tens of thousands of people in argentina join a union—led strike against the new president's economic plans. hello. i'm azadeh moshiri. welcome to the programme. the united nations security council will meet on thursday to discuss moscow's charges that ukrainian forces shot down a russian transport military plane, killing everyone on board. russia has said ukrainian prisoners of war were being flown for a prisoner exchange. the bbc verified this video showing the moment of the crash. you can see the aircraft there in the distance falling through the sky. the crash took place in russia's southern belgorod region, which lies along its border with eastern ukraine.

the ukrainian authorities said the prisoner exchange was due to take place on wednesday, and that it's now been cancelled. none of the details surrounding those on board can be independently verified. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has demanded an international inquiry into the incident. translation: it is obvious. that the russians are playing with the lives of ukrainian prisoners, with the feelings of the relatives and the emotions of our society. we need to establish all the clear facts as much as possible given that the downing of the plane occurred on russian territory, which is beyond our control. russia says its radars detected the launch of two ukrainian missiles before the crash. russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, was the one who called an emergency meeting to be held immediately. translation: ukrainian prisoners of war were - transported to the belgorod region for the next exchange agreed upon between moscow and kyiv. instead of this exchange taking place, the ukrainian side from the kharkiv region launched an anti—aircraft missile attack on this plane, which became fatal.

our russia editor, steve rosenberg, has been following the developments from moscow and gave us this update. caught on mobile phone, the moment a russian military transport plane fell from the sky. woman speaks russian "good god," she cries, as the consequence of what has happened becomes clear. the wreckage was strewn across the fields of belgorod region. not only did russia accuse ukraine of shooting the plane down, it claimed that on board were dozens of ukrainian prisoners of war who were about to be exchanged. translation: on board the plane. _ there were six crew members, 65 ukrainian servicemen for a prisoner swap, and three russian military personnel escorting them. the crew and all the passengers on the plane were killed. with this terrorist attack, the ukrainian leadership has shown its true colours. over at the russian parliament, mps were quick to condemn

ukraine and those countries who have been supporting kyiv during the war. but this is a war the kremlin began, with president putin's special military operation. moscow has made its position clear — ukraine is to blame, ukraine shot the plane down. now, we cannot confirm that here, but what is clear is that russian officials are using what happened today to try to discredit kyiv, to portray the ukrainian government as the aggressor in this war. but keep in mind it was russia nearly two years ago that launched a full—scale invasion of ukraine. these russian soldiers were part of the last prisoner exchange between russia and ukraine. it took place earlier this month. ukraine has confirmed that another swap had been arranged for today, but it accused russia of deliberate actions to risk the safety of the ukrainian prisoners.

the belgorod region where the plane came down has come under increased shelling and drone attack from ukraine. but the ukrainian authorities say that some of the attacks on their country are being carried out from this part of russia. and in the village near the crash site, a memorial service. amid the mutual accusations, more victims of this war. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. ukrainian military intelligence issued a statement saying it doesn't have any reliable information about who exactly was on board the plane. however, it says: our eastern europe correspondent sarah rainsford has the latest from kyiv. but we now have a couple of statements, and together, i think they amount

to an implicit acknowledgement from ukraine that, in fact, it was a ukrainian missile that brought down the russian transport plan. but we don't have is a statement openly saying that and there is no official information that there were any ukrainian prisoners of war on board that russian plan. of course, that is what russia has been claiming all along and it is what ukraine is saying it cannot officially confirm. but it has said, though is that there was a prisoner of war exchange plan for today and did not happen. it also said that i got no information from russia on the kind of transport or route it was planning to use which is what it would normally get and therefore there was nothing to imply that there was any risk to any prisoners in the belgorod region. so lots of questions still today. the general staff has said that when it is firing at a transport plane, it was justifying that

kind of attack saying that in fact those planes are carrying the missiles that are fired at ukraine in russia's war in ukraine particularly in kharkiv in the northeast of the country where there had been major attacks recently and many civilians injured and killed. i think the one thing to remember in all of this, the big question is were there prisoners on board the plane? and that's important more than anything for the families of ukraine's prisoners of war who are still in russia, many thousands of them and their families here in ukraine really need to know whether or not their relatives are safe. that was sarah rainsford. let's look at the middle east now. the united nations says one of its large compounds in gaza sheltering displaced palestinians was struck by tank shelling, killing at least nine people. the united nations said the attack hit a vocational training centre housing 30,000 displaced people in khan younis, southern gaza's main city. the director of gaza affairs for the un palestinian refugee agency said 75 were wounded, in additon to those killed.

he warned that the death toll would likely rise. the head of the un palestinian refugee agency, philippe lazzarini, called the attack "a blatant disregard of basic rules of war." the us responded with a statement from a national security council spokesperson, saying: khan younis continues to be at the heart of the violence. 0ur correspondent mark lowen has more from jerusalem. now, this is a city in southern gaza where authorities have issued evacuation orders for three parts of the city thought to contain more than 500,000 people and there

is intense fighting around three hospitals and khan younis, the aid agency doctors without borders says that 850 medics and patients and thousands more staff, people sheltering in the grounds of nasser hospital can't leave because of the intensity of the fighting. israel believes that khan younis is where top hamas commanders are holed up in or beneath the city, it is the birthplace of the leader of hamas in gaza, yayha sinwar, israel's most wanted, and more than three months in to this war, israel is under mounting pressure to show tangible progress for the war, and they've got about 100 hostages back on the deal back in november. there is still 130 that are not back, possibly 30, says israel. crucially, they have not yet killed or captured any top hamas leaders so they there is growing pressure to rectify or show that it is really people and the israeli authorities believe some

of those top leaders could be indeed in khan younis. as mark alluded to, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, particularly at hospitals in khan younis. my colleague, caitriona perry, spoke with tommasso della longa of the international federation of the red cross. they are continuing to live a constant nightmare i would say. what we have seen now in khan younis and what we saw sadly almost two months ago in gaza city when we had to close after ten days of siege, no food, water or medicine, we had to close the hospital and evacuate people from there. we hope will not arrive at this point but even in the hospital, medicine is running out, fuel is already almost running out so there are only some areas of the hospital served by electricity where there is a life—saving activities and there is an issue of food and water for the patients, for the people seeking refuge, but even doctors and nurses who are affected themselves by this conflict,

so the situation is really dire. earlier, i spoke to tal heinrich, a spokesperson for the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. i first want to get your reaction to the un saying that one of its facilities sheltering palestinians was hit by tank shells and that this killed at least nine people. thank you for having me on. i don't have details about this particular incident. i know that the idf is investigating. they are also not ruling out the option that this was hamas fire. as you know, since the war began on october 7, more than 2,000 hamas rocket fire fell short inside the gaza strip, causing damage and casualties and the bbc has reported about such incidents, so we will have to wait and see when more details about the incident emerge. but we don't target civilians or civilian infrastructure. we only target terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in

gaza. right, but you just mentioned that, and we've also just heard my colleague mark talk about the fact that one hospital in particular, the nasser hospital in khan younis, is surrounded by fighting to the point that people who are sheltering there and patients are unable to leave. what is your response to that? as you know, hamas unfortunately uses hospitals for its protection. they're using hospitals as shields for their war machine. again, i'm not talking about specific military activity, operational matters that are happening on the ground right now, but since the war began on october 7 and the idf has put forward much evidence of hamas's cynical use of clinics and hospitals to serve their war machine with tunnels underneath, unfortunately, this is what they've done for 16 years, embedding themselves in and underneath civilian population, they think that

hospitals will give them community. israel, on our end, we're doing everything humanly possible to avoid civilian casualties, minimised them and also minimise the civilian suffering in gaza as we progress in this war and towards the goal. your response to the statement from the us, though, saying that it's been urging israel to avoid civilian casualties, that's something that presidentjoe biden and prime minister benjamin netanyahu have been having sincere discussions about, haven't they? indeed, we talked to our best friends in washington, jerusalem and washington has no daylight between us in the goals of the world, the mission statement as we defined it on october 7, rather october 8, i should say is to eliminate the hamas terrorist regime and bring hostages home, to make sure gaza will never pose a terror

threat began, and while we do it, to also minimise the collateral damage to be possible extent. of course, every civilian tragedy in gaza is a terrible tragedy that we want to avoid, but hamas is doing exactly the opposite — they want to maximise the civilian suffering and casualties, they want israel to take the fire for their sick methods of war. sorry to interrupt, we don't have much time, but you say there is no daylight between the us and israel. i want to ask about the fact that president biden is pushing and has insisted on a two—state solution for postwar gaza. what does your government believe that presidentjoe biden has got wrong about that? president biden has got it right actually. he said just over the weekend that there are different types of two—state solution. we on our end say no to the type which means that it will imperil israel's security. peace with the palestinians or a full palestinian

sovereignty down the road cannot mean a collective public suicide of israel. that is not peace, and we say that for the near future, israel will have to retain the security... sorry, you said "collective public suicide". what do you mean by that? the palestinians — do you agree they should have a say in what that two—state solution or solution should look like? first, let me say this. hamas does not want a two—state solution. he just sat in a podcast, but the leader a few days ago said — he said hamas does not want us to state solution, they want a final solution like the holocaust. what happened on october 7... it was a tragedy. and hamas waged brutal attacks. i just wonder what you think about the palestinians having a say in what postwar gaza would look like?

so, the right conditions have to be in place before we can seriously talk about a durable peace. now, what my prime minister has said, not only before 7 october and after 7 october, and the principle has become very prevalent and popular among many, many israelis. the overwhelming majority of is rarely supported and that's that the palestinians should have all of the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to threaten israel, because think about it, what would it look like, full sovereignty for the palestinian people, should leaders from iran be able to touch base on palestinian soil and hezbollah training camps, let's say... i do apologise. unfortunately, it's a live tv and we run out of time, but i do appreciate your time. thank you. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

let's look at an interesting story from the natural world. scientists have used satellite imagery to identify four new emperor penguin colonies in antarctica. it brings the number of known nesting sites there to 66. with the discovery, scientists believe they now know the whereabouts of all the world's remaining breeding pairs. emperor penguins court, mate and hatch eggs on the sea ice connected to the coast, so—called �*fast ice'. they are considered acutely vulnerable to climate change. we know that sea ice will decline with warming temperatures and that will affect the chicks and the chicks will go into the water and not survive. it is quite a grim scenario and what we hope is they will be able to adapt and move to more stable ice. emperors are the largest species of penguin, standing over a metre tall — or more than three feet. they live in extreme conditions and gather during the height of the antarctic winter to breed in distinct groupings. scientists say that

while the four new sites are welcome news, they only add a few thousand penguins to the overall known population. you are watching bbc news. tens of thousands of workers have gone on strike in argentina against at the new president's radical economic reforms. the industrial action is being led by the country's biggest union against javier milei's campaign of deregulation and public spending cuts. my colleague sofia bettiza has more on the background to today's action. this strike is a significant test for the president of argentina, javier milei, and that's because it comes only 45 days after he took office. now this, what we can see here is just outside the national congress building in the capital, buenos aires. but this is notjust happening in the capital. there are thousands of people marching all over the country. so what do they want? well, they are mostly

worried about this man. javier milei is implementing drastic measures to try and fix the economy. and the concern for many people is that those reforms will make it easier to sack people, which has already happened, and it will also cut benefits for the poor. now, the reason why a lot of people in argentina are worried is that the country is facing a profound economic crisis. this is footage that we filmed in the south of the country in a slum. and i think it gives you an idea of how so many people are struggling and they're having to live in places like this. now, just to give you some numbers, the poverty rate in argentina is now more than 40% and

the inflation rate is at 221%. and that is a staggering number. it's one of the highest in the world. and the consequence of all of this is that two in five people now live in poverty. now, if we go back to that strike, in the past in argentina, action like this, it's actually been quite successful and has stopped government reforms from happening. but in this case, javier milei has a lot of support. he says he won't back down and he really believes that his shock therapy, as he calls it, is the only way to lift argentina out of poverty. a man is due in court this week in south africa after he told a public inquiry he started a fire that killed 77 people last year. the 29—year—old said he strangled another man, before setting him on fire in a building injohannesburg. the disaster has exposed the poor state of housing in the city. daniel de simone reports from johannesburg. it's the deadliest building fire in african history. at least 77 killed in central johannesburg. an enquiry is

investigating the disaster stop during a hearing with a witness who can't yet be named came a shocking development. the man told the enquiry he had started the fire in the building. he said he did so unintentionally after using fuel to set light to the body of a man he had strangled while high on drugs. and he described himself as working for a violent drug dealer who demanded rent from residents. police say the 29—year—old is due in court tomorrow, accused of 77 murders and 120 attempted murders. in the aftermath of the fire, this pledge... the aftermath of the fire, this pledge- - -_ pledge... those who need assistance, _ pledge... those who need assistance, from - pledge... those who need - assistance, from accommodation to trauma counselling, are being looked after. but we found many _ being looked after. but we found many survivors - being looked after. but we found many survivors havej being looked after. but we - found many survivors have been put in the shacks without power or water, which frequently flood. ., , .,~ or water, which frequently flood. ., , flood. you 'ust take the bucket and then flood. you just take the bucket and then through _ flood. you just take the bucket and then through the - flood. you just take the bucket and then through the water - and then through the water outside. ,, , ., ., .,

outside. she is a mother of three, including _ outside. she is a mother of three, including a - outside. she is a mother of three, including a disabled | three, including a disabled son. she has a message for the president. son. she has a message for the president-— president. please give us houses. _ president. please give us houses, not _ president. please give us houses, not these - president. please give us| houses, not these sheds, president. please give us - houses, not these sheds, these sheds are too dangerous for us. do you feel let down?— do you feel let down? yes, yes i do. i do you feel let down? yes, yes i d0- i asked — do you feel let down? yes, yes i do. i asked the _ do you feel let down? yes, yes i do. i asked the mayor - do you feel let down? yes, yes i do. i asked the mayor who - i do. i asked the mayor who runs africa's _ i do. i asked the mayor who runs africa's richest - i do. i asked the mayor who runs africa's richest city - i do. i asked the mayor who runs africa's richest city if i runs africa's richest city if he thinks survivors are in acceptable conditions. the city does not have _ acceptable conditions. the city does not have sufficient - acceptable conditions. the city| does not have sufficient budget for us to be responding efficiently or in the manner in which we want.— which we want. there is a crisis of — which we want. there is a crisis of buildings - which we want. there is a i crisis of buildings abandoned by owners and sometimes hijacked by criminals. residents of this nearby property are in despair. these ones, olivia _ property are in despair. these ones, olivia mead _ property are in despair. these ones, olivia mead can - property are in despair. these ones, olivia mead can see - property are in despair. these ones, olivia mead can see it l property are in despair. these | ones, olivia mead can see it is ones, 0livia mead can see it is damaged. ones, olivia mead can see it is damaged-— damaged. this used to be a lift? yes- — damaged. this used to be a lift? yes. the _ damaged. this used to be a lift? yes. the fire _ damaged. this used to be a lift? yes. the fire escape, i damaged. this used to be a l lift? yes. the fire escape, for instance- _ lift? yes. the fire escape, for instance. there _ lift? yes. the fire escape, for instance. there are _ lift? yes. the fire escape, for instance. there are no - lift? yes. the fire escape, for

instance. there are no stairs. j instance. there are no stairs. they cut _ instance. there are no stairs. they cut them. _ instance. there are no stairs. they cut them. if _ instance. there are no stairs. they cut them. if we - instance. there are no stairs. they cut them. if we can - instance. there are no stairs. | they cut them. if we can have security and the place can be cleaned and no—one can come inside a flat and do this thing like this. this one is our home. where can we go? those sufferin: home. where can we go? those suffering from _ home. where can we go? those suffering from this _ home. where can we go? those suffering from this crisis - home. where can we go? those suffering from this crisis are - suffering from this crisis are the most vulnerable. 0n suffering from this crisis are the most vulnerable. on another building near the fire, the most vulnerable. on another building nearthe fire, a horrifying discovery. a teenager locked on the roof and exploited. teenager locked on the roof and exloited. , ._ teenager locked on the roof and exloited. , ~' exploited. every day locked inside. the _ exploited. every day locked inside. the suffering - exploited. every day locked | inside. the suffering behind this city's — inside. the suffering behind this city's neglected - inside. the suffering behind this city's neglected walls . this city's neglected walls will not be contained. daniel de simone, bbc news, johannesburg. there are only two northern white rhinos left on the planet and they can no longer reproduce. but a scientific breakthrough offers hope that the species can be saved from extinction. an international team of scientists has successfully transferred a lab—created rhino embryo into a surrogate mother. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle reports. the last two northern white rhinos left on the planet. najin and fatu, a mother and daughter, living in a reserve in kenya.

the species is all but extinct. now, a fertility breakthrough has offered some hope. in a world first, scientists have successfully carried out rhino ivf, but in a less endangered southern white rhino — a close cousin to the northern white. a southern white rhino embryo created in a lab from sperm and an egg was implanted into a surrogate mum. it's taken years and 13 attempts for a rhino to fall pregnant. it is really a great milestone to achieve the first successful embryo transfer in the rhino. it's very challenging in terms of placing an embryo inside of the reproductive tract, which is almost two metres inside of the animal. with this achievement, we are very confident that we will be able to create northern white rhinos in the same manner. the material they need is held in a lab in berlin. this is a frozen ark. tissues from hundreds of different

animals are perfectly preserved in liquid nitrogen inside these tanks. but the most precious samples are stored inside here. a small number of northern white rhino embryos, created by the scientists here. and they're the last chance of saving this species. there are just 30 of these lab—made northern white embryos, but there's a complication. najin and fatu, the last northern whites, can't carry a pregnancy. so instead the embryos have to be implanted into a southern white rhino surrogate mother. ivf across two subspecies has never been attempted before, but the team is confident it will work. the speed of progress we did, we will see relatively soon the first calf on the ground, and then i may retire before the first reintroduction into the wild will take place, but i think it is not too far away. it might be in10, 15 years.

but the ivf success with the southern white rhino was struck by tragedy. two months into the pregnancy, the rhino died of an unrelated bacterial infection. a postmortem found the foetus had a 95% chance of being born, proof that the technique works. the team's attention is now turning to the northern white rhinos, so the first calf will be born while najin and fatu are still around. it's a race against time for this species. rebecca morelle, bbc news. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. after two bouts of stormy weather so far this week, things are looking quite a lot calmer over the next few days. not completely plain sailing, will still be some rain at times. it'll be breezy, but less windy and mostly fairly mild. now for thursday, we've got this frontal system pushing its way northwards and eastwards.

this warm front, introducing cloud, introducing some outbreaks of mostly quite patchy rain, but this wedge of milder airflooding north eastwards across the uk. so for most a mild start to thursday. still a little bit chilly in the north of scotland. here, though, we will see some early sunshine, but generally speaking, lots of cloud, some mist and murk, for coasts and hills, some splashes of rain, a few brighter glimpses. and i think particularly in northern ireland, maybe the northwest of scotland, we will see a little bit of sunshine as we head through the afternoon. but those temperatures 9—13 degrees above what we'd expect at this time of year. now, during thursday night, we will see this band of rain sweeping its way eastwards. there's a short, sharp burst of heavy rain and some quite squally winds. clear skies following on behind. and while it will stay mild across the southeast corner, it will start to feel a little bit chillier further north and west because this weather front here pushing its way eastwards is a cold front. it will introduce for a time at least some colder air, but with a little ridge of high

pressure toppling through, some spells of sunshine on friday. now there will be some showers, particularly in scotland, some of these wintry down to, say, 100—200 metres for a time, although those snow levels coming up through the day as the air turns a little bit less chilly. temperatures in single digits for just about all of us on friday afternoon. but that slightly chillier weather will not last long because as we head into the weekend, mild air is going to surge northwards once again. we're expecting some pretty high temperatures, a lot of dry weather for the weekend as well. this is saturday's forecast. some spells of sunshine. the further north and west you are more cloud and some outbreaks of rain, some quite heavy rain actually in parts of northwest scotland, seven degrees for lerwick, ten for london and for plymouth. but as we get into sunday, those temperatures will be a little bit higher. we will see some spells of sunshine, i think most places dry again, some rain in the north—west of scotland, maybe western parts of northern ireland, but highs of 12 or 13 degrees.

boeing faces questions over its midair blowout but regulators move to get the max 9 back in the air.

and a battle over butter chicken — find out why the popular dish is dividing people in india. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. the federal aviation administration in the us says it will not allow boeing to expand production of the 737 max jets. almost 200 jets have been grounded after a cabin panel blew out on a plane while it was in the air. the faa did, however, say the max 9, the plane that was involved, could return to service after inspections. united airlines says it has been given the go—ahead to get its planes back in the air. this comes as boeing's boss faced questions from us lawmakers over that midair incident, as erin delmore explains. the boss of boeing, david calhoun, said he understood the seriousness of the safety questions facing the company as he was on his way to meet with us senators on wednesday.

we believe in our airplanes.