learning to read at the age of 51. it may be a little bit grey and damp for some this morning, but there is a good deal of sunshine on the way as we go into the second half of the afternoon. good morning. it s thursday, the 27th of january. prince andrew is demanding a trial byjury in a civil case brought by virginia giuffre, who has accused him of sexual assaulting her when she was 17. the prince denies her claims, and his lawyers have lodged papers with the us court, which set out several reasons why they say the allegations are false. these include a denial that andrew was a close friend of ghislaine maxwell, at whose house some of the alleged abuse took place. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell has more details. across 11 pages, andrew s lawyers have set out his defence, a denial of the central allegation of sexual abuse made by virginia giuffre, and an assertion in respect of others that andrew lacks sufficient information to either admit or deny what s been claim
matthew wilson his sister has paid tribute to him. the outpouring of love that has come from everyone who knew him around the world has been a real sign of what a wonderful person he was but he truly was a joy to be around. an australian man pleads guilty to abducting four year old cleo smith and holding her at his home for 18 days. also coming up this hour. the first british woman to swim the channel. mercedes gleitze set a series of records for endurance swimming in the 1920 and 30s we ll speak to the director of a new film about her exploits. there is growing pressure on the prime minister this week after a series of damaging allegations about the conservative party and his leadership. this morning, number ten has announced that there will be a cabinet office inquiry into claims from conservative mp nus ghani she was sacked as a minister partly because of her muslim faith. in the last hour, ms ghani has tweeted saying all she wants is for this to be taken seriously ,
that night, and hear from the families left behind. stuck between countries that often don t want them. and no future at home. some take on desperate risks. this is the story of one boat that sank in the english channel. and the people on it. we piece together what happened and what they left behind. dunkirk, northern france. november 23rd. a dinky set soft across the english channel. it s a journey of about 30 miles. muhammad was on board. the dinghy is only meant to carry 20 people, but over 30 are on board, and soon they are in trouble. this is the last audio message sent from the boat. the next morning, another migrant dinghy past the scene, the smuggler on board sent this message. later that afternoon, 27 bodies were pulled from the water. they included seven women, two teenagers and one young girl. but it would be weeks before their families would find out. this man is a policeman from northern iraq, his family were trying to reach britain. he last heard from them as th
between russians and ukrainians. that crack was painted on by activists a few years ago as relations between the two countries deteriorated. and as talks intensify about a possible invasion, the hope is things don t break down completely. tensions are still rising on the border and today russian jets made their way to joint military drills with neighbouring belarus. ukrainian ministers have welcomed a delivery of american military equipment and now there s a call for the uk to step up its own support. the british government has delivered 2,000 anti tank missiles this week and says it is open to sending more weapons. as president putin continues to up the pressure. he has actually boxed himself into a corner. because so much effort has been put into this. but he also recognised he will never again be as strong as this to take advantage of the west s weakness. i suspect invasion is now imminent. so does kyiv feel like a city preparing for an invasion? evelyn and lillian are too
to future generations. britain has accused the kremlin of planning to install a pro russian leader in ukraine, as fears of an invasion grow. the foreign office in london says a former ukrainian mp is being considered as a potential candidate, along with four other politicians, who it says have links to the russian intelligence services. russia has 100,000 troops on ukraine s border, but denies it intends to invade. james waterhouse reports now from the ukrainian capital, kyiv. the friendship of nations arch, built by the soviets to celebrate the closeness between russians and ukrainians. that crack was painted on by activists a few years ago as relations between the two countries deteriorated. and as talks intensify about a possible invasion, the hope is things don t break down completely. tensions are still rising on the border and today russian jets made their way to joint military drills with neighbouring belarus. ukrainian ministers have welcomed a delivery of american mi