here in the uk, while royal mail deliveries could be reduced to as few as three days a week. prime minister rishi sunak and labour opposition leader sir keir starmer clash at prime minister's questions. hello, i'm a lucy hockings. welcome to bbc news now. a russian military transport plane has crashed in the country's south, close to the border with ukraine. the bbc has verified this video showing the moment of the crash. you can see the aircraft in the distance falling through the sky. 74 7a people were on board the plane altogether, no one is reported to have survived.

russia says its radars detected the launch of two ukrainian missiles. officials in kyiv warn against what they call special information operations against moscow, which it says has a long history of lies and misinformation. well, russian politicians have been commenting in the russian state duma — let's have a listen. translation: around to 11am, in the area i of belgorod city airport, a russian air and space forces il—76 plane crashed. on board were 65 former servicemen of the ukrainian army, prisoners of war, who were being transported for a swap. there was a second il—76 plane flying after it, which was carrying around another 85 prisoners of war. it was diverted. the ukrainian army knew perfectly well about the preparations for the swap and was informed of the way the prisoners

would be delivered. —— the ukrainian authorities knew perfectly well. i've been speaking to our russia editor, steve rosenberg, who summarised the details from moscow officials at this point. there is still a lot we don't know. we do know that earlier this morning, around ”am local time, a russian military transport plane, an ilyushin—76, crashed in russia's belgorod region. it is one of those regions that borders ukraine. soon after, some mobile phone footage emerged, shot from a distance, showing the plane falling from the sky and then this giant fireball rising from the crash site. then the russian defence ministry said that on board that plane had been the 7a people, including 65 ukrainian prisoners of war, who moscow says were due to have been part of a prisoner swap later today. we can't independently confirm that.

but later in the russian parliament, the head of the defence committee made a statement claiming that a second plane had been in the air at the time, carrying another 80 ukrainian prisoners of war but that plane turned around. again, we can't confirm that. the governor of belgorod region said that no—one survived the crash and that an investigation has begun at the site of the crash. this is all coming from russian officials, we can't confirm this but certainly moscow making it clear that it believes that this was a terrorist attack, that is the word used by the defence ministry, an attack by ukraine which moscow claims shot the plane down. ukraine says it is analysing information at the moment and the reports they have initially put out have now been taken down.

can you explain how these prisoner of war exchanges usually work? usually, you don't get warning of them, they happen and they are reported about once they've happened. earlier this month, there was a large—scale prisoner exchange onjanuary the 3rd, more than 200 prisoners of war on both sides were exchanged. so these happen from time to time. once again, moscow claims there was going to be another prisoner exchange later today and that these ukrainian pows were on their way in planes to this prisoner swap. we have been trying to get comment from ukrainian defence officials. an adviser to president zelensky has told reuters that comments will come

later, time is needed to clarify all of the data. let's speak to peter dickinson from the atlantic council's at eurasia centre. watch our ukrainian officials saying so far about this? at our ukrainian officials saying so far about this?— our ukrainian officials saying so far about this? �* ., , far about this? at the moment, very little. far about this? at the moment, very little- they — far about this? at the moment, very little- they are _ far about this? at the moment, very little. they are trying _ far about this? at the moment, very little. they are trying to _ far about this? at the moment, very little. they are trying to clarify - little. they are trying to clarify exactly what has taken place. there are lots of questions being asked in ukraine about the narrative, it is being treated with a high degree of suspicion, notably people questioning why russia would use very scarcely available military transport plane to bring a reported 60 odd prisoners who could have fitted on a bus or a train, which is a more normalform of transport. russia has a limited number of such transport so it seems strange that we would use 12 —— they would use want to transport prisoners of war.

we are waiting for confirmation of the ukrainian government position. ukrainian officials have confirmed, it seems, that a prisoner exchange was due to take place today but that has now been cancelled? yes. was due to take place today but that has now been cancelled?— was due to take place today but that has now been cancelled? yes, that is one of the few _ has now been cancelled? yes, that is one of the few things _ has now been cancelled? yes, that is one of the few things we _ has now been cancelled? yes, that is one of the few things we knew - has now been cancelled? yes, that is one of the few things we knew for - one of the few things we knew for sure and this is raising questions in ukraine or rather very painful memories of the massacre in summer 2022 at a prisoner of war camp in russian occupied eastern ukraine won a large number of ukrainian prisoners were killed in a bombing which russia initially attempted to blame ukraine for in a similar manner to what we have seen today. later a un investigation rejected russian claims and effectively pointed the finger at russia, so many in ukraine today are fearful we might be seeing a similar russian operation to use the ukrainian

prisoners of war and a rather cynical manner, but let's wait until more information emerges. if cynical manner, but let's wait until more information emerges. if these pows were — more information emerges. if these pows were on _ more information emerges. if these pows were on board, _ more information emerges. if these pows were on board, were - more information emerges. if these pows were on board, were being i pows were on board, were being transported inside russia to then be exchanged, which ukrainian defence officials have known that? that exchanged, which ukrainian defence officials have known that?— officials have known that? that is one of the _ officials have known that? that is one of the key — officials have known that? that is one of the key question - officials have known that? that is one of the key question such - officials have known that? that is one of the key question such an l one of the key question such an investigation will need to clarify. one would assume there would have been... these prisoner of war exchanges are very carefully calibrated in advance. one would assume that details would have been shared, but if that was the case it seems highly unlikely that ukraine would attract the plane, ukraine has no motive whatsoever for killing its own soldiers, that is clear. so one potential version i'm seeing in ukraine at the moment is the idea that russia did not inform ukraine of how these prisoners of war would

be brought to belgorod and how they would be exchanged so there may be a case they were brought there and essentially placed in danger within range of ukrainian air defences in order to be to the ukrainians into attacking without informing ukrainians, but that is pure speculation at this point. it is very, very hard to see any reason why ukraine would attack its own pows. 50 why ukraine would attack its own pows. , ~, ~ why ukraine would attack its own pows. . ,, . ., ., ., pows. so much speculation at the moment and _ pows. so much speculation at the moment and we _ pows. so much speculation at the moment and we have _ pows. so much speculation at the moment and we have a _ pows. so much speculation at the moment and we have a team - pows. so much speculation at the i moment and we have a team looking into the different reports, analysing the footage, and we have our bbc verified team looking at that too. we have some breaking news to bring you. a un centre sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people has been hit. buildings are ablaze. we understand there are many casualties. this is in gaza. thomas

white, the director, said that safe access to and from the centre has been denied for two days and people are trapped. we are hearing this has happened in the past few minutes, humanitarian officials working in gaza are saying fighting has really escalated in and around the city of khan younis, which we knew, but the training centre sheltering tens and thousands of displaced people has been hit thai sheltering tens of thousands. thomas white says buildings are ablaze and there are mass casualties. we heard earlier from the gazan health ministry as we look at the live pictures from israel into gaza that almost 200 palestinians have been killed in the last 2a hours. yolande knell, our correspondent injerusalem, said correspondent in jerusalem, said khan correspondent injerusalem, said khan younis had seen some of the heaviest fighting yet in the whole israeli military campaign. fresh evacuation orders were given for parts of khan younis, the biggest

city in southern gaza, but one of the places people have been fleeing to garner a training centre which has been sheltering tens of thousands, has been hit, the buildings are ablaze and there —— there are mass casualties. more as more as soon as we get it. donald trump has won a key victory in the race to be the republican party's presidential nominee. the former president won the new hampshire primary with an 11—point lead over his remaining rival nikki haley. she has vowed to fight on, but presidentjoe biden — who's standing for re—election for the democrats — says it's clear mr trump will be the candidate. here's our north america correspondent, nomia iqbal. it was an election result donald trump accepted. well, i want to thank everybody. this is a fantastic state. this is a great, great state. new hampshire gave him a big win, but not a blowout. leaving his rival, nikki haley, still on for the fight to secure the republican party's presidential nomination. well, i'm a fighter.

and i'm scrappy. and now we're the last one standing next to donald trump. that was a comment that trump really didn't like. and she was up and i said, "wow, she's doing like a speech like she won." she didn't win. she lost. the race to win new hampshire was seen as a real test for donald trump's strength. nearly 40% of people here are independent voters. at this polling station, voters were greeted by others voters in new hampshire here play an outsized role in deciding presidential nominees. that's despite it being one of the smallest states in the country. mark is a registered republican who is voting for nikki haley. if trump were to win, i would be worried for the future of the nation. we'll see you on the trail! donald trump's path to the republican presidential nomination may be clearer, but to return to the white house,

he'll likely face joe biden, the man who beat him at the ballot box four years ago. nomia iqbal, bbc news, new hampshire. our us special correspondent, katty kay, gave her analysis on the perception that it is now beginning to feel like a one—horse race. yeah, maybe it always felt like that, right, and there was some sense perhaps in some polls and probably in the american press who like to have a competitive race that this could be a competitive primary, but donald trump won iowa convincingly, won new hampshire by double digits, not perhaps as much as he would have liked but heavily none the less, and he goes on to state where he is ahead in the polls too, so it is hard to see how nikki haley makes a path for herself to the nomination. she says she will stay in the race, she has money,

generally in the american elections people do not drop out because they lose a primary, they drop out because they run out of cash. she still has some cash and her backers might say she can stay in for longer. her campaign might say we need to sit here because we do not know what will happen to donald trump legally, he has 91 criminal charges against them. if one of those comes to trial and there were a conviction before the election, maybe we should sit here in case that happens and he is forced to drop out because of some unforeseen circumstances we cannot imagine yet. ron desantis said he was not dropping out either and a couple of days after iowa he dropped out, so let's see what happens in the days ahead. it let's see what happens in the days ahead. , ., ., ., ., let's see what happens in the days ahead. , ., ., ., ahead. it is not a good look for her if she loses — ahead. it is not a good look for her if she loses her _ ahead. it is not a good look for her if she loses her home _ ahead. it is not a good look for her if she loses her home state, - ahead. it is not a good look for her if she loses her home state, which | if she loses her home state, which is looking like it could be likely. if she wants a future in republican politics then you would think she would want to be able to lose to win her home state. there have been

candidates that have lost their home state and carried on being big figures, al gore famously lost his home state of tennessee in 2000, he did not win the presidency but was still a big figure in politics. so it depends on what she wants for her own political future. it depends on what she wants for her own politicalfuture. she has shown donald trump as vulnerabilities, we come out of new hampshire with 40% of undeclared independent voters voting for nikki haley. donald trump is not winning independent voters at the minute in the numbers he would need to win the general election. the numbers of republicans not voting for donald trump is an important number to keep watching. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. royal mail could reduce letter deliveries to five or even three days a week. ofcom says the

universal postal service looks like it might become untenable due to a number reduction in the latter is that we send. there will be more on this and more business report later. the body that looks into potential wrongful convictions was warned it could have missed important dna evidence in rape cases a year after first rejecting an appeal by andrew malkinson. he spent seven years in —— 17 years in prison. his conviction wasn't overturned until a decade later and his lawyers say the criminal cases review commission report means he could have been exonerated earlier. police have shot a dog dead after reports of it attacking a man in hamilton in scotland. officers were called to the tinto view area of the town on tuesday to deal with the "dangerously out—of—control" animal. the man was taken to hospital with "serious injuries" following the incident, which involved a "large bulldog—type dog". you're live with bbc news . rishi sunak has moved to bat away suggestions he �*doesn't get�* britain. at prime minister's questions,

the labour leader, sir keir starmer asked whether mr sunak was surprised one of his own mps said he wasn't listening to what people want. in a newspaper article, the former levelling up secretary, sir simon clarke, accused the prime minister of not getting the country and called for him to be replaced. here's our political correspondent, iain watson. rishi sunak leaving downing street today. at rishi sunak leaving downing street toda . �* ., , today. a former cabinet minister wants him _ today. a former cabinet minister wants him to _ today. a former cabinet minister wants him to go _ today. a former cabinet minister wants him to go permanently. i today. a former cabinet minister| wants him to go permanently. so simon clarke is a close ally of former prime minister liz truss and has denounced what he sees as rishi sunak�*s and inspiring leadership. —— an inspiring leadership. the labour leads did not look this political gift horse in the mouth. i political gift horse in the mouth. 1 love this quaint tradition where

political gift horse in the mouth. i love this quaint tradition where the more they slug him off behind his back, though i love this quaint tradition where the more they slug him off behind his back, the louder they cheer in here. so was he surprised to see one of his own mps say he does not get what britain needs and is not listening to what people want? in needs and is not listening to what people want?— people want? in a tit-for-tat the prime minister _ people want? in a tit-for-tat the prime minister focused - people want? in a tit-for-tat the prime minister focused on - people want? in a tit-for-tat the | prime minister focused on labour prime ministerfocused on labour criticism of keir starmer. his prime minister focused on labour criticism of keir starmer.- criticism of keir starmer. his own -a now criticism of keir starmer. his own party now realises _ criticism of keir starmer. his own party now realises he _ criticism of keir starmer. his own party now realises he simply - criticism of keir starmer. his own | party now realises he simply does not have — party now realises he simply does not have a — party now realises he simply does not have a plan for this country. the member for dagenham and rainham said it _ the member for dagenham and rainham said it is _ the member for dagenham and rainham said it is difficult to identify the purpose — said it is difficult to identify the purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left — purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left it _ purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left it too _ purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left it too has _ purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left it too has a _ purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left it too has a right - purpose of his leadership. the prime minister left it too has a right to - minister left it too has a right to criticise simon clarke. if minister left it too has a right to criticise simon clarke.— minister left it too has a right to criticise simon clarke. if we were to do something _ criticise simon clarke. if we were to do something as _ criticise simon clarke. if we were to do something as foolish - criticise simon clarke. if we were to do something as foolish as - criticise simon clarke. if we were i to do something as foolish as have an internal argument at this stage, all it would do would open the door of the starmer. it all it would do would open the door of the starmer.— of the starmer. it would take 53 to mp5 of the starmer. it would take 53 tory mps to _ of the starmer. it would take 53 tory mps to trigger _ of the starmer. it would take 53 tory mps to trigger a _ of the starmer. it would take 53 - tory mps to trigger a no-confidence tory mps to trigger a no—confidence vote in the prime minister. 60 of them wanted changes to his rwanda

bill earlier this month but only 11 voted against the legislation as a whole. simon clarke's stinging criticisms of rishi sunak are shared privately by many more conservative and that some of the most prominent rwanda rebels such as health —— such as former home secretary suella braverman and former immigration secretary robertjenrick have not joined calls for rishi sunak to go, so it would seem yet another conservative leadership contest is not imminent. when rishi sunak became prime minister he was apparently going to bring calm to the previous chaos perch, but i did the previous chaos perch, but i did the polls, he is finding descent and division difficult to defuse. rob watson is another political correspondence watching events with interest, and prime minister's questions today, lots of cut and thrust. i wonder how serious you think this is for the conservatives

with this talk of replacing rishi sunak? . . ., ., , sunak? ian and i are great friends, aood sunak? ian and i are great friends, good colleagues _ sunak? ian and i are great friends, good colleagues but _ sunak? ian and i are great friends, good colleagues but not _ sunak? ian and i are great friends, good colleagues but not relatives, | sunak? ian and i are great friends, | good colleagues but not relatives, i should say. the conservatives are in an absolute whole world of trouble, not just an absolute whole world of trouble, notjust rishi sunak but the whole party, because after nearly 1a years in government the opinion polls suggest and the focus group suggest they were historically unpopular and unless anything changes in a truly dramatic and unforeseen way they are probably heading for a thumping the next time there was an election. that is the big picture. the small picture, how bad a day is this, how about a week for rishi sunak? not great, but any worse than last week? probably not. was it a good day for sir keir starmer? hat probably not. was it a good day for sir keir starmer?— sir keir starmer? not a bad day. if the -a sir keir starmer? not a bad day. if the party opposite _ sir keir starmer? not a bad day. if the party opposite our— sir keir starmer? not a bad day. if the party opposite our tearing - sir keir starmer? not a bad day. if l the party opposite our tearing lumps out of each other you will always do 0k, out of each other you will always do

ok, right? if the government party is seen as divided you had something of an open goal. big picture wise, although it is perfectly true that the main opposition labour party is well ahead in the opinion polls, i think it is also true to say the polls suggest that the british people are not exactly bubbling over with enthusiasm about the opposition. with enthusiasm about the opposition-— with enthusiasm about the ouosition. ,, ., , , , opposition. should we feasibly be talkin: opposition. should we feasibly be talking about _ opposition. should we feasibly be talking about it _ opposition. should we feasibly be talking about it at _ opposition. should we feasibly be talking about it at the _ opposition. should we feasibly be talking about it at the prime - talking about it at the prime minister at this stage? i talking about it at the prime minister at this stage? i don't know, minister at this stage? i don't know. lucy- _ minister at this stage? i don't know, lucy. the _ minister at this stage? i don't know, lucy. the conservative| minister at this stage? i don't - know, lucy. the conservative party has divided into two, those who really think it would be worth having another shot. who could tell. the other lot think we are headed for disaster but another leadership election would probably make things even worse. given what has happened these last seven years or so, i'd not rule anything out. how many prime ministers have we heard? taste prime ministers have we heard? we can't rule anything out, thank you. tyler's constitutional court has

revealed that a progressive former prime ministerial hopeful has not violated election law. he was accused of holding shares in a media company but argued the outlet became defunct years ago. his party won the most seats in last year's election but failed to form a governing coalition. he will retain his seat in parliament. jonathan head reports. the cases were brought against him and there are other cases against him and his party in the wake of the shocking election victory. nobody thought his party would do that well in the election last year because in its previous incarnation it had been bound in a previous court case, stripping out some of the leadership. people assume the party would not do so well. he ran on a performance ticket arguing for sweeping changes to how thailand is run, changes to the military which launched a coup ten years ago and run the country for

many years, even changes on laws relating to the monarchy. these cases were filed after birth and once his party had got this astonishing victory where they had won far more seats than other parties and seem poised to form a coalition government, at that point the unelected senator moved in and barred him because of these reformist proposals. this cases in the same category as those, many viewed the case against him as a very technical one because, as he pointed out, the media company in which he owned shares, the shares were passed to him by his father, it had not been operating since 2007. the constitutional court normally rules pretty harshly against those on the reform the debate, it always has in the past. many thought it would do the same, it would strip him of his seat in parliament, but it did not, it accepted the argument it did not, it accepted the argument it was not a functioning media company so he can go back into

parliament and lead his party but there are other cases pending against him, viewed by many as political cases. what is coming up just next week when his party is accused of the century trying to overthrow the existing political order, so it is still possible but in the next few weeks we might see him barred from politics and his party solved. the iranian president is in turkey for talks on the widening conflict in gaza. speaking to reporters before his flight to ankara, he said discussions would focus on cutting the lifeline to israel. turkey has harshly criticised israel over gaza and expressed support for palestinian militant groups. a senior palestinian official familiar with ceasefire negotiations have said cairo has offered a hamas delegation a new proposal to stop the war. it is understood consists of five stages starting with a humanitarian truce, during which hamas would

release the remaining civilian hostages including women, children and the elderly. in an exchange israel would increase aid and releasing palestinian women, children and elderly from its prisons. this comes as we are getting news from khan younis inside gaza. a humanitarian official has tweeted about fighting is really escalating in and around gaza, thomas white says there is a training centre sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people which has just been hit, thousands of displaced people which hasjust been hit, he thousands of displaced people which has just been hit, he says thousands of displaced people which hasjust been hit, he says buildings are ablaze, there are mass casualties, safe access to and from the centre has been denied for two days and people are trapped, so this is what we are hearing from khan younis, that fighting is escalating and a training centre has been hit and a training centre has been hit and there are many, many casualties.

we will keep you across what is happening in the conflict at the moment but israel hasn't circled khan younis, dauser�*s second city, troops have been advancing deeper into the remaining parts of the city. the idea to say hamas leaders are hiding internals with hostages, you can see some smoke in the air, another explosion inside gaza, but this intense fighting has been around the two main hospitals too. people saying they are unable to leave and there are reports that this training centre has been hit, with many casualties. more from the middle east coming up, to stay with us. hello there. rightly so, the weather story has been dominated by the storms across the uk this week, but something that's been a little bit overshadowed is the feel of the weather.

cast your mind back to last week, we had lying snow in highland scotland and an overnight low of —15. degrees. this morning, yes, it was windy, but with a lot of cloud around noticeably milder, five degrees. now, one of the reasons for this, as storm jocelyn pulls away to the near continent is a change of wind direction to a south—westerly, a milder source. and that's pushing this milder air right across the country as we go through the remainder of today and into tomorrow. there's still some showers around, some of them quite frequent as well, accompanied by gusty winds across the far north of scotland. but some of these showers should thin out for the remainder of the afternoon and one or two perhaps into northern ireland. there will be some hazy sunshine clouding over from the far southwest later on in the afternoon. and still a windy day for all of us, gusts in excess of 35 to 65 miles an hour. but because of the direction, yes, it's mild with those temperatures above average for the time of year for all of us, generally ranging from 8 to 12 celsius.

now, as we go through the night tonight, we'll continue to see this cloud spilling in from the southwest. so acting like a blanket, preventing those temperatures from falling too far at all, maybe low single figures with some clearer skies in the far north and east of scotland. but it will be a cloudy, mild start to thursday. but sandwiched in between these two weather fronts, a lot of cloud. and it's going to be a quite murky, gray, disappointing day. there will be outbreaks of rain from time to time, heaviest of which certainly across scotland, pushing its way steadily northwards. generally there'll be a lot of low grey cloud drizzle and poor visibility along west facing coasts. but again, that mild theme stays with us. we could see temperatures peaking at 13, possibly 1a degrees average in the southeast at this time of year, around seven or eight friday, a brief ridge of high pressure builds and quieten things down. there'll be greater chance of seeing some sunshine. but, yes, a few scattered showers with the sunshine and the clearer

skies at times not quite as mild, but the mild, quiet and calmer theme looks set to stay with us. there will be outbreaks of rain continuing in the far northwest.

streaming success, netflix adds another 30 million subscribers —— 13 million subscribers. as the robot revolution, art tech team looks at the blurred lines between man and machine. hello and welcome to world business report. we are starting with netflix where a huge growth in subscriber numbers has shocked wall street. it added 13.1 million customers between october and december, much higher than analyst estimates ofjust under 9 million. and the plot twists for netflix of the past year have included a crackdown on password sharing and the introduction of new cheaper subscription packages that show adverts as well as tv programmes and

films to its viewers. what is behind