labour's red light on its green investment policy — the main uk opposition party "stands down" its multi—billion pound environment plan. vote—counting is under way in the pakistan election after a campaign wracked by violence. and the us supreme court hears arguments in a case that could determine whether donald trump can run for president. hello, i'm ben thompson. welcome to the programme. we begin tonight with news from ukraine, where the army chief, general valerii zaluzhnyi, who led kyiv�*s forces throughout the russian invasion has been removed from his post. in a statement, president volodymyr zelensky said it's time for some urgent changes in the military. the ministry of defence echoed that line, saying that new approaches and new strategies were needed. our russia editor at bbc monitoring

and the ukrainecast presenter vitaliy shevchenko has been following developments. he gave me some background on the general who's been dimissed. valerii zaluzhnyi, to put simply, he was in charge of the ukrainian army. and as such, he was the architect of ukraine's initial counteroffensive backin ukraine's initial counteroffensive back in 2022. he is the face of ukraine's relative military success. he is credited well with the fact that ukraine's still there, still fighting, and yet he has been sacked. it's a move that will not go down particularly well with some parts of the military and the public in ukraine. general valerii zaluzhnyi has been very well thought of, respected and revered by many,

so questions have been asked and are being asked about why this has happened. there's a lot of talk about a personality clash between the two leaders, between volodymyr zelensky and valerii zaluzhnyi. i keep presidential adviser in ukraine said that one important reason why a reshuffle is taking place in the ukrainian military is the fact that times have changed, new objectives unnecessary, new command principles are necessary and new technology will need to be used by the ukrainian military to make sure that it defeats the russian army. and that's why a big rethink and reset is happening in the ukrainian military right now.— is happening in the ukrainian military right now. yes, and if we look at some _ military right now. yes, and if we look at some of— military right now. yes, and if we look at some of the _ military right now. yes, and if we look at some of the statements l look at some of the statements that have emerged from the talks between volodymyr zelensky and valerii zaluzhnyi, the talk of discussing

the kind of renewal the armed forces of ukraine need. you have touched their own weapons, but what do you understand that to mean as far as the outcome of this war is concerned?— the outcome of this war is concerned? ~ ., ., ~ concerned? well, it looks like the focus of this _ concerned? well, it looks like the focus of this meeting _ concerned? well, it looks like the focus of this meeting between - focus of this meeting between volodymyr zelensky and valerii zaluzhnyi was a replacement of the whole team of ukrainian military commanders. so we are likely to seek new faces and other key military positions, and the man who has been appointed to replace general valerii zaluzhnyi, he's called oleksandr syrsky, he was until today the commander of ukraine's ground forces. he is very experienced. he has been involved in fighting in eastern ukraine for about ten years now. he was a key commander in 2015.

then after this full—scale invasion started, he was first put in charge of defending the ukrainian capital, kyiv. that worked. the russian forces were pushed back from kyiv. then later in 2022, he played a key role in another successful ukrainian operation where ukrainians reclaimed huge parts of the northeastern kharkiv region. then general 0leksandr syrsky was in charge of defending the city of bakhmut inanition ukraine that was ultimately captured by the russians. so he has bags of experience. in russia, the only presidential hopeful to oppose the war in ukraine says he has been blocked from running for election. anti—war candidate boris nadezhdin was hoping to challenge vladimir putin in next month's elections, but says the country's central election commission did not

register his candidacy. he's been speaking to my colleague matthew amroliwala. now my lawyers make the appeal to the supreme court of russian federation, and i hope supreme court will decide in my favour and i will have the opportunity to run for presidential and millions of people, millions of people in russia which wanted to vote for me will have this opportunity. when we spoke about two weeks ago, you were deliberately getting well over the 100,000 signatures that you needed to stand in this election because you anticipated that the authorities might come back with something like this. and sure enough, they have. do you recognise, though, that despite you saying that you plan to appeal, it is very unlikely this this decision is very likely

to be upheld, isn't it? frankly speaking, i have no... i have no idea about the decision of supreme court, because if the supreme court will treat this case in accordance with constitution, in accordance with russian laws, i am absolutely sure that i am right. i am right, because we have seen a lot of problems with decision of central election committee and my lawyers, maybe, maybe five, maybe maybe 50, 50 pages of arguments for supreme court. and of course, i understand the real situation in russia, the real situation. and unfortunately, some decisions, of course, in political cases is not due to the law, but due to the political understanding.

i was going to ask you that is the real situation in russia, and this illustrates it again, that any sort of voice that opposes putin or opposes policy or opposes this war are silenced? i am absolutely sure, absolutely sure that sometimes, maybe not now, but maybe little later, russia will be peaceful and free country, peaceful and free country. i'm absolutely sure. because i have already understood the support of dozens of millions of people which do not want the russia be in this track of authoritarianism, track of militarism, track of isolation. many, many people in russia, especially younger people, want the normal future for our country. so it's absolutely impossible. of course, central election committee can take me away from it.

it's quite possible, but it is impossible to take away from country dozens of millions of people which want... which think the same, like me. apologies there, it was not your tv if you were watching at home but the sound and the tv not quite in sync but you get the gist of what matthew was discussing with this guest, so apologies for that. in the uk, labour leader sir keir starmer has confirmed that his party is "standing down" a pledge to spend £28 billion a year on environmental projects if it wins the general election. environmental groups have called the move short—sighted, and the conservatives have described it as a major u—turn on a flagship policy. but speaking to the bbc, sir keir said the target had to be scaled back because the conservatives had crashed the economy. 0ur political editor chris mason is in westminster. how are you doing? good to see you, thanks for your time. this is what the man who wants to be prime minister sounds like as hejunks a headline promise. keir starmer, let's be clear, what are you binning today

and what are you keeping? every single commitment that we've made that is on the table is staying. the warm homes commitment is scaled down. that'll take a bit longer, but everything else is exactly as announced. what we're announcing today is that we won't be making further investments, and therefore we won't reach the 28 billion, which is effectively stood down. was it a mistake in the first place to talk about 28 billion, an arbitrary number that you've long acknowledged it might be a struggle to get to anyway? well, the 28 billion was announced when interest rates were very low. now they're very high because of the damage that's been done to the economy. that means even the interest... but things change, don't they, so maybe it was a silly promise in the first place? that means even the interest on the debt is measured in tens of billions of pounds. but, look, what i'm interested in is not the money, the exact sum, but the outcomes, and with, you know, gb energy, with the national wealth fund... but you were interested in the exact

sum until this morning? i've always been... my mission is clean power by 2030. let me put to you what some people are saying in response to what you've said, starting first with the business organisation the cbi. the business leaders i speak to want to see stability and certainty. they really want to see a clear commitment from all parties to decarbonising our economy. is this really stability and certainty? nothing that i've put on the table, that i've talked to business about what we're going to do, is coming off the table. everything apart from the warm homes plan is exactly the same sum of money as we originally said. so that certainty is there. i understand why businesses want certainty, that's why i want those commitments to stay. so this year is a tussle between you and rishi sunak as to who should be prime minister. here's what he's had to say today in response to what you're doing. this was the flagship plank. of labour's economic policy, and it now looks like he's trying to wriggle out of it. _ i think it demonstrates exactly what i've been saying, - that he u—turns on major things, he can't say what he would do i differently because he doesn't have a plan. l he has a point, doesn't he,

that there is plenty of evidence of policies where you've changed your mind? look, they've crushed the economy, they've sent mortgages through the roof, they've doubled the debt. i think the sooner rishi sunak comes to appreciate that he's in no position to lecture anyone else about fiscal responsibility, the better. take on that criticism, because it does exist and you know it exists, that too many times you have said something and then changed your mind and people looking in might think, "what does he actually believe?" so i came into politics relatively late in life. i've led other organisations. everywhere in the real world, people have to adjust their decisions according to the circumstances, when the circumstances change. so u—turns are a good thing? that's common sense. everybody understands that. do they? that's your call. chris mason, bbc news. live now to westminster and our political correspondent harry farley.

labour are calling this standing down that £28 million pledge and they say there's because no money and the conservatives to crash the economy. this is all about getting ready for an election, though, and labour laying out what its manifesto really will be. labour laying out what its manifesto really will loo-— labour laying out what its manifesto really will be— really will be. yes, that's right, and i really will be. yes, that's right, and i think— really will be. yes, that's right, and i think labour— really will be. yes, that's right, and i think labour conscious . really will be. yes, that's right, and i think labour conscious in | really will be. yes, that's right, . and i think labour conscious in this decision that the conservatives have been attacking them over this pledge to spend £28 million on green investments and on green jobs. to spend £28 million on green investments and on greenjobs. it was first announced in 2021, and then in the last few months we gradually got a sense that things were not all well without pledge. a few months ago, they said actually is 28 billion including the 10 million the government already spends, so really only 18 billion, and then more recently they said they will ramp up of that figure in they will ramp up of that figure in the second half of the next parliament. so in 2—3 years' time.

and now the announcement that actually that 28 million figure is gone altogether. now labour say that they are going to still meet the policies that that 28 million was going to fun. they are going to scale back one of them, which was insulating homes across the uk, but otherwise they're going to still meet their policies in this area. and they say it's the pragmatic decision, the economy has changed in the blood and the conservatives for crashing the economy and they say if the pragmatic thing to do to change as a result of that. the conservative and the other mcclanahan say, well, the labour leader has u—turns on another things and you cannot trust what he says. so as you said this is gearing up to an election with both sides trying to manoeuvre each other on their spending plans and their plans for the economy. stay with us, harry. just want to mention another story we're following today. the prime minister rishi sunak says it was "sad and wrong" of sir keir starmer to link a jibe he made in the commons about labour's gender policy to the murdered trans teenager, brianna ghey.

this is what he had to say. well, like everyone, i was completely shocked by brianna's case. to have your child taken from you in such awful circumstances is almost impossible to come to terms with. and for brianna's mum to talk with such empathy and compassion about that, i thought was inspiring and it showed the very best of humanity. i have nothing but the most heartfelt sympathy for her entire family and friends. but to use that tragedy to detract from the very separate and clear point i was making about keir starmer's proven track record of multiple u—turns on major policies, because he doesn't have a plan, i think is both sad and wrong, and it demonstrates the worst of politics. well, responding to those words, the labour leader sir keir starmer said he's not responsible for the prime minister's words and repeated his calls

for rishi sunak to apologise. he should not have said what he said in prime _ he should not have said what he said in prime minister's _ he should not have said what he said in prime minister's questions, - he should not have said what he said in prime minister's questions, and l in prime minister's questions, and he should — in prime minister's questions, and he should apologise. _ in prime minister's questions, and he should apologise. and - in prime minister's questions, and he should apologise. and the - in prime minister's questions, and| he should apologise. and the ideas that i_ he should apologise. and the ideas that i am _ he should apologise. and the ideas that i am responsible _ he should apologise. and the ideas that i am responsible for— he should apologise. and the ideas that i am responsible for his- he should apologise. and the ideas that i am responsible for his words| that i am responsible for his words is through— that i am responsible for his words is through the _ that i am responsible for his words is through the looking _ that i am responsible for his words is through the looking glass. - is through the looking glass. brianna _ is through the looking glass. brianna ghey's _ is through the looking glass. brianna ghey's father- is through the looking glass. brianna ghey's father looked is through the looking glass. . brianna ghey's father looked at is through the looking glass. - brianna ghey's father looked at what rishi sunak— brianna ghey's father looked at what rishi sunak had _ brianna ghey's father looked at what rishi sunak had said, _ brianna ghey's father looked at what rishi sunak had said, he's— brianna ghey's father looked at what rishi sunak had said, he's describedj rishi sunak had said, he's described what he _ rishi sunak had said, he's described what he thought _ rishi sunak had said, he's described what he thought about _ rishi sunak had said, he's described what he thought about rishi - rishi sunak had said, he's described what he thought about rishi sunak's word, _ what he thought about rishi sunak's word, dehumanizing, _ what he thought about rishi sunak's word, dehumanizing, and _ what he thought about rishi sunak's word, dehumanizing, and he - what he thought about rishi sunak's word, dehumanizing, and he wants. what he thought about rishi sunak's i word, dehumanizing, and he wants an apology _ word, dehumanizing, and he wants an apology his _ word, dehumanizing, and he wants an apology his teenage _ word, dehumanizing, and he wants an apology. his teenage daughter- word, dehumanizing, and he wants an apology. his teenage daughter was i apology. his teenage daughter was killed~ _ apology. his teenage daughter was killed~ i_ apology. his teenage daughter was killed~ ithink— apology. his teenage daughter was killed. i think rishi _ apology. his teenage daughter was killed. i think rishi sunak- apology. his teenage daughter was killed. i think rishi sunak need - apology. his teenage daughter was killed. i think rishi sunak need to i killed. i think rishi sunak need to do the _ killed. i think rishi sunak need to do the decent _ killed. i think rishi sunak need to do the decent thing, _ killed. i think rishi sunak need to do the decent thing, stop - killed. i think rishi sunak need to do the decent thing, stop limningj do the decent thing, stop limning everybody— do the decent thing, stop limning everybody else _ do the decent thing, stop limning everybody else. he _ do the decent thing, stop limning everybody else. he said - do the decent thing, stop limning everybody else. he said those - do the decent thing, stop limning - everybody else. he said those words, bear everybody else. he said those words, hear some _ everybody else. he said those words, bear some responsibility, _ everybody else. he said those words, bear some responsibility, do - everybody else. he said those words, bear some responsibility, do the - bear some responsibility, do the right— bear some responsibility, do the right thing — bear some responsibility, do the right thing and _ bear some responsibility, do the right thing and that _ bear some responsibility, do the right thing and that is _ bear some responsibility, do thej right thing and that is apologise. back to political correspondent harry farley. this feels like there is a bit of a standoff here. neither side prepared to back down on this route, and it

feels like in an election year or what we expect to be an election year, this isjust going to go on and on, trading blows like this. yes, i think we can expect that as the election comes in the next few months. this dates back to a rep at prime minister's questions, the weekly often heated exchanges between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition yesterday, and as you heard there, rishi sunak made a job come amid criticism of labour's stance on transgender issues, but while he did that, the mother of the murdered teenager brianna ghey was in parliament and the labour leader as you said calling for him to apologise for that. and really when we saw this exchange in the house of commons yesterday, you could see sir keir starmer visibly angry that rishi sunak had made that comment while the mother, esther, the mother of brianna ghey was in parliament. but

if you say, rishi sunak not apologising. he is saying that it's from the labour to make the link between the particular case of the murdered teenager and their own policy on transgender issues. and so if you see i think we can expect this standoff with no sign of the prime minister wanting to apologise, the standoff to continue.— the standoff to continue. harry, aood to the standoff to continue. harry, good to have — the standoff to continue. harry, good to have you _ the standoff to continue. harry, good to have you with - the standoff to continue. harry, good to have you with us - the standoff to continue. harry, i good to have you with us tonight, they so much, harry farley in westminster. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. bbc news analysis reveals that cancer waiting times in england last year were the worst on record. only 64% of patients started treatment within 62 days of cancer being suspected, meaning nearly 100,000 people waited longer for life—saving care than they should have. the waiting periods have worsened every year for the past 11 years. the co—op retail chain is urging mps to make assaulting or abusing a shop worker a specific criminal offence in england and wales. the company said there'd been a 44%

increase in incidents of shoplifting and violence in its stores within the past year. it's already a criminal offence in scotland. the scottish government plans to increase the minimum price at which alcohol can be sold by 30%. this means shops in scotland would not be able to sell a bottle of wine for less than £6.09. the minimum price for vodka would increase by ea to just over £17. the change must be approved by parliament and would come into effect in september. you're live with bbc news. votes are being counted in pakistan after a general election wracked by intimidation and militant attacks. mobile phone and internet services were suspended throughout the day, prompting an outcry from opposition parties. the election was almost two years after the previous prime minister, 0ur south asia correspondent samira hussain has more from islamabad.

well, we've heard from the electoral commission. they've said that the election has gone off pretty well, but they did cite a few incidents where security personnel had died, but from their perspective by and large this was a pretty good election in terms of overall safety. they also were quick to mention that there were some issues at some polling stations and that those polling stations had been reported to them. but in general they are still reporting that this has been a pretty good election, but remember that for the entire time that these polls were open, we saw that the mobile services were completely shut down. so internet service was complete shut down, and the government had assured people, saying that they weren't going to cut off any communication. but in the end they did, citing these security concerns, but critics of course were very quick to say this was just another attempt by the government to stifle

the electoral process. i've been speaking to dr farzana shaikh, an associate fellow at the asia—pacific programme at chatham house. she gave me her analysis. well, i mean, it's clear that the decision to cut off internet services caused outrage across the political spectrum, and particular outrage, of course, amongst those in the party led by former prime minister imran khan. as we know, you know, many of his many...many of his candidates were forced to contest these elections as independents. they were denied the use of their of their national symbol, the cricket bat. but, of course, they mounted stiff resistance to these restrictions by taking to social media and hoping to sort of,

you know, seize the initiative on that basis, only to be met with this cut of internet services across pakistan. so, you know, we have a lot of angry voters out there today. yes, imran khan himself calling the cut in the internet a "cowardly act". we also know that turnout was forecast to have been pretty low. again, implications for the outcome of this election. what would a low turnout mean potentially? well, potentially what it means is, of course, very likely a turnout, that low turnout, that would favour former prime minister nawaz sharif, who is seen by many to be the frontrunner, backed by the military. sharif, of course, has already been prime minister three times

and is aiming to become prime minister for the fourth time. 0n the other hand, if turnout is shown to have been large, and really i think the jury is still out on that, it would certainly favour imran khan's party. i mean, he has called on his supporters to come out in large numbers and droves to vote for for independent candidates backed by his party. so we'lljust have to wait and see. the whole process is slow. votes are still being counted. and, you know, there isn't as yet a consensus isn't as yet a consensus on the actual turnout. the us supreme court has heard arguments in a case that could decide whether donald trump is eligible to run for president. it must consider a ruling by colorado's top court, which deemed that mr trump could not run in that state's primary because his actions

during the assault on the capitol onjanuary 6, 2021 amounted to insurrection. let's hearfrom our washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue. yeah, it is. i mean, there's various complex aspects to it. and there are definitions involved about whether the president is an officer of the united states and whether or not a state can kind of execute this clause or whether it has to be congress that does it. and all those issues were chewed over over a period of two hours this morning with the counsel for colorado and indeed the counsel for donald trump and these nine supreme courtjustices asking a whole barrage of questions. i have to say that from the tenor of the questioning, there was a lot more hostility towards colorado's case than perhaps there was towards donald trump's counsel. and while we can't sort of be sure about that, i think that would indicate the way

this court might be going. and they may, i think, in the end, not uphold this ban, partly in fact because i think they think it's not up to one state, or that was the impression they gave, not up to one state to decide for the rest of the country who gets to run for president. and we've also seen those warnings, haven't we, as well, from both attorneys general and many states, saying that actually taking him off the ballot would "unleash chaos across america". and that will also be front and centre in their decision—making, perhaps not legally, but they will have an eye on what could happen if they did decide to ban him from running. yeah, as someone put it this morning, you know, banning an insurrectionist might cause an insurrection. that's something that people are certainly frightened about.

and the court also didn't really get into the question of whether or not the facts established the fact that donald trump was an insurrectionist. that is something that colorado has asserted effectively as a way of keeping him off the ballot. they don't want to go anywhere near that. they're looking for what's termed in this country a bit of an off—ramp. and they have that in terms of congress. they can suggest that it's really only for congress to decide these matters, that they should pass laws if they want to do that. and that would avoid them having to take a view on donald trump's actions onjanuary 6, 2021. gary in washington and were saying there will be no ruling today. the justices not saying when they will decide. stay with us here on bbc news. headlines coming up for you very shortly. hello. well, as predicted, the winter wonderland did arrive in the areas where it was forecast. so mostly the northern hills of wales, northern england,

some in northern ireland and scotland, too. here's a picture from wakefield, beautiful snowflakes there, but elsewhere rain, heavy rain. and these are the stratus and the nimbostratus rain—bearing clouds shrouding the tops of the skyscrapers in london. ok, let's have a look at the radar, then. where it's blue, it's raining. this was earlier on. where its white and grey, that's sleet and snow, so that weather front is moving northwards into scotland. now another clump of rain heading towards the south of england, and warnings from the met office for snow and ice are still valid across parts of the country. so you can check that online. so the forecast through the night, particularly heavy rain moving in from the south, moving northwards. could be 40—plus millimetres of rain in some areas. across the north and the north—east there, i think it's that mixture of sleet and snow, particularly across the higher ground. but that thaw is setting in, a rapid thaw from the south. you can see 11 degrees in london in the morning, and further north about 4—5 celsius.

so the weather map for friday shows the low pressure still close by. here's the weather front. north of the weather front, it's still pretty chilly. that easterly wind drawing in the colder air from scandinavia. here we have that west—south—westerly, so that mild air coming in. and i think again across the highlands and the grampians, further snow to come on friday, again met office warnings for that. the rest of the country, it's a case of often cloudy weather, showers continuing through the day and into the evening hours as well. not a pleasant picture for some of us on friday and friday night. that takes us into saturday. the low pressure still with us. that weather front still there affecting the north—east of scotland, but already you can see turning milder. nine degrees in glasgow, seven in aberdeen. and the low is still with us on sunday, but this clump of rain i think raises the north—east of england and also eastern scotland for a time, but out towards the west and the south, i think the weather's going to be drier and brighter with just a scattering of showers.

now, the outlook through the weekend into next week, it looks as though things could settle down a little bit as we head into monday and eventually tuesday with high pressure building in, at least for a time. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... aid agencies warn of a humanitarian disaster

if israeli forces enter rafah, as the offensive in gaza continues. labour's red light on its green investment policy. the main uk opposition party �*stands down' its multi—billion pound environment plan. brazilian police investigate allies of former presidentjair bolsonaro for their role in an attempted coup. and scientists at oxford university use virtual reality to understand why 80 million people speak with a stammer. let's turn to the latest in the israel—gaza war. the us says it will not support any underprepared israeli military operation in gaza's southernmost city, rafah — warning of the risk of �*disastrous consequences' for the people there. 0n rafah, we have seen those reports and we have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation.