this is bbc news. the headlines at 103m... iran admits unintentionally shooting down the ukranian airlines passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board, because of human error. the northern ireland assembly will today sit for the first time since the collapse of power—sharing three years ago. keir starmer — the shadow brexit secretary — today launches his leadership campaign in the race to lead the labour party. today he defended anti—austerity policies. sometimes when you lose an election there is a tendency to say that everything must go. that is wrong in my view. in the sport, more var controversy

after west ham's injury—time equaliser is denied due to an accidental handball picked up on the cameras. coming up, cutting your train fares — we look at how split—ticketing can save you money, as it's rolled out by a major ticketing firm. and at 10.30: transporting you to outer space, in northern spain. an other—worldly experience, in the travel show. good morning. iran has admitted that it unintentionally shot down a ukrainian passenger jet because of human error. 176 people died in the accident, just hours after iran had fired missiles at american military bases in iraq. flight data was lost with the aircraft shortly after it took off from tehran‘s international airport on wednesday. let's take a closer look at the timeline of events that morning.

we know iran fired missiles at two us bases at 2:30am local time. less than four hours later, the ukraine international airlines flight took off. within six minutes, communication had been lost with the aircraft. rich preston reports. iran had previously rejected claims it shot down ukraine international airlines flight ps 752 on wednesday. western leaders said the plane had been hit by a missile, claims iran repeatedly denied. now, iran says it was behind the crash, and blamed human error. iran's foreign ministerjavad zarif posted his message of condolence to the victims on twitter. "a sad day", he said, offering iran's "profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to

other affected nations." in a statement released on saturday, officials said the missile strike had been caused by human error after the plane flew close to amilitary base. close to a military base. the crash came amid high tensions with the us, and days after threats of strikes against iranian targets, following the killing in iraq of iran's top military commander. iran's president hassan rouhani said the human error came at a time of crisis caused by us adventurism. posting on twitter, he said an investigation had concluded that "regrettably missiles were fired" and that investigations will continue "to identify and prosecute those behind this great tragedy and unforgivable mista ke". he added iran's "deep regrets" and his "sincerest condolences". the plane was hitjust after taking

off from tehran airport. all 176 people on board were killed. initially iran denied any involvement in the crash. translation: we have to be certain of the things that we say. we are not sure of the causes, but what we can say for certain is that msl did not strike the plane. that the fire and its causes still need to be uncovered. amateur footage showing what appear to be a missile hitting the plane added to the growing speculation. —— missile. many of those on board were canadian. at a press c0 nfe re nce , those on board were canadian. at a press conference, ca nada's those on board were canadian. at a press conference, canada's foreign minister vowed to get answers to what had happened. minister vowed to get answers to what had happenedlj minister vowed to get answers to what had happened. i know families of canadians have a lot of questions andl of canadians have a lot of questions and i can assure you we will not re st and i can assure you we will not rest until we get to the bottom of this. this, ladies and gentlemen, is a national tragedy. this. this, ladies and gentlemen, is a nationaltragedy. whilst this. this, ladies and gentlemen, is a national tragedy. whilst this admission of responsibility will provide some relief for the victims‘ families, it is unlikely it will

ease the political tension between iran and the west. rich preston, bbc news. our correspondent quentin sommerville is in baghdad in neighbouring iraq. he gave us the latest on iran‘s admission of responsibility. the body of evidence against them was gathering that this was, in fact, an iranian strike, and they had little alternative, so they had to come clean. days and days of denials — this disaster happened on wednesday — were beginning to wear a little thin. first of all, there was video evidence, which was corroborated and appeared to show a missile striking the plane. then we had information from us intelligence and other intelligence authorities, saying that they saw a number of radar pings, which also indicated an iranian strike. so, iran really had come to the end of the road. so we heard the iranian foreign minister, javad zarif, expressing profound regret over this this morning, apologising to iranians, but also apologising to the families of other countries — four britons killed, almost 60

canadians died in that disaster. but at the same time, the foreign minister putting in a dig at the united states, saying that the turmoil that the united states has caused in this region, the profound crisis, is partly responsible for that. the iranian military has said that it mistook the plane for an enemy target, because it was banking over a republican guard base, near the airport. all this really is an indication ofjust how destabilising things have been in the middle east, following the us‘s assassination of qasem soleimani, the leading iranian general. that has upset the balance, notjust here in iraq, where iran and the united states have been vying for power for many years and influence,

but throughout the region. ukraine‘s president, volodymyr zelensky, has welcomed iran‘s admission that it shot down the plane but insisted on what he called "a full admission of guilt". our correspondentjonah fisher has more details about what mr zelensky had to say... for the last three days, ukraine has been keeping an open mind, at least in public, as to what it thinks caused this plane to crash, and although, of course, people here are extremely sad, i think there is a sense of relief, and you can see it in his statement. i willjust read part of it to you... "this morning was not good," he said, "but it brought the truth. "but we insist on a full admission of guilt. we expect from iran assurances of readiness for a full and open investigation, bringing the perpetrators to justice, returning the bodies of the dead, payments of compensation, official apologies through diplomatic channels". so, i think there is a suggestion that although ukraine is very

grateful that iran has owned up to this, there will not be a prolonged cover—up, which i think was a fear here, that they now expect iran to really comply with all the legal obligations, that taking responsibility for having caused this crash brings with it. and we gather that the iranian administration has posted pictures showing shrapnel onto facebook. let us showing shrapnel onto facebook. let us speak to our diplomatic correspondent in beirut, caroline hawley. please give us a sense of the reaction to this complete change of position by iran. well, look, it is an extraordinary turnaround. for days and days, three days, the iranians insisted that suggestion is that a missile brought the plane

down where wise, that it was psychological warfare. now we have iran completely coming clean, iranian officials in fact are falling over themselves to acknowledge that a terrible, terrible mistake was made and to apologise. and the latest reaction we have is from the supreme leader, ayatolla h we have is from the supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei, who has said he has asked the armed forces to rectify a ny has asked the armed forces to rectify any shortcomings that led to this mistake to make sure that such a thing can never happen again, and suggesting that it was he who ordered that the truth should come out about this. but i think once iran had decided in some way to co—operate with the outside world, it had invited in ukrainian investigators and canadian investigators, invited american transport safety officials to take pa rt transport safety officials to take part in the investigation, there was really nowhere to hide, and they had to come clean. i think what the

world will want his continued cooperation, and not just world will want his continued cooperation, and notjust the ukrainians, but the canadians as well are asking for a full and transparent investigation. there are calls for the ukrainians, as you heard, for compensation. so, the world, as justin heard, for compensation. so, the world, asjustin trudeau said, is watching. one thing this does provide any very dangerous and difficult atmosphere, as an opportunity for iran to cooperate with the outside world and to help reduce tensions that have been running dangerously high. that is the hope under one good thing that could possibly come out of this terrible accident. yes, and caroline hawley, what does this new position tell us about politically what might go on within iran in terms of responding to this massive increase in tension? look, it is clear that iran was under huge pressure. it did not want an all—out war with the us,

which could have happened. everyone really held their breath last week, didn‘t they, after the assassination of qasem soleimani and iran‘s response? but both sides have stepped back from the brink. iran cannot afford a war, it is already economical on its knees because of sanctions. it is notjust the international pressure, but the domestic pressure. the economic sanctions are biting, there have been protests in iran and there is absolute fury here that this mistake happened and that people are asking how on earth was it thatjust after iran has fired missiles at american basesin iran has fired missiles at american bases in iraq, it didn‘t close down the airspace to civilian aircraft, it didn‘t stop planes taking off? caroline hawley in beirut, thank you very much indeed for that update.

the northern ireland assembly will sit later today, following a deal to restore the devolved government after power—sharing broke down three years ago. the assembly will elect a speaker, a first ministerfrom the dup, and a deputy first minister from sinn fein. keith doyle is there for us. what will happen today? good morning from stormont on yet another historic day for northern ireland politics. later today, the northern ireland assembly will be back up and running. it was on thursday that the northern ireland secretary, julian smith, and the deputy prime minister of ireland, simon coveney, put that

make or break due to the party right in front of the stormont parliament buildings on thursday night. so, yesterday we saw those dramatic developments as the dup said, yes, they would sign up to it. arlene foster, the leader of the dup called itafairand foster, the leader of the dup called it a fair and balanced deal. then we saw sinn fein come out yesterday evening saying, yes, while they did not think it was perfect, there was enoughin not think it was perfect, there was enough in it, particularly on that issue of irish language. that was one of their red lines on the fact that irish language will get an official and legal standing in northern ireland, was enough for them. so, the result of that is today at one o‘clock the assembly will be recalled. the speaker will be sworn in at one o‘clock and that will be followed by the first minister, we assume it will be arlene foster of the dup. deputy first minister, possibly michelle o‘neill from sinn fein, but we will have to see exactly who they nominate. then there is a very sensitive post of the justice minister. that has been held in the

past by the alliance party, but we will have to see who gets that. it is more complicated, it needs cross— party is more complicated, it needs cross—party support. there are three ministerial positions for the dup, two for sinn fein and one for the other nationalist party, the sdlp and another for the advance party. the smaller parties, they might make up the smaller parties, they might make up the rest of this, what is, effectively a coalition government, 01’ more may effectively a coalition government, or more may decide to stand as official opposition. either way, what we will see by the end of the day as the northern ireland assembly up day as the northern ireland assembly up and running. the prime minister borisjohnson has said that this is a great step forward for the people of northern ireland and for restoring public confidence and sta ble restoring public confidence and stable and devolved government. really, there is a collective sigh of relief across northern ireland that something along the lines of normal politics will be back up and running again later today. keith doyle at stormont, thank you very much. let us speak to the irish

political commentator, sarah crichton, who is in belfast for us. sarah, thank you forjoining us. how momentous is this? it is a huge day. i think most people in northern ireland, we have been here before many, ireland, we have been here before any ireland, we have been here before many, many times, but it is hugely significant that after three years, after nine months after the murder of lyra mckee, the two big political parties have been able to work through many complicated issues like the continuity agreement and the irish language issue. what will this mean in terms of ordinary political decisions being made? up until now the civil service have had to make short—term decisions but the long—term decisions cannot be made without political leadership. exactly, it will have huge impact on the lives of ordinary people and we have a crisis in the health service here. over 300,000 people are on the waiting list and the fact that there

has been no minister to those decisions has been huge negative impact on many people here. the fact that we will have ministers in place able to take those decisions, that will impact usually on the lives of people. nurses were on strike yesterday, someone will have to deal with that issue going forward. for many ordinary people, they will see a big change in their lives now that stormont is back. what will this mean for what will happen post the end of january, and mean for what will happen post the end ofjanuary, and brexit? we have had so much debate of course about what our long—term brexit will lead to the unification of ireland? in terms of brexit, it is usually significant. boris johnson has terms of brexit, it is usually significant. borisjohnson has a mechanism for the assembly to be in place and vote on alignment or not. the fact that the assembly is back is usually significant for that. the new deal also has a brexit subcommittee which will be chaired

by the offices of the first minister and the deputy first minister. this will allow the mlas to discuss the issues coming forward and we can look at the transition and the issues around that. is there confidence that this new arrangement is going to last? that is the million—dollar question. the fact that the parties have had three yea rs that the parties have had three years now, the fact that they have been able to work through very complicated issues like live —— irish language, abortion, equal marriage, the hope is that those issues can be focused on by the parties going forward and the new deal has a mechanism, a leading —— a leaders forum that allows the mlas to airany leaders forum that allows the mlas to air any grievances that they have. also with brexit down the line, the hope is that this will focus the minds of the politicians. as long as the institutions can be collapsed by other the first

minister of the deputy first minister of the deputy first minister having that mechanism in place, there is also a risk that this could happen again. sarah crichton, thank you for your time today. there are just two days left for the six labour leadership candidates to gain the backing they need to get to the next stage of the contest, and it‘s sir keir starmer who currently has the most nominations and the support of the uk‘s largest trade union, unison. the five other candidates standing are rebecca long—bailey, emily thornberry, clive lewis, lisa nandy and jess phillips. registered supporters — who are not full party members — will have 48 hours from 14—16 january to secure a vote by paying £25. the ballot will be open from 21st february to the 2nd of april, with the results announced two days later on the 4th. our political correspondent tony bonsignorejoins me now... tony, we have seen keir starmer

basically trying to keep what is presumably the left—wing membership of the party on board in an interview this morning. he is due to make its formal launch today. yes, he is at the mechanics institute in manchester, the birthplace of the trade union congress will stop he is trying to reach out to the midlands and the north, members they are, but also trying to burnish his left—wing credentials. he was talking to the bbc this morning and it was interesting. what was notable was this continuation of this theme from sir keir starmer that actually, there was lots of good stuff during there was lots of good stuff during thejeremy there was lots of good stuff during the jeremy corbyn there was lots of good stuff during thejeremy corbyn years, despite that defeat. he was asked very specifically about what the good things were and what marks out of ten he would givejeremy corbyn. he refused to do that. but this is what he said about the leader... under jeremy corbyn we made some very important mousse. firstly we were the party of anti—austerity, against cuts to public services. after ten years of cuts it is blindingly

obvious that we were right about that and we should not chuck that away. we became the party that wanted to invest in public services and manufacturing. we were right about that. i am concerned that we do not throw that away. sometimes when you lose an election there is the tendency to say that everything we put into our manifesto and believed in over the last four years must go, and that is wrong in my view. some might think this is a calculation to appeal to current labour members but there are new people signing up all the time, and then he might steer more towards the centre, but we do not know, do we? we don‘t. that is a calculation that labour party members will have to make. he has more than enough mps nominating. people get into the next stage, it is all about the vote of the members, and they will be having to make that calculation. there was concern among some members that he was too much of a centrist. he knocked that back today saying, absolutely not, i will retain much of these radical policies. but some will wonder if he is just a saying that to get into the hot seat and

become the leader. that is one of the things that the members will have to think about in the run—up to the 2nd of april when the ballot closes. absolutely, and all of the other candidate standing, we do not yet know who will get through to the final stages. thank you very much. let us get a round—up of the sports news now with john watson. good morning, thank you. it could be a record—breaking season for liverpool as they cruised towards a premier league title. one could fall today, if they beat tottenham at the totte n ha m today, if they beat tottenham at the tottenham hotspur stadium. that would take them to 61 points from their opening 21 games, eclipsing manchester city boss man tally from two seasons ago by two points.|j didn‘t think a second about it and will not start to think about it now. the only thing i can tell you, if we would have thought about any kind of record, we would not have won the number of games that we have won the number of games that we have won so far. that is it. that is a very different story for tottenham. no harry kane due to injury. while

many spurs fans are not holding out much hope of ending liverpool plus match unbeaten run later, manager jose mourinho clearly believes that they can. we know how good that they are. we can imagine that in this room probably only two people believe that we can win. perhaps there are only two of us, but we believe. we believe. we have to believe. we believe. we have to believe. there was one game last night, as a chef with 90‘s brilliant run continued along with the debate of the use of the ar. it was used last night as they won 1—0 over west ham. oliver mcburnie with the winning goal after half—time. manager chris wilder signed a new contract during the week. west ham are convinced they had found an equaliser through robert snodgrass in injury time, only for the var to show a handball in the build—up. it was declan rice who was penalised,

and he was fuming with the decision afterwards. he agreed with jamie character, who suggested on twitter that the rule is an absolute joke. he said... novak djokovic has taken serbia into the final of the atp cup in australia, beating a rival that could challenge him at the stewing open at the first grand slam of the year. he was taken into a final set against daniel medvedev. but he won that to give his team an unassailable 2— 08. they won the doubles for another clean sweep. they will take on spain possibly in the final. serena williams needed 43 minutes to beat her fellow american and reach the final of the auckland international. shejob the final of the auckland international. she job —— the final of the auckland international. shejob —— drop to just two mac games in the process.

looking for her first title in three yea rs, looking for her first title in three years, she will play two finals and one day and both the singles and the doubles. playing alongside caroline wozniacki in the doubles. an amazing run in the bdo world darts championship came to an end last night. she took her opponent to the deciding set in the final but lost to — one. suzuki will face the four—time winner lisa ashton in the final tonight. and that is all from the bbc sport centre for the moment. another update in the next hour. thank you, john. it‘s set to be a tough weekend on the high street, as the struggling department store debenhams begins to close branches today as part of restructuring plans. 19 will shut this month — affecting more than 600 staff. meanwhile, the baby clothes retailer mothercare is closing its final stores — after it fell into administration in november with a loss of 2,500 jobs. our business correspondent

emma simpson reports. many people feel really sad to see these big names going, jamie, how are some able to survive and others are some able to survive and others are not? yes, firstly, clearly a terrible loss, 3500 jobs. the british retail consortium has said that over the next decade, a further 900,000 jobs are likely to go. what we are seeing, really, are trends that have been going on for quite a while. that inability of some of those, i suppose, while. that inability of some of those, isuppose, more while. that inability of some of those, i suppose, more established firms not reacting to the sort of needs of shoppers and consumers today. so, you know, specifically, people are trying to shop more frugally. they are probably buying less and better, and obviously doing more shopping online. that is competing as well. the other thing

that we really see coming through and the work that we do as shoppers are seeking experience. and if you look at some of the results coming out from black friday, there is an increase in people buying packages around experience as well. so, if you translate that into what people wa nt you translate that into what people want inside stores, they are seeking experience and they are seeking, i guess, a known reason for going into those stores in the first place. and, of course, thejob loss question is very important for anyone affected. is there any sign of people losing those jobs being able to retrain in a similar area and find new work? well, i mean, i am perhaps not best pleased to a nswer am perhaps not best pleased to answer that, but i think certainly, you know, those that have experience of outwardly—facing customers and playing that sort of role in those

stores, there is a skill set that they will have going forward. but from the stores that are existing, so, for example, debenhams, they will have to think really hard about how they use their stores and their people, because if shoppers are seeking these experiences, then, actually, the people that work within those environments play a massive role. that is the one thing, of course, that online does not have,is of course, that online does not have, is people. absolutely. what is the forecast, is there one within the forecast, is there one within the next five to ten years, to say how many shops we will see? how healthy the high street will still be? it willjust continue to evolve. there are successful players at the moment. you think about primark, for example. selfridge‘s have had some good results over christmas. but

they are listening to consumers‘ shopping needs and adapting their profile. if we just look outside of the uk to people like walmart in the united states and amazon. they have home delivery services. from an online point of view, it is costly to keep delivering those services. so, at some point, they will be a way in which some of the retailers come the high street retailers find a way of delivering both an online and off—line offer, if you like, and are able to mitigate some of these losses potentially from those online competitors. jamie rayner, thank you very much indeed. one of the biggest sellers of train tickets in britain is the latest to offer its customers what‘s called split—ticketing. the trainline says using this method, rail travellers could between them save more

than £300 million this year. split—ticketing is when travellers buy multiple tickets for a journey instead of a single end—to—end ticket. it can be used to lower the overall cost, sometimes by more than half the originaljourney cost. with split—ticketing, your tickets must cover the whole journey and the train must stop at every station where your tickets are split, but you don‘t have to get off. the rail industry is calling for tickets to be simplified and a government review is under way. well, to help us simplify this, we are joined now by mark smith — who runs the travel website man in seat 61 and formerly worked for the strategic rail authority in the department in charge of regulating fares and ticketing. thank you forjoining us this morning, mark. the split—ticketing process , morning, mark. the split—ticketing process, how commonly it is it used and how complicated is it? well, there are quite a few split—ticketing websites around, and they have been around for several yea rs. they have been around for several years. but this is obviously the biggest single retailer of tickets starting to include a split ticket

check as part of its retailing process. so it is quite significant. split—ticketing says money for different reasons. for example, if a jonny cross is the time boundary between on peak and off—peak, it is cheaper just to buy the off—peak ticket for part of the majority that is actually peak, then you also get simple fare and only swear one person in an office has priced a to b from b to person in an office has priced a to bfrom b to cso person in an office has priced a to b from b to c so that it is cheaper from a to c, priced by somebody in another office. but should this normally be allowed and does it make sense for anyone to have these reductions when people who are time pressed i just want to purchase reductions when people who are time pressed ijust want to purchase one simple ticket are paying more? well, it happened under british rail, but it happened under british rail, but it happens more now than it did then for several reasons. firstly, different train operators follow different train operators follow different pricing policies. secondly, they are not actually allowed to speak to each other. people