Youre watching bbc news at nine, with me, carrie gracie. The headlines the duke of sussex says there was really no other option in stepping back from being a senior royal. Prince harry spoke at a private Charity Dinner last night for the First Time Since announcing hes standing down. The decision that i have made for my wife and i had to step back is not one i made lightly. It was so many months of talks, after so many years of challenges, and i know i havent always got it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option. Two men arrested on suspicion of murder after three men were killed in east london. Despite paramedics at the scene they were declared dead
at the scene they were declared dead at the scene they were declared dead at the scene. A tragic event to have taken place. A leak of a government commissioned review show the h52 High Speed Rail link could end up costing £106 billion. The department of transports says its still a draft. The National Crime agency has warned illegal immigration to the uk in small boats will be a continuing threat throughout this year. Welcome to dover, a gateway in and out of europe but also a landing destination for hundreds of migrants trying to get across to the uk in small boats. A respiratory virus in china has spread from wuhan to other major cities more than 130 new cases reported in two days. An urgent review into the safety of smart motorways is set to be released after nine people were killed last year. And in sport, american 15 year old
coco gough does it again, knocking Venus Williams out of the us open like she did in wimbledon. Good morning 7 and welcome to the bbc news at 9. Prince harry has spoken out for the first time about the decision to step back as a senior royal, saying he is taking a leap of faith. Speaking at a Charity Event last night, he said that he and the duchess of sussex had hoped to continue serving the queen without public funding but that had proved to be impossible. Before we hear what harry said last night, lets take a look at what this deal means Going Forward for both him and meghan. Firstly, both of them will retain their hrh titles, short for his or her royal highness, but will no longer be able to use them. As senior royals, they both carried out official duties. Last year, between them that amounted to 284 events. That number will now drop to zero. But they can continue supporting their favourite causes and can attend royal events at the invitation of the queen. Currently the couple receive £2 million a year from the sovereign grant, funded by taxpayers, and harry and his brother william split nearly £5 million from Prince Charles duchy of cornwall. Harry and meghan will now no longer recive any grant money, and while theyll still receive money from Prince Charles, that will now come from his private investments. Harry has three official miliatry roles which he will now have to step back from. And they both currently live rent free at frogmore and taxpayers paid £2. 1i million towards renovations. That money will now be paid back, and they will begin paying rent on the cottage. Our royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell reports. They had hoped, they said in their personal statement of the 8th january, to find a progressive new role within the royal family, in which, while stepping back, they could have continued to serve. That hasnt worked out. Buckingham palace has taken a hard line. Their royal role has been all but removed, and harry is clearly disappointed. At a private dinner in london for sentebale, his hiv charity in southern africa, he said he wanted his audience to hear the truth. He recalled the aftermath of his and meghans wedding. Once meghan and i were married, we were excited, we were hopeful and we were here to serve. For those reasons, it brings me Great Sadness that it has come to this. He said the decision for him and his wife to step back is not one hed made lightly. What i want to make clear is were not walking away, and we certainly arent walking away from you. Our hope was to continue serving
the queen, the commonwealth and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasnt possible. And he said he would continue to serve his country. I will always have the utmost respect for my grandmother, my commander in chief, and im incredibly grateful to her and the rest of my family for the support they have shown meghan and i over the last few months. I will continue to be the same man who holds his country dear and dedicates his life to supporting the causes, charities and military communities that are so important to me. All of which establishes beyond doubt that this process of stepping away from royal life and royal duty has already fallen short of harrys hopes. Hes taken responsibility for choosing this new path and he says hes accepted the conditions which have been imposed by the queen and her advisers. Nicholas witchell, bbc news. We heard a clip of harry in that report. Lets listen now to more of his own explanation for that decision to step away from the royal stage. The decision that i have made for my wife and i to step back is not one i made lightly. It was so many months of talks, after so many years of challenges, and i know i havent always got it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option. What i want to make clear is were not walking away. And we certainly arent walking away from you. Our hope was to continue serving the queen, the commonwealth and my military associations but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasnt possible. Ive accepted this, knowing that it doesnt change who i am or how committed i am, but i hope that helps you understand what it had come to, that i would step my family back from all i have ever known to take a step forward into what i hope can
be a more peaceful life. I was born into this life and it is a great honour to serve my country and the queen. When i lost my mum 23 years ago, you took me under the your wing. You looked out for me for so long, but the media is a powerful force and my hope is, one day, our collective support for each other can be more powerful because this is so much bigger thanjust us. It has been our privilege to serve you and we will continue to lead a life of service, so in that respect, nothing changes. It has also been a privilege to meet so many of you and to feel your excitement for our son archie, who saw snow for the first time the other day and thought it was bloody brilliant. Laughter. I will always have the utmost respect for my grandmother, my commander in chief, and im incredibly grateful to her and the rest of my family for the support that theyve shown meghan and i over
the last few months. I will continue to be the same man who holds his country dear and dedicates his life to supporting the causes, charities and military communities that are so important to me. Together, you have give me an education about living, and this role has taught me more about what is right and just than i could have ever imagined. We are taking a leap of faith, so thank you for giving me the courage to take this next step. Prince harry. Three men have been stabbed to death in ilford in North East London. The metropolitan say that police say they were called to a disturbance. The men said to be in their 20s and 30s. Two men have been arrested. Dan johnson is at the scene, lets hear whats going on there. Dan . A big Police Investigation in this part of east london this morning. Quite a
big area that has been taped off. This is the focus of the investigation. You may be able to work out the yellow and white Police Forensic tent on the corner there. That is where we believe at least one of these men died last night. Three of them found with serious sta b three of them found with serious stab wounds after some sort of fight that erupted here in the street before a pm. That is why there is such a big area cordoned off. There was an area of shops cordoned off in an area around the Railway Station as well as this residential street here. A lot of evidence for them to gather. A Police Helicopter above taking photographs. A lot of concern in the community about how brutal this attack seems to have been. In the last hour, we got an update here from the local Police Borough commander, from the metropolitan police. It started near seven kings
train station and moved to elm street road where we are now. A fight involving two groups of men. We believe there men were from the seek community. The result of that fight which involved the use of knives, despite best efforts of paramedics at the scene they were pronounced dead at the same. A tragic event to take place there. I can update that the inquiry is over night, two people have actually now been arrested in relation to murder. We believe the parties are known to each other. We dont know more at this stage, i cant speak any more about the precursor of what caused this. This is why we need witnesses to come forward, to give us more information about what they saw yesterday evening and potential information surrounding the events. We will be releasing the incident numberand if we will be releasing the incident number and if someone doesnt want to talk to the police, please call crimestoppers. The two people in
custody are 29 and 39 years old. The local community will see a Higher Police presence, to provide reassurance. So, police have ruled out terrorism asa so, police have ruled out terrorism as a motive for this attack. They believe it is some sort of dispute within the community. Some of the people who live here say there was a bit of a disturbance on saturday night, suggesting perhaps this could have been something that followed on from that. Certainly a brutal attack. There are some videos on social media showing the aftermath of this incident and there are some very graphic images within that. That is the sort of Evidence Police are going through, as well as speaking to people in the area but there has been concern at such a loss of life again because of knife crime. Dan, thank you. The hs2 High Speed Rail link could end up costing as much as £106 billion, according to leaks of a government commissioned review. The report, which has been seen
by the financial times, also recommends the second phase of the project, linking birmingham to manchester and leeds, should be paused to see whether conventional rail lines could be used instead. Lets take a look at what we know so far, about the key facts and figures around hs2. The existing budget is £55. 6 billion. That compares to the original budget, of £32. 7 billion pounds. 7 point four billion pounds have already been spent on the project. According to hs2, there will be 9,000 jobs supported by the railway ani and there will be 3a5 miles of new high speed track. ani and its estimated that the journey time saving between london and manchester
will be 50 minutes. read on and our business presenter dominic 0connell is here. How on earth do we get to this number of 106 billion . Quite a big jump number of 106 billion . Quite a big jump from 32 to 106. It is the old thing of optimism bias, when people start planning a project they think it costs x, people approve those numbers so it gets approved but when you look at the project and the roots required, we live on a small crowded island, the cost was away is going to be an expensive exercise. 106 billion is a very big number. It is interesting, an uncanny resemblance between this number and another number a week ago, a report put out by lord berkeley, who was the deputy chairman of this review, resigned saying it was a whitewash. He said the number would be 107 billion people said it was ridiculous and now a leaked version of the official review says 106 billion. It looks like he was right all along. Interesting. Government has said it is a draft . Yes, the other interesting thing is they said it isa other interesting thing is they said it is a draft and it is accurate, in
the state of play at the moment. The idea of might not making it a pure high speed line. Idea of might not making it a pure highspeed line. The scoping . Is a yes, making it not a high speed line, only high speed north of birmingham. That has made people like the mayor of manchester furious. He said the north should not accept second best. 0ther furious. He said the north should not accept second best. Other people think of the best use of transport funds north of birmingham is improving local lines. That is what really frustrates people, that the commuter lines are so poor. It would be better to spend that rail money not on a high speed line running pass these communities that improving services so people can get to thank you. Lets take a look at the headlines on bbc news. The duke of sussex says there was really no other option to stepping down as a senior royal. Prince harry spoke at a private dinner last night, in his first
cooments since the announcement that he and the duchess of sussex intended to embark on a new life. Two men arrested after three men we re two men arrested after three men were stabbed to death in east london. A leak of a government commissioned review suggests the hs2 High Speed Rail link could end up costing £106 billion. In sport, england close to taking a 21 in sport, england close to taking a 2 1 series lead in the third test against south africa. They need just one more wicket for victory in Port Elizabeth. British number one dan evansis elizabeth. British number one dan evans is into round two of the Australian Open after coming from two sets down to beat mackenzie mcdonald. And liverpool stretch their lead at the top of the premier league to 16 points with a 2 0 victory over manchester united. More on all of those stories and about 20 minutes. I will see you then. Illegal migration in small boats will continue to be a challenge for Law Enforcement agencies, according to the National Crime agency. It says gangs based in france are working together to smuggle people across the channel and have developed their tactics
to evade detection. Lets cross over to dover now, and our correspondent colin campbell. Tell us more about this. Welcome to dover, it is a major gateway in and out of europe trade and the passengers. In the last year, hundreds of migrants have been crossing the English Channel and landing here in dover. The National Crime agency was at the forefront of investigating the criminal gangs behind it all. They say it is going to bea behind it all. They say it is going to be a big challenge, trying to stop those small boat heading in this direction. A dinghy full of migrants arrived on a kent beach. Its summer. Theyve just crossed the English Channel. Last year, the small boats made their way here every month. On occasions, ten launched simultaneously. There is some evidence of a surge to it and its a possibility they think if they make a large number of departures on a particular day, at least some of them are more
likely to get through, some of them are more likely to evade Law Enforcement, french Law Enforcement on the french coast. The National Crime agency say there is no evidence of a mr big controlling the smuggling operations but sometimes migrants organise it themselves. Unable to afford to pay smugglers, masoud did just that. The former iranian canoeing champion bought an inflatable kayak in calais and paddled across the channel. A spike in arrivals in the summer prompted tough talk from the Prime Minister. We will send you back. But with only 125 returned to france and europe, some say its empty rhetoric. It is not possible to send them back and i think we need to be taking a deep breath and coming up with reasonable, sensible ways of dealing with this issue. The National Crime agency admits
stopping the boats remains a big challenge but they are confident numbers will reduce and it wont get easier to cross after brexit. Colin campbell, bbc news, dover. The National Crime agency say they are trying to stop the small boats from heading in this direction by trying to cut off the supply of the outboard engines and the inflatable dinghies to the migrant groups and the criminal gangs that are based in france. They say they are doing that by working with their european partners, french police, police also in holland. They say what they are trying to do is to reach out to the supplies and the retailers of this equipment, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. They say there is no easy task and the smuggling gangs are travelling even further afield to try and get hold of the equipment. Im joined in dover here with the man that runs a
charter fishing vessel. You dover here with the man that runs a charterfishing vessel. You have been out to sea working for 20 yea rs, involved been out to sea working for 20 years, involved in the rescue of around five different small boats during the course of your work. Just how dangerous is it out there in the channel . Its very dangerous, really come on a long night, when it can be quite windy and quite rough. Generally they try and cross when the weather is calm but the thing with the channel, it changes very quickly and they can be taking up to eight hours to cross the channel and if the weather turns, it would be very nasty. What sort of condition other migrants and when you see them in the small boats . Very cold, sometimes hypothermic and some have had small children on board and they have looked terrified, really. Its in the dark, so they dont really know where they are. They dont know who we are when we get up alongside them so that must be quite frightening for them as well. They have to cross one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, what is that
like ina busiest shipping lanes, what is that like in a small boat . A nightmare, really. With no navigation, they have no lights, no radar. The ships, they would have quite a difficult time o