this is bbc news. the headlines at 4.00: the queen attends church near sandringham after reaching an agreement with prince harry and meghan over their future. the duke and duchess of sussex will no longer use their hrh titles and will give up all royal duties from the spring. i think the whole country will want to join in wishing them the very best for the future. in other news — police in england and wales will have more powers to deal with stalkers with new protection orders from this week. world leaders meet in berlin to try to bring to an end nearly nine years of fighting in libya. huge hailstones hit parts of australia, with storms leading to fears of flooding following the bushfires. and foreign correspondents

based in london give us their take on the iran crisis and the impeachment of donald trump. that's in dateline in half an hour. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the queen has attended church near sandringham this morning following the agreement with the duke and duchess of sussex that they'll step down from royal duties. the queen has said she supports prince harry and meghan's decision to lead a more independent life away from what she called the ‘intense scrutiny‘ they've faced. under the agreement, their hrh titles will be dropped and they will no longer receive public funding. here's our royal correspondent daniela relph. the queen at a church

near sandringham this morning, after what must have been a difficult time for her, both as monarch and as a grandmother. just behind her, her son, the duke of york, whose own stepping back from royal duties has been an added strain for the queen in recent weeks. families are always a problem and i think she has dealt with it incredibly well. ijust think it is a shame. and it is a shame with the little one as well. yeah. for the whole family, it is a shame, william, charles, everybody. as long as we are not paying for the lifestyle they hope to live, then i don't have a problem with it. and from the prime minister, there was backing for the couple's plans. i think the whole country will want to join in wishing them the very best for the future. i said before that i was sure that the royal family, which has been around a very long time, would find a way forward and i'm sure it will. big decisions have been made in recent days.

these royal walkabouts will be no more for harry and meghan, as their life as working royals ends. palace officials say the couple now wish to pay back money spent on their home in windsor. they will also pay commercial rent on frogmore cottage. there is a quid pro quo in this relationship between the royal family and the public and the taxpayer, and they were not playing the game. and i think the fact that they have acknowledged that and they are handing back that money makes everything right again. so canada will be home for most of the year. immigration rules mean that harry, as a british citizen, can stay in canada for six months at a time on a visa. the status of meghan's application for british citizenship is unclear, especially if most of her time is spent outside the uk. details of the couple's new security arrangements will not be made public. from meghan's estranged father, there was a harsh assessment of the choices his daughter

and her husband have made. every young girl wants to become a princess and she got that. and now she is tossing that away for... it looks like she is tossing it away for money. but i think both of them are turning into lost souls at this point. the plan for harry and meghan now could serve as a blueprint for future generations of royals, if it works. and that will be assessed by senior members of the royal family in a year's time. in the coming weeks, harry will carry out some final royal engagements. it will feel like a goodbye, as harry and meghan move to a new country and begin to carve out a new life for themselves beyond the royal family. daniela relph, bbc news, buckingham palace. our royal correspondent, jonny dymond, says the couple's move to north america is a loss to the royal family's appeal. when we're talking about clean breaks and all of that, harry and meghan were and remain

stars and they managed to reach the bits of the population here in the uk and around the world that other royals didn't. in particular, they got through to younger people, they got through to a social media generation, they got through to people from ethnic minorities. it is a loss to the royal family, as well as perhaps a sense that, 0k, we've dealt with this now and we can move on. it is a real loss to their star power and their brand and their ability to reinvent and refresh themselves. let's speak now to the royal historian, anna whitelock, who joins us from cambridge. really good to be with us, so what looked initially like it was going to bea looked initially like it was going to be a stepping back in is to have become much more are taking a break? yes, absolutely. people have been speculating over the last few days whether you can be a part in and pa rt whether you can be a part in and part out of the royal family, and the answer is apparently no. you

have to leave decisively, and that is what has been announced yesterday. they will retain their hr h, but not use them, and they are for all intents and purposes, now out of the firm, leading the queen, prince charles and prince william to carry on with royal duties and of course, carry on with the responsibilities that come with the british monarchy. these statements that we have had from all sides suggest it is an arrangement that everybody is happy with, but what do you think of the wider implications? i think it is interesting that that initial statement that without this crisis from harry and meghan actually talked about a progressive role within the institution, and so, it suggests that perhaps they haven't got entirely everything they wanted. they felt perhaps that they could have a halfway house, part royal, part independent actors, not being responsible to the institution

of monarchy in the same way, not perhaps turning up for those balcony moments at buckingham palace. but now it is a decisive departure. for some people, this will seem like an abdication of duty and responsibility. others will wish them well and hope that they get the independence and the pregnancy they clearly seek. i think in terms of wider implications, this is the beginning of a streamlined royal family. prince charles has talked in the past about intending to slim down the family for the future. a focus at that point on him when he becomes king, and then william and harry. clearly now, that is no longer going to be a feature of harry's life. it will now be left to williams to support prince charles, andi williams to support prince charles, and i think that works, as you're corresponding to said there, it will provide a blueprint for future generations, that yes you might be born in the royalfamily, as prince harry was, but it doesn't mean that

you have to stay there and live a rigid and defined life, propping up the institution, waving on the balcony, scrutinised by the press. but perhaps not having a meaningful role in life and in society that you perhaps want. and clearly, harry and meghan have not been happy over the last few months and indeed years. i think there is a sense clearly, in the queen's statement, tinged as it is with sadness and disappointment, that she understands that intense scrutiny. if this is indeed a blueprint for the future, one of the keyissue blueprint for the future, one of the key issue seems to be how one would expect other members of the royal family, non—core members, to make a living and support themselves without incurring the wrath of the public by expecting a bit of public money and a bit of private money. public by expecting a bit of public money and a bit of private moneyli think money and a bit of private money.” think that is right. the finances remain the big, thorny issue. prince charles has supported both his sons

through the duchy of cornwall good deal over the last few years. i don't think we are going to imagine that harry and meghan are going to be actively earning a living. they are wealthy in their own right, prince harry particularly from an inheritance from his mother and of course, his great—grandmother, the queen mother. there have been suggestions that meghan is going to doa suggestions that meghan is going to do a voice—overfor suggestions that meghan is going to do a voice—over for disney. harry worked with oprah winfrey to produce a documentary mental health. the concern for the palace will be that they don't dine out on the royal brand. they have trademarked the name sussex royal, and they hope will be that they are not going to commercialise that brand too much, and that we don't see them endorsing brands that buckingham palace would feel to be distasteful. so all of this remains to be worked out, and it is going to be reviewed in a yea r‘s it is going to be reviewed in a year's time to see how and if it is working. so a work in progress. and finally, i wonder that given that

the fact that we were talking about the fact that we were talking about the possibility of a slimmed down royalfamily in the possibility of a slimmed down royal family in the future, whether there is a risk that those who are left will feel they have too much on their plates. i think that is a concern. prince charles has of course been been becoming more active in support of his aged mother and queen, and when prince charles does inevitably inherit the throne, he will not be a young man himself. his 70 years old now and i think the expectation was that both his sons, william and harry, would support him in royal duty when he is a monarch. now, clearly it full to only william andi now, clearly it full to only william and i think it is huge pressure now on william and kate, the duke and duchess of cambridge, and it will be interesting to see whether public sympathy, which broadly enters in support of harry and meghan at this point, swings in favour of william and kate, who are seen as now having to fulfil their destiny, their role

and uphold royal responsibility in a way that harry has abdicated. and now, thank you very much for your thoughts. people suspected of stalking in england and wales could be ordered to stop contacting or approaching their alleged victims while they are being investigated. from tomorrow, investigating officers will be able to apply to magistrates for a stalking protection order, even before someone is charged with any offence. anyone breaching their order could face up to five years in prison. charlotte gallagher has more. the global superstar rihanna, and the hollywood actors john cusack and sandra bullock. just some of the high—profile victims of stalking. this kind of harassment usually only makes the headlines when celebrities are involved, but it is frighteningly common. in england and wales, one in five women and one in ten men will experience stalking at some point in their life. in 2014, i was almost

murdered by an ex—partner. i had ended the relationship and he was starting to stalk me, so i was being harassed, stalked, he was contacting me on all sorts of platforms. and this was hundreds of times a day. tomorrow, police gain new powers to tackle stalking. they will be able to apply for court orders that will ban a suspect from contacting or approaching their alleged victims while officers are investigating. if suspects breach the order, they could be jailed for up to five years. it is a good step and the fact that they hold a criminal sentence if they are breached is good. the ministerfor women visiting a helpline for stalking victims. staff here are on the front line of the problem. 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 and so on that they need to break the cycle of abuse and stalking. it is hoped these new powers will prevent cases like alice ruggles, who was murdered by an ex—boyfriend who had been stalking her. her family say these court orders could have made a critical difference. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. earlier i asked steven lingley — head of operations at the suzy lamplugh trust — whether he welcomed the new stalking protection orders. yes, here at the trust, we support these orders. it gives a proactive tool to the police to prevent further abuse. the complexities of building an investigation and bringing charges are well recognised, and this is a really valuable precharge tool to protect victims. would you imagine that they would be employed in every case where suspected stalking has been reported? should it become routine that these orders are put in place while an investigation

is going on? clearly, we want stalkers and perpetrators of this horrible abuse to be prosecuted, so we wouldn't want the investigations to be paused or delayed in bringing people to justice for this. but they are a complementary tool, i think. how difficult can it be, during an investigation, if an alleged perpetrator is still in contact with the victim? yes, this abuse has gone on for years normally, so delaying any blocks of that abuse, whether that is for criminal justice or otherwise, while the police are building an investigation, prolongs that abuse and enhances the damage it is doing and we need to stop it. one of the issues that some commentators have raised on that is that it is great in theory, but the proof of the pudding will essentially be in how these orders are employed by the criminaljustice system. yes, indeed. we need to take some learning from the domestic violence protection orders,

when they came in. training was given to the police and the criminal justice authorities, the consistency of the enforcement and follow—up is critical. just getting the order isn't enough. they need to be enforced and supported to protect the victims of this abuse. so when you talk about training, tell us a bit more about where you think there may be areas where the police need more guidance. yes, obviously this is relatively new guidance for the police. the legislation has been inactive for some time. a bit like with everything across the sector of violence against women. police training needs to be enhanced, online training is complementary and is good, but actually, for something like this with the damaging nature of that, perhaps some old—fashioned training of police officers in classrooms trying to understand the nature of this abuse is really important. this is the latest step in a process that has seen the whole issue of stalking and harassment being taken more

seriously. do we now have a complete and effective framework in place, do you think, or are there still elements that haven't been looked at? it is developing. it has come on a long way. we have had this legislation for over 20 years, and i think the prosecution and the police have struggled with defining it. i think that is changing and i think these orders will support that. there is still a long way to go in terms of how we understand and recognise... and it is experience that the courts need to test this legislation, but it is a positive step forward to protect victims. the conservative party chairman, james cleverly, has confirmed that the government is considering moving the house of lords outside london, as part of a range of options to try and connect the whole of the uk with politics. speaking this morning, mr cleverly said such ideas demonstrated ministers were thinking differently. it's one of a range of things that we are looking into.

but fundamentally, what this is about is about is demonstrating to people that we're going to do things differently. the labour party lost millions of voters because they failed to listen. the headlines on bbc news: the queen attends church near sandringham after reaching an agreement with prince harry and meghan over their future. the couple will no longer use their hrh titles and will give up all royal duties from the spring. in other news — police in england and wales will have more powers to deal with stalkers as new protection orders take effect tomorrow. sport, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's our reporter. saracens have accepted

their relegation and apologized unreservedly for breaking the salary cap regulations that has led to their imposed demotion to the rugby union championship at the end of the season. the reigning champions are also the champions of europe and their title defence is still alive after they beat racing 27—24 at allianz park. they scored an early try through maro itoje but billy vunipola had to come off with a suspected broken forearm. of the six nations. the england number eight is expected to miss the start of the six nations. sarries looked in trouble when vunipola's replacement will skelton was sent off for this high tackle. but they rallied in the second half with another try from itoje and victory was sealed by the boot of captain owen farrell. they will qualify for the quarterfinals if gloucester slip up at toulouse, and they are losing at the moment. england's cricketers are closing

in on victory in the third test. south africa closed on 102—6 in their second innings in port elizabeth after being forced to follow on and they still trail by 188... south africa only managed to add on one run to their overnight score, losing four wickets this morning, including quinton de kock to the bowling of sam curran. that meant they still trailed england by almost 300 runs when they were put back in, and the england wickets havejust kept coming. ollie pope took this brilliant catch at short range to remove rassie van der dussen. that was off the bowling of captainjoe root — he took four wickets in this south africa innings to leave england needing four more tomorrow to take a series lead. there are two matches in the premier league. today, leicester could have drawn level with second placed manchester city, but lost 2—1 at burnley.

the foxes took the lead in the first half through harvey barnes, who picked up the ball from halfway and had only one thing on his mind. burnley got themselves back into the game after kaspar schmeichel could only palm ben mee's header into the path of chris wood. mee then conceded a penalty, giving jamie vardy the chance to put leicester back in front, but nick pope saved his effort and it was burnley that took the points. ashley westwood with an unstoppable finish that moves them up to 14th, 5 points above the relegation zone. the main event in the premier league this weekend kicks off at anfield in the next 10 minutes. leaders liverpool have named the same team that beat spurs last weekend, manchester united are without their top scorer, marcus rashford, who was injured in the week against wolves in the fa cup. jurgen klopp's side will move 16 points clear at the top with a victory, and they also have a game in hand. it's the first time solskjaer has taken his side to anfield, and they are the only team to take

points off liverpool this season after the 1—1 draw at old trafford. you have to look forward to these games, it is a great challenge for our players again to play against the leaders of the league. we have done well against them the last couple of times, but has you say, away at anfield is another matter. it is a game that you... you can make sure you enjoy it, but it can also be an intimidating place. manchester city have gone top of the woemn's superlegaue after beating birmingham 2—0. they've moved above arsenal on goal difference, after they were thrashed 4—1 at home to chelsea. australian star sam kerr scored her first goals for the club sincejoining at the end of december. she scored chelsea's fourth of the afternoon to consign arsenal to only their second defeat

of the season, chelsea are i point behind but have a game in hand that's all the sport for now. the sneakers final is under way, 4—3 the moment. —— the snooker is final. ijust want i just want to take you to live now to beirut in lebanon because anti—government protesters are once again under way. what we are seeing here is a rally in the lebanese parliament, and as you can see, many protesters gathered here with faces covered. they are squaring up against the riot police, who as you can see from the right of that picture, iam playing can see from the right of that picture, i am playing a water cannon. there was talks of tear gas as well. lots of barriers that they

are coming up against, the protesters there, but a great deal of strong feeling at these protests. they have been going on since october really, as protesters get increasingly frustrated with the inability of their politicians to form a new government or an economic rescue plan, following these nation of their previous leader, who resigned back in october. there is the latest scenes from beirut. borisjohnson hasjoined the german chancellor angela merkel and the presidents of russia, france and turkey at a summit in berlin aimed at bringing peace to libya. the united nations wants to halt the flow of foreign weapons and troops into the country, where libya's internationally recognised government is being challenged by general khalifa haftar and his libyan national army. arriving in berlin, mrjohnson urged an end to the fighting. we are saying, "look, folks, this has gone on long enough. it's a disgrace." yes, we got rid of gaddafi back in 2011, but it's time now to move

on and to bring libya together under the un, that's what we want to do, we want to have a un—led peace process. and stop this jockeying for position. the people of libya have suffered enough. it's time for the country to move forward. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent in berlin, jenny hill. she said getting the warring factions around the table is significant, but expectations for the summit are low. yes, the situation in libya is now so volatile and complicated that officials here in berlin actually think the fact that they have managed to get so many key players into the city to discuss this is, in itself, an achievement. chief amongst those people are, of course, the two men at the very heart of this conflict, the man who is internationally recognised as being libya's prime minister, and then this warlord who has been challenging him from the east of the country. there was some concern that one or both of the men might not

turn up, but they are both here. in fact, they met with angela merkel and her foreign minister before the summit started separately, because actually neither man wants to sit down in the same room at the same time. really critical to these talks is the presence of these otherforeign powers. there are something like ten or 11 different countries represented here today, and that is because many of those foreign powers, countries like russia, turkey, the united arab emirates, have been supporting the rival factions with troops, money, weapons and exacerbating what has become a very chaotic situation in libya. the hope of today's summit is that a lasting ceasefire can eventually be negotiated, but in order to do so, the thinking here in berlin is that that foreign involvement must stop. given the complexity of the situation, how high are expectations that things will change? they are very low. even before the summit began, officials who had been

organising it have been trying to dampen down much in the way of expectations. there is a document on the table, but whether we will see something being signed it is hard to say. we know that the warlord i was talking about, is challenging the internationally recognised government in tripoli. he refused to sign a truce in moscow earlier in the week. he met recently with the german foreign minister and indicated he does want to see a ceasefire, but of course has conditions he would like met. the summit has taken place, or is taking place, just after general khalifa haftar has blockaded a number of libyan oil export terminals, which has rather ratcheted up the tension here. so i don't think many in berlin or further afield have great expectations of today. but one official here in berlin and said to

me, if all we manage to achieve is that we freeze the current situation and it doesn't get worse, that in itself will be cause for celebration. the bodies of some of the passengers and crew members of the ukrainian passengerjet that crashed in tehran earlier this month 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 ukraine. iran has said the plane was brought down by a missile fired in error amid tensions between tehran and washington. the areas of australia worst hit by bushfires are now at risk of flash flooding and power cuts as a result of rain storms. in the state of victoria, many of the fires have been put out by the storms, which have also seen property damaged by giant hailstones — asjohn mcmanus reports. australians have been praying for rain,

but they weren't expecting this deluge from the heavens. a downpour of hailstones in melbourne in the middle of the australian summer. after months of high temperatures which fuelled hundreds of bushfires, the weather has turned dramatically. the country's bureau of meteorology has issued storm warnings for the state of victoria, but there is no way to predict hailstones of this size. this birthday party, abandoned because of the sudden onslaught as people huddled together for shelter. the hail was so intense it was able to shatter corrugated roofs. and this is a cricket pitch. play not surprisingly abandoned. such a freak storm. i was watching television, i went into the bedroom and ijust looked out the window and the gumtree, which is two storeys high, just disappeared. there were some lucky escapes. so mum and dad were on their way back from lunch

with relatives today. and they've just come through this area and a storm hasjust gone whack and a tree fell down on the front of theircar. but there could be more to come in the next 2a hours. john mcmanus, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello, there. cold, frosty start, but largely sunny day sums up the weekend very nicely and, indeed, as we head on into the new working week, we're going to have high pressure holding on to bring us a lot of dry weather with variable cloud and good spells of sunshine. it will remain on the cold side. here it is, this big, very strong area of high pressure dominating the scene as we head through sunday night. more weatherfronts, more isobars across the north of the country, so north and western scotland breezier, cloudier and less cold to start monday morning. further south, under those clearer skies, it's going to be another cold one, and even frost and fog patches around, too. high pressure with us as we head through monday.

these weather fronts encroaching into the north and west of the uk, bringing thicker cloud, the odd spot of rain at times and it will be quite breezy, too, some of that cloud pushing into northern ireland and much of western scotland and north—west england too. and many central, southern portions of the uk will be cold and sunny. temperatures in single figures for most. hello this is bbc news. the headlines: the queen attends church near sandringham after reaching an agreement with prince harry and meghan over their future. the duke and duchess of sussex will no longer use their hrh titles and will give up all royal duties from the spring. i think the whole country will want tojoin in wishing them the very best for the future. in other news — police in england and wales will have more powers to deal with stalkers with new protection