cooperation' to us prosecutors and their the inquiry into jeffrey epstein. the telegraph reports that the fbi's requests to interview the prince over his friendship with the sex offender has been met with a "wall of silence". this is despite, as the i point out on its front page, the duke of york publicly promising to ‘help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required'. the daily mail has the headline "fbi: why won't andrew speak to us?", next to a picture of the duchess of cambridge at an auschwitz memorial event, who they describe as "a royal who does know how to behave". and the sun have a missing poster on their front page, asking ‘have you seen this prince?" meanwhile, the times says it has seen a brussels diplomatic document which reveals that the eu wants its judges to be able to rule on any post—brexit agreement with the uk. let's start with the metro, kevin. this prince andrew story that has emerged from the us really dominating the papers. it is the one

big news story of the day. in all the front pages, they are completely covered by the coverage. it is astonishing really because as you said there, he did say publicly he would be willing to help any investigations that took place and it isa investigations that took place and it is a pretty hard—hitting statement put out, zero corporation, radio silence from the prince. interestingly as well, buchli and palla nt interestingly as well, buchli and pallant keeping interestingly as well, buchli and palla nt keeping at interestingly as well, buchli and pallant keeping at arms length saying it has nothing to do with us, it is all on prince andrew and so far he hasn't said anything. so the indication is they have tried to make a purchase but not getting anywhere. we are not clear legally i guess whether he could be forced to give evidence. that's right, some papers including the guardian are reporting it is unlikely he will be forced to actually go over to the us and give evidence and it is not quite clear why not. but he is in a

very sticky situation. even if he is not forced to go over there it looks extremely bad from a publicity point of view he is refusing to help, and as kevin said, he indicated publicly he would do if he was required to but there was a little caveat, he said he would do if he was advised by his lawyers was the right thing to do and it seems at the moment his lawyers might be advising him it might be better to stay silent. but imean, might be better to stay silent. but i mean, whether he, he is not the sovereign, so whether he has any immunity if the us decided actually to go ahead and try and pursue this, because all the victims in this case wa nt a nswe rs because all the victims in this case want answers from anyone that can help. absolutely, and there would be an absolute outcry if he were to try to claim some sort of immunity to avoid going over there, so yes, it will be interesting to see how it develops. the timing of it for the

queen, still dealing with the fallout of megan and prince harry, the ferrari, and now the prince andrew story has blown up again. absolutely full stop let's move on and come to the ft. of course it is brexit weak. we leave on friday. the ft has picked up on a interview with leo varadkar. this is interesting because it is talking about one of the first big battles of the eu trade talks that will start taking place after brexit, starting in march probably and what leo varadkar is saying is that britain will have to be flexible about these trade talks. if we want certain concessions on financial services, we will have to let the eu fishing boats have access to our waters. the vote leave out campaign was saying pa rt of vote leave out campaign was saying part of the attraction of brexit was that fishermen would get control of

british waters again and we wouldn't have all these foreign boats coming in and fishing for our fish. and it seems very much it is going to have to be one of the areas of negotiation and that fishing rights could be a bargaining chip when we wa nt could be a bargaining chip when we want to try and get something out of the eu. and financial markets is actually crucial to our entire economy to be able to raise taxes and distributed across the country and distributed across the country and already a lot in the city say there is damage and they could be more. that is the point leo varadkar is making, that we are in a strong hand, we have a strong hand with regards to fishing, but europe has a stronger hand when it comes to financial services, so surely a deal can be done? but marine it is correct, politically it is very difficult for the conservatives because they have promised fishing communities and have harvested a lot of votes on fishing communities on the back of trying to take control of ourfishing waters, the back of trying to take control of our fishing waters, and the back of trying to take control of ourfishing waters, and if the back of trying to take control

of our fishing waters, and if at the first opportunity the conservatives sell out the fishermen, that will go down very badly those coastal regions will stop brexit, 31st this friday, are you surprised at how the landscape has changed, in terms of how much you are getting from government and from ministers at the moment? it is a dramatic difference, it isa moment? it is a dramatic difference, it is a lot quieter politically because the government is in a strong position, it has this 80 seat majority so therefore it doesn't need the media so much, and there is not so much high drama going on in parliament. before christmas there we re parliament. before christmas there were these late—night votes, but... but a lack of accountability if they are not talking to journalists and the press, the bbc and others? there isa the press, the bbc and others? there is a bit of that. prime minister's questions that they do, which is basically borisjohnson answering hand—picked questions on facebook

and one was what type of shampoo do you use? that is the level of scrutiny i think number ten are quite happy he is answering questions like that rather than difficult questions from trade journalists. a lot of difficult questions about huawei. the telegraph saying the prime minister is expected to defy warnings and allow huawei into the sg is expected to defy warnings and allow huawei into the 56 network. for a leader and a government who have prioritise sovereignty, even pushing away from european allies with shared values, to now allow the chinese this huge level of access is pretty extraordinary. it is fascinating because it is one of borisjohnson's first fascinating because it is one of boris johnson's first big fascinating because it is one of borisjohnson's first big political decisions since the election and if as expected he does go ahead with allowing huawei into some parts of the 5g network with some restrictions, it will be defying warnings from the us to do it, and also crucially from his own party. there are quite a large number of big hitting backbenchers, iain duncan smith, those on the brexit wing of the party who think it is

not a great idea, and they buy these arguments it is all about sovereignty and we shouldn't be opening up parts of our crucial infrastructure to china. even if there is a big cost to that, pushing huawei out of the infrastructure they are already in, do you think this story will just they are already in, do you think this story willjust cause political headaches for the government whatever it decides? we don't know whatever it decides? we don't know what the decision is yet. we were briefed pretty heavily last week that they were going to go with huawei, from downing street we were briefed, there was no other alternative. what is also interesting is that is one area where the uk is at odds with america. there is also the imposition of the digital services tax, which america doesn't want the uk to go on that. and america are resisting. it is quite ironic that a prime minister who came in on one of his big selling points was a p pa re ntly his big selling points was apparently his close relationship with the american president now

finds himself at odds certainly with the white house policy areas. seem to be standing up for the uk interest regardless of which are the big country try to pressure him? that's true. to some extent to metro to present himself as not being pushed around by the us. but it will of course have the potential ramifications in terms of what the us might be willing to give us in trade talks. as kevin said one of borisjohnson's big trade talks. as kevin said one of boris johnson's big things trade talks. as kevin said one of borisjohnson's big things is he is determined to get this trade deal, and some in the us have been explicitly linking britain plasma cooperation or not over huawei to what they might be willing to give us. what they might be willing to give us. staying with the matters in china, of course there has been ongoing concern about what has been going on in wuhan, and a number of countries looks like they are looking at bringing their own nationals outcome of the uk not quite yet. not quite yet. the telegraph have the story of two week

quarantine for wuhan rivals.|j telegraph have the story of two week quarantine for wuhan rivals. i think we are heading in that direction. matt hancock the health secretary today saying they would basically be put in quarantine for two weeks to make sure they are clear of the virus. so far no one, touch wood, has been found to be carrying the virus in this country. i think all the health indications seem to be it isa the health indications seem to be it is a matter of time before someone is. let's come to the guardian, your paper, they have gary lineker, make the bbc licence fee is voluntary. they're quite a dramatic thing to say for somebody who is the highest paid bbc staff, with earnings... the salary not the same as most bbc stars! laughter it does not seem he has potentially thought it through if he thinks about the potential pay cuts that could be coming their way of some stars, if the corporation did have a dramatic reduction in the amount of revenue it had. i think he has also

said if it hits the bbc‘s income, they might have to put the licence fee up, which again would suggest he is not following the logic of his argument because surely that will make people less inclined to voluntarily cough up for the licence fee, and given that is where he gets the bulk of his income, it seems a rather short—sighted approach, though i'm sure it will win the favour with a lot of particularly conservative mps who would dearly love to see the back of the bbc licence. the over 75s, obviously it is difficult all round, it was imposed by the government as a change, making the bbc liable, but it wouldn't go down well to force pensioners, even if they were not so financially in need, to make them pay it if they didn't want to? that is where the debate has got to. exactly. there will be this huge debate over the future of the bbc. it seems like the corporation is under some pressure and scrutiny at the moment and there does seem to be an appetite within the government to

review the way people paid for the licence fee, and the whole issue around over 75s, and whether they should get free access to watching the bbc trust at part of the press obviously are very hostile, because... they have their own commercial interests as well. traditionally those on the right of the political spectrum are not massive fans of the bbc, certainly not of the licence fee. there is a debate to be had because when the licence fee was introduced, the only way you could watch the bbc was on television, but now a lot of young people don't even watch television, they consume it online, so the question is should they have to pay the licence fee or should the licence will be at the level it is at in order to access bbc programmes? i am totally unbiased, but i think they're worth it! thank you very much, we will see you in just over half an hour. we will have a few more front pages but that is

it for this particular hour. kevin and rowena will be back at half past eleven for now, thank you both and now the weather. yes, hello, very good evening to you, wintry weather pull some of us to ta ke you, wintry weather pull some of us to take us through the rest of tonight. the first proper taste of winter we have had this season, in places. lots of wintry showers pushing in from the west at the moment, giving a combination of snow and ice in the north and west of the uk to take us into tomorrow morning. this is how things work through the small hours, quite persistent snowfall, even to low levels of crosses some parts of scotland. even northern ireland, the southwest, wales, some wintry list mixing in over high ground. tomorrow, a mix of sunshine and showers, the showers most plentiful in the west, not as many further east. it will be a windy day and a decidedly chilly one

with top temperatures at best between four and 8 degrees, but factor in the strength of that wind, it will feel colder than that. we go through tomorrow night, still wintry showers to come so i think we will see a further covering of snow across some parts of northern and western scotland. another brother chilly nights some icy stretches to ta ke chilly nights some icy stretches to take us into wednesday, wednesday foremost is a drier day but scotland will see some rain.

this is bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy. the headlines at 11pm... a us prosecutor says prince andrew has provided zero co—operation to thejeffrey epstein sex trafficking inquiry. the southern district of new york and the fbi have contacted prince andrew's attorneys and asked to interview prince andrew, and to date prince andrew has provided zero cooperation. the government considers airlifting british citizens out of the worst affected area in china, hit by the coronavirus. companies involved in refurbishing grenfell tower have been accused of failing to admit any responsibility for the fire which killed 72 people. world leaders and holocaust survivors gather at auschwitz