welcome to bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories: it's so sad, it's so sad. scenes of grief in canada as families mourn those killed in the ukrainian plane disaster. iran denies responsibility. polls open in taiwan for the country's presidential election, where relations with mainland china have taken centre stage. the death has been announced of the sultan of oman — the longest serving ruler in the gulf. and plants living the high life — why vegetation is growing at higher altitudes in the himalayas.

ukraine says it's getting full co—operation from iran in the investigation into wednesday's plane crash which killed 176 people. kyiv says 50 ukrainian experts are in iran and have been given access to the black boxes and the accident site. tehran has again rejected suggestions that the ukrainian jet was brought down by one of its own missiles. a reminder of what we know: the plane took off from tehran just after six in the morning — but two minutes later, the data on the flight stopped. the plane came down to the south—west of the capital tehran. 57 of the victims were canadian. our north america correspondent aleem maqbool is in toronto. so this is about two weeks ago when they got to iran... the siddiqi family travelled to iran from canada to plan a wedding. they never came back. alvar and his wife negar, his sister sohand and her five—year—old daughter sufi all died in the crash. it's left close

friend utterly dazed. first, it was shock and denial because, you know, you can't fathom it, itjust doesn't make sense, you never hear of such a story but then as you keep reading and looking at the, you know, news and videos and there is this anger, like, why did it happen to these people? they were the nicest people. why them? the us, canada and britain say there is evidence of iranian missile hit the plane. ——an iranian missile hit the plane. tehran calls those "illogical allegations" and says it could take one or two years to complete its investigation. but these pictures show it's already chosen to clear much of the crash site, potentially burying important leads. and even before the data has been analysed from the flight recorders, its officials already say

they are sure of one thing. translation: an aviation authority cannot speculate. we aren't sure of the causes yet, but what we can say for certain is that a missile did not strike the plane, but the fire and its causes we still need to work out. but this mobile phone footage does appear to back up the theory the plane was struck by a missile. a small outgoing speck of light suddenly exploding. with the impact following. the iranians insist if it really was a missile strike, the debris would have been spread over a larger area. it's not what us secretary of state mike pompeo thinks. we do believe that it's likely that that plane was shot down by an iranian missile. he announced new sanctions on iran. we want iran to simply behave like a normal nation. we believe the sanctions that we've

imposed today further that strategic objective. but forfamilies in iran, ukraine, britain and more than 60 in canada, the focus is on grieving. there is no question, though, that the sense this tragedy could have been a consequence of those regional tensions has only added to the anger and despair. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in toronto. voting is now under way in taiwan's general election — with control of both the presidency and the parliament up for grabs. the main divide between the parties is over how to manage relations with china. supporters of the democratic progressive party tend to favour moves towards outright independence, whereas supporters of the kuomintang generally prefer closer relations with beijing. cindy sui is in taipei for us — i asked her how voting was going. the crowd has thinned out a little

bit. people are still very eagerly coming into polling stations like this one throughout taiwan, and patiently waiting for their chance to vote. they brought their id cards and are turning in their mobile phones and going into rooms like this one, classrooms actually in this middle school, to cast their ballot. they have a very, very tough decision to make. they have to decide whether they believe in tsai ing—wen‘s message that china is a threat and taiwan should keep a distance from mainland china, or mayor han kuo—yu's message that taiwan needs china and needs it economically, and to ensure peace between the two sides. they have to make this very tough decision. i've covered many elections in taiwan, and no other election has made china such a central issue. part of the reason is because of the hong kong process. the months—long protests have actually unnerved a lot of taiwanese

people, especially young people. i just spoke to one voter who cast his ballot and he said he was quite worried watching scenes of police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters, and he believes that president tsai is the best person to safeguard taiwan's democratic way of life. at the same time, i also spoke to voters who support han kuo—yu, including a woman whose father fled to taiwan at the end of the chinese civil war. she said that they understand the pain and suffering of war, and she does not want to vote for tsai ing—wen because she believes that she is taking taiwan down a dangerous path. she prefers han kuo—yu because she believes he will build better relationships with beijing, and this will ensure peace for the two sides. i'm looking behind you and there are no queue jumpers, they are incredibly disciplined. whoever wins the election, but they pick up the phone

to the chinese president xi jinping in beijing and negotiate or are the two sides wanting completely different things from the relationships? president tsai ing—wen has no way of negotiating with beijing because they refuse to talk to her, because she does not accept the so—called one china principle that the two sides are part of one country. if han kuo—yu was elected, definitely he will reach out to beijing and beijing will be willing to work with him because he accepts the principle that there is only one china but each side can define what that china is, and his party would define it simply as the republic of china which is taiwan's official name. that is his way of getting around this very difficult and sensitive issue of taiwan's sovereignty and working towards a better solution for both sides. in mexico, a schoolboy, thought to be 11 years old, has shot and killed a teacher and injured at least six other people at a school in the northern city of torreon, before killing himself. rich preston has the story — you might find some parts of this report disturbing. tragedy struck this school early in the morning. at the very start of the school day, a boy many considered to be a good

student started killing his classmates, sending parents and pupils into panic. police and soldiers quickly surrounding the school. it happened in mexico's northern state of coahuila, at the colegio cervantes private school. parents gathered outside, many not knowing whether their children were affected. state officials said shortly after arriving at school, he asked permission to go to the bathroom. translation: after 15 minutes, he still had not returned so the teacher went to look for him. she found him walking out, carrying two guns, shooting. he had also changed out of his school uniform and into a t—shirt bearing the logo of a video game — the same video game referenced by one of the gunmen at columbine high school in america, where two students murdered 13 schoolmates in 1999.

despite mexico's reputation for violence, school shootings are rare. officials say this pupil gave no cause for concern. translation: he was a student who was not problematic. he had good behaviour, but today, he told some of his classmates that "today was the day". police say they are still trying to understand a motive for this unexpected act of violence. oman has declared three days of national mourning following the death of sultan qaboos bin said al said. the sultan, the longest serving ruler in the gulf, was 79 years old. he had ruled oman since 1970, when he deposed his father in a bloodless coup, with the help of the former colonial power, britain. bill hayton reports. when sultan qaboos pushed his father

from the throne in 1970, a mine was desperately poor. there were just two schools and two paved roads in the entire country. with british political and military support, he started a national development programme, saw off communist back rebellion and steered the country through turbulent times. the islamic revolution in iran, the iran— iraq warand revolution in iran, the iran— iraq war and two old wars. as the leader ofa war and two old wars. as the leader of a small but strategically vital country, he courted friends on all sides while trying to remain independent. compared to most of his fellow golf leaders, currowan followed a relatively liberal path, granting rights to women and creating a consultative assembly. but the sultan remained an absolute ruler. he was also the country's prime minister, finance minister and foreign minister. there were elections last year but human rights groups complained about restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly.

there were large—scale protest in 2011, and again two years ago. it is not clear who will replace the sultan. he had no children and never publicly appointed a successor. sultan qaboos brought half a century of increasing prosperity and tolerance to oman, but within limits. there are thought to be around 80 possible candidates to ta ke around 80 possible candidates to take over, all men. whoever he is, the successor will have to work hard to meet his people's rising aspirations in the next half century. well for more i'm joined by giorgio cafiero, ceo of consultancy firm gulf state analytics. 0h oh mine was almost never in the headlines during those many decades of the sultan's rule, unlike so many of the sultan's rule, unlike so many of oman‘s neighbours. is that the sultan's deliberate legacy, keeping it out of the headlines? thank you for having me on your programme, i first of all want to begin by

expressing my condolences to the people of oman in paying respect to his majesty sultan qaboos. make a point, often oman was called the quiet monarchy or the sleepy sultanate, quiet monarchy or the sleepy sulta nate, oman has quiet monarchy or the sleepy sultanate, oman has indeed maintained a very low profile in the global press and one could argue that that has done a lot to help the country maintain the stability which has defined it for decades. having said all of that, even if oman maintains sort of a low profile and conducted activities quiet, muscat has played many important roles in the middle east, when it comes to the middle east, when it comes to the war in yemen, many of the negotiations and peace talks that have been taking place since 2015 have been taking place since 2015 have been taking place since 2015

have been in muscat, oman played a pivotal role in bringing american and iranian officials together for secret talks that led to the passage of the jcpoa in secret talks that led to the passage of thejcpoa in october secret talks that led to the passage of the jcpoa in october 2015, benjamin netanyahu, made oman an official lcce state, the list goes on. so many examples of oman being an arbiter or diplomatic bridge in the region. we heard there are around 80 candidates to succeed the sultan, how will the country decide the succession? from the perspective give of a westerner looking at this process , give of a westerner looking at this process, it seems very opaque. 1970 was the last time there was a tra nsfer of was the last time there was a transfer of power in oman, so unlike other gulf states, there has not

been a transfer of power this entry, or even for the last nearly five decades. there is a lot of speculation that, people have had discussions around what happens next. officially there is a process whereby the royal family will have three days to decide who the next sultan will be, and if the royal family is not able to reach an agreement, there is a defence counsel that is tasked with opening these two envelopes which purportedly have the name of a successor who qaboos pics. we will have two —— who sultan qaboos pics. we will have to wait and see how this process unfolds, but this will have to be done on oman‘s terms. the

omanis have a unique country that it might be difficult for some outsiders to understand. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: as cold as ice — we'll tell you about the concert that's cool — literally. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest — but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished, as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws passed by the country's new multiracial government

and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,610th performance of her long—running play the mousetrap. when they heard of her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is bbc news. our top story: ukraine says iran is offering its full cooperation in the investigation into wednesday's plane crash. tehran denies the boeing was shot down. well, let's get more on the iranian crisis now. i'm joined by heather williams, from the think tank the rand corporation. heather, let's talk about the plane crash first of all. i wonder if it co m pa res crash first of all. i wonder if it compares at all to a similar event around three decades ago when the us warship vince ends mistakenly shot

down run air flight 655 warship vince ends mistakenly shot down run airflight 655 in warship vince ends mistakenly shot down run air flight 655 in 1988. that is an event that iran has never forgotten. that is absolutely right so iran has experienced a loss, a collateral loss, of civilian aircraft as part of a military conflict, specifically with the united states injuly conflict, specifically with the united states in july 1988. conflict, specifically with the united states injuly1988. the uss vince ends mistakenly perceived iran airflight 655 vince ends mistakenly perceived iran air flight 655 to be vince ends mistakenly perceived iran airflight 655 to be an vince ends mistakenly perceived iran air flight 655 to be an fm tomcat and shut it down, killing all 290 passengers and crew on board. and now iran is potentially on the other side of this, the allegation that it mistakenly has shot civilian airliner, just as the united states has done in 1988. that is right. it is interesting that even though iran tried to deny this initially, hope there was not a full appreciation of how much information can be ascertained about clean crashes. and how difficult it is to deny the

truth —— the true facts of the case. there is some suggestion that potentially tomorrow the iranians will acknowledge that they inadvertently shut down the aircraft, which all signals the to point about being what occurred. aircraft, which all signals the to point about being what occurredlj wa nt point about being what occurred.” wa nt to point about being what occurred.” want to expand the conversation a little. at the moment, switzerland is responsible for passing formal diplomatic messages between iran and the united states because the two countries don't have diplomatic relations some swiss channel develop into an actual negotiating channel? it never quite has in the past even though that is the formal channel and that is kind of how diplomatic m essa g es and that is kind of how diplomatic messages may formally go, and other channels have been more likely to be attracted to the transitions to some sort of formal conversation, so for example other parties in the middle east such as iran may change that, they have often been a party that brokers those interactions. even the fa ct

brokers those interactions. even the fact that in the last few hours we have heard that the sultan of omagh and has died, does that mean that the channel may be frozen —— oman.” think temporarily it may be. heather williams, thank you very much for talking to us about the latest situation between the united states and iran. thank you. let's get some of the day's other news. the us state department has described the british government's request for the extradition of anne sacoolas as "highly inappropriate". mrs sacoolas, who is the wife of an american diplomat, was driving a car involved in a fatal accident in the uk. 19—year—old motorcyclist harry dunn died in the collision outside an raf base in august. she returned to the us after the crash, claiming diplomatic immunity. sweden has seen a drop in air passengers for the first year in a decade. the number of people flying fell by 4% in 2019 — a rare drop in recent years in a european union country. the state—owned airport operator says concern about climate change and increases in aviation tax are among the possible causes.

more plant life is growing at high altitudes in the himalayan mountain range, according to new research. using satellite data covering more than 20 years, scientists have found that vegetation is expanding at heights beyond where trees are able to grow. elizabeth byers is a senior scientist and vegetation ecologist. she told me why the plants are moving further up the mountains. the planet is warming and vegetation is limited by cold in the himalayas at the upper levels, and so what were seeing, is as the temperatures warm, the zones where plants can actually live is actually getting higher and higher. it's kind of an interesting process because we have known for a long time in mountains around the world that the treeline is moving slowly up, but this study that karen anderson and her colleagues did is the first time we have seen

in the himalayas what is happening above the treeline, and so i was really excited to read the study. it confirms what myself and a lot of field scientists have been observing over the years and — in my case — many decades in the himalayas, which is that these harsh environments, way above the treeline, getting up right near the permanent snow and ice are, in fact, being colonised by plants. when did you first noticed this phenomenon? —— when did you first notice this phenomenon? well, so i first went to the himalayas in 1980. and at that point, i went to climb, but i was also studying ecology and then itjust drew me back again and again. at that point, i was walking on clean ice glaciers in many cases.

this glaciers have basically crumbled under my feet over the decades and now many of them are lakes and some of them have turned into piles of rubble as the ice melts and these huge boulders and tiny cobbles and bits of silt that had been trapped in the ice since millennia are now being exposed to the air for the first time. the miraculous thing that i have seen is that as soon as boulders and cobbles are exposed, life finds a way. mosses and lichens move in and pretty soon, you start to see wild flowers. and these plants, they are in an environment where there is essentially no soil, there is ice right underneath them, the substrate is shifting, so you can imagine — and honestly, looking for these

plants is terrifying because you are walking across a shifting glacier that feels at any time it can open — and then you come upon these flowers that are just extraordinary. they are not surviving them. they are thriving, and sometimes extravagantly thriving in this harsh environment. but there aren't many of them because they have to be dealing with unbelievable stresses in terms of cold and lack of soil, lack of nutrients. they tend to have a lot of special adaptations. she may be interested in this next story. let's head to italy now, where an unusual cultural event is taking place. an ice music festival is happening in the alps. 511 concerts will be performed in a 300—seater igloo made especially for the occasion. even the instruments are a little sub—zero, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. as concerts go, this is pretty cool — literally. more than 10,000 cubic metres of snow were used to build

a rather chilly auditorium. violin, drums, double bass — all made of ice. this isn'tjust about the music, it's about the location — a glacier that has lost a third of its volume in less than three decades. translation: our business is based on the snow, on the cold weather. but if the climate changes, we will not be able to live this kind of experience. so the message we want to send out is for us all to look after our environment and climate. playing instruments made of ice is hard enough. making them is another story. it took careful precision to hit the right notes. b flat. it's difficult to build the different instruments for different reasons.

each instrument has its own difficulty. maybe it's so fine and delicate and easy to break or hard to get inside the small places, or it's so big and heavy, it's hard to pick up and move around. there will be two concerts a week until the of the end of march. music that may stir the soul and chill the spine at the same time. tim allman, bbc news. let's stick with music. neil peart, the drummer and lyricist from canadian rock band rush, has died. he was 67. the musician, seen as one of the best rock drummers in history, died on tuesday after a 3.5—year battle with brain cancer. rush were one of the most successful rock groups of the late 1970s and ‘80s and sold more than forty million albums worldwide.

please do stay with bbc news. i'm on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews. hello there. there was a good view of the wolf moon for many parts of the country early on in the night — that was before all this cloud rolled in. now, a lot of it is quite high cloud. the zone of thickest cloud that's stretching across scotland and northern ireland is on that weather front there. and that is continuing to bring some outbreaks of rain. ahead of it, though, the winds are going to be howling. we are drawing in the milder winds from a long way south, so after a cold start, temperatures are continuing to rise to these sort of numbers by the end of the night. nine, ten, maybe 11 degrees. still on the chillier side across east anglia, mind you. and we've still got the rain coming into scotland and northern ireland. heavy over the hills. it will trickle this way, very slowly southwards. some quite wet weather

over the cumbrian fells and later into snowdonia. eventually, the rain turns more showery in scotland, through the afternoon. the winds will start to ease a bit, but it stays very windy across england and wales — strong to gale force winds here. but as we've seen, it's mild air, so for many parts of the country, we've got double—figure temperatures — perhaps as high as 12 or 13 degrees. now, te weather front bringing that band of rain will sweep its way down toward south—eastern areas overnight on saturday night and then leaving behind that, we are going to find some showers coming in on a cooler air stream from off the atlantic. we've still got some rain to clear away first thing across the south—east of england. once that goes, though, we will see a batch of showers coming in across wales through the midlands. those could be rather heavy in the morning before easing off during the afternoon. further north, some sunshine and some showers — most of them in the north—west of scotland, where it will be wintry over the hills. we're back into cooler air on sunday, particularly across the northern half of the uk. still double figures for a while in the south—east. it won't be as windy.

but only briefly, because look what is coming in from the atlantic — a storm is brewing. that's going to be racing our way, probably heading to the north—west of scotland. after a reasonably quiet start with some sunshine around, it probably will stay dry across eastern areas, but the winds will continue to strengthen — particularly out towards the west, where we'll see this rain moving in, and that's going to be quite heavy. the strength of the wind could cause one or two issues. 60, maybe 70 miles an hour or more across some western parts of the uk. of course, it's a mild wind direction and those temperatures are going to be up to around 8—11 degrees. well, that sets the scene on what is going to be a very changeable week ahead. we're going to find further areas of low pressure, rain at times, strong winds. for the most part, it will be mild.

this is bbc news — the headlines:

ukraine has said iran is offering kyiv its full cooperation in establishing the facts behind wednesday's deadly crash of a ukrainian plane. 50 ukrainian experts are in iran to take part in the investigation — and the ukrainian foreign minister said they'd been given access to the flight recorders. the polls have opened in taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections. incumbent president tsai ing—wen is going up against han kuo—yu, who favours closer ties with beijing. the pro—democracy protests taking place in hong kong have cast a long shadow over the taiwan election campaign. the death has been announced of sultan qaboos bin said al said of oman, the longest serving ruler in the gulf. the sultan, who was 79, had ruled since 1970 — when he deposed his father in a bloodless coup. three days of national mourning have been declared.