hello, i m lauren taylor. welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction. we start the programme in the united states where it is super tuesday — the biggest day so far in the 2024 race for the white house. the republican contest will be in all of these 15 states, while the democrats will vote in the same states except alaska. they will hold caucuses, too, in american samoa. we'll also get the results of the democratic contest in iowa, which has been ongoing by post for several weeks. presidentjoe biden faces little opposition on the democratic side and is all but guaranteed the party's nomination. while on the republican side, donald trump expects another triumph over his only remaining rival, nikki haley.

these are pictures coming into us from charlotte and we will be monitoring these voting pictures throughout the day. our north america correspondent emma vardy has been looking at the events of the last 2a hours leading up to super tuesday. she sent this report from colorado. america's getting ready for a big political contest. but despite the millions of votes being cast, it's already pretty clear which candidates will be facing off in the presidential battle. as colorado goes to the polls, sisters mandy and nicky are headed to the ice. we are such a divided nation. but the one thing i like is when i walk into the hockey rink, we're all the same. the feeling is rather different on the campaign trail, as 15 states are holding votes to pick their presidential candidates. crooked joe biden, you're fired! before polls have even closed, there's been a victory for donald trump. the state of colorado was in a fight

to kick him off the ballot entirely for his role in the capitol riots onjanuary 6. but the us supreme court struck it down. his republican opponent is undeterred. i defeated a dozen of the fellas. cheering. ijust have one more fella i got to catch up to. the question is whether nikki haley quits the race, or decides to hang on. it wasn't presidentjoe biden, but the first lady doing the rounds on the democratic side, going after female voters. donald trump is dangerous to women and to our families. we simply cannot let him win. but the prospect of a joe biden rematch with donald trump is unpopular with many voters. i do wish there were more choices. that's another thing i don't lovei about our political system here. contenders that have been there before and they're kind of ready to go again. so not the most exciting match? not this time, no. because neitherjoe biden nor donald trump has any serious

competition this year, as political games go, the result is rather a foregone conclusion. what matters now is that after tuesday, the real start of the election campaign will begin. and unlike this somewhat predictable super tuesday, the result of the presidential election in november will be much harder to call. emma vardy, bbc news, colorado. let's speak to dr lauren wright, lecturer in politics and public affairs at princeton university. we might not be looking for surprises, but what will you be looking out for during the events today? looking out for during the events toda ? �* ., ., ~' looking out for during the events toda ? �* ., ., ~ ., ., today? one thing i'm looking out for is whether nikki _ today? one thing i'm looking out for is whether nikki haley _ today? one thing i'm looking out for is whether nikki haley can _ today? one thing i'm looking out for is whether nikki haley can win - today? one thing i'm looking out for is whether nikki haley can win any i is whether nikki haley can win any states, let alone the four or five at she needs to have some sort of sway on the convention floor. if she wins five states, she can have speakers, she can advocate for certain things. i don't know, frankly, what she would do with that power, but it is quite a bit of sway and i think she is waiting in the

wings to see if donald trump �*s legal troubles catch up to him in a way that makes him unable to serve, which i also think is unlikely. i'm just waiting to see if she continues to get 30%-40% just waiting to see if she continues to get 30%—40% in some of these more moderate swing states, and what the ultimate outcome will be. my best guess is this willjust bring donald trump closer to the nomination. find trump closer to the nomination. and what are the — trump closer to the nomination. and what are the options for her if she does come in too low?— does come in too low? well, she robabl does come in too low? well, she probably can't — does come in too low? well, she probably can't be _ does come in too low? well, she probably can't be the _ does come in too low? well, she probably can't be the vice - does come in too low? well, she i probably can't be the vice president for donald trump at this point. he has made it clear that he feels a lot of animosity towards her. i don't know why he is taking it so seriously, other than it is personal to him. she served in his administration, and that is pretty extraordinary, as far as us history goes, to campaign against someone that you promised not to run against, and you with their un secretary. so that option is probably not on the table for her. what is on the table is another try

of four years. other sorts of political capital. she has got a lot of name recognition now, a lot of people know who didn't before, so in that sense she has been pretty successful. she did of course beat 12 other in her achievements and it is pretty impressive, what she has accomplished. is pretty impressive, what she has accomplished-— is pretty impressive, what she has accomlished. ., , ., ., accomplished. donald trump had won victo with accomplished. donald trump had won victory with the _ accomplished. donald trump had won victory with the supreme _ accomplished. donald trump had won victory with the supreme court, - accomplished. donald trump had won victory with the supreme court, so i victory with the supreme court, so how do you see him going into this? i'm sorry, could you repeat that? what does donald trump need to do, evenif what does donald trump need to do, even if he does really well, how does he need to position him after super tuesday? does he need to position him after super tuesday?— does he need to position him after super tuesday? he's betting on his la ers super tuesday? he's betting on his lawyers been _ super tuesday? he's betting on his lawyers been very _ super tuesday? he's betting on his lawyers been very successful - super tuesday? he's betting on his lawyers been very successful in - lawyers been very successful in efforts to delay, and this georgia case, which all legal analysts i have heard from think was the most dangerous to him because he is on tape asking the secretary of state, pressuring really, to find ii,ooo pressuring really, to find 11,000

votes and that is a completely different situation now because of the scandal surrounding the prosecutor and the attempt to remove her that very well may be successful and at the least it is politically tainted and his argument that this is all biased against him looks a little bit more credible than it used to. so he is probably in the clear, except for the hundreds of millions of dollars he has to find, and the rnc, our republican national organisation, does not want to pay that and has made it clear they won't. �* ., ., g ., �* won't. and what about joe biden? he has had some — won't. and what about joe biden? he has had some issues _ won't. and what about joe biden? he has had some issues with _ won't. and what about joe biden? he has had some issues with the - has had some issues with the pro—palestinian protest and how much do you think that will affect him in this race? .,, ' :: :: :: :: :: do you think that will affect him in this race? .,, ':: :: :: :: :: ., , this race? those 100,000 voters in michiran this race? those 100,000 voters in michigan could _ this race? those 100,000 voters in michigan could give _ this race? those 100,000 voters in michigan could give donald - this race? those 100,000 voters in michigan could give donald trump i this race? those 100,000 voters in i michigan could give donald trump the election. the difference between the two of them last time around in michigan was only a couple of hundred thousand votes. you know, i know a lot of liberal and progressive leaning analysts were very inspired by their actions, but

in effect, it helps donald trump, it really does. what you have in american politics is a choice between two parties. the good of the worst, in many cases. and donald trump is certainly going to enact fewer of their preferences thanjoe biden bill. he has backed off fewer of their preferences than joe biden bill. he has backed off lately and been critical of israel in a lot of ways people think are unfair. thank you forjoining us with your analysis. just keeping an eye on voting in virginia, we have pictures coming in and we will of course bring you these pictures as votes happen. we will get results starting to trickle in as the polls close on the east coast in the early evening.

to the middle east and the israel—gaza war. israel has repeatedly said that the brutality against the victims of the hamas attacks on october 7th included sexual violence. now, a team of experts from the un has concluded there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that sexual violence occurred during the attacks, and there's convincing information that hostages taken by the group have been subjected to it. hamas has denied the allegations. meanwhile on the ground in gaza, the war continues. there have been more air strikes in the south of the territory, including here, in the southern city of rafah. meanwhile in cairo, egyptian mediators say they are continuing with talks on securing a ceasefire in gaza, despite an israeli decision not to send a delegation. israel says it will not participate until hamas provides a list of hostages — something hamas says is not possible. in washington, the us vice president kamala harris has held talks with benny gantz, a member of the israeli war cabinet. she's understood to have urged israel to let more aid into gaza and called on hamas to accept terms for a ceasefire. with the details on that, here's our correspondent in jerusalem, yolande knell.

the white house says kemal harris spoke to benny gantz about the need for a credible humanitarian plan before there is any military operation in rafah on the border with egypt, which is where there are hundreds of thousands displaced people staying. she also pushed in general for people staying. she also pushed in generalfor a big increase in aid going into gaza, we are told. this, after we have had repeated warnings from the un about the risk of mass starvation. it all adds really to the international pressure on those truce talks, which are currently going on in egypt, but without an israeli delegation present. you have hamas officials meeting there with egyptian mediators and us involvement as well and we are told that israel is being kept up—to—date on developments and it has already agreed to the framework of a deal that would see dozens of its remaining hostages in gaza being

released. at the clock is ticking, if you like. we are approaching the islamic holy month of ramadan and thatis islamic holy month of ramadan and that is a time when it is expected that is a time when it is expected that tensions will rise here in jerusalem at the mosque behind me, the most holy site in islam. israel is expected to put more restrictions on access to the site, also known to the jewish people on access to the site, also known to thejewish people as temple mount, during the holiday period, and that could lead to further problems. it has also often been a flashpoint of violence in the past. china is holding the biggest event in its political calendar — the national people's congress. the country's premier delivered a major address on the economy, where he's announced that import tarrifs on advanced technology will be cut, to try and boost growth. but one question which was not addressed was who the authorities in beijing would like to see winning the race for the white house. our china correspondent steve mcdonell went to the great hall of the people to try to find out more.

what do china �*s communist party elite think of this question mark who do they want to win? let's try to find out. it is like pulling teeth.

there is a sense from the delegates hear that they don't want to speak out of turn when it comes to expressing an opinion on us politics, but they are worried about china— us relations and they want them to improve.

do check out our website where there is plenty of analysis on that story, and the rest of the day �*s stories, too. there will be a major address on the economy. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news here in the uk... the mother of emma caldwell is meeting scotland's first minister to call for a public inquiry into the investigation of her daughter's murder. margaret caldwell wants a judge to look into the failings by police in the case. iain packer was jailed for life last month for the murder of emma in 2005. birmingham city council is to vote on a wave of cuts to local services and a 21% rise in its rate of council tax. the largest local authority in europe declared itself effectively bankrupt last year and is now trying to make £300 million worth of savings. libraries, parks and cultural

projects may be affected. councils will be told to reduce spending on consultants and diversity schemes when chancellorjeremy hunt delivers his budget tomorrow. council leaders have long been warning they are struggling to balance their books, amid financial pressures. the local government association said most councils spent little on things like diversity schemes. you're live with bbc news. a vulnerable girl being held in a young offenders institution in yorkshire was restrained and had her clothes removed by an all—male team of prison officers, twice. the details emerged in a highly critical report of wetherby young offenders institution, which houses some of the uk's most complex child offenders. the girl, aged between 15 and 18, was undressed to prevent her from using her clothes to self—harm. officials say female staff did not attend the incident, because they had been assaulted earlier in their shift. report author charlie taylor says care for vulnerable young people, especially girls, at the site was "not good enough".

our home editor mark easton has been looking into this story and joins me now. this is a shocking story, isn't it? it is, and one needs i think to understand the background before you draw any conclusions. almost all the children locked up in wetherby young offenders institution in yorkshire exhibit these very high risk behaviours, extremely violent and a huge amount of self—harm, particularly among the very small number of girls who are held there. and managing these vulnerable and dysfunctional teenagers is a huge challenge for the staff. roughly 440 children are locked up in england and wales at the moment, that's down from where it used to be, it used to be over 3000. and currently there are just seven goals in the whole of england and wales in custody and most of them are held at wetherby which is an old borstal built in the 50s, for boys. so that's the background. when inspectors turned up background. when inspectors turned up unannounced in november last year, and they had been before and had concerns about some of the

things that were going on there, they discovered that one of the girls had been restrained and stripped by a team of all—male prison officers on two separate occasions. this was a girl who was intent on using her clothing to hang herself. that's what they were trying to prevent. but what the chief inspector of prisons is saying that sure, sometimes you are going to have small numbers of female staff available to be involved in a deeply traumatic process like that, but for it to happen twice is clearly unacceptable. the ministry ofjustice said lessons have been learnt from this and new procedures have been brought in to deal with particular girls, girls who self harm. in the long term, they are hoping that a new secure school being opened in kent later this year, in a few months�* time hopefully, is going to be the answer, which changes from a custodial setting, which is where all of this happened, very much like all of this happened, very much like a prison, into much more of an educational setting, and that somehow it is going to be easier to

manage these extremely vulnerable, complex, and troublesome young people in that environment. thank ou for people in that environment. thank you for the — people in that environment. thank you for the background _ people in that environment. thank you for the background and - people in that environment. thank you for the background and analysis on that. here in the uk, medical leaders have backed an increase in the number of physician associates working for the health service. they�*re health professionals who play supporting role to doctors — they don�*t have a medical degree and shouldn�*t make diagnoses unsupervised. but they�*re now coming under the same regulator as general practitioners, and some are worried this could blur the lines between doctors and physician associates. our reporter gem o�*reilly has more. to lose a child is terrible. but when you find out that your daughter�*s death was preventable and should have been prevented, it�*s just devastating. it�*s torture. emily would have been celebrating her 32nd birthday this year and performing in musicals like she dreamt of. but, in november 2022, those dreams were destroyed when emily died of a pulmonary embolism.

emily had a pain in her left calf, and she phoned the doctor�*s surgery. it didn�*t get better. so she made an appointment and was seen by a physician associate. we believe, and she believed at the time it was a doctor, but it wasn�*t. the physician�*s associate diagnosed emily with a sprain and anxiety. she actually had a blood clot in her left calf. emily�*s condition worsened and she collapsed. she died in hospital three weeks after her 30th birthday. our emotions range still. disbelief, i think is the major one. emily�*s gp surgery told the bbc it was deeply saddened by her death, adding that... staff have been told to be transparent with patients about who they�*re seeing. a physician�*s associate, or when they were first founded, the physician�*s assistant, was there — someone to, well, as the name suggests, literally help the physician. i can understand why there�*s this

confusion out there, but there shouldn�*t be a point that we�*re putting these individual — these patients — theirfamilies at risk by not having them seen with someone with the full training that it takes to manage both the simple but also the complex and the uncertainty. this year will see the regulation of physician and anaesthetic associates, which will allow the general medical council to oversee their training and validate if they are fit to practise. legislation has recently been passed for regulation of physician associates, which is great news. regulation provides a mechanism for reporting any concerns, which will improve patient safety and reduce patient harm. so this should help correct that and give confidence in the workforce that any concerns are being overseen. the faculty of physician associates makes it clear that they are health care professionals, working in multidisciplinary teams with the supervision of doctors. it says regulation is vital to improving patient care and growing the profession.

if pas are here to stay in the nhs, they have a role to play. then there needs to be some sort of patient information campaign to ensure that they know who it is that they�*re speaking to and what that person�*s skillset is. emily chesterton�*s is an isolated incident, but her family wants there to be more transparency so patients know who they�*re seeing. be aware, be proactive, don't be passive. and, if in doubt, ask... i will ask for a gp's appointment. don'tjust assume that you are seeing a fully—qualified gp because you may not be. gem o�*reilly, bbc news. with more on this, our reporter gem o�*reilly is in the newsroom. what is a physician associate? they have been working in the nhs

since 2003. they can examine, diagnose and develop treatment plans for patients. they cannot prescribe, and they cannot request ionising radiation which involves ct scans or x—rays. their work must be overseen by the likes of a senior doctor. the difference between physician associate and a doctor is that a physician associate goes to a two year masters programme in a position of associate training, but a doctor will have five years of med school, and then clinical work on top of that. position associates to play an important role in the nhs when their work is supervised correctly. the government _ work is supervised correctly. the government began the legal process to set these new rules back in december so what is the latest line? so, the latest line that we have found out today is that the academy of medical royal colleges has backed the government was push to increase a physician associate up to 10000 by 2037. currently in the uk there are

3286 position associates. however, the academy makes it clear that the scope of practice for the position associates must be outlined, and that there must be clear guidelines as to how they are deployed across different trusts in the uk. other other views on this? so the british medical association is concerned about the new regulation coming in, which will involve the general medical council overseeing position associates. they say that because the general medical council already overseas doctors, they believe that that will further blur the lines between doctors and position associates. however, the royal couege associates. however, the royal college of physicians says that regulation is key for providing an out let for potential complaints that people have.— that people have. what about families who _ that people have. what about families who have _ that people have. what about families who have spoken - that people have. what aboutj families who have spoken to? that people have. what about - families who have spoken to? the families who have spoken to? the families of families who have spoken to? tue: families of tragic families who have spoken to? tte: families of tragic cases, families who have spoken to? "tt2 families of tragic cases, such families who have spoken to? tt2 families of tragic cases, such as emily that you heard about there, and they are isolated incidents and

they are not indicative of a wider safety issue. position associates have told me themselves that they would welcome more defined scope of practice. as i say, it is still a positive thing that they are in the nhs, but doctors are calling for a much clearer defined role for these individuals. . ~' , ., a satellite has blasted into orbit to measure the levels of methane gas in the atmosphere. methane is believed to be a major contributor to global warming, because it traps in heat. the new project will flag where there are high levels of the greenhouse gas. our climate editor justin rowlatt has more. three, two, one, ignition, and lift-off — three, two, one, ignition. a falcon 9 rocket blasts off overnight. amongst its payload, a satellite designed to sniff out the tell—tale fingerprint of methane in the light reflected back from earth. it will orbit 15 times a day,

tracking methane emissions leaking from oil and gas facilities around the globe. the sector is an important source of this powerful planet—warming gas. we know that these emissions are fixable, so with current technologies all the methane emissions from the oil and gas operations can actually be fixed at almost zero cost. so, if you don�*t know where the emissions are happening, you cannot fix them. so, if you have data on where the emissions are happening, you can fix them. the data will be publicly available. it will help oil and gas companies identify leaks from their operations, and at the same time regulators and the general public will be able to check to make sure that those leaks are fixed. the environmental defence fund, the us—based charity behind the satellite, hopes that the data it provides will help cut or methane emissions from oil and gas infrastructure by almost half by the end of the decade. justin rowlatt, bbc news.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello. a bit of a lottery out there at the moment. there are winners and losers. some lovely sunshine to be found, as you can see in lancashire early on, but a different story further east. the cloud of thick enough for a spot of drizzle and some rain in places as well. there is a weather front draping itself along the east coast, and it is going to linger through much of the day. also the potentialfor some sharp showers, maybe with the odd rumble of thunder across the south—east later on. this weather front into northern ireland will slowly ease further north, and an

improving picture as we go through the afternoon. many central and western areas keeping the sunshine and we keep that frontal system setting out to the east. a grey, damp and drizzly affair for many with some showers are still potentially heavy with the odd rumble of thunder. underneath the cloud we are looking at 8—9 c. further west with the sunshine, ii or 12 celsius. through tonight, the weather front or 12 celsius. through tonight, the weatherfront is going or 12 celsius. through tonight, the weather front is going to continue to feed more cloud into eastern areas and the further west it will be clearer skies with a touch of fog forming, and the potentialfor some frost. temperatures will dip just below freezing. and that�*s where we will have the best of the early morning sunshine, once any patchy fog drifts away. we may keep sunshine for much of the day. more clout with a weather front trying to push into the south west and south—west wales. once again, cloudy along the east, but across parts of lincolnshire and east anglia and the south—east of england, that cloud should then and break with a cute

scattered showers and temperatures around seven celsius. —— a few scattered on thursday, high pressure from scandinavia dominates the weather story, from scandinavia dominates the weatherstory, but from scandinavia dominates the weather story, but a south—easterly wind circulating around the high pressure means more of breeze and potentially cooler temperatures on exposed coasts. sheltered western areas will have the best of the drier, sunnier moments. a view scattered showers but in the sunshine, with a little more shelter, it should feel pleasant as temperatures are likely to peak around 12 celsius. but where you have got the exposure to the wind along the east coast, a little more cloud and a bit fresher. not a bad start to the weekend, but the potential on sunday for more showers or longer spells of rain.

this is bbc news, the headlines... it�*s super tuesday in the us, one of the biggest days in the race for the white house. us vice president kamala harris has expressed deep concern for the humanitarian situation in gaza during talks with israeli war cabinet member benny gantz. a new report warns of "systemic gender inequality" in women�*s sports and exercise research. and tv history goes on sale, the shirt famously worn by mr darcy in pride and prejudice is up for auction later today.

let�*s go back to the us, where voters are heading to the polls in 15 states and one territory, spanning the breadth of the continent. at stake are more than a third of the delegates to this summer�*s democratic and republican conventions, which will determine the two major parties�* presidential candidates. it is the biggest one—day prize of the presidential nomination calendar, known as super tuesday. although we don�*t expect many surprises, withjoe biden and donald trump continuing their march towards a rematch. this is the scene in virginia where voting is under way. let�*s go now to virginia and cbs correspondent skyler henry. what is happening at the moment? well, people are braving the conditions, very rainier in virginia throughout this morning but still making sure their voices are heard and it will be an interesting day as we pay attention to these polls, all across the country not only here in

virginia but elsewhere, especially