in court for the sexual assault civil lawsuit against him to be thrown out. they say he can t be sued because of an agreement signed by his accuser, virginia giuffre. despite strict covid rules, novak djokovic will be allowed to defend his australian open title without being vaccinated as he s granted a medical exemption. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. it really doesn t get much tougher than this. the chinese city of yuzhou has been put into lockdown after recording just three cases of covid, all of them asymptomatic, as china shows its determination to continue with its zero covid strategy. residents won t be allowed
this is bbc news. the headlines: in china, a city of more than 1 million is under lockdown afterjust three reported cases under the government s zero covid strategy. residents of yuzhou are not allowed to leave their homes, the transport system has been shut down, and only food stores can stay open. the united states hasjust recorded more than1 million cases of the omicron variant. that s the highest daily tally of anywhere in the world. speaking at the white house, president biden has pleaded with the american people who haven t been vaccinated, to get the jab. lawyers for prince andrew have argued for the first time in court that the sexual assault civil lawsuit against him should be thrown out. they say he can t be sued, because of an agreement signed by his accuser, virginia giuffre. prince andrew has consistently denied her allegations.
the sexual assault civil lawsuit against him. they say his accuser, virginia giuffre, can t sue because of damages she accepted in 2009 from the paedophile, jeffrey epstein, in return for dropping her claims against him and any other potential defendant. prince andrew has consistently denied her allegations. our royal correspondent jonny dymond has the latest. she says she was sexually assaulted by prince andrew three times. he denies every allegation and says he can t remember meeting her. today, his lawyers argued the whole case should be dismissed. the civil case rests partly on this meeting in london, a night when virginia giuffre, here aged 17, says she was forced to have sex with prince andrew. when he spoke to the bbc in 2019, he denied the allegations
again and again. you can say categorically that you don t recall meeting virginia roberts, dining with her. yep. ..dancing with her at tramp. yep. ..or going on to have sex with her. yes. ..in a bedroom in a house in belgravia? i can absolutely, categorically tell you it never happened. do you recall any kind of sexual contact with virginia roberts, then or at any other time? none.none whatsoever. today in new york, the lawyers battled in court for the first time. at the centre of their arguments, a deal struck between andrew s accuser and his formerfriend, jeffrey epstein. epstein paid virginia giuffre $500 million. their deal released any other person who could have been included as a potential defendant from further legal challenge by virginia giuffre.
and virginia giuffre roberts has one of the most capable attorneys in america in david boies and his team, today if i was prince andrew. despite suggestions about ms giuffre s own credibility? i mean, clearly, virginia giuffre roberts s story has changed and shifted over the years, and she will have issues with regard to her credibility. on the other hand, prince andrew has some major issues with regard to both his credibility and his availability. there is a fundamental question of whether or not he will even sit for deposition or if he will assert his rights under the fifth amendment to the united states constitution not to incriminate himself so as to avoid the possibility of eventual criminal sanctions. stay with us on bbc news,