this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. our top stories. the duke and duchess of sussex tell all in a deeply personal interview on us television — meghan says her treatment by the royal family and british press led to suicidal thoughts. across two hours of revelations as they talk to oprah winfrey — the couple allege people in the palace even had conversations about how dark their unborn son's skin would be. the pope's historic trip to iraq draws to a close. francis says the country will remain in his heart. equatorial guinea appeals for international help — after a munitions dump blows up — killing at least fifteen people and injuring hundreds more. and nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe — the british—iranian woman jailed in iran on spying charges — ends her sentence, but she's now facing

a new court case. the duchess of sussex has told oprah winfrey that she considered taking her own life during her lowest point while living as a royal. in a wide ranging interview on cbs, meghan admitted she had been naive in her expectations of what royal life would be like. she said things turned against her following an untrue story in the british press that she made her sister—in—law, kate, cry. prince harry said he spoke to the queen about his decision to step down as a senior royal, and revealed his father, prince charles, had stopped taking his calls. the couple also said they were expecting a baby girl. our north america correspondent peter bowes watched the 2—hour interview and picked out the key points.

it was full of just claim after claim about the life that meghan says she lived as a member of the royal family. as you have explained, that she contemplated self—harm because she believed at the time that it would be the best way to deal with the hurt and the dark place that she was in, that she didn't want to be, as she put it, to be alive any more. she talks about lying in bed with these thoughts going through her mind about reaching out to the authorities within the palace. she isn't specific and this is a theme throughout the interview, not necessarily specific about who they had conversations with, but reached out for help from the palace and that help was denied when she was in her darkest place. they both talk about that conversation, again without being specific, about who the individual in the royal institution, they use this word, the �*institution�*, repeatedly, about who this was, about the skin colour

of their then unborn son. and that it was a question, that it was an issue as to how dark the skin of their children would be. and the theme of racism really came over and over again and how they struggled to deal with that. it was really a very dramatic interview and potentially, i think, very damaging for the palace. they will have to clearly respond to this. i think what's also very interesting is the individuals they did talk about in the royalfamily, the queen came up a lot. and i think at the end of the two hours we had a picture of a very good relationship with the queen. right towards the end of the programme meghan was talking about when she heard the duke of edinburgh being taken into hospital, of course very recently, and she said she simply pick up the phone to the queen to ask how he was doing. any sense of how americans have reacted to the interview

so far? well, it's very, very early days. i've only just finished watching this programme myself. i'm speculating to some extent how americans will react to this. there was one part of this interview that i think will resonate, it certainly struck me, that was when she talked about what it was like to enter the royal family essentially being stripped of her identity, her passport, her driving license, her keys, it might seem relatively insignificant, but that identity being taken away from her and essentially living a life where she couldn't do anything herself. she talked about long periods of time where she simply couldn't leave the house. and it had been explained to her, apparently again by the authorities in the palace, that she was very high profile out there, she was very prominent in the media and perhaps you should lie low for a while. and these are the kind of issues that annoyed her. and that she just felt as if she had totally lost control of her life.

and i relate that to potential reaction from america and americans, because this isn't the image of what it would be like to marry this kind of fairytale image of what it would be like to marry in to the royal family. how popular are they in america and will this interview change the way people think about them? i think it will certainly change the way that people think about the royal family as a whole. they actually come across as a very affectionate couple in terms of how they relate to themselves, but they also seem to be just very honest in this interview and bear in mind this is oprah winfrey doing the interview, she has a reputation for getting people to speak from the heart and she really did achieve that with this interview. and that's the kind of thing that does resonate with american audiences. i think that they like to see people that have perhaps gone through a very tough time being very honest with their feelings

in very high profile interviews like this. peter bowes there. this is the question oprah asked about the duchesses we re were you thinking of harming yourself— were you thinking of harming yourself or having suicidal thoughts? yes. it was very clear— thoughts? yes. it was very clear and _ thoughts? yes. it was very clear and very scary and i did not know_ clear and very scary and i did not know who to turn to in that — not know who to turn to in that. these are the thoughts i am having in the middle of the night _ am having in the middle of the night and _ am having in the middle of the night and i am scared because it is very— night and i am scared because it is very real. because it is not — it is very real. because it is not an_ it is very real. because it is not an abstract idea, it is methodical and this is not who i am — methodical and this is not who i am. here in the uk the interview— i am. here in the uk the interview will— i am. here in the uk the interview will be - i am. here in the uk the l interview will be broadcast tonight on itv at nine p.m.. and earlier, i spoke to showbizjournalist and editorjeannie wolf in la. she says the interview could potentially be damaging for everyone involved. well, it certainly was very one—sided. it was certainly meghan having a chance to tell her story and harry having a chance to tell their story.

peter did a very good job of taking you through all of the things in the programme. what will be talked about is words of meghan looking up and saying "i didn't want to live anymore and the only person i could tell that to is harry and i knew what harry was going through and i didn't want to share that but i had no—one else to help me." and we all remember that princess diana, his mother, had thoughts of suicide. so for him that must have been very frightening and he didn't know where to turn either. the fact that they wanted to leave was a very big decision and i have a feeling they tried to explain that they tried to do it without making a big rift but there were a lot of hurts there. and meghan couldn't help herself but say, look, they knew what was going on, they knew that there were untruths out there, they knew that they didn't

try to protect us, they knew that they were threatening to take away harry's security. how could they be surprised that we would want to go and how could they be surprised that we'd ultimately have to talk about it? i don't know how the palace or what they're calling the firm or the company can respond to this. but we remember that when diana died, and there are parallels here, so it's kind of fair to bring it up, that people around the queen said you have to say something. so whether the queen watched or not tonight, she will know what was out there and i do think they are going to have to say something. i do think very shocking and very hurtful things were said. and i think at the end harry tried to say "we want to heal things" but it's very difficult to heal things when your side

of the story is harmful enough that you seem to want to take your life because you were so miserable. in america, i think there are mixed feelings. i think they still want to uphold the prince and princess fairytale. and so it's kind of confusing for a lot of americans to hear behind the scenes we've told our truth, how miserable, how horrible it is. i also think you've got to remember this is a time of pandemic. a time when americans are, well, really, shouldn't say americans, i should say the world, is very frustrated by this virus. so you see signs, you see people on the news waiting in line forfood. you see people complaining they couldn't get their vaccine, you see people mourning who couldn't even see their relatives as they were dying. so to some degree i think there will be tremendous sympathy and a lot of surprise

and shock from this interview. there is also a feeling of they think they've got troubles? and i'm not making light of it, i don't want to make one in any way, but we have to understand that some of this is as confused as meghan says she was. she's driving to meet with the queen and someone says "do you know how to curtsy?" they didn't prepare, they didn't explain things to her. so you understand how helpless and hemmed in she was. on the other hand, this was a very big rift and it's very important people and it's also family. and some of it sounds very sinister and some of it sounds like most everybody�*s family. a word on oprah as an interviewer. oprah handled this amazingly. i don't think she knew

she was going to hear all of this. maybe she knew more than we think. but she handled it like a friend and she handled it like a very skilled journalist. by the time harry came out she knew exactly what the world would be talking about, that they would be talking about his wife saying she wanted to kill herself and that she still had to dress up and go out and smile. they'd be asking harry, they never said anything to meghan, but they said to you, do you know what the skin colour will be your baby? and harry said it didn'tjust offend him because it was his wife, it offended him because it affects people around the world and it didn't reflect how welcome meghan was whenever they travelled and throughout the commonwealth. so he was very offended and very hurt and i think kind of lonely for his grandma,

but that's the way it is. does this interview and the revelations change their place in america? if you've been affected by a mental health issue, help and support is available. you can visit befrienders international for more information about support services. or in the uk you can call the samaritans free on 116 123. let's get some of the day's other news. hundreds of protesters demanding justice for george floyd have marched through the us city of minneapolis on the eve of the trial of a white policeman charged with his murder. mr floyd died in may last year after he was pinned down by the neck for more than eight minutes. swiss voters have approved a ban on face coverings in public, such as burqas and niqabs worn by muslim women. critics have called it absurd, pointing out that only a handful of muslims in switzerland actually wear face coverings. president emmanuel macron has led tributes to the french politician and billionaire, olivier dassault, who was killed in a helicopter crash today. mr macron described him

as a captain of industry and said his death would be a great loss. barcelona football club has elected joan laporta as its new president. the lawyer and former politician, who was previously in the post between 2003 and 2010, won a convincing majority from club members desperate for a return to trophy—winning days. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: campaigning to end period—poverty — as international women's day is celebrated around the globe. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours, then, the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out

through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years i and due for parole when he's 90, - travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison. in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really — i've never been married before! this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the duke and duchess of sussex tell all in a deeply personal interview on us tv. meghan says her treatment

by the royal family and british press led to thoughts of self—harm. the pope's historic trip to iraq draws to a close. francis says the country will remain in his heart. let's stick with that story just now. the first papal visit to iraq is drawing to a close, as the pontiff prepares to fly out of the country on monday. pope francis spent his last full day visiting parts of the country once held by militants from the self—styled islamic state. the pontiff then celebrated mass at a football stadium in irbil, the capital of iraq's kurdistan region. our correspondent mark lowen is travelling with the pope. from the rubble of war, a messenger of peace. face—to—face with the brutality of islamic state terror in mosul, pope francis came to appeal for unity to rise from its ashes. beside a church destroyed in the fighting, a powerful moment of reflection. rarely has the hand of healing been needed more than this. translation: today, - we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than death,

that peace, more powerful than war. the visit was a plea to iraqi christians to halt their exodus. killed or forced to flee by sunni extremists, they've fallen from 1.5 million to under 300,000, one of the world's oldest christian communities itself in ruins. and then another risk in the trips finale — a large public mass in irbil in the midst of the pandemic. it's what some had warned against — spreading the virus, notjust the word of god. but the papal fans were undeterred. i hope that this visit will bring a lot of peace to this country and to all religions and nationalities — to live together in peaceful life. the short—term impact of these crowds could well be a spike

in infections, but from the warmth of his reception to the potency of his message, this is a trip that could have a long—lasting legacy, too, beyond simply the symbolism. that he came at all was, for many iraqis, a miracle. but a defiant pope has made history here, hoping to have given a balm to this injured land. mark lowen, bbc news, irbil. officials in equatorial guinea have appealed for international help following a series of explosions. the president said the blasts were due to negligence in the storing of dynamite at a munitions depot inside a military base in the largest city, bata. the government says at least 15 people have been killed and more than 500 injured. state tv showed video footage of traumatised people staggering to safety and attempts to rescue those trapped under the rubble. here's what the country's foreign minister had to say.

translation: the information we have is that there are 500 l injured and 15 deaths. the blast happened near a military base in bata. the most important thing for us in this meeting is to ask for help for equitorial guinea from friendly nations and international partners in this unfortunate situation. you are aware that we are facing a health emergency and now, on top of that, this new tragedy in the city of bata. this is why it was appropriate to inform you in this way, so you could help equatorial guinea. the saudi government has said a drone fired from yemen by iranian—backed houthi rebels hit an oil storage yard in ras tanura — a major oil shipment port — but did not cause any injuries or damage. meanwhile, a saudi—led military coalition carried out several air strikes on yemen's houthi—controlled capital, sanaa, according to state media. mark lobel reports. striking this valuable oil facility in saudi arabia

crossed a red line, according to its government. it was part of what it called a cowardly terrorist attack from houthis supported by iran in yemen. translation: the artillery | and drone divisions conducted a wide offensive in the depths of saudi arabia with 1a drones and eight ballistic missiles. cross—border missile and drone attacks from yemen into saudi arabia aren't rare and are usually intercepted. but the distance this one successfully travelled, into the east of the kingdom, was noticable and worrying in retaliation, air strikes followed on yemen's capital, which is under houthi control. black plumes of smoke was seen coming from a military compound. elsewhere, the houthis are also advancing on the heavily strategic oil—rich town of marib with 90 deaths reported over 2a

hours on both sides. the houthis' aim appears to either capture this last government—held town or use the threat of doing so as a bargaining chip as the us and un call for an end to the conflict with peace talks. that's because it's a desperate situation across much of the country, including in this port town of hodeida. with tens of thousands killed over six years of fighting, the un warns of the worst famine the world has seen in decades. after over one year of covid throughout the world, the economies are weak and those who are giving funding find it more difficult to give money. so we need to find a way to go beyond humanitarian assistance. an end to the fighting would be a start. mark lobel, bbc news. international women's day is being celebrated around

the globe, and this year, the theme is choose to challenge. the australian charity, share the dignity aims to do exactly that, to bring dignity to women and girls experiencing period poverty through the distribution of period products. the charity's founder, rochelle courtenay says ending period poverty starts with addressing shame and stigma. trying to end period property is multi—pronged. so not — notjust getting women and girls who cannot afford them the products, we need to remove the shame and stigma, so that they will actually ask for the product. and then we need to educate — educate boys and girls and women and men — to make sure that we all understand menstruation. but how do we do that if nobody talks about it? well, how do you do it, then? yep, so we have today launched our biggest campaign to date called period pride, and we are asking everybody to just talk about periods. but we're — inside of that, we are asking that people complete our bloody good survey, which is looking for the answers to the data that is needed to make the changes here in australia that we've seen in scotland and new zealand, where no girl

should ever miss out on a day of education because their family cannot afford the very basic of essentials, or that women turn up to hospital and there is no access to sanitary items. we need that data to be able to analyse it and get federal changes here in australia. girls and young women are missing school, education because of this? yeah, absolutely. here in australia, in the lucky country, there are many girls who miss days of school because their families can't afford it. and in actualfact, there are actually women who miss work because they cannot afford it as well. so, you know what? we know better, so we should be doing better. we can get them the products that's needed but we can't remove that shame and stigma unless we look at it in a different way and move into, you know, 2021 and beyond removing that shame and stigma. rochelle courtenay there. a british—iranian woman imprisoned in iran since 2016, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, has

been freed after her sentence came to an end, but almost immediately told she'll have to appear in court again on a separate charge. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was arrested after travelling from the uk with her baby daughter to visit her parents. she was accused of spying, a charge she has always denied. the bbc�*s caroline hawley is following the story. a rare glimpse into what's keeping this family together when they're forced to be thousands of miles apart. i'lljust show you. it's still quite a messy house. for six—year—old gabriella, an image on a mobile phone can't replace the touch of her mother. she's been counting down the days till the end of her mum's sentence. now the ankle tag nazanin�*s had to wear since she was released from jail last year has been taken off. nazanin said she was ecstatic, and went straight to visit her elderly grandmother. but in a week, she faces a new court case on another secret charge. so by the time i was speaking to nazanin, the phone was going mad — "oh, is she out? is she out?" and yes, she is. you know, technically,

the first court case is finished. at the same time, the second court case simultaneously has been evoked. so the foreign office were really pleased that they'd got the ankle tag off and there was some progress, and they clearly had issued a very formal note this morning saying, "listen, you have to release her", so the iranians have done that. at the same time, they've kept her as leverage going forwards. and ifind my emotional reaction is quite guarded about what this means and we're still in the middle of it and we're in the middle of this — this game of chess. she was at tehran airport, preparing to fly home from a holiday visiting her parents, when she was arrested in 2016. since then, she's suffered months of solitary confinement, blindfolded interrogations, and several false promises of release. nazanin�*s been told by iranian officials that she's being held as collateral for a debt owed by britain dating back to the 1970s. calls are now growing for the government here to take a stronger stand against iran's hostage diplomacy.

it's clearly another trumped—up charge, because hardliners in the regime are saying "we've paid the diplomatic price for holding nazanin. and it is totally and utterly inhumane because at the centre of this is an innocent woman, her husband and her daughter, and they are just forgetting that in all these grand power games, there are ordinary people who are paying a most terrible price. what's the first thing you're going to do with mummy when she comes back — first thing you're going to do together? go to a toy shop. but now, their hopes have been dashed yet again — their mp's called it "mental torture". for how much longer will they have to go through this agony of separation? only when she's safely on a flight back to the uk will they know their ordeal is finally over. i love you, baby. are you going to say goodbye to mummy? love you! bye— bye. love you, baby. try and stay well, huh?

caroline hawley reporting. do stay with us. hello there. high pressure has brought largely fine and settled conditions to the uk during the weekend. it looks like this settled weather is going to last through monday and tuesday, but then it's all change. midweek, it's going to turn very windy with the possibility of severe gales developing through wednesday night into thursday. we'll also have some heavy rain as well, so some big changes to the weather as we move deeper on into this week. in the short term, though, we still have higher pressure to south of the uk, some weather fronts to the north of the uk, so monday is a north—south divide. it's a cold, frosty start across the midlands, wales, southern england, with some sunshine. clouds may tend to increase at times and further north, we will see some showery bursts of rain, some of thatjust pushing into eastern england as well into the afternoon. but there will be some sunshine as well across central and northern scotland, and i think temperatures will be a degree or so higher than what we've had in recent

days, 8—10 celsius. now, through monday night, many central and eastern areas will turn dry with clear spells but we will have this weak front pushing into the western parts of the uk, so that will produce some showery rain. a bit more of a breeze here as well, so temperatures holding around 4—6 celsius. some chilly spots, though, further east under those clear skies. by tuesday, we start to lose this area of high pressure. it declines and starts to allow this first area of low pressure to hurtle in off the atlantic, which will affect north—western parts of the uk later on tuesday. for tuesday itself, then, it's a chilly start. central eastern areas, that weather front will fizzle out. in fact, for much of scotland, england and wales, it should be dry with some sunshine, but clouds will tend to build up further west later in the day with a few showers, and the breeze will pick up as well. we could see temperatures reaching 11 or 12 celsius in the sunshine further east. now, the jet stream is really powering up across the north atlantic by the middle part of the week and that will spin off some deep areas of low pressure. that's tuesday's low. this is wednesday and thursday's low, which could be even deeper. so for wednesday, we could see a spell of wet and windy

weather spread across the country, and then it will be interspersed with some brighter, sunnier, showery weather before the centre of this low arrives across western areas later on wednesday to bring even stronger winds and some heavy rain. there will still be some fairly mild air in the mix, but it might not feel like that because of the strength of the winds. and then through wednesday night into thursday, this is where we could see the strongest of the winds — potentially severe gale force — which could lead to some disruption, so do stay tuned to the forecast.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the duke and duchess

of sussex have been telling all in a deeply personal interview on us television. meghan said her treatment by the royal family and british press led to thoughts of self harm. the couple also alleged people in the palace even had conversations about how dark their unborn son's skin would be. pope francis says iraq will stay in his heart after attending the final public event of his historic visit to the country. he celebrated mass in northern kurdistan, home to most of iraq's dwindling christian population. thousands of people attended the service in the city of erbil. officials in equatorial guinea have appealed for international help after a series of explosions at a munitions depot left at least 15 people dead and 500 injured. the blasts in bata have destroyed many homes. now on bbc news, hardtalk.