this is bbc news. the headlines... iran admits unintentionally shooting down the ukranian airlines passenger plane killing all 176 people on board because of human error misidentifying it as a cruise missile. ukranian officials claim they forced iran to admit the truth, as more and more evidence emerged on what really happened. 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 officially launches his leadership campaign in the race to lead the labour party. today, he defended anti—austerity policies.

there is sometimes a tendency to say that everything we put on a manifesto and everything we believed in the last four years has got to go. wrong in my view. and coming, all the latest tech and gadgets, with tech and gadgets, with click at 12.30. a senior commander in iran's revolutionary guards says he takes full responsibility for the shooting down of a ukrainian passenger plane in tehran. amir ali hajizadeh said that the boeing 737 was misidentified as a cruise missile. 176 people died in the accidentjust 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 2.30 am 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 p5752 on wednesday. western leaders said the plane had been hit by a missile, claims iran repeatedly denied. an aviation authority cannot speculate, we have to be certain of the things we say. the causes we are sure of yet, but as i said, that which we can say for certain is that in missile did not strictly plain, but the fire and its causes we need

to uncover still. —— strike the plane. now, iran says it was behind the crash, and blamed human error. iran's foreign minister, javad zarif, posted his message of condolence to the victims on twitter. in a statement released on saturday, officials said the missile strike had been caused by human error after the plane flew 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". many of those on board were canadian. in a press conference, canada's foreign minister vowed to get answers

as to what had happened. i know families and canadians have a lot of questions 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. 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. meanwhile, ukraine's top security official has confirmed that his country's investigators in tehran gathered conclusive evidence of a missile strike before iran changed its position overnight. up up until the moment of our flight taking off from tehran we had no information on any possible threats.

there is no specific notifications from the corresponding responsible authorities. 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. meanwhile, ukraine's top security official has confirmed that his country's investigators in tehran gathered conclusive evidence of a missile strike before iran changed its position overnight. 0ur ukraine correspondent, jonah fisher, joins us from kyiv. tells more about what the ukrainian airlines are now saying. we're talking about the top official here in ukraine, he has been in constant contact with the team of investigators that ukraine sent to iran on wednesday night. i have just spent about an hour with him in his office, he has been showing me photos that those investigators have been sending over and basically his message was we have been collecting conclusive proof that this was the consequence of a missile strike and,

really, iran had no option but to come clean. here is a little bit of what he said. translation: this photo shows us the first part of the plane where the rocket hit. it hit the cockpit from underneath. we think this is proof and it explains why we didn't hear anything from the pilots. they died immediately from the first hit. what about this? translate mac these are the holes made by explosive elements. base with this and the possibility that the ukrainians were going to come out and say it outright, that is part of the reason that iran shifted its position dramatically overnight. it knew it could no longer continue with what had been its line—up to this point, some kind of technical error that must have brought plane down. wright

what about the question of why this plane was flying at a time of heightened tension? that is a question which of the ukrainian international airlines has been having to grapple with, whether it was indeed proper that it was lying in this part of the world at the time of such heightened attention. there was certainly some airlines that weren't willing to do so and most now, of course, are not flying over that part of the world. that is something which ukraine will have to address and they can simply blame that on others, they must take responsibility for the fact that that airline was deciding to fly at such a time of tension. what now in terms of the full investigation and cooperation with iran? it looks like having made this admission, iran is effectively going to comply fully. there have been indications that these black box recorders are going to go outside the country, most likely to france. you may remember there were questions over whether there were questions over whether the iranians were going to try and process them somehow themselves, so

that doesn't appear to be the case, and the ukrainians really now are saying that their focus, having had the iranians accept responsibility, almost illegal one, they want to make sure all the families get properly compensated and that this investigation goes its full course and, really, having set responsible for, the families of all the people on board this plane do get some sort of justice. the northern ireland assembly will sit later, 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, this and a deputy first minister from sinn fein. so what's in the deal? the new agreement contains wide ranging promises. firstly to tackle the cirsis in the health service and to try and resolve a pay dispute that has seen nurses and health workers on strike. there'll be more money for schools after months of head

teachers saying they face an unprecedented shortfall. and northern ireland will get about another 800 police to increase numbers to 7,500. 0ur correspondent, richard morgan, is at stormont. a momentous day all starting in about an time. . a historic day here in northern ireland, another historic day as the assembly meets for the first time in three years, since its collapse in 2017. that is because sinn fein and the dup have agreed to go back into power sharing after that deal, which were just talking about, was presented by the british and irish governments. we expect some business today, a speaker to be elected, it first minister and deputy first minister, and possibly some ministerial appointments, and there are lots of funding commitments within this deal. with me as david young, the

ireland editor for pa deal. with me as david young, the ireland editorfor pa media. this was a long time coming, there was a lot of pressure on the politicians. assembly was down for three years and some people are saying, one different now? there is anything essentially hugely different in this deal than what was on the table two years ago, one year ago. what essentially is different as the public movement, what is happening on the streets. health worker strikes, other industrial action, people are really angry that this place has been down for three years. the big parties had a really harsh demonstration of that in the general election, which was essentially a proxy election on the lack of government here. the book to cuba to be beating at the polls and essentially had no choice but to agree... —— maccabee took a beating at the polls. both parties have said they had to compromise. the governments may well look at this and the public reaction to this and they will see critics of the deal on

both sides are the debate, so vocal advocates for irish language currently is, the orange order and please, so if people on both sides of the organ arm please, that usually indicates the deal a summer in the middle. it's certainly not a deal that either side of presenting asa wedding, deal that either side of presenting as a wedding, i don't think either could. that is the only way this place was ever going to get back up and running, were you have a situation where one side was triumphant and one licking its wounds, it wouldn't have worked. so the fact this is a deal where both sides about to swallow some of their past pledges, basically they are getting on and getting down to the work now. he spent many years covering the ups and downs of stormont, do you think they will stick this out? that there still is the one and then will keep devolved government in place in northern ireland? i think it will be unlikely that this place comes down again anytime soon, which is amazing,

because months ago we were talking about whether i would ever get up and running again. now it has, the deal agreed is so far reaching. it's far more wide reaching than we ever imagined, there is ivf funding, talk about more greenways, it addresses industrial disputes in the health and education sectors, more police office rs there are so many pledges to the public, the public who are angry. public services have been left to flounder in the last few years. public services have been left to flounder in the last few yearsm any party steps away now, i think the public would really turn against them. ithink the public would really turn against them. i think in the short—term and potentially the medium term, things are looking as though the devolved government is here to stay for a while anyway. aye we have funding gaps in health, waiting lists are here along as in the uk. this deal

commits two key in production projects, the government of the uk is putting a lot of money but we don't know how much. we don't know how much airand don't know how much. we don't know how much air and that might be in pa rt how much air and that might be in part because of the reaction government might be expecting from wales and scotland, in terms of giving potentially extra money to northern ireland. as they've done in the past they will make the case of a special circumstance. and that and thatis a special circumstance. and that and that is that northern ireland's public service has been left to weather on the vine for the last three years. so many problems are built up as a consequence of that, so in orderto built up as a consequence of that, so in order to solve those problems, there is a need for serious cash and serious bonding injections in those sectors that you mention and the health service. if you think, nurses have been straight for 100 years here, there have been on strike three times in the last month. that gives an indication of how bad things are in the health service, what is needed and the urgency. the assembly is due to set at one o'clock for the first time in three

yea rs. o'clock for the first time in three years. a return to devolution for northern ireland, and for many of the people in northern ireland, possibly a return to normality. the headlines on bbc news... iran admits unintentionally shooting down the ukrainian airlines passenger plane, killing all 176 people on board because of human error. the northern ireland assembly will today set for the first time since the collapse of power—sharing three years ago. kier starmer, the shadow brexit secretary, officially launches his leadership campaign in the race to lead the labour party. 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 1a 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... it may seem a long way ahead, the beginning of april, givenjeremy corbyn law so emphatically before christmas. sir kier starmer, the current frontrunner launching today. not totally clear whether he is pitching left to get the current membership and perhaps move centre. we don't know quite yet, but he has given an interview. he has and that is the key question. we know that sir kier starmer, he has perhaps appeared a little bit more towards the left than some might have expected. today he has been talking about continuing the radical policies we have seen over the past

four years, but the question the members will have to weigh up is whether that is going to continue if he is going to become leader. he gave an interview to the bbc this morning, and he was asked about jeremy corbyn and he was asked about whether there would be a change of direction if he was to become leader. this is what he had to say. we, actually, underjeremy corbyn, made some very important moves. firstly, we became the party of anti—austerity, the party against cuts to public services. i think 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 in manufacturing. and we were right about that. so, i am very concerned that we do not throw all 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. he's up against rebecca long bailey who is also on a listening exercise today. she is seen as the court and

continuity candidate. she is talking tox mps continuity candidate. she is talking to x mps party councillors and activists about what they think went wrong in the run—up to the election in december. at the moment if your dress to look at the mps who are nominating, she is quite a way behind. the latest numbers out last night, kier starmer has the most. that is just about nominations, getting to the bow and the next stages. at the moment you need 22 to get through to the next stage, jess phillips on 22, rees and andy on 2a, the truth are struggling to make the car emily thornbury on ten and clive lewis four. if you were to look at this you would think kier starmer is way ahead but it is not the mps are to choose the next leader of the labour party. and with jess philip seen as the most centrist candidate, and we don't know of course with the new members signing up what the composition on the boat will be. there's a couple of big questions of

the membership, number one is how it has changed since last time there is the sort of election in 2016. we are all assuming, of course, that the membership is towards the left compared to mps, but things might have changed. there has been a big election defeat, which might change things. the other bit unknown here isa48 things. the other bit unknown here is a 48 hour window this week where people can sign up, register, pay 25 quid and bought. who are they going to be voting for? watches that make up to be voting for? watches that make up going to be? there is a lot of unknowns on this, so even though you can look at kier starmer is the frontrunner, this could be a very unpredictable contest. we saw jeremy corbyn coming on totally unpredictably last time we saw this, because there are a selection of hustings now and how people perform will be crucial. once we get to the point of the ballot towards the end of burberry, they will be going round the country trying to persuade members in the series of hustings ——

towards the end of february. this is ina straight towards the end of february. this is in a straight who gets the most votes, this is a voting system where you rank your preferences, so it's important that you don't just get voted for first, but you get second and third as well. again, it is really unpredictable. 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 pounds 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.

joining us now from paddington station is travel writer, simon calder. just buying them sounds incredibly difficult, but how common is it? there are such a number of us, mostly travellers like me with too much time on our hands who have been doing this for years. what it does is legally exploit the many anomalies that were baked in to the ticketing system at the time of privatisation, going back 25 years. asa privatisation, going back 25 years. as a result, we are the most classic the most classic examples here from london paddington going to bristol. this weekend its all off peak, but on monday morning for example, coming into paddington from bristol, you could buy a ticket and they will say thank you, that's £112, but if you say you would like to get to didcot and another one from there,

so you have two tickets for your journey rather than one, then you will save £35, so one third of the cost of the trip. perfectly legal as you say, so long as the train stops at the place that you spot the and what are seeing today is the whole thing moving from the niche, lots of us thing moving from the niche, lots of us have got used to the various points, to a company through which millions of people buy tickets saying we're going to give you the best deal, and that might involve one of these crafty ticket splitting... that sounds good for customers but not so good for the rail companies? most certainly. let me give you another example, if i may. if you walk up to the ticket office in perth in central scotland and say you want to go to swansea, they will say thank you, that's £235. but if you are going on to one

of the many ticket splitting websites, or on train line, they could split it into seven or eight separate sections, and you can still get on the same trains, still have a degree of flexibility, but you would save £100 on it. if that sort of money, you mention £300 billion that travellers will save, according to training, we'll see about that, that's 3% of the actual total revenue of the railwayjust gone or returned to the customers. so the railway industry says we want fares reform, we've been calling for it for years, we think these anomalies are ridiculous. i think this could actually accelerate this process, because we are going to see, obviously, train companies saying hang on to the government, we are losing all this money, you got to help us sort this all out will stop the simple answer is just fares reform and get red of all the

ridiculousness that rail fares have at the moment. so is this review likely are able to do that? the government has been talking about it for years. many governments have a lwa ys for years. many governments have always said we are going to reform the rail fares system, always said we are going to reform the railfares system, and always said we are going to reform the rail fares system, and that is terrific, except that when you put some up and some down and you make everything simpler, some people end up everything simpler, some people end up paying more. and they've always stopped at that point, saying, actually it is not politically a cce pta ble actually it is not politically acceptable that some people make paid ten, 15, 20% more, so were not going to do it. but there are signs of movement. just this month on the east coast main line from newcastle, from edinburgh, from leeds to london, suddenly they brought in single off—peak fares at reasonable prices, and that has completely transformed the landscape, but has brought in many other anomalies precise. for instance, if you want to go from london to manchester

weekday peak evening departure, the best thing to do is to ask for a ticket to edinburgh, not to manchester, and you will save £100. mad! thank you so much forjoining us. 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. debenhams — a retailer at the heart of many a town or city centre. but today six will close. from kirkcaldy in fife to walton—upon—thames in surrey. 50 stores are to go — the first wave this month, the rest in 2021. there's not much left

for last—minute bargain hunters in these final few hours of trading. this is altrincham. once our generation is gone, and another 30 years, there will be no shops. there will be no money and there'll be no shops. so we'll be all online, digital. i get a lot of beauty things from there, skin creams and perfumes and things like that. as well as other things, clothes as well, so yeah, i'll miss it being there. i used to buy quite a bit of stuff from there. yeah, very sad. i feel for the staff as well. debenhams has been struggling for years, weighed down with debt and falling sales. it did a restructuring deal to cut costs and close its worst performing shops. this year is make or break. for mothercare, the challenges were too great. it has been closing all its remaining 79 stores this week, including this one here in norwich. by the end of tomorrow it

will disappear from the high street and retail parks altogether, after nearly 60 years of trading. the spokesperson for the family of harry dunn has told us they are certain the american woman charged in connection with his death will return to the uk to face justice. the us state department said it was ‘highly inappropriate' for britain to apply for the extradition of anne sacoolas the wife of an american intelligence officer. ms sacoolas returned to the us claiming diplomatic immunity following a road accident in august. the home office says the matter is now "a decision for the us authorities'. the dunn family lawyer gave his reaction a little earlier. no doubt in my mind whatsoever, 100% she is coming back. the only thing i can't tell you is when. now, if this administration chooses tojust ignore the extradition request or reject it out of hand, i don't think there is anything any

of us will be able to do. but let me just remind your viewers, this administration will not be here forever and a day, but that extradition request will be, and it will simply be re—presented if it is rejected and all we can do in those circumstances is hope that a reasonable administration comes in and deals with the request fairly. stargazer is looking at the moon last night may have noticed something unusual. we saw something known as a wolfman at the same time asa lunar known as a wolfman at the same time as a lunar eclipse. it's all the moon move into the earth's outer shadow, causing it to look darker than normal. —— wolf moon. time for a look at the weather. todayis today is a taster of what we can

expect in the coming week, wet and windy conditions dominate the story. this afternoon, the strongest wind will be along this band of line. heavy pulses for cumbria and snowdonia. i had of it, it is dry, but a lot of cloud around. the wind will ease for northern ireland and scotla nd will ease for northern ireland and scotland and it will brighten up here, but starting to feel fresher. away from there, temperatures widely in double figures. very mild for the time of year. this evening, the band of rain continues to the south and east, taking the strongest of the wind. lightest wind in the north, still some showers which could pose an ice risk first thing on sunday morning. here, temperatures lower. with wind and rain, temperatures not dropping so far. on sunday, that will clear south and east, another band of rain were stretched through wales, clearing through the midlands and lincolnshire. brightening up through the afternoon for many, a blustery day and starting to feel fresher.