live from london. this is bbc news. prince harry takes the witness stand in london's high court — if towns and villages are at risk of severe flooding after the dam was destroyed. water levels are now dropping from a river that helps cool europe's largest power plant. the head of an influential uk business lobby group says it will learn from a series of scandals as it prepares for a crunch vote on its future. we will return to our top story. prince harry is giving evidence in

court. the world's media is gathering outside the court. we are starting to get details of the claims that prince harry and his lawyers are making against the newspaper publisher. he is called the tabloid newspapers vile and accused editors of having blood on their hands. he alleges that mirror group newspapers used unlawful methods to gather information about him, including phone hacking. that is a claim that the company denies. what do we expect to be going on in court? we have reporters inside the building, but television cameras are not permitted. we are updating here and on the website with the various lines coming from our teams inside and outside the court. what to expect to be playing out inside the courtroom? explain to us, if you

will, some of the grammar about how this will work. harry is now being cross—examined. what is it that the lord shall be looking to get from him? ~ , , , lord shall be looking to get from him? , ,, ., him? well, the process of cross-examination - him? well, the process of cross-examination is - him? well, the process of cross-examination is the l him? well, the process of- cross-examination is the tried and cross—examination is the tried and tested method that we in the system used to test evidence. prince harry will have written a witness statement in advance setting out his evidence in chief, his side of the story, if you like, but it will be for the opposing parish church in a cross examine him on the veracity of that statement. i have represented celebrities, ceos, top—level billionaires. giving evidence in court is a sobering process. it doesn't matter who you get up into the witness box, there is no place to hide there. it is not like doing an interview on the sofa on daytime

television, if you don't answer the question the barrister will have evidence, documentary evidence to prove to you and will ask you to question again and again until you answer it. so what we are going to see is the opposing barrister relentlessly trying to show that prince harry's story, his case, just doesn't add up. there might be a whole variety of stories out there that you don't like about yourself, about your family, that you don't like about yourself, about yourfamily, but that you don't like about yourself, about your family, but you can't show that any one of those stories comes from a specific unlawful method of getting that information, for example phone hacking. it will be up to harry to prove that link. that is the important point in all of this, notjust that is the important point in all of this, not just saying there that is the important point in all of this, notjust saying there was a story about my private life and i don't know how you got there, it is about saying that story came from that phone hacking and making that connection. i

that phone hacking and making that connection. ~ . , connection. i think that is absolutely _ connection. i think that is absolutely right. - connection. i think that is absolutely right. we - connection. i think that is absolutely right. we have connection. i think that is - absolutely right. we have heard connection. i think that is _ absolutely right. we have heard the mirror group council sent over and over again that there is nothing on the face of the story that suggests phone hacking, is there? it could have been in the public domain already, how can you prove your case? that is what the court process is all about. it is notjust about having grudges or being generally concerned by things. it is about specifically proving a charge of unlawful behaviour against a specific newspapers. it doesn't matter who you are, you will be held to the same standards of proof, the burden of proof that everyone else is in a civil court, namely the need to show it on the balance of probabilities.— to show it on the balance of probabilities. to show it on the balance of robabilities. �* ., ., probabilities. and that point about treatin: probabilities. and that point about treating everybody _ probabilities. and that point about treating everybody equally, - probabilities. and that point about treating everybody equally, we - probabilities. and that point about i treating everybody equally, we know thatjudges are sworn to treat everyone equally before the law. but i wonder if the celebrity status and

all of the scrutiny around this will make any difference in this trial? i don't think it will. high court judges are very used to seeing people of all different shapes and sizes, wealth or lack thereof. so yesterday prince harry was late, he didn't turn up to court at the allotted time. i think it was supposed to be there yesterday afternoon and the judge said in classicjudicial understatement, he was a little surprised by that. you don't need to be a barrister to know that when a barrister says he is a little surprised by something, it means he is apoplectic, because what he says come to court, he means come to court. i think prince harry probably needed to start today with an apology for that. i probably needed to start today with an apology for that.— an apology for that. i want to talk about what _ an apology for that. i want to talk about what all— an apology for that. i want to talk about what all of _ an apology for that. i want to talk about what all of this _ an apology for that. i want to talk about what all of this means - an apology for that. i want to talk about what all of this means for l about what all of this means for prince harry himself. it could be a pretty bruising experience. you

talked about the qualifications of the barrister put into questions to him, described by some as fearless and fearsome. there are no subjects off—limits. just looking at some of the statements, talking about whether those newspaper editors had blood on their hands, talking about the relationship between the press and the government being at rock bottom, the scrutiny of his girlfriends. interestingly, perhaps the thing most emotional, he said i always heard people refer to my mother is paranoid. she wasn't, she was fearful of what was happening to her and now i know that i was the same. there are a lot of parallels here. it same. there are a lot of parallels here. , , ., ,.,, here. it is interesting how exposed litiaation here. it is interesting how exposed litigation like _ here. it is interesting how exposed litigation like this _ here. it is interesting how exposed litigation like this is _ here. it is interesting how exposed litigation like this is for _ here. it is interesting how exposed litigation like this is for any - litigation like this is for any witness. you have to give disclosure of all sorts of documents, including often your private watts amps and personal diaries, all sorts of things that the court on the other side will trawl over. what prince

harry seems to have done is taken of you that it is all out there, everyone can know all about my business. the thing is, court processes are rarely cathartic for the person giving the evidence. usually they end up getting themselves into quite sticky situations because of the very competitive and aggressive nature of cross—examination. what matters to prince harry is what the judge decides at the end of the day. it will be fascinating to see how this place out. thank you, jeremy. let's talk about some of those issues and take you back to the courts. my colleague nancy kacungira is outside of the court. some had expected prince harry yesterday. the judge was expecting him yesterday, but he turned up on day two. that’s

but he turned up on day two. that's riuht. he but he turned up on day two. that's right- he says _ but he turned up on day two. that's right. he says he _ but he turned up on day two. that's right. he says he wanted _ but he turned up on day two. that's right. he says he wanted to - but he turned up on day two. that's right. he says he wanted to attend | right. he says he wanted to attend his daughter's birthday, which is why he only flew in last night. the judge to take issue with that, as this newsgroup's barrister, who said it was an insult to the court. he has entered the courtroom today and the proceedings kicked off with a witness statement from him in which he really laid out his reasons for doing this, his reasons for being the first royal to do this in such a long time, that intrusion by the press that he feels has marked his life from the time he was born, he says, the press has been hostile to him. he has laid out how his mental health has been affected by this, his well—being, but where prince harry used a broad brush to explain his side of the case, we are saying

the opposite side use a pencil point. the barrister, andrew green, representing mgn, the mirror group newspapers, is really trying to pin prince harry down on the details. to give you an example, what this now comes down to come of this case, is can prince harry prove his allegations? they have been talking about an article about prince harry having sunday lunch in a pub. prince harry has said that it was obvious that the newspaper had some information about this because he said as a whole the byline journalists are well known for being involved in phone hacking and other forms of unlawful information gathering, but the defence on the other side said there were any number of ways that we could have come across this information and in

fact they say the daily mirror says our photographer had been tipped off about this pub visit. so that gives you a sense of where this case is now going in terms that will be picked over. prince harry is now having to face questions in order to prove this allegation that this newsgroup didn't use unlawful means of obtaining information about them. thank you, nancy. nancy kacungira outside the high court. on the far left of that picture you're looking at, the world's media gathering outside. if you want to follow things, maybe you're away from the television, the bbc website has the live page up and running. we are constantly updating that with 13. we

will bring you the most important lines as they are delivered from courts on bbc news. more news on the dam that has collapsed in southern ukraine. we have been telling you about the concern for the towns and villages downstream. we showed you the pictures earlier offer lots of water flooding out of it. these are pictures from korabel, further downstream of the dam. we just had an update from the russian installed mayor of the town just sedation —— just a patient —— just adjacent to the dam. they said the water levels have now risen to 11 metres. all of the water that is poured out of that

time, the dam that is used upstream for cooling the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants. there are eight large talents downstream of that damn that you're not facing rising floodwaters. the town at the time says they have seen water levels rise by 11 metres. a humanitarian disaster is now unfolding there for many living in and around that area. we will have the latest on that for you as we get it. a bbc investigation in afghanistan has found that the taliban have been more successful in cracking down on opium than anyone ever has. the bbc has had exclusive access

to remote poppy growing provinces where ourjournalists have seen that farmers have either not grown opium poppy complying with the taliban's ban, or they've had their poppy crops destroyed if they defied the order. this is backed by research from uk based experts who have analysed satellite images and say the drop in opium cultivation is likely to be as much as 80%. the bbc�*s south asia correspondent yogita limaye reports from afghanistan with imogen anderson and sa njay ganguly. we've been to multiple provinces in afghanistan. the ban on poppy cultivation was announced by the taliban supreme leader last year, but this is the first year in which it's been enforced. what we've seen on the ground is that there's a dramatic drop in opium cultivation. we've been to the opium heartland of helmand, which used to grow more than 50% of afghanistan's poppy. we weren't able to see a single poppy crop. that's in stark contrast to what we saw last year where literally wherever you looked there were poppy fields. along with our colleagues, imogen anderson and sanjay ganguli, here's what we found on the ground.

we've been given rare access to the taliban's campaign to eradicate poppy in nangarhar province. they've been at it for five months already. so now we need to go on foot in this remote area near the border with pakistan to find standing crop. so the field to the right, that's already been destroyed and we're walking to another one, which they are in the process of destroying right now. farmers have been trying to grow poppy hidden away from view between other crops. this field belongs to ali mohammed mia. i asked him why he grew opium despite the ban. translation: if you don't have enough food in your house - and your children are going hungry,

what else will you do? if we grow wheat instead, we won't earn enough to survive. the taliban go armed and in large numbers. there have been instances of violent clashes between them and angry locals. afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of the world's opium. the taliban are accused of profiting from it when they were fighting against foreign forces and the former afghan regime. a claim they deny. but now there's evidence from what we've seen and from satellite analysis of an unprecedented reduction in opium farming. we met the main spokesman of the taliban government, who told us they banned opium because it's harmful and goes against their religious beliefs. farmers say they're not getting any support from your government.

how do you plan to help them? translation: we know that people are very poor, - but opium causes a lot of addiction. we call on international organizations to help afghans facing losses. but then, at the same time, you're making the operations and the funding of aid agencies in this country extremely difficult by the ban on afghan women working for them. you can't have it both ways. translation: they should not link humanitarian issues - with political matters. opium isn't just harming afghanistan. the whole world is affected by it. for now, the taliban appear to have accomplished what no one else could, but there are questions about how long they can sustain it. the satellite analysis was done by a uk firm, which has long specialised in this and they've actually put a number to what we found on the ground.

they're saying that opium reduction, cultivation reduction, in the whole of afghanistan could be as much as 80%. so 80% lower opium cultivation this year compared to the last. in helmand, which is the opium heartland, it is as low as 99%. so 99% lower this year around. this, of course, has global ramifications. nearly all of the heroin sold in europe is made from afghan opium. on the ground there, we were able to see an impact on prices. so one bag of opium already costs more than five times of what it did before the ban. but experts we've spoken to have told us that it will take a bit of time for that price rise to filter down through the chain of drug trafficking to the street price of heroin. and then the important question, what does this mean for heroin addiction in the uk, in all of europe? experts say that because it is

a trade driven by demand, not supply, what's going to happen is that people are likely to turn to different types of drugs. they are likely to turn to synthetic drugs in the absence of opium or heroin coming into europe. you are watching bbc news.

we're going to return to ukraine, but not the current conflict. these images are from 2014. all 298 passengers on board this aeroplane were killed after it was

struck by a ukraine taken moscow to court for allegedly backing the separatist who caused this disaster. international investigators concluded the jet was shot down by a missile. let's speak nigerian international aviation lawyer. what is it clear that they are trying to get to the bottom of. international guest curators concluded it was shot down by a missile, but there are a lot of other layers to test. what are they trying to find out? broadly, ukraine is saying that russia financed and equipped the separatists in eastern ukraine, including the provision of a surface to air missile units and one of those missiles took down mh17 nearly

nine years ago next month. it is all about that. i don't believe the international court ofjustice is being asked to work out whether it was intended that the airliner would be taken out of the sky or if it was accidental. it is more about the context and history.— accidental. it is more about the context and history. there have been revious context and history. there have been previous investigations, _ context and history. there have been previous investigations, lots - context and history. there have been previous investigations, lots of - previous investigations, lots of forensic evidence removed from the site, showing that the missile did come from the russian army. crucially, we don't know what operated it and whether russian personnel were involved. find i operated it and whether russian personnel were involved. personnelwere involved. and i don't believe that — personnelwere involved. and i don't believe that the _ personnelwere involved. and i don't believe that the world _ personnelwere involved. and i don't believe that the world court - personnelwere involved. and i don't believe that the world court are - believe that the world court are going to deal with that very specific issue, but they will be looking at the previous work of the dutch criminal court and a joint investigation team that it established beyond reasonable doubt that this was a surface to air missile that came from a unit from the 53rd brigade in kursk and the

units had been taken over the international border. whether it was intentional or inadvertent, i don't think that will be found out in this term of vehicle fighting.— term of vehicle fighting. james, thank ou term of vehicle fighting. james, thank you for— term of vehicle fighting. james, thank you for your _ term of vehicle fighting. james, thank you for your insights. - thank you for your insights. we will have the latest on that for you a little later. let's turn our attention to the cbi because it is preparing for a crunch vote on its future today. it is holding a crunch vote about its future later. the cbi is fighting for its survival after its been mired in serious sexual misconduct allegations. this led to an exodus of members, including john lewis, aviva and bmw, and that's led to a slump in funding for the group. todayis today is the big day, and it could mean the cbi stays or goes. xyour today is the big day, and it could mean the cbi stays or goes. your use ofthe mean the cbi stays or goes. your use of the word _ mean the cbi stays or goes. your use of the word crunch _ mean the cbi stays or goes. your use of the word crunch is _ mean the cbi stays or goes. your use of the word crunch is absolutely - of the word crunch is absolutely appropriate. if you are a chief executive of a member organisation,

you think, if i'm being represented by these people, do these people share my values, and yes, you are saying, do i stay or do i go, so there are some fundamental questions they are expecting to have answered by whatever the cbi says this afternoon. by whatever the cbi says this afternoon-— by whatever the cbi says this afternoon. , . , ., , afternoon. they have been at pains to stress the _ afternoon. they have been at pains to stress the culture _ afternoon. they have been at pains to stress the culture is _ afternoon. they have been at pains to stress the culture is changing. . to stress the culture is changing. they have done a lot of work. they are eradicating bad apples rather thanit are eradicating bad apples rather than it being a systemic problem. this is all about confidence, isn't it? absolutely. the organisations who are cbi members or head may be just left are wanting to know, the cbi has set we have done a lot of work, sorted out our culture, but

i'm sorry, somebody who has worked in culture for 30 years in major organisations, you don't do it in eight weeks. if there is an issue that it could be systemic this could be years. if it is a few bad apples, and it could be that there are a lot of dedicated people in the cbi doing their best and the organisation has been blown up at those bad apples, thatis been blown up at those bad apples, that is bad enough. it is a chief executive i will be asking the question, have i dealt with all the existing problems, have i reached out to employees to make sure there are not any others lurking in the cupboard. have i given employs the ability to whistle to safety of anything else comes up? am i really genuinely changing my culture by having zero tolerance of anything like this and will he give me a second chance?— like this and will he give me a second chance? , ., ~ , ., ., second chance? chris, thank you for bein: with second chance? chris, thank you for being with us- _ second chance? chris, thank you for being with us. we _ second chance? chris, thank you for being with us. we are _ second chance? chris, thank you for being with us. we are expecting -

second chance? chris, thank you for being with us. we are expecting the j being with us. we are expecting the results of that vote in three hours. i want to bring you up—to—date with a couple of lines from ukraine. this is after the kakhovka dam was damaged. these images tells you exactly what is happening as the water flow chart of that reservoir upstream. we are now sure there are 2a settlements there downstream that are affected by rising floodwaters. we have been told that the water level at the town immediately next to that time is rising to 11 metres, but the consequences of this are the water level up streep is —— upstream is starting to fall. the russian news agency is telling us that could have implications for the zaporizhzhia nuclear plants. the humanitarian crisis unfolding downstream is evident in these pictures. water levels are rising.

the pause button is held firmly down on our weather across the uk at the moment. many of us have seen no significant rain so far this month and before the end of the week there's none to come. why is it so dry? the area of high pressure being held down across the uk currently. you can see it wobbles about a little bit in the next few days. that affects the wind direction somewhat and potentially where we'll see some of the thickest cloud. but it's not until we start to see this low that's close to portugal at the moment coming up from the southwest that we're likely to see any rain, and that is later on on friday. some big differences in the temperature, though, across the uk, despite us all being under that big area of high pressure. and that's because of where we have the sun towards the west and where we have the thicker cloud in the east and the breeze off the north sea. through the evening, very little changes in that picture.

but once the sun sets will tend to see obviously our temperatures coming down and then the cloud builds back westwards as any moisture condenses back out. clearer skies towards the west closest to the center of the high. quite a chilly night to come. lows of five or six degrees. through wednesday daytime, we see the sun getting to work as it comes up, burning that cloud back again towards the east coast. and it'll look a very similar picture for wednesday afternoon to this afternoon. temperatures 15 or 16 adjacent to the north sea, warmest spots in the west where we could see highs of 23, maybe 2a or even 25 thursday. thursday, very little difference to speak of. we start off with a bit more clouds spread out across the uk and it burns back to the east coast as we go wind direction, perhaps just a shade different, bit more northerly than easterly could mean. we see the odd degree added to our temperatures thanks to a bit more sunshine along the north sea coast. it's friday into saturday, though, that things start to get moving friday night and particularly into saturday. the remnants of that storm oscar, this band of rain pushing up towards the uk and ahead of it hooking in some much warmer,

more humid air. so for the weekend ahead, temperatures are going to come up potentially even into the high 20s. but when we inject that moisture and that instability, thanks to the remnants of oscar moving in, it looks like we could see it as a pay—off for us getting that warmer weather, certainly much higher humidity, but also the threat of some really meaty thunderstorms. and for some areas, that's the potential of those storms bringing up to a month's worth of rain in a matter of hours.