this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at 11pm: the queen issues a statement about harry and meghan's future. she says she'd have preferred them to remain full time members of the royal family, but supports their wish for an independent life. princes charles, william and harry were also at the talks today at sandringham. the queen says the couple made it clear they don't want to be reliant on public funds in their new lives. borisjohnson at stormont, as assembly members return for their first day of work there in three years. and then there were five — the hopefuls who've made it through to the next round of the labour leadership contest. storm brendan sweeps into the uk, battering northern ireland and scotland with winds of 90mph.

laughter and joker leads the pack in the oscar nominations with 11 nominations, but three other films also receive 10 nominations each. and at 11:30pm, we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers dia chakravarty, brexit editor at the telegraph and lance price, political commentator and former labour party director of communications. stay with us for that. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the queen has announced a period of transition in which the duke and duchess of sussex will divide their time between canada and the uk.

her majesty, who hosted talks at sandringham today, said she was entirely supportive of harry and meghan‘s desire for a new role, but she admitted she would have preferred them to stay on as full—time working royals. the talks took place as harry and his brother william issued a joint statement denying claims that their relationship had been damaged by bullying on william's part, claims they said were offensive and potentially harmful. our royal correspondent, nick witchell, has the latest from sandringham. within the seclusion of sandringham house, a family meeting, chaired by the queen and attended by the prince of wales and his two sons, prince william, duke of cambridge, and prince harry, duke of sussex, to discuss how to accommodate the sussexes‘ wish to step away from the royal family. after the talks, the queen issued a statement in which she said:

she went on to say that: whatever the precise reasons for the sussexes‘ disenchantment, it's clear from the statement that the royal family is determined to find practical solutions. many details are still to be worked out. on finance, the statement simply says the sussexes don't wish to rely on public funds. and security is one of the complex matters still to be resolved. before today's talks began, william and harry had come together to denounce a newspaper story which suggested the sussexes felt they had been pushed away by the "bullying attitude of william." the story was false, offensive and potentially harmful, the brothers said. today's talks and tonight's statement from the queen have emphasised the family's

understanding and sympathy for harry. people who know him believe his loyalties must be in turmoil. i think harry will be hugely conflicted at the moment. he loves his wife. he wants to protect his wife, and she, it would seem, is very unhappy living here in our royal family. on the other hand, he was born into the royal family. he has served it. he has served the queen and country in a military setting. he expected to spend his whole life working for the royal firm. and while harry may be conflicted, it appears meghan feels wounded by criticism which, in some cases she believes, has been racially motivated. however, the home secretary believes this is mistaken. i'm not in that category at all where i believe there is racism, at all. you know, i think we live in a great country, a great society, full of opportunity, where people of any background can

get on in life. as the talks ended and members of the royal family left sandringham tonight, it is clear that there is more work to be done, but the queen says in her statement that she wants final decisions about the sussexes to be reached in the coming days. nicholas witchell, bbc news, sandringham. after a difficult 12 months for the royal family, a bumpy year in the queen's own words, how significant is tonight's development? and what does it tell us about the changing role of the monarchy in today's society? my colleague reeta chakrabarti has this assessment. i should warn you, it contains some flashing images. how quickly things have changed since the first time they were seen together. in just the autumn of 2017, harry's whirlwind courtship of meghan markle fascinated and beguiled the british public. but that has all now gone, replaced by talk of a royal crisis, of family schisms, and even

of a threat to the monarchy. the royal family has faced major threats before. the last century alone brought the abdication of the king, edward viii. then, 60 years later, harry's mother, diana, died in a car crash, her sons made to walk behind her coffin. last year, prince andrew stepped down from his royal duties after a bbc interview about his links with a convicted paedophile. all moments which tested the monarchy‘s resilience. but harry and meghan‘s decision to step back as senior royals is unprecedented in this era. i think this is a huge moment for the royal family and royal historians in the future will look back and see this as the beginning of the change for the firm. this, to me, is the royal family being brought in line with the european royalties. the majority of european royal families, siblings of the king, siblings of the king to be, what they do is they are usually ordinary, to a degree, people.

they have careers. i think that is a model we are moving towards. why has this happened? despite smiles for the cameras, reports suggest frustration on harry's part at the constraints of his position. the intensity of the spotlight on them and media treatment of meghan, who's mixed race, infuriated the couple. harry lashed out at the press, accusing it of hounding his wife as it had his mother, and meghan launched legal action against one newspaper. at their wedding less than two years ago, it all seemed so different. harry and meghan embodied a new modern spirit of multiculturalism and progressive values. reporting then on the public celebration at windsor, i was struck by the diversity of the crowd — more mixed than most royal events. one commentator says the fact the couple is unconventional makes them good ambassadors. she is not playing the game. harry never played it. you've got these two rebels. what more beautiful signal could you send out to the world

that this is a modern nation, that you've got these two royals who are doing something else. they're not harming anybody. what that something will be it's still unclear. harry was caught on microphone last year recommending meghan to a disney executive for voice—overs. was he being serious? who knows? but the royal family will slowly have to adapt to the sussexes‘ new hybrid life. reeta chakrabarti, bbc news. royal correspondent nicholas witchell is at sandringham this evening. he said that the statement from the queen demonstrated a desire for the sussexes to remain close to the family. now, the discussions during the day, among other things, i think sort to dispel any notion that there isn't a major place for the sussexes in the royalfamily going major place for the sussexes in the royal family going forward if they choose to take it. the queen said in

her statement the discussions were very constructive. her statement sought to convey a real empathy i think on her part and the rest of the royal family for the sussexes, for harry in particular, for the situation in which they find themselves. as the queen said, we would have preferred them to have remained full—time members of the royalfamily remained full—time members of the royal family but we respect and understand their wish and we are entirely supportive of their wish to create a new life and they remain a valued part of my family. on some of the details, there's a shortage of detail at the moment on things like funding, the division of work between public and private work, the rules the game for private fee earning and on security, but we now enter this transition period, a cooling off period almost, for both sides to what will work best as they feel their way towards an accommodation which suits both sides. our royal correspondent there nicholas witchell. and we'll find out how this story, and many others, are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 11:30pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight

are dia chakravarty, brexit editor at the telegraph, and lance price, political commentator and former labour party director of communications. the prime minister, borisjohnson, and his irish counterpart, taioseach leo varadkar, visited belfast today to mark the restoration of devolved government to northern ireland. speaking at stormont, the home of the northern ireland assembly, the prime minister praised all sides for putting aside their differences and striking a deal after three years of political deadlock. part of the deal was the promise of significant extra funding for northern ireland, as our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. and a warning, her report contains some flashing images. high windscreen the prime minister ina high windscreen the prime minister in a place that's had to weather many storms. northern ireland's new parish sharing government between

sinn fein and the democratic marks the end of three years of fighting, division and pain. with an irreverent nod to tony blair before the good friday agreement, boris johnson gave this new political venture his enthusiastic support. never mind the hand of history on my shoulder, i see the hand of history... i see the hand of the future! i see the hand of the future beckoning us forward. dublin also played a major role in brokering the agreement. the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, came to endorse the deal, which includes promises of perhaps billions of more cash on the british government coming northern ireland's way. the money will end strikes by health workers over pay and help plug a major shortfall in school budgets, as well as contribute towards new infrastructure. there also commitments to reduce waiting lists at hospitals, which are the longest in the uk. liz only has sight in one eye and is one of thousands of

people told they face years waiting for cataract operations. hopefully they will get the national health service back up and running. but northern ireland already has the highest public spending per person in the uk. at around £11,500 per head, compared with the uk average ofjust £9,500, and yet northern ireland's public services are under severe strain. last year, more than 100,000 people in northern ireland have been waiting for more than a year to a consultant. in england, it was far less at just over year to a consultant. in england, it was far less atjust over 1000 the prime minister's visit marks a new era but there's a whole raft of problems. mont to address after such a long time away and no exact answer for its new leaders about how much the british government is willing to pgy- we have stepped up to the plate in relation to the political agreement. he put forward an agreement, he asked us to sign up to it. we've all

signed up to it to come into a multiparty executive thomas owen is incumbent to the prime ministers who stepped up to the plate in relation to financial resources. although famous for its past, northern ireland is looking to the future. today same—sex marriage is legal for the first future. today same—sex marriage is legalfor the first time. future. today same—sex marriage is legal for the first time. but a dark history still clouds politics here. high levels of poverty and the legacy of the troubles place a heavy burden and four years huge sums have been spent helping northern ireland find its way. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. the government is considering a plan to change the tax rules for all domestic flight operators. it comes as flybe, which is europe's largest regional airline, is thought to be on the brink of collapse unless it can defer some of its multi—million pound tax—bill. flybe is the uk's biggest regional carrier, with a network of 139 routes serving eight countries. the airline carries eight million passengers a year. if the business collapses, more than 2,300

jobs will be at risk. all of its flights are currently running as normal. business editor simon jack is at its headquarters in exeter. he explained whether the government was likely to step in. this is a government that has put regional connectivity right near the top of the political agenda. what we knew a few hours ago was flybe was saying, "please can we defer this airport duty bill for a few months, if you years, in order to get us through the lean winter months". the problem with that is you can't do it for one company without running into state aid rules, so what i understand is there will be a series of meetings tomorrow between the department of transport, the treasury and the business department to look at whether they can tweet the tax rules for all domestic flights, that way helping flybe out and not falling foul of those rules.

asi and not falling foul of those rules. as i say, they put regional connectivity at the heart of it. these routes are vital for areas like this and the ten flights you can see behind me, seven are run by flybe and the taxi driver could reel off the departure and arrival times of all of the flybe roots and i'm willing to bet people in newquay, newcastle and southampton could do the same. the government will push tomorrow for creative ways of helping flybe and ways of... the headlines on bbc news: after holding talks at sandringham, the queen says she says she would have preferred prince harry and meghan to remain full—time members of the royal family, but supports their wish for an independent life.

borisjohnson visits stormont to meet members of the newly restored northern ireland assembly, after three years of political deadlock there. five candidates are through to the next round of the labour leadership contest, four women and one man. in the race for the labour leadership, the first stage of nominations has closed. and there are five candidates left, including emily thornberry, who secured the support of 22 labour mps and meps with a just a few minutes to spare before the deadline. the others in contention arejess phillips, sir keir starmer, lisa nandy, and rebecca long—bailey. our political editor laura kuenssberg has been talking to labour party members in the seat of bury north, which labour lost at the general election. who will they choose? after being battered at the election, labour members have another big vote, but this time a vote of their own. we've got to get this right. we've got to get this leadership election right. we need to get back in there and show people some heart. we need to win.

we need to — we've had... we're going to have had nearly 15 years of a conservative government. but who could build a labour government? way ahead among mps is sir keir starmer, the shadow brexit secretary. wigan mp lisa nandy is in the race. because, if we do not change course as a labour movement, we will die, and we will deserve to. along with the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry, who just made it onto the ballot, with the same level of backing as backbencherjess phillips. and i think i have a chance to cut through with people, and to get the country to feel that they can trust politicians again. closest to jeremy corbyn, though, is the frontbencher rebecca long—bailey. so what is needed? we've got to move into a position where we can win elections, because otherwise, we'lljust become an irrelevance, a pressure group.

we do need to get somebody in the leadership who can unite the party, because it has been terribly divided. even down at local level. i'm not a big jeremy corbyn fan, but there are a lot of people out there that supported him, and want his policies to continue. wrong direction is if we keep the status quo as we are. the electorate have stamped their foot and said, "listen, you need to listen to what we're saying." so you're moving out? they all know the pain of defeat. yeah, we've got about a month left tojust wind everything up. labour lost by just 105 votes here in bury north. the former mp is adamant the next leader has to pass muster in marginal seats like this. "the labour party loves a good loser". somebody said that to me in a bid to console me following the election result. and i think we need to be more brutal in our assessment of what matters to the electorate.

i think we need to be more brutal in our assessment of win—ability, of whether somebody can win, and whether or not the person who is elected our leader is seen as a credible prime minister. n0 consensus among his activists on who. it'd be lisa nandy for me. like i said, it would be a really poor reflection on the labour party if in 2020, or 2025, by the next election, that we'll have never had a female leader. what is it you like about rebecca long—bailey? it is the policies, it is entirely the policies. she knows her stuff about how to make policies work. keir is steady and sensible. and i know sensible isn't terribly appealing, but i think it's what we need. you know, we've had some pretty mad ideas, and a lot of disappointments, really. disappointment has all too often have been labour's predicament. choosing a new leader and deputy is a chance, at least, to start to change the mood. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, bury. it is almost a week since iran retaliated after its senior general qasem soleimani was killed by an american drone strike.

iran fired dozens of missiles at air bases housing us and coalition forces in iraq. one of bases hit was in irbil and the other at al asad, where our correspondent quentin sommerville was the only british journalist to be taken by the american—led coalition to witness the damage. the united states embassy in baghdad, and a coalition chinook on a mission — to project american resilience in iraq. the embassy below was under siege, and its bases under attack, but the message to the assembled press pack is america is still a commanding presence here. and that's despite this. god damn! new footage, filmed by a us airman, of iran's attack on american

and coalition forces on al asad airbase. shit, another one, another one! the attack lasted two hours. the reason the american—led coalition has brought us here today is because it wants to show that iran wasn't messing around. this is the crater from one of five missile barrages. look at the enormous blast that must have come from here, enough to force over these concrete barriers. on the other side is a tiny bunker, a concrete bunker. inside was a us contractor, he was there throughout this attack. these blast walls probably saved his life. america is under pressure in iraq these days, so this counts as a success. advanced warning meant the troops were hunkered down in bunkers. no—one died. it is rare for the us, with all its firepower, to be attacked face—on

with conventional forces here. it was very loud, very loud explosions. just bright white lights. so the shelter that we have, like, it's open, so it's outside. so you can still see, and you literally see the whole sky light up. and then, a few seconds later, then you'll hear that tremendous boom. iraq is now a more dangerous place. it was qasem soleimani's assassination which triggered this attack. foreign troops emerged unscathed, but the same can't be said for their mission. iraq now wants its foreign guests to leave. relations between the us and iraq are now a tangled mess. baghdad says they have a year to clear up and get out. america says it is staying put, and all the while, iran watches and waits. on al asad air base, this time they say they were lucky,

but america may not see the next attack coming. quentin sommerville, bbc news, al asad air base, western iraq. storm brendan has swept into parts of the uk, hitting northern ireland and scotland with winds of nearly 90 mph. there are weather warnings of high winds across much of scotland, with some schools shut and delays to road, rail, ferries and flights. the storm is moving across the rest of the uk this evening, as our correspondent danny savage reports. as storm brendan swept in from the atlantic, it was ireland which bore the brunt. the weather was described as wild — an apt description for the conditions in greyabbey. this is warrenpoint, in county down. the cars were stranded in floodwater, but this was one bus driver determined to get through. oh, god! in carrickfergus, just outside belfast, there was more severe flooding as the sea

over—topped defences. there were also power cuts to many homes in the region. on the other side of the irish sea, there was damage, too. this is gwynedd, in north wales, where a tree came down on a vehicle. luckily, nobody was hurt. the concern overnight is that spring tides could bring some flooding to coastlines around the northern part of the uk. but storm brendan is also just a prelude for more windy weather, with another warning in place for all of england and wales from midday tomorrow. in scotland, schools in the western isles were closed and bus services cancelled. ferries were also disrupted. and what would a 21st—century storm be without a lost trampoline? this one ended up on a motorway near limerick. danny savage, bbc news, cumbria. joker leads the pack in this year's oscar nominations. the film has 11 nominations, including best picture, best director and best actor. but the british war film 1917

runs it a close second, with ten nominations including best director for sir sam mendes. other among the nominations include sir anthony hopkins, cynthia erivo and florence pugh. our arts editor will gompertz looks at who the winners could be. to bring laughter and joy to the world... the oscar nominations are in and, perhaps unsurprisingly for an awards season being critisied for a lack of diversity, the four leading contenders all tell white male stories. thejoker, a batman origin story, is out in front with 11 nominations. and then there are three films with ten nods each. sam mendes's world war i epic 1917. martin scorsese's mafia saga the irishman. and quentin tarantino's once upon a time in hollywood,

about a fading star and his stunt double. so who is going to win what? ok, larushka, let's get straight down to it and deal with best actress. who's going to win? well, interestingly, black british actress cynthia erivo is nominated for harriet. she was shut out of all the nominations for the baftas last week. will she win? i don't think she will. i think renee zellweger‘s got this sewn up forjudy, where she has this amazing, tra nsformative performance as judy garland. ok, next up, best actor. i think it has to be joaquin phoenix for the joker. you know, i think you're right, but it'd be lovely to see jonathan price win, wouldn't it? aw, a brit in there. your authority comes from the fact that you will suffer and die in thejob. so, moving on to best supporting actress, who would you like to win? florence pugh. not enough to earn a living or to support my family. rising young british star. love her in little women. i'm with that, but who's going to win? laura dern, it's got to be laura dern. she's having a fantastic award season for marriage story.

call, text, communicate in any way, shape or form. and then we have best supporting actor, which is like a dog fight between big hitters. we've gotjoe pesci and al pacino fighting it out over the same film, the irishman. i know, then you've got tom hanks for a beautiful day in the neighborhood. but i think brad pitt is going to win for once upon a time in hollywood. are you an actor? no, i'm a stuntman. let's move behind the camera to best director, which once again, like the golden globes, like the baftas, is another all—male line—up. yes, i was very disappointed about that. though i was cheered to see a korean film in there in the running for director bong joon—ho. his film parasite is there. though i think it's going to be 1917, sam mendes. he hasn't won since american beauty, his debut film in 1999. and so to best film, the line—up of ten, including little women by greta gerwig. so she does get a mention, although not among the best directors. who do you think should win, and who do you think will win? well, i'd love little women to win,

but i think tarantino's once upon a time in hollywood, just because hollywood loves movies about itself. larushka ivan—zadeh speaking to our arts editor will gompertz there. and we will be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers. that is coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it's time for the weather. hello there. it has been a really stormy start to the new week. storm brendan of course bringing some disruption and damage and gusts of over 80 mph. that is what is left of the storm to the north of scotland on tuesday, but we have another area of low pressure bringing more wind and rain. after a of low pressure bringing more wind and rain. aftera dry of low pressure bringing more wind and rain. after a dry sort of start with some showers and some sunshine, we see the cloud thickening as the wind picks up in the rain gets swept

northwards across england and wales towards scotland and northern ireland. some parts of england and wales may well actually have a windier day than what we have been seeing on monday. it is still windy in the north—west of scotland as well. still cold in scotland and northern ireland, temperatures of five or six degrees. milder further south into that wet and windy weather that we are seeing across england and wales. now, a lot of that will then get swept away out into the north sea. we are left with that trailing weather front which is going to hang around in the south—east. we got the remnants of the old storm, brendan, to the north of scotland, still producing some wet and windy weather in the

north—west of scotland. the rain eventually clears away from the south—east of england and then we get some sunshine. the weather sta rts get some sunshine. the weather starts to come down a little bit, it won't be as windy and temperatures down to eight or nine degrees. a brief rest but on wednesday because on thursday we have got the next weather system arriving, the new area of low pressure. another band of rain and this could be quite heavy as we saw on monday. it is again the western side of the uk which will see the strongest of the winds. gales are likely here. pretty windy elsewhere and it is a milder wind, temperatures easily into double figures across much of england and wales. some wet and windy weather pushes back in on thursday. that weather front then gets swe pt thursday. that weather front then gets swept away and the area of low pressure slowly retreats away from northern scotland. here, it is still going to be quite windy as we start friday, and still some wet weather not far away, especially in the northern isles. elsewhere the winds will be lighter, things are coming down, there will be some sunshine and there will be a few showers around as well. and those temperatures probably a little bit lower, actually, at around seven degrees for much of the country. as we head towards the end of the weekend into the beginning of the weekend, we are seeing a very different look to the weather map. instead of big areas of low pressure, high pressure is starting to build towards the uk. we still have some stronger winds around the top of that for northern scotland, and still some showers. a good chance that elsewhere it will be dry, and there will be some sunshine

around as well, but it is