in the us, donald trump defeats nikki haley in the republican primary in new hampshire — but she's vowing to stay in the race. in the uk, a shake—up of the royal mail could see delivery is reduced to as few as three days a week. and the brit awards nominations for this year will be announced shortly. it is a uk's biggest music awards ceremony. —— it is the uk's. hello, i'm ben thompson, welcome to the programme. we begin with developments in the war between israel and gaza; and the un refugee agency unrwa says a training centre sheltering tens of thousands of displaced people has been hit — report say at least nine people have

been killed and 75 injured. israel has been pressing ahead with its offensive on southern gaza's main city, khan younis, cutting off hospitals, and killing more than 200 people in the last day. our middle east correspondent mark lowen is injerusalem. what do we know about this? we have a death toll and a number of injuries at 75.— a death toll and a number of injuries at 75. what can you tell us? this is _ injuries at 75. what can you tell us? this is the _ injuries at 75. what can you tell us? this is the un _ injuries at 75. what can you tell us? this is the un relief- injuries at 75. what can you tell us? this is the un relief and i injuries at 75. what can you tell- us? this is the un relief and works agency for palestine refugees, which has reported that two tank rounds hits one of its training centres in khan younis which was sheltering hundreds of people in that specific building and they have reported at least nine dead and 75 inch edge, they said un teams including teams from the world health organization are trying to reach that facility, the israeli army has blockaded roads around it. it is part of a city which is very much the focus of the

israeli offensive which is intensifying in khan younis. it's well as ordered the evacuation of districts which are said to hold more than half a million people. intense fighting around italy's three hospitals —— at least three hospitals is trapping patients and staff, medicines and frontier, which says that the largest hospital still partially functioning in southern gaza, there are around 850 staff and patients inside and several thousand sheltering on the ground is unable to leave because of the intense fighting. to leave because of the intense fiuuhtin. ., , ., , to leave because of the intense fillhtin. ., , ., , .,. fighting. lots of people watching will be surprised _ fighting. lots of people watching will be surprised that _ fighting. lots of people watching will be surprised that hospitals l fighting. lots of people watching i will be surprised that hospitals are again at the centre of some of this fighting, but we know khan younis has been a recent focus of some of those israeli efforts to get rid of top hamas commanders that they say are holed up there. the top hamas commanders that they say are holed up there.— are holed up there. the leader of

hamas in gaza _ are holed up there. the leader of hamas in gaza has _ are holed up there. the leader of hamas in gaza has still _ are holed up there. the leader of hamas in gaza has still evaded i hamas in gaza has still evaded capture, he is believed to be in khan younis, it is his home city, or in tunnels beneath edge, which is certainly what the israelis think. but israel is yet to capture or kill any top hamas commanders in gaza itself and partly to assuage public opinion here and partly to show there is real progress on the ground in gaza i think the army and it probably feels lots of pressure to do that. you mentioned the surprise that people might feel like fighting around hospitals, israel always insists that hamas has embedded itself in medical facilities and is launching attacks from hospitals, which is why there is intense fighting there. hamas and local health officials say that is not true. the majority public opinion is still behind this war and the military campaign, but when you have

incidents like that on monday when 21 israeli soldiers were killed in a single attack, the biggest loss of life so far for the israeli army since the ground offensive began almost three months ago, there is real pressure growing on the israeli government to show tangible progress in this operation, not least to get the remaining hostages back but also to show they are capturing or getting some of those top hamas officials they are going after. it is good to have you that with the latest. thank you, mark lowen in jerusalem. now to our other main story. russia has accused ukraine of shooting down a russian military transport plane they say was carrying 65 captured ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange. the bbc has verified this mobile phone video which shows the aircraft falling through the sky in the distance and exploding on the ground. you can see the flames behind that street sign. 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 and called it a barbaric act of terrorism. a spokesman blamed ukraine for the attack. translation: using a spokesman blamed ukraine for the attack. translation:— attack. translation: using an anti-aircraft _ attack. translation: using an anti-aircraft missile _ attack. translation: using an anti-aircraft missile system, i anti—aircraft missile system, russian _ anti—aircraft missile system, russian aerospace forces observe the launch_ russian aerospace forces observe the iaunch of— russian aerospace forces observe the launch of two ukrainian missiles. the ukrainian leadership knew very well the ukrainian leadership knew very weii thai— the ukrainian leadership knew very well that according to established practice, — well that according to established practice, today ukrainian military serviceman set to be exchange would have been_ serviceman set to be exchange would have been transported to the pace airfield. _ have been transported to the pace airfield. ii— have been transported to the pace airfield, it was due to take place in the _ airfield, it was due to take place in the afternoon at a checkpoint on the russian — in the afternoon at a checkpoint on the russian ukrainian border. but a

view from the _ the russian ukrainian border. but a view from the russian _ the russian ukrainian border. emit —. view from the russian authorities. our russia editor steve rosenberg gave us the latest from moscow. earlier this morning, around 11am local time, a russian military transport plane, an ilyushin—76, crashed in russia's belgorod region. belgorod is one of those regions that borders ukraine. soon after, some mobile phone footage emerged, showing the plane falling from the sky and then seconds later this giant fireball rising from the crash site. then the russian defence ministry said that on board the 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. interestingly, later this morning, the head of the russian parliament's 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. russian officials say that no—one survived the crash and an investigation has begun at the site of the crash. russia is making clear that it believes that ukraine shot the plane down. the russian defence ministry says it observed the launch of two ukrainian missiles. now, sitting here, it's impossible for us to confirm this. this is what russian officials are saying. but, as i say, making it clear that they believe that ukraine shot the plane down. steve rosenberg with the latest from moscow. we have had an update from ukraine, they have issued a statement in the last few minutes in which they say they don't have any specific, reliable information about who exactly was on board the plane or how many people were there, but the statement goes on, ukraine carried out all agreements in preparation for the prisoner

exchange. remember, the prisoners of war we are told were on board the plane were part of a prisoner exchange, they were being taken to the border to exchange with russians. ukraine says it's carried out all those agreements to be... the lights people delivered to the location and time to be exchanged from ukrainian soldiers for russian soldiers. they said it was up to russia to ensure the safety of the defenders under the agreements reached birch, and this is a crucial part, ukraine had not been informed of the need to ensure the safety of air space near the city of belgorod at a defined time. they said previously when this has happened they were told that was the case, they were told that was the case, they were told to keep the airspace player, so ukraine pointing the finger at rush of their own stability, they say it is deliberate actions of russia in putting the lives and safety of prisoners of war under threat. sojust lives and safety of prisoners of war under threat. so just within the space of a few minutes, claims from

the russian and now ukrainian sides, starting to get a picture of a plane that had prisoners of war on boards, they were due to be taken to the borderfor a prisoner they were due to be taken to the border for a prisoner exchange. russia says ukraine shut that plane down, ukraine says we were not told to keep the airspace clear to allow the plane to arrive or depart on a previous statement suggests there has been an increase in the number of military planes in that area. it has previously increase the number of missiles that it has fired, so it certainly seems, according to what we know so far, and those pictures verified by the bbc, but the plane crash with people on board, both sides claim it was here that is my responsibility. ukraine said russia did not tell them the plane was coming, russia says ukraine simply shut it down. we will get the latest with more work —— with our eastern europe correspondence sarah rainsford later. it is a fast moving

story, with claimants and counterclaim. and a reminder — you can keep up to date on developments on our live page. no survivors on the plane that russia says was shut down. —— shot down. donald trump has won the new hampshire primary — the second contest to decide who will be the republican nominee in this november's presidential election. he beat his last remaining rival, former us ambassador to the un nikki haley, securing 5a percent of the vote. but she has vowed to fight on, despite the defeat. nomia iqbal sent this report. 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 blow out. 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 making their points loud and clear. amongst them, glen, who arrived early. nikki haley, who i support, is a good person who, while i don't agree with all of her conservative views, i'm sort of half liberal, half conservative, she is a strong person. but sue is no fan of nikki haley. she thinks she would be nowhere without trump, who once

appointed her un ambassador. there is something to be said for loyalty. you don't see nikki haley as loyal? i don't. give him a shot, give him the second term that he deserved, frankly. but it is interesting that you are both here, and getting on very well. very well! i even made him hot chocolate! two different opinions, two very different votes. but friendly neighbours in the snow. 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. how do voters feel about this? earlier i spoke to our north america correspondent emma vardy in new hampshire about the mood out there. if you speak to trump supporters they are ecstatic, they love to see him winning again and don't care about the legal dramas they are facing. they believe he has been politically persecuted and they want to see him run again, they are really excited by that. that is not representative of all of america. polling indicates that voters are frustrated, a biden trump rematch is not the one they wish to see and it is frustrating for democratic supporters who feel biden is not a strong candidate, there are lots of worries about his age and capability and that the alternative being trump, which for the anti—trump supporters, they feel he brings chaos and does nothing to bring people together. for some people it is two bad options for those who are not fans of either candidate particularly. but in terms of trump's results,

his republican base, those supporters are still strongly with him, they don't mind about legal battles, they love his confidence and style, when you go to a trump rally you can see the enthusiasm and joy most devotion he inspires people and they want to see him do it over again. —— enthusiasm and almost devotion. ask many of them and they believe he never lost anyway, they believe the election was stolen, there was voter fraud going on and they believe donald trump is the rightful incumbent anyway. he sold that to his supporters, many of whom believe it. what will be the key battlegrounds in terms of the issues this november? many will say there is a cost of living crisis, jobs, the economy. i wonder whether either biden or trump has any grip on those issues and they might be forgiven for thinking this is a bunch

of political infighting? of course it is about the economy, the cost of living, and then the border is another big issue. trump has made this a very key issue, how many immigrants are coming in, he constantly talks about wanting to close the border and he will be very strong on that. the economy has got better butjoe biden has not got credit during his presidency, but the border with mexico, there are record numbers of people coming across and illegal immigration is a very hot topic, even for states not affected by it, thousands of miles away from the border. donald trump knows how to press those buttons so those will be the key issues you will hear him talking about again and at rallies. it looks like a central message ofjoe biden�*s campaign will be all about donald trump, protecting democracy, saying we want to save america from donald trump's chaos.

those are the messages you will hear again and again. those are the hot button issues that matter to the voters at polling. donald trump is very used to his refrains where he lashes out at his opponents and attacks them fiercely, he is always talking about crooked joe biden, really harshly coming up with these nicknames for his opponents and boiling things down to very simplistic messages, but his supporters love it. emma vardy with the latest from new hampshire. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. 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. 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". almost 10 million people in england now can't access free earwax removal services on the nhs. the hearing loss charity rnid warned that some people are resorting to "dangerous self—removal methods" if they can't afford to go private. the government says patients can still be referred by their gp if the problem is linked to hearing loss. more on those stories on the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. let's return to one of the stories we are following closely, a plane

has crashed close to the border between russia and ukraine. both sides claim the other is responsible. we understand prisoners of war were on board the plane, now russian say ukraine shut it down, ukraine for its part saying it was not warned that a plane would be a much air space but does not directly admit responsibility. our eastern europe correspondence sarah rainsford is in kyiv and can bring us up to date. within the last hour there have been claims on both sides, i'll be closer to working out exactly what happens? —— are we any closer? we exactly what happens? -- are we any closer? ~ ., ., , , ., closer? we have our first statement from the ukrainian _ closer? we have our first statement from the ukrainian side, _ closer? we have our first statement from the ukrainian side, we - closer? we have our first statement from the ukrainian side, we have i from the ukrainian side, we have been asking for comments and explanation for several hours and we have two statements coming in rapid succession, one is from the military intelligence unit and the second one from ukraine's general staff of the armed forces. there are answers and

some questions. what we have from the ukrainian military intelligence is an implicit acknowledgement that ukraine has shot down a russian transport plane over belgorod, an il-76, transport plane over belgorod, an il—76, as russia has claimed all day, but ukraine is not saying who or what was on board. the statement says there is no reliable information about what was on board, whether there were prisoners of war being returned as part of a prisoner exchange to ukraine, but they are saying there was a prisoner exchange plant today. they then explain that normally if there is a prisoner exchange than the russians will give information to ukraine about how the prisoners will be returned and usually other aircraft are to be used there will be an agreement that there will be essentially a cessation of fire in that area whilst prisoners are moved around. ukraine says that didn't happen this

time, so not saying there were definitely prisoners on board but it says there was information missing a hedge of a prisoner exchange. they are then saying this may indicate deliberate action by russia aims at creating a threat to life under the safety of ukrainian prisoners. just to get to the general staff statement, it is not directly saying it is even talking about the shooting down of this plane but it talks a lot about the threat of missile strikes on the belgorod region and kharkiv, the north—eastern part of ukraine, talks about a real increase of missile strikes and says ukraine must essentially remove that threat. it is talking about targeting notjust the missile launch sites but the delivery of weapons into and around russia, so implicitly i think we can see the teacher is building but ukraine is acknowledging that the shooting down a plane if not who or

what was on board.— shooting down a plane if not who or what was on board. much as this is a military dispute. _ what was on board. much as this is a military dispute, it _ what was on board. much as this is a military dispute, it is _ what was on board. much as this is a military dispute, it is also _ what was on board. much as this is a military dispute, it is also an - military dispute, it is also an information war, claim and counterclaim. i wonder whose narrative this plays into because both sides are keen to spin this into a story that they are the victim. ~ .., into a story that they are the victim. ~ .. _ into a story that they are the victim. ~ , into a story that they are the victim. . ,~ ., , ., victim. we can say very clearly that russia has — victim. we can say very clearly that russia has a _ victim. we can say very clearly that russia has a long _ victim. we can say very clearly that russia has a long and _ victim. we can say very clearly that russia has a long and proven - victim. we can say very clearly that. russia has a long and proven history of this information and down —— downright lies so you have to be careful. that is one thing we had to be absolutely clear about it. the russian side has been very quick to say outright that were prisoners of war on that plane and that ukraine has shut them down. it has also gone so far as to suggest it was done deliberately. ukraine is not confirming there were prisoners on

board but it would be horrific for all of the families on board if true. i have met families of the prisoners who have been terrified before this about what might happen to them and they are now extremely worried, waiting to get some kind of news. .. . worried, waiting to get some kind of news. ., ., , ., , news. sarah rainsford live in kyiv, thank ou news. sarah rainsford live in kyiv, thank you very _ news. sarah rainsford live in kyiv, thank you very much. _ news. sarah rainsford live in kyiv, thank you very much. the - news. sarah rainsford live in kyiv, thank you very much. the image l news. sarah rainsford live in kyiv, l thank you very much. the image you can see on screen is new york where we expect to hear from the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov he was due to hold a news conference. we might get further details about what transpired between ukraine and russia. as sarah said, there are various claims. the awaiting media for sergei lavrov who was speaking at the ukraine and new york. —— he was speaking at the un in new york. here in the uk, royal mail could be allowed to reduce letter deliveries to five or even three days a week. these are among the options being considered by the communications watchdog, ofcom. it says a universal postal service

risks becoming unsustainable following a large fall in the numbers of letters we send. the prime minister says he's opposed to any cuts in key services provided by the royal mail. here's our business correspondent, theo leggett. it's been the same for generations. every day from monday to saturday, postal workers have been out and about delivering letters. it is a service royal mail is still obliged to offer by law, and that leaves people like peter from ormskirk feeling frustrated. years ago you would know your postman or postwoman because it would be the same person week in, week out for quite a long time. now we find every time we have a delivery it is a different person. so you get wrong deliveries, you get no deliveries, i don't think they know the rounds quite so well. now ofcom says the six day service could be reduced to five or even three days a week. and deliveries could be slowed down, with most letters taking three days to arrive, although urgent post could still be delivered next day. what we are saying today

is the number of letters we are sending since 2011 has halved. so something has got to give or the service willjust be too costly, and either stamp prices will go up, or it will become unsustainable. so we are opening up a debate on this today, we are not proposing a specific answer. what we want to do is hear people's views about something that remains incredibly important to us and will do in the future. the problem is too few people are sending letters these days with more and more of us relying on digital communication. that makes the service very expensive to run and royal mail is losing a lot of money. the postal operator says change is badly needed. letters volumes have dropped from 20 billion a year to 7 billion a year as consumer behaviour has changed. that means we are only delivering about four letters per week, per address. and what we need, given the fact that royal mail lost about £419 million last year, is a sustainable universal service that protects the "one price goes anywhere" service that people really need. ofcom says the changes it's

suggesting could save hundreds of millions of pounds for royal mail. but they would need government approval and ministers don't seem enthusiastic. i do understand letter volumes have decreased significantly, but nevertheless a six—day service is really important for our citizens, but also for businesses that rely on saturday deliveries. not least the magazine sector and the greeting cards sector. last year royal mail settled a bitter ia month dispute with employees represented by the communication workers union over pay and conditions. but now the union is angry once again. it said, "we are not resistant to change, with fewer and fewer people sending letters, changes to postal services are widely seen as inevitable. delivering a solution that suits royal mail, its employees, its customers and politicians is likely to be an uphill challenge. theo leggett, bbc news.

if you are in the uk there is a special programme looking at the brit award nominations coming next. for everyone else, i will be back with your headlines. see you soon. 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. this morning, yes, it was windy, but with a lot of cloud around noticeably milder, 5 degrees. now, one of the reasons for this, storm jocelyn pulls away to the near continent is a change of wind direction to a south—westerly, a milder source. 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—65mph. 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—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 ia degrees, average in the southeast at this time of year, around 7 or 8. 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.

hello, i'm nicky schiller, welcome to this bbc news special on the brit awards. i'm joined here in the home of some of the bbc�*s biggest podcasts like newscast by our culture correspondent noor nanju and music jounalist christine ochefu and by the deputy music editor of the guardian, laura snapes. so let's get straight into it. first a quick reminder of the categories — there are 16 in all. keep an eye on that r and b act. the first time there has been a category. producer of the year and songwriter of the year. what is key when there is never any nominations is who has got the most. they have been released and you have the list,

so has the most nominations? ?