than 30 years to reach this point. these buildings that we are in now were built in 1841. i don't think they have been occupied for 50 years, other than by pigeons. so to have the opportunity to create something really amazing

for our people but also to bring a building back to life, it was, like, the nicest opportunity you could have. just one pearl in a necklace strung across the north of england, forming the original northern powerhouse. it'll take more of this level of cash and this kind of love to bring more mills to life. coletta smith, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's mel coles. there is a bit of a lull in proceedings for today, fine and dry with a good deal of sunshine but as is often the case there are exceptions to the rule because this next weather system, this big bank of cloud is showing its hand across parts of northern ireland and western scotland, introducing rain and strengthening winds. as we head towards the early part of the evening, the western isles can expect gale force winds. away from

that, fine and dry, cooler than