5 Live on digital b.b.c. Sound this small speaker. Who had the spells of rain across the southwest but elsewhere will be cloudy in most places will stay dry with a run the brisk wind blows overnight to decrease. We should very let down by the b.b.c. Because I'm excited about that picky plan to spend and she felt she was kind to be back on the scene I hear the snipers huge peeking through the blinds managers Well Clint the b.b.c. Call things what they are if I've got a tin can this called by being true to life when I can eat expect a full and cold and beach discs to b.b.c. I Player wasted on some. Family right in the u.k. On digital An online and Roger Sharpe were up all night President Trump went out in front of reporters on Wednesday to read from a statement prepared with his favorite implement the felt tip pen I want nothing I want nothing I want no quid pro quo it read this is the final word from the president of the United States the president quoted from a phone conversation reported by the Arbusto to the e.u. Gordon Sandland to the impeachment inquiry earlier quoting on a model of different conversations the ambassador offered a contrasting summary of these events was there a quid pro quo Mr Solomon said as I testified previously with regard to the requested White House Call and White House meeting the answer is yes. Saunders stepping back from public duties for the forseeable future follows a growing backlash over what he knows says was his ill judged association with a convicted sex offender Geoffrey Epstein and his interview with News Night on Saturday in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon the Duke of York expressed what he said was his unequivocal regret at his links with Epstein He added that he did sympathized with Epstein's victims and with everyone who's been affected and more in some form of closure as he put it it's become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein have become a major disruption to my family's work and the valuable were going on in the many organizations and charities that I am proud to support our correspondent Danniella Relf was a Buckingham Palace Charlie we haven't had a statement of this kind in terms of a senior member of the most of the royal family in recent years it is really significant that a number of ways particularly in its tone how it is how it has addressed individually really all of the criticisms that came out of that b.b.c. Interview at the weekend he's talked about willing to cooperate now with the f.b.i. He has talked about feeling sympathy for the victims he's addressed how this is impacting his day today were all of those areas in which he was criticized he has now felt the pressure understood why he was criticized and really responded to those questions but what he has done here is step back from his public life in many ways so those day to day duties that we would see him do with his charities other organizations with which he was he is stepping back from having any public connection with that for now because all of those organizations of course have a world patron or world connection connection because they hope it's going to do them some good it's going to bring perhaps in more money or better networking about the connections that really is what is happening with Prince Andrew at the moment. The Daily Mail reports this morning that the queen summoned the Duke of York to Buckingham Palace and told him to step down the Queen's former press officer Dickie Arbiter says the jukes announcement should have come earlier so I'm surprised that it has come so late his position was untenable when it came to the sort of after the interview he went into that interview believing it was crisis management the created a crisis instead of not it would and there was no what other direction he could go the f.b.i. Is investigating whether a criminal enterprise responsible for the death of the convicted sex trafficker and friend of the Jew Jeffrey have seen in a New York jail in August the f.b.i. Continues to investigate Epstein's possible connections in a child sex trafficking network in his statement the jukes says he is willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations if required Gloria already is a u.s. Based lawyer for some of Epstein's alleged victims I'm very glad that Prince Andrew has indicated that he will be willing to speak to law enforcement but I don't know what he means when he says you know essentially that if it is required I don't know if he's requiring a subpoena or what now my clients who are victims of Jeffery Epstein did speak to law enforcement and they did not require a subpoena or anything else I've been speaking to Professor Kate Williams who's a royal historian and I asked her to look back a bit and see if we've ever witnessed such a high profile retreat from Royal public duty. Well we've had voile scandals in the past we've had scandalous Voyles we might imagine the brothers of George the 4th one of whom really. The sale of Army commissions his mistress whens went in the witness box and whether or his love letters making Mullard things Doc we've had all kinds of scandals but really there has been nothing like this nothing in which it is so damaging and nothing in which it has so come so close really to the question of how of the author it is having to speak to or about this very very serious matter so it is unprecedented that Prince Andrew is stepping back and also what some president did is he stepping back for an established amount of time I mean it could be possible that this is it is to him back in public for good and retiring you know so much earlier than his father has done we simply don't know but but but there are as you mentioned his father his father comes right because his father of course for for all various reasons than the I mean he's 98 years old yes we see we're all stepping back because they retire we've seen worst of him back to health reasons but Prince Andrew is not old and he's not got poor health he's perfect health and he's to him but because simply his presence is too damaging now to the war family after this interview that with new such and such a night simply I think there were households being in damage control mode ever since and really this announcement today it had to be issued because otherwise there was going to be an avalanche of more organizations more charities cutting their links we know that they were talking about it more organizations cutting their legs more bad press more pictures of Anjou having party is sweating going to like clubs the story wasn't going to way way there are questions about his finances . Lessons about his role as a business ambassador the story was not going away and we even saw it coming up in the leaders' debate it was on i.t.v. Last night one of the questions is the whole family fit the purpose and simply when you have a fact that Prince Andrew is coming up as an election issue then it is obvious that it's time to really try and stop it in the only way of stopping it was saying that Prince Andras decking from public life so no more announcements from charities because he's no longer going to be a charity patron and they are hoping of course it is going to quieten things down and what we saw is him saying he will cooperate with your thought isn't that I think is keeping has been calling for that and that is really what he must do now when you when you think about his involvement with different things he's widely connected this country and widely committed to a host of different causes Can you give us a sense of what Prince Andrew has been doing. Well we Prince Andrew got a lot of causes from the English National Ballet to Outward Bound lots of charities we know that he's very proud of the palace where entrepreneurs go to discuss their ideas sponsible lots of businesses and simply he sees himself as a hard working world but all those parts in ages all those pitch at the palace everything like that or has to end now because they are now being overshadowed by this overshadowed by the scandal by Epstein overshadowed particularly by what is the most disastrous go interview in history I mean there's nothing to equal it there's many more hours of gaffes many was that the wrong thing but there is nothing to equal this interview in which for the combination of bad alibis refusal to regret his friendship with that scene and a complete lack of sympathy with the victims with those holy trinity of disastrous attitudes Prince Prince Andrew just threw himself into the fire and really it's very damaging for him incredibly damaging for him I can't see how it is to stay the office anymore but also damaging to the wider world family as well well indeed at a time you know when some of us at least are gripped by the queasy fiction of the crowd in the new episodes. As agree never really faced a challenge like this in the family she's had after all a death of Diana I mean that was a monstrous challenge for wasn't Well yes there's the death of Diana the Alice however those in which the divorces of her children including the burning of of Windsor cars than the public reaction to that and the queen has battled with public opinion in the past and you know the big drop I think you're exactly right in suggesting it was the death of Diana and yet the Queen went on television addressed the nation and turned it around. And I do think that he was thinking of that he thought of the Queen he thought of the president on his interview he thought of Prince Harry when he made the direct address to his press statement he thought of all these things and they'll all do the same but the difference is is that then all of them well what we were discussing possible crimes not of them were discussing consorting with a criminal and so this is why when Prince Andrew does it it simply it simply was a massive shock went all over the world and to many people who thought it was possibly you know he possibly mean people maybe because he will hold it will be misconstrued Also didn't you know many of the details I'm afraid that everyone knows now about Prince Andrew it's been all over the newspapers and I don't think that the queen has faced anything like this within her family anything equivalent to this the death of Diana was a tragic horror the divorce of her children were terrible but the none of you know these things were not engaged with the f.b.i. When you look at the the public relations side of this I mean everybody's agreed of course there's a public relations debacle but what how did the palace lose control of its own public relations because used to be a very tight ship and it was a very tight ship but I think the fact is is that if a voile wants to override the palace advice then he or she will and that's exactly what we see with Andrea he was determined to do the interview we understand his secretary was behind him but they've been various attempts to blame it on Sarah Ferguson his ex-wife I mean you know it was his decision to do the interview and also his decision to say what he did had he come on the air and said to Mr Mate list oh I wish I'd never met Epstein it was he was a he was a terribly bad person shocking I wish I'd known that girl a matzoh would have any of them my heart goes out to the victims I hope they get recompense and closure and I'm just so shocked. If he'd said that then I think there would be a chance to come back for it but he said the completely the opposite he talked about how he'd never noticed the girls in Epstein's house because they were the Might it was just like Buckingham Palace starved mean there's just no comparison between trafficked women in Buckingham Palace footman that's just ridiculous and you know again with these strange things about pizzas and all the rest of it so he will be condemned himself and I think that's. The the Voyles they they allowed him to do this because he was so insistent he Well what we saw on Sunday night was a man who believes he's innocent and that's why he went on there you don't you don't you know he in these white shows news knows about news because they know that Newsnight is a is a tough program Miss Mavis is a forensic interview and they thought that well if we can be with her then it's fine but of course you know she picked him up caught him out in so many different ways and he often just she just asked him a question is that of course is mean it's really him self into the fire so the palace I think the as you they've always had is not saying a thing never saying a thing and unfortunately Prince Andrew felt that the way to clear suspicion was go out and say things and he said all the possible wrong things. That was Professor k. Williams And just to reiterate part of statement he says that Jeffrey had seen suicide left many unanswered questions particularly for his victims and he said he deeply sympathizes with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. Well for many watchers this wasn't just another of President Trump's allies falling by the wayside and saying the pressure on Ukraine to minds and inquire into Joe Biden son was what the president wanted they saw the president's appointed ambassador to Brussels as the linchpin of the scheme and Gordon saw in the Blige to amass a song lent who'd previously said he had no recollection of any such instructions Ted said in the plainest possible words that it was Mr Trump himself who want to pressure brought on Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival for the presidency Joe Biden and he told the inquiry that he was following the president saw a dose when he pressed Ukraine to investigate Prisma a gas farm employing the son of Mr Biden Hunter Well Ambassador Sunland said there was absolutely a quid pro quo in that he and the other diplomats were forced to work with President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani as I testified previously Mr Giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Selenski Mr Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of the 2016 election d.n.c. Server and. Mr Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States and we knew these investigations were important to the president by societal no Also implied implicated several senior White House officials including the secretary of state might pay 0 and the Acting White House chief of staff moving everyone was in the loop it was no secret. I told President Selenski in advance that assurance is to run a fully transparent investigation and turn over every stone were necessary in his call with President Trump almost a Trump continues to deny that is done anything wrong and says Secretary of State Pompei Oh and White House chief of staff McVay any all issued statements to the effect that they distance themselves from. As did the vice president Mr Pence speaking to reporters on a visit to an awful fact in Austin Texas president trying once again condemn the impeachment hearings and attack both the Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff who he calls shifty ship Let me tell you it's a hoax it's a disgrace to embarrass him and to our country. Dancing Polonsky has done a terrible job a speaker this never did is because it's done so little. And she's totally incompetent and shifty shifty stand somebody else lie. All day long so we have no due process we can't have anything and yet not until we win today it's over not only did we win today it's over there's an interesting take on the events let's join Amber Philip sort of porter at the Washington Post Hello Amber Hi there can you explain this because a very interesting construction isn't it that's shared by the president and his allies and supporters what does he mean when he says not only that we when it's over. He is trying to undermine the entire impeachment inquiry by essentially saying there's no there there I want an election I'm going to win another in November and Democrats are just making stuff up to get me out of office by other ways in the ballot box the problem with that is it comes as you talked about on a day where his own appointee and a donor to is not greasing Commenee testified Yeah I there was a quid pro quo for Ukraine that didn't agree with it I tried to execute it and I thought I was doing it at the president's request that's a that's a huge donor by the way a $1000000.00 wasn't it yeah $1000000.00 My colleagues at The Washington Post have reported he's always had dreams gardens on London being an ambassador one way to do America's to get rich and don't have a lot of money and hope to get appointed and he hit his wagon to trump despite not necessarily agreeing with everything the president says or doesn't it worked out for him. However liable to witness his garden son live because there's a question isn't there about his memory. That's exactly right he went before Congress in October 1 of the 1st witnesses and said a whole bunch of I don't recalls this isn't closed door testimony other diplomats and and White House officials came forward and said I actually do recall Gordon someone offering Ukrainian's a quid pro quo suddenly someone remembered so the question is is his memory faulty or was he trying to protect himself from perjury by coming forward and being willing to tell the truth if it's the latter it would suggest that Sunland was truthful and reliable today because he doesn't want to go to jail. So you might say that's a reasonable position when he made his opening statement what was the reaction in the room because it was pretty plain a nonviolent Wasn't it he said you know when you all boil it down in the question is Was that a quid pro quo and the answer is yes yes he even right out and said everything that Democrats were hoping he would say to help explain what was going on there actually in the room among Democrats was relief that they weren't going to have to fight someone to send mail did you say this did you say that because he was this wild card witness even going in the moments up to the hearing they had no idea whether he was going to cooperate and continue to have a refresh memory or a bunch of I don't recalls Republicans I didn't get the sense they were flustered they continued to stick with their talking points that President Trump did nothing wrong they have shown remarkable unity throughout this no matter what evidence comes their way in there I think that bodes well for the president if there's an impeachment vote he can argue it's very partisan because Democrats may vote yes and I don't see any evidence Republicans will vote yes as well. Again we had this last night and again the 25 Washington time the hearings are still proceeding on that is Mr Simon still there. He had he had a marathon day he finished a couple hours ago. But the House Intelligence Committee regrouped and in another hour they had 2 top officials at the Defense Department and the State Department talk about Ukraine military aid and why that was held up and those people actually broke news as well oh and hearing just wrapped up in what we learned was that it's very possible the Ukrainians knew their military systems was on hold the day President Trump and President Alinsky got on the phone and talk to each other that would go a long way to suggesting that transcript was indeed a quid pro quo when Trump said I need to do me a favor though it's quite possible president Selenski knew in the balance on 400000000 dollars in military aid he badly needed he knew what that was and we are talking about the so-called 2nd call on July the 25th our way yes thank you for clarifying Yeah the July 25th call which is the one that President Trump has said is perfect and his national security officials in his own White House have said they were very concerned by what were the implications today of Mr Saunders and saying that the secretary of state the vice president and the chief of staff were all in the loop right yeah that's the 2nd biggest piece of news out today is that someone was going to go down he wasn't going to go down alone he went to Congress with e-mails and text messages that showed him telling all these top level socials that you just named I'm asking the president of the Ukraine to announce investigations. All of these people categorically denied it that someone's telling is correct we're kind of in a his word versus their word situation and as you pointed out earlier you know summoned can be accused of having a faulty memory. That would that was him to be the biggest the biggest problem wouldn't it if the Republicans can successfully paint him as a an unreliable witness. But in it in overall terms in terms of the impact of this we are seeing fewer and fewer people actually watch this hour the various statistics for viewing of of the hearings and also reaction to the hearings even late night comics are all losing the viewing audience at the moment aren't they Nope nobody wants to watch the stuff it would appear or fewer people do anyway yeah well as someone who has watched nearly everything. Over the past couple of weeks I can see it does get pretty dry and boring it's not as quite t.v. Exciting and dramatic as I think Democrats might have hoped but they don't necessarily need Americans to be glued to the t.v. Every minute I should also point out these are all happening during working hours for most of America the Watergate impeachment inquiry hearings that happened in the evenings and those are highly watched when Democrats need is just like this steady drumbeat of headlines in conversations that says people in shops White House and trams on diplomats thought Trump did something wrong that to them will help them make their case as they head into the Christmas season and perhaps a vote on have a vote on whether to impeach the president. Well we certainly appreciate all this and I think the value of missed assignments testimony today and I suppose at this stage you are fasting for even more sensation and for me sincere tional witnesses would be John Bolton or really Giuliani is there any possibility of either of these gentlemen actually testifying. Rudy Giuliani I do not see a possibility of testifying John Bolton has indicated that he might want to testify he is obeying the white house band not to even though he doesn't work there anymore and he's trying to a lawsuit to try to get the courts to decide Should you go to Congress or should you listen to the White House and not go to Congress who is really your boss here I don't know reporters who cover this at the washing clothes don't know what to make of that you know he seems like he wants to testify and yet there's not a lot stopping him from walking up and doing it so I think you're right to signal him out as a major wild card in this impeachment inquiry because Democrats believe he could be the linchpin that ties all of this together and to the prominent. Thank you for talking to us Amber Phillips reports for The Washington Post it's half past 1 home digital b.b.c. So it's must be the moment Venus is b.b.c. Radio 5 Live and here with the b.b.c. News is not as I said earlier but I'm Roger's. Prince Andrew has stepped down from Royal Jeezy's for the forseeable future it's following the growing backlash over his friendship with a convicted paedophile Jeffrey abstain the Duke of York now says he deeply sympathizes with that scenes victims label will launch its election manifesto today in Birmingham they'll be policies on tackling climate change improving public transport and expanding council housing the conservatives have pledged to raise the threshold at which people pay national insurance to 12500 pounds a year the party says the change would be brought in in stages but could eventually save most workers more than $450.00 pounds a year and female artists dominating the nominations ahead of next year's Grammys 5 of the 8 albums of the year in nominees a women. Has also been recognised with someone you loved picking up a nod for Song of the. In supposing wins because it's our playing the 1st Test in New Zealand now let's get the latest on day one from Adam output the hundreds up for England 1041 burns on 43 then the on 31 of fascination Pash to play since lunch Burns looked uncomfortable struck a glancing blow from the short ball from Wagner he's played a missed him when it went through between 1st and 2nd slip like Magnus really make things happen out there even though he's not getting a lot of help from this surface of the other end tennis looks more a short place nice shots in his 31 simply to manage well coached by Chaytor a slip for 22 in his 1st innings in Test cricket calling to ground on the ball he was a housemate of city when he 1st arrived to play at work assignment 100 for one you could hear commentry over 5 Live Sports section right now but here on 5 Live Let's get the rest of the sports with shopper munis Joel need to the manager says he couldn't be happier and is looking forward to the challenge he was appointed just a day after Murray to a point at Siena was $61.00 of the re and a half year contract and his promise to bring passion and happiness to the club Great Britain a girl to a great stones at the New Look Davis Cup Finals beating the Netherlands 21 in the opening Group much Jamie Marion Neil scopes the seal the enough to success in a decisive doubles rubber and to Andy Murray had got a win but Don Evans had lost his match now Leon Smith's team face Kazakstan later today in the 2nd time knowing victory means they'll reach the quarter finals as group winners it's difficult I don't know how many hours was on course for hers maybe 9 hours today and then you have to go again. We were fortunate with the damage is not easy for being the evening matches due to follow us so we can get a fairly reasonable time there and go again but when it's your right it was difficult match against Kazakhstan they've got 2 very good singles players. Director of rugby Steve Diamond says other clubs are learn from Saracens getting punished for breaching the Premiership salary cap regulations champion salary of drop to the bottom of the table have to being docked 35 points I think it's a very wise decision. Not live except to the findings were we can put the matter to bed and an excellent for 'd all the clubs of the ever thought it was worth while going down that route to keep inflation on players' wages to a certain level because the game is embryonic it's only 25 years old it's a professional game and you know we already see $330.00 to $40000000.00 pound losses each year in the league and we want to try and cap and that's what the salary caps for and England's Tommy Fleetwood says it's great to be one of 5 players in contention to engulfs climactic Race to Dubai he's been speaking ahead of the European till season ending to a championship starting this morning at the gym marigolds the States last year there was just me and Fran and a year before I think me just in and said You know I remember that father I never challenged before that so I don't. Remember that but yeah I think just the way these events work now towards the end of the year I think it's great that you know so many difference now is that it's going to be great viewing and you know hopefully for people watching at home it's going to be a great Sunday and he would tease often around 8 40 am that should latest from b.b.c. Sport. Money Premier League football anyone else to. Juice by them I can see you know a loser who leads the way with no fewer than 8 nominations for the Grammys while belly Eilish well known as x. Niagara crown they are all of the year and there are some Brits in the running notably. Need some. Soon. To. Be secure. And 2 years after the head of the Grammys said that women need to step up if they want to be recognized female artists are dominating the trendy trendy nominations 5 of the 8 albums of the Year nominees are women I've been speaking to Georgie Rogers who's a music journalist at b.b.c. 6 Music Georgie about the prospects for British success Yeah it's definitely not been a bad year for British acts usually you have an edge here and are in a Dell or Saab Smith or do really could dominate the big awards and they say it's a bit more Scots it's it's share it is up for an award he has his number 6 collaboration project that's the best pop album that you go and you come alibi his debut is nominated it's the best RB The Chemical Brothers have been nominated in multiple categories for dance and electronic music best recording Best Documentary album a best video now. He's fairly established but on the duet things the best of the contemporary f.k. Twix in the video category satisfactory and. Violinist in the clip and death he is a. Scotland's favorite violinist very good yeah yeah yes he's recognized for it for it you could say that. We've also got a couple of best alternative album which we usually do quite well with this year James Blake for us you for your of Radiohead for his solo project anima both stunning records which I would have still been with a good chance in that and then the key want to mention as well is Scott just signal that there was capacity he was up for someone you love and that's not the sort of the s. He's going to be taking on the likes of Lady Gaga. Get him a yeah he's not any kind of pretty pretty fresh out really he was nominated for the Brits Critics' Choice about this year that puts out the track someone you know after which is just going just that they could save it in the u.s. It was a talk with the u.k. Single charge for 7 weeks and then last month it went to Number One of the u.s. Billboard chart and he also became the 1st of the artists to buy an ounce and sell out a Rena tool before the release of his debut album and I mean it will sort out in 10 minutes that he's had a bass if you're a. Big u.k. Success stories this day when I was not brilliant let's hear before we go out for no good reason a bit of the Chemical Brothers. I mean. It's amazing isn't it that there's still a great big audience you know far for this kind of dance music you know I've been there hasn't gone away now it has and I still Chemical Brothers actually. In the if the summer puts East and yet they still manage to put on a pretty spectacular. You know sometimes the Grammys seemed a bit old hat you know I don't country music and all that kind of thing how fresh is this list you know who's. Kind of international terms who's on the list that you think well we should be there you know they're really where music is our. Yeah definitely some of the some of the females that been given nominations this year is definitely one thing she's up for all the big 4 she's only 17 years old and that's something of a pop phenomenon both in the States and the u.k. And around the world with her debut album when we fall asleep wedded to the guy that debuted atop the Billboard 200 Emmys number one in the u.k. Canada and Australia she's up for 7 awards it's Housel and is the youngest singer I believe in Grammys history to receive nominations and all 4 of the main cats gracefully. Than to be upset when I was the if she did win it and if he did get out of the theater and sit still the crowd from Taylor Swift who was just 20 when she won Album of the 2nd record back in 2010 so definitely. A massive success this year and I think I also love the Del Rey I'm really pleased to see that she's been nominated and that cuts Chris well for Norman as well so. That's something I'm glad you said that I was I was waiting for you to say that that's really. The way. To. The and. But what do you think about her because she's been around you know this isn't her 1st album How does it compare I think she's really under-rated the Dow right of the day you know she's put out some of the. Video games is arguably you know a song of the decade up that you know in the back is some of the best songs of the last 20 years and this album is honestly it's stunning and it's definitely up there with some of her best work say yet Good to see that she's the nominated it's actually a good to see you Lady Gaga still in the list for for Song of the year yes yes Lady Gaga. Is actually an interesting one with the Grammys because they don't have gendered awards they did away with them back in 2012 but the Grammys have massive become decide before and in the last few years fool said not representing women in the lists in 2008 and that's a car with the I. Any females who Winona will watch during the televised ceremony at the best there was a kind of a heart attack that trended that was Grammy say male and then there was a whole thing with the quoting the Grammy president Millport I saying that women needed to step up which spots quite a lot of outrage lots of female artists in the industry talking about that so definitely this year is much. The 2020 now the nation's 5 of 8 of the prestigious album of the applies a female Ariana Grande's a lot of Del Ray Listen Billie Eilish. And that Lizzy. Been shortlisted for the main full set I think yeah it's being recognized that women have been putting out this device at tending albums that the yeah this is frankly Well I'm I'm Paracel a thrill to see the baby shark is nowhere on the list but you know arguably the social media Song Of The Year Old type of road is very sad like there isn't. That's nominated in class so you can't really. Tough to be clever with that would have the best comeback showing us around the well for. Us. Down cross town livin la. Well not saying some old time in the road and that leads us to. A story from Pakistan. About a woman being allowed to go into a temple and it's very big news Paul nice run he's saying is here to tell us why Hello Ronnie how you. Know so where is the temple and why the big fuss. You know I've come to this story today because there's a big pilgrimage starting around this temple it's cool the sub Romila temple and it's in the southern Carolus state of South India and it's one of the most important Hindu temples in India now this pilgrimage I've spoken of is when millions of people. Even Muslims and Christians will undergo 41 day fast and then they will travel barefoot through for through to this temple which is through forests and the Temple days he is a God cooled I am. And he's considered to be in the form of an eternal celibate in penance so it's mostly men and very very young pre-puberty girls and post menopausal women who are allowed to come and make a basins but actually it's normally 99 percent women men in 1009.8 percent men and even. Religious women will stay away so is there a religious reason I mean is there a truly religious reason for this for this bar women well that's debatable and in fact although there was a state ban on women of menstruating age coming and making a base incident doing this kind of thing that's women between the ages of 10 and 50 just a short while ago a 5 judge court revoked this ban and in quote said it wasn't essential practice well there that can be interpreted in many ways so many people especially educated liberals in quite an educated state I must say where there's a high literacy level in. Ter pretty this as meaning that women could in fact go but no they have been statewide protests nationwide protests and it's even spread across the world now and initially the b j p the ruling Hindu nationalist party in India and its offshoots said oh yes this is a good thing it's good to be liberal but sensing the public mood they've actually moved and shifted towards the protesters and actually this is where it's turned very ugly because women have started going to the temple as I said there's a huge pilgrimage now and some of them just on principle there's this woman could Tripti decide who's doing that and there have been roadblocks to stop them coming property has been attacked cars have been smashed and overturned women journalists have been injured and if a woman is spotted in a bus she's immediately surrounded and police actually don't do anything to protect them at the moment and it's quite menacing right because what they do is they the men will stand there and clap and they'll actually move forwards and clap and would you believe there are women at these protests and the women and moving forwards in a group in a mob and they will clap and beat any woman back and this is really taking hold and Caroline is now almost like a was there and this raises a couple of things wrote one is that this is a grassroots level protest and they are saying that these liberal women who want to go to the temple they know nothing they're just urban elite so there's that dichotomy take going on but then also if you like in a more sinister way it's. Shows how much the state is intervening and not any managing religious institutions but even supervising the judiciary and there's an uneasy nexus between all these 3 things as I said troop did this I has said that I will go to the temple and she's on record as saying I may be killed so from around now she plans to try. That see what happens Rudd. But it does suggest that we're going deeply divided over this. Issue Yes yes it's quite concerning Well there is a very important Pakistani figure in London right that's right we spoke about him last time I did did a desk with you and this is 69 year old Noah Sharif He's the head of the single single largest party in the lower house of Pakistan he heads up and party called the Pakistan Muslim League in brackets and for no hours you have to be really really important to have a. Political party named after you with your initial Of course now he was jailed for 7 years on corruption charges and his daughter who's is heir apparent Miriam was also jailed and had to surrender her passport. He has being very seriously ill with auto immune disease perhaps a tumor and 6 government appointed doctors said that the to save his life he needs to go abroad now Prime Minister can Imran Khan hummed and hawed and finally was sort of on the verge of letting him go and and then wanted to hold him back but he was overruled by the court so just last night just yesterday. An air ambulance sent from Qatar was waiting in Lahore and there was a lot of will he or won't he but he boarded the plane no our Sharif along with his brother ship bars and his personal physician and apparently he was pumped up with steroids and last night here arrived in London u.k. And is going to be he's probably been in there today in the Harley Street Clinic for tests and his son is living in the u.k. Hussein was in some fancy apartments in Park Lane a even field apartments to be precise and that's been readied with full medical facilities his mother and daughter Nawaz Sharif's mother and daughter waved him off at La Hore airport Miriam can't leave the country because she surrendered her passport and so no washer if as I speak is in London and undergoing these very very serious tests he's been allowed to leave the country for 4 weeks. Supposedly but that's extended will depending on medical advice. You have a story about gratitude course her connection yes I do yes her connection is with a young lady called him on the nice car on whose only 8 and she may be beating of gratitude and Berg as the youngest climate change activist certainly in Pakistan. But definitely over or in the world now her thing is a dull cold Fiza which means environment in or do and she wants to use the ancient art of storytelling she has set her statement says that she really hates plastics and that it's killing marine life and she wants to make she wants to wave a magic wand this 80 year old person and she's the youngest social entrepreneur in Pakistan this dull Fiza has changeable clothes and. A book has been initiated by by a man and it's going to have stories written by 8 to 15 year olds there's been a competition to him as to who can go in and in these stories superheroes help Fiza protect the environment and fight global warming so the idea is that the revenue from the books and so on and from Fiza the Ragdoll will go to fund climate awareness talks and plays at school and it's being rolled out in Sindh Province one of the 4 provinces of Pakistan and the idea is it'll be rolled out around the rest the books are going to be crowd funded and they're going to feature stories about Smorgon place serial melting and you know we've talked about places before on this in this desk and it's rather interesting and fascinating and man was the. Competed for one of the the biggest green business ideas competitions in the world it's climate launch pad and she's so impressed them even though she wasn't a winner outright that they they decided to take her on she wanted to make functional items out of wood and old toys. Mentors there in Pakistan have taken her under their wing they're very impressed with her and it could it could catch on climate change and the environment is a big thing in Pakistan it's been a running feature of our desks hasn't it. Grew to have you with us thank you thank you good to be back well it started they were dollar Boston Globe poll David Wright are you doing very good very well indeed and we have another story about part. Yes it's a it's a special birthday here in Massachusetts one year ago Wednesday the state legalized recreational marijuana thousands of people lined up at think it's to his 2 stores far outside of Boston. It's been 12 months now and we're taking a little bit of a look back here at. The report card thus far is a little bit mixed there are 33 cannabis stores in Massachusetts that's fewer than what I think a lot of people were expecting the state has collected about one 3rd of that tax revenue it predicted in the early months. So it's been a slow roll out intentionally in part because the state insists that it wants to quote unquote do it right and not go willy nilly down this road and people have pot shops on every corner and also to make sure that things are on the up and up however they have also run into some some problems with the the local authorities there's a 5th federal corruption investigation underway into payments that individual municipalities cities and town receive from these pot shops when the pot shops are located or star seek to be located in an individual town there's a negotiation between the city and the and the owners of the pot shop they have to go through a regulatory process and the city is allowed to essentially extract a payment from the from the company to pay for extra police or whatnot or roads and stuff like that that the the town my want there's an investigation into that process because apparently there were door allegations down south here south of Boston. Mayor was shaking down. Some some pot entrepreneurs for lots of money so that's under way they're looking at several communities they've pulled a whole bunch of records around the state so that's come to a big come to a big shock to a lot of people who have been watching the industry the state has been fairly slow in providing other licenses and there's another aspect that is drawing some criticism originally this whole scheme was set up so that. They would locate these shops in part in minority communities and communities of color that had been hit hardest hit by the War on Drugs The thinking being that here's a legalized product let's ensure that entrepreneurs are people from . From minority communities and that they can share in the in need the revenue that's coming on the door you betcha that is gone very slowly the the number of minority owners is pretty slight There are also been allegations that there have been sort of some front owners people that they might put. A prominent African-American official. License but the people who really own a shop. Are what is being called Big Marijuana The There are big companies that are already beginning to enter into this industry and that there are essentially using front groups to make it appear that they're more diverse than they really are so there's a lot going on here nonetheless the state is insisting that there are doing all this in a deliberate manner they they think that big if you come back in 20212022 you'll see a quite a robust industry that's being operated in a legal way. But there is done to lessen frustration out there among both consumers as well as folks in the industry is in a handful of people in cities and towns around the area and I can see one important objection from a consumer point of view which is this fellow is saying that before he was paying $60.00 for an eye on the black market and I was paying $100.00 on the legal market that's right so you know that the dynamic was supposed to be that why don't we legalize this so it won't be sold on the black market but by putting all these regulations and health issues around it to make sure that the pot is Ok that has driven up the cost so this guy is paying as he said $100.00 for what he could get for 60 on the street so that's going to discourage people from buying at these stores. David good to talk thank you very much thank you. And. Anyone else this c.b.c. Radio 5 live here with the b.b.c. News is Lisa McCormick on the menu. Steps away from for the forseeable future and in Spalding ins cricket does that mean action on day one of the 1st Test in New Zealand. This is. My lawyer representing. Victims is welcome the statement from Prince Andrew that he's willing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies Gloria already acting for some of the convicted paedophiles accuses I'm very glad that Prince Andrew has indicated that he will be willing to speak to launch. Forstmann but I don't know what he means when he says you know essentially that if it is required I don't know if he's requiring a subpoena or what it comes is the prince and a step back from for the forseeable future because of what he nice says with his ill judged association with Epstein Labor will publish its manifesto later with the promise of kickstarting highs in Revelation the party is planning on building up 150000 consul and affordable homes a year that also he promises will increase spending on the n.h.s. And tackling climate change is the party chairman in life very radical manifesto probably this committee's overseen by any political party we're going to build going to provide affordable housing for our hundreds of thousands of people in this country that's why people should be that's why we're different to the Liberal Democrats and that's why we're different to the Tories the Conservative party is also putting highs in at the center of its campaign today. Measures to help 1st time buyers and boost private heist building Google stopping highly targeted political advertising on its platforms the new policy will come into force in the u.k. Over the next week before being rolled out globally next month and future advertisers will only be able to use age gender and location in deciding who to target and not information like political affiliations or voting records the one who has claims testimony by a senior u.s. Diplomat in the impeachment hearing completely exonerates the president Gordon's online said he believed he was carrying out Donald Trump's orders to put pressure on Ukraine to investigate a business linked to the Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden Adam Schiff is leading the inquiry he says is the most important testimony so far it was the conditioning of official acts for something of great value to the president these political investigations it goes right to the heart of the issue of bribery as well as other potential high crimes and misdemeanors Official figures show there's been an almost 20 percent rise in the number of times police have detained someone. The Mental Health Act in England and Wales over the past 2 years the charity Mind says the situation is deeply worrying and research for the b.b.c. Suggests 2 in 5 adults would take a 6 day if they needed some time off more than 3 and a half 1000 people were questioned on their morals and values the survey found that younger staff admitted to lying more often that's news England's cricket hold aid from Ukraine in exchange for these investigations other than my own presumption which is nothing but chairman Adam Schiff so.