says she'll make a clean breakfrom biden's presidency, if she wins. fast—tracked nato membership and more military support — that's on the wish list of president zelensky, as he addresses european leaders later today. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we begin with the news that liam payne, the former one direction singer, has died at the age of 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in buenos aires. liam payne rose to global stardom with band members harry styles, niall horan, zayne malik and louis tomlinson as part of the teenage band sensation one direction. fans gathered outside the hotel as soon as news broke of his death. our culture correspondent, charlotte gallagher reports.

liam payne, a music superstar who found fame whilejust a teenager. he lived his entire adult life in the spotlight. sometimes struggling with the pressures of celebrity. this is the hotel in buenos aires where police say the singer fell to his death from a third—floor balcony. officers were already on the scene, following reports of an aggressive man, who may have been under the effect of drugs and alcohol. outside the hotel, fans were in disbelief. i needed to be here. ifound out the news, in my home, after i came from the home work. i needed to be here, present, and to know this is real, to know this is real. when i read about this, like, my heart stopped for a second. i couldn't believe it. like, i felt really

saddened by the news. so, as quickly as i could, i took the bus and i came here. it's such a loss. i'm 20 years old, and one - direction has been a part of me since i was eight years old. they meant... they mean and they meant a lot to me, i every one of them. hello, everybody. he had posted on social media that it was a lovely day in argentina. this was liam payne at 14, auditioning on x factor in 2008 for the first time. # fly me to the moon...# two years later, he was back again. # cry me a river...# and soon to become one fifth of a pop—music phenomenon. # you don't know you're beautiful!# one direction.

liam, zayn malik, harry styles, louis tomlinson and niall horan released hit after hit, toured the world and had millions of devoted fans. in 2016, they went on and indefinite hiatus. liam, like his bandmates, launched a solo career. and had a child with the girls aloud singer cheryl. to the outside world, he was living the pop—star dream, but liam also struggled with his mental health and addiction to alcohol. the problem we had in the band, and i don't blame anyone for this, i don't want to seem like i'm whining, "oh, my god, look at my life," whatever, but it feels to me like when we were in the band the best way to secure us because of how big it got was just lock us in our rooms and, of course, what is in our rooms? mini bar.

so, at a certain point, i thought, i will have a party for one. and that just seemed to carry out throughout many years of my life. and then you look back how long have you been drinking, and you are like, jesus christ, that's a long time, even for someone as young as i was. he remained close to his bandmates. just a few weeks ago, he was pictured dancing at a niall horan concert. one direction fans longed for a reunion. today those fans are mourning the death of their music icon. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. once again this is the scene live in buenos aires. outside the hotel where liam payne has died at the age of 31. as you can see, flowers, some of his fans, playing video to the musician. reaction continues to come in for musicians who had worked with liam payne as well as his many fans around the world. we will bring that to you here on bbc news. let's turn to the us now

and kamala harris has sat down with fox news in herfirst—ever inteview with the network. she was pushed on immigration, as well as her vow to be a candidate of change. a key moment came when she was pressed on comments she made last week when she said she could not think of anything she would have done differently from president biden during his four years in office. take a listen. my presidency will not be a continuation of joe biden�*s presidency. and like every new president that comes in to office, i will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas. i represent a new generation of leadership. i, for example, am someone who has not spent the majority of my career in washington dc. i invite ideas, whether it be from the republicans who are supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago, and the business sector and others who can contribute to the decisions that

i make about, for example, my plan for increasing the supply of housing in america and bringing down the cost of housing, addressing the issue of small businesses, which is about working with the private sector to bring more capital and access to capital to our small business leaders, including my plan for $25,000 down payment assistance for first—time homebuyers, and for small businesses, extending the tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000. meanwhile, on wednesday, fox news also aired an all—woman town hall with donald trump that was taped the previous day. he was asked about the strict abortion laws being imposed in several states and the former president praised the us supreme court for ending a woman's right to an abortion in the us when they overturned roe v wade in 2022. like ronald reagan, i believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother. strongly believe. you know, you have to follow your heart. some people don't. it's a very small percentage. but you have

to follow your heart. but you have the exceptions. what we were able to do is through, really, the courage of six supreme courtjustices. we were able to do this, after years and years of turmoil. now, it is back in the states. the states are voting for it. donald trump speaking there. our correspondent rowan bridge in washington followed the two events and gave his analysis, starting with kamala harris. i think the most notable comment was the one that you played there, where kamala harris was trying to place more distance, really, than we've seen before between herself and joe biden, where she said that a harris presidency wouldn't be a continuation of a biden presidency. that's further than she's really gone in the language that she's used previously, because it's always difficult if you're the vice president to, on the one hand, draw a distinction between yourself and be your own candidate, while at the same time you're still part of that administration. i mean, she was pressed quite hard by bret

on a number of issues that are of interest to fox viewers and i think are seen as the weaknesses for kamala harris, particularly on immigration, where she refused to say mistakes have been made. but the strategy that she gave in most of her answers really was to deflect from kamala harris herself onto donald trump and what she perceives as donald trump's weaknesses, something that fox viewers, i think, wouldn't be used to hearing half an hour of people talking about. seen kamala harris appearing at rallies recently with some high—profile republicans. liz cheney, the daughter of dick cheney, the former vice president, and a former congresswoman herself, appeared at a rally with kamala harris a couple of weeks ago. we've had her appearing in pennsylvania today with some republicans. we've seen both candidates really appearing in places that wouldn't be their natural homes, or to areas where the audience is not their natural home, should i say?

so, we've had kamala harris on fox, and then donald trump is appearing on the spanish language tv network univision. now, if you look at spanish—speaking voters in the united states, latino voters, they in the 2020 election, from the analysis you look at, voted disproportionately for democrats. and so again, i think here, what you're getting is a strategy where donald trump is trying to boost his support amongst latino voters, which, again, could be crucial in some of the battleground states in deciding who wins and who ultimately makes it to the white house. and we'll get more analysis on the us election in the next half an hour when i'm joined by thomas gift from the ucl centre on us politics. returning to our top story. the death of liam payne. our music correspondent, mark savage. reaction coming in from around the world to the death of liam payne. talk us through some of the reaction. fix, payne. talk us through some of the reaction.— payne. talk us through some of the reaction. a huge outpouring of urief

the reaction. a huge outpouring of grief and _ the reaction. a huge outpouring of grief and distress. _ the reaction. a huge outpouring of grief and distress. as - the reaction. a huge outpouring of grief and distress. as you - of grief and distress. as you might imagine, aftera of grief and distress. as you might imagine, after a popular singer dies at such a young age. some tributes have come in from harry styles mother, his band—mate in one direction. he posted a photo on instagram, simple words, just a boy. dermot o'leary, olly murs, former presenters of x factor, where he found fame, they have talked about his love of music, hisjoy in performing, they called him a humble singer, someone who wasn't affected, who did not greedily take up all of the spoils of fame. they both said they were devastated by the news of his loss. as we have seen pictures from argentina outside the hotel, funds are lighting candles, sharing stories and sharing their grief —— fans. sharing stories and sharing their grief -- fans.- sharing stories and sharing their grief -- fans. what kind of an artist — their grief -- fans. what kind of an artist was _ their grief -- fans. what kind of an artist was liam - their grief -- fans. what kind of an artist was liam payne l their grief -- fans. what kind i of an artist was liam payne and what do you think his legacy will be? ., ., .,

will be? for a manufactured boy band, will be? for a manufactured boy band. one _ will be? for a manufactured boy band, one direction _ will be? for a manufactured boy band, one direction were - will be? for a manufactured boy band, one direction were kind l band, one direction were kind of against the mould. a lot of those acts tend to be very polished, they can step out of line, one direction were a bit more ramshackle, they did not do complicated choreography because they said they were not up because they said they were not up to it, they wrote their own songs, liam payne in particular co—wrote about half of their last two albums. itjust made them seem more approachable, more human, more real than a lot of the manufactured bands. that is his legacy, he was someone that was able to reach out beyond the confines of the music industry that set him up into fame and appeared to people as a genuine human being. certainly, in my experience of meeting him on red carpets and interviews, he was always very humble, very sincere about his love of music and had a huge amount of gratitude to the fans that had

put him where he was and obviously they will be mourning him today, his family, his mother, father, two elder sisters, his young son, just seven, they will be grief stricken by the news coming from argentina.— stricken by the news coming from argentina. thank you, our music correspondent, - from argentina. thank you, our music correspondent, mark - music correspondent, mark savage. you can follow the latest had a reaction to the death of liam payne on our website or bbc news app. you can follow the latest reaction coming in on the live page. next, ukraine's president zelensky will address european leaders in brussels later today. he'll lay out his plans to end russia's invasion of ukraine by the end of next year. he will also ask for extra military support and fast—tracked nato membership. a nato meet is also taking place in brussels.

the alliance's new chief, mark rutte, spoke a short time ago. he said nato will support ukraine for as long as necessary. we are in this if necessary for a long haul, that is our message to putin. obviously we want to be in a place where zelensky and ukraine from a position of strength is able to start talks with russia, but till that moment comes, he can count on continuing support. putin cannot count on us letting go of that support, we will keep this going and we are all committed. i hear consistently in all my talks in the alliance. let's speak to our correspondent nick beake who's in brussels. what is president zelensky hoping to get out of the meeting?— hoping to get out of the meetin: ? , , , meeting? president zelensky is brin . in . meeting? president zelensky is bringing this — meeting? president zelensky is bringing this plan _ meeting? president zelensky is bringing this plan which - bringing this plan which consists of five key pillars. he has all ready been to washington, he showed it to president biden, he also showed his proposals to kamala harris

and to donald trump. yesterday he was in the ukrainian parliament. today he speaks face—to—face to the european leaders. what he is trying to achieve is build up support for what he senses a plan that would put his country, ukraine, in the best possible situation, the extent to which the war with russia could end by the close of next year. that may sound extremely ambitious, especially when you look at what mr zelensky is asking for. two of the key points he wants, so far his allies have not given it to him, even though he has been asking for it. first, theissue has been asking for it. first, the issue of nato membership. mr zelensky wants ukraine to be part of nato so it is part of that collective defence pact, so if there is an attack on one nato country, a bit like an attack on all of them, the others rally round. his allies and partners, the us, the uk, european nations, they say, as we heard, absolutely behind ukraine, but at this point,

they are worried, as they have been for two and a half years, about being in direct confrontation with president putin said they have not been willing thus far to an invitation tojoin willing thus far to an invitation to join nato. invitation to 'oin nato. and very briefly. — invitation to join nato. and very briefly, eu _ invitation to join nato. and very briefly, eu leaders - invitation tojoin nato. and very briefly, eu leaders will also be talking about the middle east. can we expect any kind of concrete action from the meeting? i kind of concrete action from the meeting?— the meeting? i don't think anything _ the meeting? i don't think anything concrete - the meeting? i don't think anything concrete will - the meeting? i don't think. anything concrete will come today. there was some agreement which is not always the case on the middle east a few days ago when you had 27 countries agreeing the actions of israel in the south of lebanon where there was firing on united nations peacekeeping troops, all the 27 said it was unacceptable. but you have divisions still within the group of 27 about how best to approach this situation. there is a growing rift between president macron of france and benjamin netanyahu, israeli prime minister. of course none of this helps the very dire situation on the ground for people living in gaza, for

example. people living in gaza, for example-— people living in gaza, for example. thank you, our correspondent _ example. thank you, our correspondent nick- example. thank you, our| correspondent nick beake example. thank you, our . correspondent nick beake in brussels. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

now onto the middle east, where the us envoy to the united nations has said washington is watching to ensure israel is not enacting what she called a policy of starvation in northern gaza. israel has denied previous accusations that its military is surrounding parts of the north and preventing food aid from getting through. israel said about 50 trucks arrived in northern gaza on wednesday, after a us threat to cut military supplies unless more was allowed through. joining me now are our correspondents in jerusalem and beirut, yolande knell and hugo bachega. yolande knell, how is israel reacting to the news from the

us, the warning that they should get more aid into gaza? we have not had a formal israeli government response but we have heard that the israeli prime minister met with senior officials to discuss this, even though it is a time we are not seeing a lot of government business taking place, it is the jewish holiday. business taking place, it is thejewish holiday. the latest figures we have had suggest there have been improvements in recent days in the amount of lorries going into gaza taking aid in. still it full short according to the latest figures of the more than 350 lorry—loads of aid the americans want to see going into gaza every day. the last figure was four tuesday when something like 145 lorries went in according to the israelis. was really important to see 50 lorry loads going into the northern part of the gaza strip yesterday. we have had aid

delivered there over three consecutive days after a two—week stretch when the un says there was no aid going into the top one third of the gaza strip at all, where about 400,000 people are estimated to be living still and there has been an israeli ground offensive going on there for nearly two weeks. at the moment the main focus is onjabal ea refugee camp where tens of thousands of people remain stuck. they have been talking about the desperate conditions there and food is still not able to get to them according to the humanitarian officials. let us turn to our correspondent hugo bachega in beirut. people there taking stock of the aftermath of israel big strikes in lebanon on wednesday.— israel big strikes in lebanon on wednesday. israel big strikes in lebanon onwednesda. . ., ., ., on wednesday. yeah, and one of the attacks _ on wednesday. yeah, and one of the attacks hit _ on wednesday. yeah, and one of the attacks hit the _ on wednesday. yeah, and one of the attacks hit the government i the attacks hit the government building killing 16 people

including the mayor and it was the first time a government building was hit and destroyed by an israeli air strike in this conflict. this morning there is a lot of anger, there was an angry statement yesterday by the prime minister who essentially accused israel of deliberately targeting this building where a meeting was taking place with local authorities to try to discuss the response, local response, to the israeli air strikes. the response,