this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. the headlines at ten. harry and meghan will drop their ‘hrh' title and give up all royal duties under a new agreement with buckingham palace. the queen says they will always be much loved members of her family. prince harry will also lose his military positions and the couple say they intend to pay back taxpayers‘ money used to renovate their windsor home. the remains of many unanswered questions on the road ahead for harry and meghan that this is a clear ha rd harry and meghan that this is a clear hard break from royal life. in other news: powers come

into force this week to stop stalkers from contacting or approaching their victims — while police investigate allegations against them. golfball—sized hailstones hit parts of the australian state of victoria, with storms leading to fears of flooding following the bushfires. and inspiring stories from people who are making a difference in the battle against global warming. that's in climate defenders in half an hour. good morning and welcome to bbc news. a deal has been agreed on the future of the duke and duchess of sussex, who are to step down as working royals in the spring. buckingham palace has announced prince harry and his wife meghan will no longer receive public funds, and will pay back taxpayers‘ money spent on renovating their home in windsor. our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell, has the story.

it is a clean break which allows harry and meghan to seek a new life. they have been freed from royal duties and they are free to earn their own living with, it would seem, very few restrictions. the styling of his and her royal highness hasn't been taken away from them. they simply won't use it. harry remains a prince, sixth in line to the british throne and the duke and duchess of sussex. and although they will no longer formally represent the queen, they leave with her blessing. in a statement, she said: she added: here are the essential details of that new life. they will step back from royal duties. that includes harry's military appointments. they will no longer receive public funds but they will receive money

from the prince of wales. and they have shared their wish to repay the public funds used to refurbish frogmore cottage in windsor. one big concession to them is that they appear to be free to earn money with very few restrictions other than a very general commitment to uphold the values of her majesty. first impressions are that it's an attempt to make the separation as clear and distinct as possible. the fact that they are not going to be doing any of their royal work is probably the best solution because then it makes a very clean break and everyone is clear about what they will be doing and there will be no blurred lines. i think this is a good solution. for the royal family, it's a moment of undoubted sadness. it must be particularly hard for william. but harry has made his choice. he is going to seek a new life with his family. let's speak now to our royal correspondent, daniela relph. we were hearing their clean break

still surmounted questions. —— there are still some and of questions. the big deal has been done and that the broad detail decided that the netiquette it does still need to be resolved in some of that we will hear about some of that we will not. on the issue of security that will not be something after public discussion within the palace walls. as has always been the case they will not discuss the cost detail around security of members of the royal family that remains the case with harry and meghan, we will not know whether that is the british taxpayer of the canadian taxpayer or government will have some involvement. a number of issues related to canada and tax status and residency status and hope that will relate to meghan. we had she would

seek to become a british citizen but how will that work when you spend most of your time living in north america? the statement from the queen seemed very one about the couple and about meghan in particular. it was a statement that spoke as the queen as a monarch and asa spoke as the queen as a monarch and as a grandmother. in the wedding and the tone in the mood in what she had to say. it is the second personal statement we had from the queen within a week and it is highly unusual to get this kind of statement framed in this kind of way. she talked about high and harry —— harry and meghan archie being valued members of the family and hope this new arrangement would help them lead a peaceful way of life

going forward. perhaps most important is the commercial work will now do. they will not get any public money because they will not be doing royal work. they will have private funding from the prince of wales but you have to presume they will have to many commercially as well to live the kind of lifestyle they want. how will that work? the palaces issued very few boundaries around that and give a little guidance in terms of how that will work other than to say they have to uphold the values of the queen which isa uphold the values of the queen which is a very broad and vague statement in terms of what that actually might mean. in many ways this will be a test of the integrity of harry and meghan in terms of the decisions they make going forward on the whole plan will be looked at in a year cyber seniors members of the royal family to see if it is working. —— by senior members of the royal family. let's speak now to victoria murphy, ajournalist specialising in the royal family.

what is your view of this agreement? do you see it as a clean break?” think it is about as clean a break as you can get. some people suggest harry and meghan got what they wa nted harry and meghan got what they wanted but they posted what they wa nted wanted but they posted what they wanted on the website ten days ago which is very different from the solution we have today and it is clear over the course of these negotiations they have had together and sent things. what did they not get? they did not get the opportunity to continue to kayak some royal duties are looking at the possibilities of a half in and have option where the at times represented the queen overseas and retained roles within the commonwealth and retain some status is working roles they also wanted greater autonomy stop that is what. it is clear that was not going to work people felt that not palatable. became very apparent very quickly

when the outline that proposal was not realistic and i think this is a much more realistic proposition. clearly when you negotiate what you wa nt m ost clearly when you negotiate what you want most is a thing you stick with and they have stuck with the freedom and they have stuck with the freedom and they have stuck with the freedom and they will not be losing their hrh titles —— using their titles and will not be representing the queen carrying out royal duties. harry i step back from official military appointments betting exchange to keep their freedom and the ability to operate at ominously and that was important to them. —— at ominously. how much of the time of the being carried out and how much time being commercial work so it's a trading on the royal family? this frees them up to bea the royal family? this frees them up to be a lot more free enough they had any kind of formal association is working whilst that is what they wa nted is working whilst that is what they wanted and had to happen for them to

be free to operate autonomously within their operation. we are told it will be spending the time between north america and the uk and that they will be spending most of the time in north america. there will be free from the spring when this comes into effect in the sky will be the limit. the others usually hi profiel royal couple. they will continue to uphold the values set the queen and as daniela said this is a test of their integrity because as nothing inform holding them to that. this is about them sending what to do. the question ichai of sussex royal because they will not be using isn't her royal highness, that has been made very clear. again the suggestion it would not be palatable if they were to brand themselves as royal highnesses operating autonomously privately. sussex royal isa name,

autonomously privately. sussex royal is a name, there is a? other that we have not had an answer and whether they will use that for the foundation moving forward. what about the money side? they're paying back £21; million which a lot of people has caused bitter rancour, the fact that the taxpayers money spent on renovating their home. they are going to that fact. in a pr point of view is that a good thing? it was the right decision because they said initially they wanted to be free from public funding. however there will be a question marks over how the could do that with the set they propose. they propose to still carry out royal tours which are funded with public money. they have taken all the things away and when it came to frogmore, cottage it was renovated at taxpayers expense on the premises would be their official residence for many years to come carried out their duties as working lives. that will not happen out so they have made the right decision as far as public perceptions concerned

to pay that money back. we are told, it was asked, would they pay commercial rent? the answer given was yes. earlier asked why that would be the case that residence was given to them as an official residence if you look at kensington palace for example, william and kate do not pay rent because they are working whilst someone like process usually has an apartment that does. —— princess eugenie. she has a private life. when i some people say it is quite a good thing when you are ending up with a slimmed down monarchy which is what other monarchies around you apart. maybe thatis monarchies around you apart. maybe that is the way of the future. yes, just said was a conversation members of the time when negotiations began. this part of the sendai monarchy and pa rt this part of the sendai monarchy and part of the future? i think the queen statement dated when they had the meeting at sandringham made it very clear that is not for this is

about. she said family would have let them to continue been working whilst was also placed for harry in a potentially slimmed down monarchy and he is one of the two sons of the king was also place for harry and meghan. this is about a couple who have been very unhappy and made a personal decision to prioritise their freedom. new measures to protect victims of stalking will come into force in england and wales from tomorrow. police officers will have the power to issue "stalking protection orders" which ban alleged offenders from contacting or approaching their victims while a complaint is under investigation. andy moore reports. the minister for women visiting

a stalking helpline whose staff are in the front line of dealing with the problem. what's your experience of the first phone call? it's believed one in five women and one in ten men will have to deal with stalking at some stage in their lives. these new protection orders will give police extra powers to stop offenders in their tracks while further investigations are being carried out. these are really ground—breaking orders that the police will be able to apply for to protect victims of stalking but also to make sure that the perpetrators are getting the treatment programmes they need to break this cycle of abuse or stalking. a protection order will usually stay in place for a minimum of two years. anyone who breaches it will face five years in jail. campaigners have welcomed this initiative saying the orders are a powerful new tool to stop stalking but they are warning anyone who breaches an order must be arrested immediately. andy moore, bbc news.

we can go live to cheltenham and talk to professor jane monckton—smith who specialises in researching homicide, stalking and coercive control at the university of gloucestershire. how much difference to you think this will make? i think it will be a really good tool for the police and may give victims hope that this is taking it back to being taken seriously. as long as the protection orders are used and added upon especially that the beaches of these orders are taken seriously then they may be a very powerful tool. give us an idea, an insight into the mind of the stalker. they are by definition obsessive people who will not stop even when they are being

investigated. yes absolutely. being obsessive is one of the characteristics of being at stalker which means they will go on and on and on until they are forced to stop, usually. one thing they know is the earlier we can get in and disrupt what they are doing and maybe determine carrying on the more likely that intervention will be successful in these stalking protection orders allow the police to get in the very areas opportunity. for the victims, but because a police investigation can ta ke because a police investigation can take quite a considerable period of time is aborted these protection orders are in place for the duration. yes it is. sometimes stalking can be incredibly damaging to victims. the constantly on—call wondering when the next stalker contact will be from their stalker

and they need respite. they will only get respite if the stalking are properly fermented in the beaches which are inevitable in some cases are taken very seriously. when i do think we are only now really beginning to come to terms with the crime of stalking and the authorities only beginning now to to get very seriously? i think the problem has been that the biggest category of stalker by far is a former intimate partner and it is taken us along time to recognise the stalker starter was a stranger and the intimate partner stalker is in fa ct the intimate partner stalker is in fact the most dangerous. if a look at cases in the past been very high profile they have been intimate partner stalker and it has been treated this as a heartbroken person

who will stop in the minutes of leave them to. that does not happen. that is one of the bigger messages you need to take. the headlines on bbc news... harry and meghan will drop their ‘hrh' and give up all royal duties under a new agreement with buckingham palace. prince harry will also lose his military positions and the couple will pay back the taxpayers' money used to renovate their windsor home. powers coming into force to stop stalkers from contacting or approaching their victims while police investigate allegations

sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, england's cricketers have made a stunning start to day four of the third test against south africa. we talked earlier about conor mcgregor and how that match lasted 1;0 seconds. england are now batting but have had to come off because of rain. saracens had already been punished for breaking the salary cap rules for three previous season, but it was confirmed last night that they would be relegated, with premiership rugby saying they wanted a level playing field. jane dougall reports. that is the million question because can you imagine the players knocking around them? but surely their latte

has to be seriously stretched and challenged what his own on. how badly do the players feel let down by those above them tour them back in november there is nothing to see here? in the way that saracens met the national punishment with indignation rather the contrition looked so well thought out at the moment so i'm sure agents are working out over time and other clu bs a re working out over time and other clubs are thinking they have room in the salary cap to squeezing the players. ? do some go are stay and try and salvage the saracens meditation? manchester united manager ole gunnar solskjaer has ramped up the tension ahead of their match at liverpool this afternoon. he sasturgen klopp has a long way to go before he can be regarded

as anywhere near as good as sir alex ferguson. well, liverpool will move 16 points clear at the top of the premier league if they beat united at anfield, after second—placed manchester city were held to a 2—2 draw by crystal palace. city were 1—0 down with ten minutes to go, but sergio aguero scored twice in five minutes to put them ahead, before an own goal by ferandinho in the final minute. dundee united play heads. —— mike hibs. celtic moved past struggling championship side partick thistle to reach the fifth round of the scottish cup. leigh griffiths scored his first goal since august to set them on their way to a 32nd win in a row in domestic cup competitions. celtic are targetting a fourth consecutive treble. controversial irish mixed martial artist conor mcgregor has won in his first return to the sport since october 2018.

he was taking on american donald ‘cowboy‘ cerrone, and gained a technical knockout within 1;0 seconds. that opening might have been a little too speedy. i try to knocking down. that is what being out of the case for 15 months looks like. ali carter has made it to the final of of the masters snooker for the first time, after beating shaun murphy by 6—3. carter took his opportunity to close out the match in the ninth frame with a break of 97. twice a world championship finallist, he was only invited to play when ronnie o'sullivan decided to give the tounament a miss this year. he'll play stuart bingham for the title. it's live on bbc two from 1.00pm.

the conservative party chairman, james cleverly has confirmed that the government is looking into a whole range of options to ensure every part of the uk remains connected with politics. speaking to sophy ridge on sky news, he confirmed that the idea of moving the house of lords out of london was under consideration. here's what he's been saying. it is one of a range of things looking into. fundamentally what this is about is demonstrating to people that we are going to do things differently stop the labour party lost millions of voters because they failed to listen. why not just get because they failed to listen. why notjust get on and do it? you have the kind of majority where you can be radical. we will be radical and get stuff done. the premise is very clear this is very much the focus of the government is about delivering

for the people of this country. is this a realistic proposition? it is something they at least looking at. there was a reporter is defined they have already identified york as a potential relation for the second chamber to move in a matter of years and birmingham is also in consideration. the report was as far to suggest they have identified a site next to york railway station for a brand—new house of lords. this is in very stages and logistically a lot of hurdles would have to be overcome. suits lot of hurdles would have to be overcome. suits are lot of hurdles would have to be overcome. suits are conservatives in government to be talking about this because they now represent a lot of constituencies in the midlands and north and it did not before. this is pa rt north and it did not before. this is part of what they call the levelling up part of what they call the levelling up agenda, as james cleverly was saying. if the going to be to the

people they have to because of the people. there is a set acknowledgement across all parties people feel there is a real disconnect between westminster and the lives of voters. we have seen through the brexit fort and subsequent elections and a lot of politicians have talked about this. the conservatives have already thought about moving their headquarters out of london part of operations out of the party capital. lisa nandi has talked about the labour party moving headquarters out of london two. —— lisa nandy. the australian government has promised more than 50 million dollars in aid to the country's tourism industry to help it recover from the impact of the bushfires.scott morrison's announcement comes

as heavy rain has helped put out many of the burning fires in the states of queensland and new south wales. but further rain is forecast in victoria bringing with it a threat of flooding. more than a dozen fires are still burning in that state with firefighters battling to contain a blaze in the mountain region which is 15 times the size of manhattan. the bbc‘s phil mercer is in sydney and has more on the extreme weather changes. the weather is so capricious and changeable and unpredicatable in the extreme. we have had very heavy rain in the last couple of days in parts of eastern and southern australia. parts of queensland have received more than 300 millimetres of rain so it is a welcome relief

for a country in the grip notjust of a bushfire crisis but very serious drought as well. some of the fire affected regions have not received as much rain as the authorities would have liked. but for the first time in a very long time, less than 100 fires continue to burn in south—east australia but with all this rain, given the land is so dry, there is an expectation we will have flooding. roads have been closed and also the threat of contamination. the ash from some of those bush fires could flow into reverse —— rivers and contaminate water sources. so the climate and weather of australia is complicated and always extreme. the government, scott morrison in particular, heavily criticised for his handling of the crisis as prime minister he has now announced financial

for the tourism sector. yes, million of pounds will be pumped into the tourism sector of australia. much of it will go to convince australians to continue their holidays in bushfire affected parts because another paucity of that many australians have cancelled the holidays because they would presumably feel quite unsafe going to certain parts of the country. certainly anecdotally speaking international visitors also around the world these pictures of these ferocious fires have been broadcast on television and online for weeks and weeks so australian government is keen to try to appear some of that reputational damage. given the scale of this disaster, more than 10 million hectares of land have been scorched, it will be a very tough job, i think for

australia to rehabilite its international reputation as a safe and welcoming place to come. more than 200 people are reported to have been injured in the lebanese capital, beirut, in the worse violence there in three months of anti—establishment demonstrations. the lebanese president michel awoon has called on the army to restore calm. rich preston has this report, which does contain

running battles with police, these are the worst scenes in months of mostly peaceful demonstrations. protesters clashed with security forces in several areas of the lebanese capital. they are demanding reform and an end to what they call a political elite who steered the country to its worst economic crisis in decades. the country currently has no government and banks are limiting cash withdrawals to sometimes as little as $50 a week. demonstrators often using what they can to try and push police back. police respond with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon. the protesters are frustratedbecause it has been over three months now and there is no answer from the government as to, is there going to be

change in this country? are there going to be new elections, will we have a new government? all the things that the protesters have been demanding have not come true. and meanwhile there's been a lot of pressure on the lebanese people lately because there have been more power cuts than ever, the banks in lebanon are not giving money out, they are issuing capital controls, not allowing people to withdraw more than a few hundred dollars a week or a month in some cases. meanwhile a camp used by protesters caught fire. it's not clear how the blaze started. lebanon's president ordered the army to restore calm. saad al—hariri who resigned as prime minister in october, said the clashes threatened civil peace. the red cross says more than 200 were injured in these latest clashes. officials said 15 people had been detained. for many, the sound of explosions on the streets of beirut bring back unwelcome memories of a civil war that brought 15 years of pain and suffering. the result of which, is the political system of modern lebanon. a system which now these protesters say is not fit for purpose the bodies of some of the passengers and crew members of the ukrainian passengerjet that crashed in tehran earlier this month have been repatriated. a special ceremony was held this morning, east of the capital, kyiv, for the arrival of the bodies. 11 of the 176 victims were from ukrainian.