general was assasinated in the heart of moscow. ukraine says it was responsible for the bomb which was hidden in a scooter outside an apartment building. kyiv claims general igor kirillov — who controlled russia's nuclear and chemical forces — had committed war crimes and was a legitimate target. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg reports. being filmed from a car opposite, a russian general and his assistant. here, what appears to be a scooter — we will come back to that. what followed was a giant explosion, with deadly consequences. the two men were killed, a moscow apartment block was now a crime scene. investigators sifted through the debris, searching for clues. later, a spokesperson for russia's investigative committee revealed that the bomb had been hidden on that scooter. a terrorist attack, she called it. it was the targeted assassination of this man.

lieutenant general igor kirillov was chief of russia's radiation, chemical and biological protection forces. only yesterday, ukraine had reportedly charged him in absentia for his alleged use of chemical weapons in the war. the general was known for making wild accusations against the west. he once claimed that america was plotting to infect russian troops with malaria, by releasing mosquitoes from drones. in october, the foreign office sanctioned him, calling him a significant mouthpiece for kremlin disinformation. russian state tv said that with today's attack, president zelensky had signed his own death sentence. the former kremlin leader dmitry medvedev called for the killers to be tracked down in russia. "we must do everything" he said, "to destroy the patrons who are in kyiv."

for local residents who may have heard the blast, there is a sense of shock. for many muscovites, even after nearly three years of war, russia's war in ukraine is something that is happening a long way away from here, something they see on tv or on their phone. but the killing of a general, here in moscow? that is a wake—up call, and a sign that this war is very real and very close to home. lisa, who lives close by, says she is scared. "when this kind of thing happens notjust in your home town," she says, "or your own neighbourhood, but in the building opposite, that's shocking." there's been no reaction yet from president putin, but the expectation is that, after such a high—profile killing in the russian capital, moscow will retaliate. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has

the view from kyiv. well, the main focus has been of course on the battle on the ground — and there's no doubt in that war, it is the russians who are advancing and ukrainians who are losing ground. but there's also this second clandestine war involving espionage and assassinations — in war, ukraine cleans some successes, not just ukraine cleans some successes, notjust in the targeted killing of this russian general who was involved in russia's chemical weapons programme, but also last week, the shooting of also last week, the shooting of a russian scientist involved in its missile and drone programme, again near moscow. and tonight, ukraine's security service, the sbu, says they've uncovered a major russian spy ring which included disaffected ukraine's who they alleged were trying to pass on details of

the locations of western supplied weapons in ukraine, including f—16s — in other words, primed russian targets not least for propaganda purposes — they say they've foiled that plot. we've been talking to ukrainian troops on the front line, there is no doubt their tired after three years of fighting, they are losing ground. but they're not giving up, and this clandestine war shows that too, whatever uncertainty may lie ahead next. now executive director of the institute. how do you think this attack is being received in russia?

carl, it's very interesting. i think they are probably feeling a bit of wounded pride and russia. again, this is right in the heart of moscow, as you said, a senior general — gas, other russian generals have been killed by the ukrainians, but they've been killed on ukrainian territory by and large. although ukraine did pretty spectacularly recently kill at least 1—2 commanders in crimea — that is ukrainian territory though — so again, i think the fact that this is in moscow, he's very senior. also, i think it's significant that he's in charge of the chemical nuclear biological defence forces and he was a big propagandist in this area, i think it's trying to draw attention for the international community to pay attention to but russia has been doing on this front. so you think potentially ukraine singled out this individual specifically? yes, of course theyjust announced yesterday that they were bringing charges against him, so clearly this was coordinated. it may be that theyjust had the opportunity today to assassinate him and they would've done it sometime in the coming weeks — but they were deliberately

selecting him as a target, you know, notjust because he's a general, but because he's in charge of those forces, they want to draw attention to the international community that he was in charge of the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in ukraine — which flies in the face of international law, multiple conventions — and i think it's probably linked may be to syria, because what we are seeing right now is a lot of evidence coming out of that battlefield, if you will, because syria's been liberated from bashar al—assad and his military, which was, with the help of the russian military and the iranian hezbollah, they were attacking civilians using chemical weapons. so there's a linkage here, the ukrainians and syrians are now working together. they want the international community to understand who these people are — they use chemical weapons, banned chemical weapons

on the battlefield and it's illegal and against civilians. i want to get to syria injust a moment, butjust looking at ukraine again and its tactics, we've seen strikes inside russia now, we know that this incursion into the kursk region of russia, now a growing number of assassinations within russia's borders — what do you think this says about ukraine's tactics in recent days and months? of course, they are trying to get at the russians, the will of the elites, the will of the people, they are trying to weaken that. clearly it is weakened already because russia has problems in internally, economically, getting the requisite manpower to keep the fight going. i think the ukrainians are also very much attacking our public opinion, our media — they want to show that they still have the initiative.

time and time again, when we've said, "oh, it's a stalemate, the ukrainians are bogged down," they'll take some kind of action like this. like you said, they'll seize the kursk territory in russia or conduct some of these attacks against russian military targets. so it's a way to demonstrate they're very much still in the fight. and just looking at syria now, how do you see recent developments there, starting to realign all the competing interests there, obviously including russia, and could we see some fallout that would pave the way for future deals, maybe even growing signs now of a hostage deal in gaza? yeah, i think what happened in syria — it's very interesting, i mentioned that the ukrainians have been helped from the very beginning by the syrian opposition, when they started being bombed in their cities and having their cities pulverised. the syrians understood, "oh, wait, we've seen this before, the russians did it in syria, they were effectively the syrian air force for bashar al—assad," pulverised cities, attacked civilians to liberally. so the syrians said, "here's how you bury

or hide your hospitals so russians can't bomb them," element in that cooperation has certainly continued in the quest forjustice. now we see that what ukraine has done to weaken russia — because i mentioned they are weaker — and what israel did frankly to weaken iran and its proxies had an impact on syria, and that's now having ripple effects throughout the middle east, as you said. i think we will see a deal in gaza to bring home the remaining hostages, and maybe we will see a final settlement there as well, because hamas is on its back leg, they don't have iran to help them out any more, hezbollah at the moment seems almost entirely destroyed — that might be a little exaggerated, but they're certainly not a player any more either. so again, neither russia nor iran have help from syria, and their understanding iran won't be there for them so they have to make a deal with israel.

live pictures from the state of wisconsin, the sight of that school shooting. wisconsin, the sight of that schoolshooting. if wisconsin, the sight of that school shooting. if you want to take those pictures, you can see the vigil for the victims of that shooting, that's being held outside the state capital building in madison, obviously in the wake of that shooting there —— state capitol building. we saw pictures earlier of people holding candles as night fell in madison, wisconsin — again, a vigil there after that school shooting in the capital of wisconsin, madison. the leader of hts — the rebel group now controling large parts of syria — is calling for the west to lift sanctions on the country and stop designating it as a terrorist group. in the times of london newspaper, ahmed al—sharaa said sanctions were no longer needed now that former president, bashar al—assad, has been ousted. he also warned israel that it must end its air strikes

in syria and withdraw from its territory. there are also reports of mass graves being uncovered outside the city of damascus. assad's regime is estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of syrians since 2011, after cracking down on protests in the country. our correspondent lina sinjab sent this report — which contains distressing details. the search is under way. no digging is needed. the white helmet rescue team found several bags filled with body remains in this tiny hole. the marks written on it read, "seven bodies, eight grave, unknown." only the skulls and bones of many who disappeared over the past decade, probably killed in one of assad's notorious detention centres. more and more bodies like this are discovered across the country. locals are reporting on mass graves. thousands of families are waiting to find their missing beloved ones,

but the fear is that they'll be just remains like these ones. today, after receiving the call about a possible mass grave here, we found on the ground, under the ground, the remains of seven civilian people. and we conducted the procedure for this operation. so in the future, we can identify those people who were killed. not far away, another mass grave. this is a local cemetery in the suburbs of damascus. and as you can see around me, part of it is empty, but actually the land is really bumpy with lots of stones over it. and the locals here told us that throughout the years of the war, security forces used to come in trucks and dump bodies here and bury them. the town's religious leader was there in one

of the burials, praying for the dead. he told me that in this 30 square meters, at least 100 were buried. but families are not giving up hope. at one detention centre, hundreds of ids are scattered on the ground for those who were detained by assad forces. people are searching for traces of their missing ones. this woman's brother disappeared in 2014. "he has seven children who are still waiting for him," she tells me. but for many others, even the remains of their loved ones will give them a closure, a decent farewell. lina sinjab, bbc news, damascus. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news.

campaigners have reacted with fury to the government's decision not to pay compensation to women who have been affected by rises in the state pension age. they believe more than three million women born in the 1950s — known as "waspi women" — weren't given sufficient notice of the change. the government said the £10.5 billion bill represented poor value for the taxpayer. the leader of reform uk, nigel farage, has met sue gray is expected to become a baroness when the government announces a number of nominees on thursday. she's best known for lockdown parties under boris johnson's for lockdown parties under borisjohnson�*s premiership. the former archbishop of canterbury, george carey, has quit as a priest after a bbc news investigation whch found he'd allowed a priest to return to ministry, despite being banned over sexual abuse allegations. justin welby, the most recent archbishop of canterbury, resigned for similar reasons. the archbishop of york, who is due to take his place, is resisting calls to resign

for his handling of a sex abuse case. you're live with bbc news. after months of deadlock, israel and hamas appear to be moving closer to a gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. a senior palestinian official told the bbc that ceasefire talks were in a "decisive and final phase" — and israel's defence minister said an agreement was closer than ever. joining me live is david makovsky, a distinguished fellow and director of the koret project on arab—israel relations, at the washington institute for near east policy. cautious optimism i believe is the term here — how close to an agreement do you think these negotiators actually are? well, it's now reported _ negotiators actually are? well, it's now reported that - negotiators actually are? well, it's now reported that the - it's now reported that the director of the cia is on his way to doha to meet with the qatari prime minister, who's been one of the mediators, along with egypt, on these talks. i mean, ithink that along with egypt, on these talks. i mean, i think that a hurdle to have crossed — this'll be a phased deal where

you'll have a third of the hostages released and returned for about six weeks of a cease—fire, may be that could be extended. it doesn't bring all the hostages out, but hamas seems to have agreed to a key concern of israel's, and the washington post is reporting this as well, that not demanding a full withdrawal is a precondition for that first phase. so that i think might pave the way — but i would caution your viewers on this, it gets into a zone where they have to actually go through all the different palestinian prisoners that would be released, and israel doesn't want to release some of these people, who have licenses or have killed israelis. i don't know if a third of the hostages israel would be getting our life, there is not a list of who will be released — until israel knows who will be

released,... my point is there could be a conceptual breakthrough, but i think you will be followed by some hard talks. if cairo in the past is a prologue to going through but prisoners will go through... we did see some favourable terms for israel in the deal made with hezbollah in lebanon. do you think israel holds the leverage in a potential deal with hamas? i leverage in a potential deal with hamas?— leverage in a potential deal with hamas? i think as your previous — with hamas? i think as your previous guest made - with hamas? i think as your previous guest made clear, | with hamas? i think as your- previous guest made clear, what i would call the decoupling of the hezbollah front from gaza — because they've been firing since october eight, the day after the october 7th atrocity, but now that there's a cease—fire in lebanon, hezbollah is not firing, and that might lead hamas to reduce

its terms and other developments waited out in iran, the syrian regime which was a conduit for weaponry is out of the game. so we will have to see but i have a feeling that the news reports might be ahead of what's going on, in terms of there'll be some hard bargaining here. i don't see prime minister netanyahu agreeing to a full withdrawal from gaza, netanyahu agreeing to a full withdrawalfrom gaza, and withdrawal from gaza, and that'll withdrawalfrom gaza, and that'll have the parents of the soldiers who are being held who will not be released in phase one, but phase two, saying, "will you ever get to phase two chris may" they are worried that their loved ones will be left behind as his first phase focuses on the release of women and older prisoners, and injured prisoners. so it's very much in doubt that a full deal will be done, but it's possible that you are right that there

seem to be concessions by hamas, and that'll be on the more macro part of the game, which is to decouple these fronts and it's no longer firing at israel in stereo. so many different players, but obviously the humanitarian situation there is a dire — should there be something in this deal like terms for how to bring in aid, who can return to which part of the territory, and who will be responsible for the rebuilding project in gaza? so there's a lot to unpack in your question. clearly part of the six weeks he's one —— cease—fire is to get humanitarian assistance into gaza, from current access points. that's baked into the cake, so to speak. what isn't yet baked into the cake is what happens after the six weeks, after you've surged

humanitarian assistance, what about reconstruction? that seems very tied to what's called the day after, which is, who's taking over in if hamas has been so destroyed? and there is no agreement they are. to me, it seems that the ones who could do it are the palestinian authority — but so far, there is a faction of the israeli government, the more hard right a faction that is saying, "we don't want those people back," they don't consider that that's better than hamas. i think that's unfair, and some of those in the far right faction want israel to stay in gaza. i don't think that's where the israeli public is, but that's yet to play out. public is, but that's yet to play out-— public is, but that's yet to -la out. ., ~ ., ., play out. thank you for that insiaht play out. thank you for that insight into _ play out. thank you for that insight into this _ play out. thank you for that insight into this potential. insight into this potential deal, again, giving some optimistic signals there. always delighted to be with you. luigi mangione, the man

suspected of shooting a health insurance boss in new york two weeks ago has now been formally indicted for murder. the ivy league graduate is accused of shooting brian thompson, ceo of insurance company united health care chief executive, outside a hotel in manhattan. new york prosecutor alvin bragg said the killing "was intended to cause shock, attention, and intimidation". our nada tawfik has the latest. the killing of the united health care ceo brian thomson set off a five—day manhunt that captivated people around the world and set off a debate about health care in america. some celebrated, and even rooted for luigi mangione, the suspect. but today in new york, prosecutors branded him a terrorist. they have charged him with three counts of murder, two with terrorism components. and in announcing

the indictment, the manhattan district attorney said this was a "frightening, well—planned, targeted murder in one of the most bustling parts of the city that was intended to cause shock, attention". if convicted, luigi mangini faces life in prison without parole. district attorney alvin bragg laid out the timing of his movements in new york, as well as the evidence against him. but luigi mangini is said to be not fighting extradition to new york any more. he's retained a new lawyer in new york — his previous pennsylvania lawyer said he will be pleading not guilty to the charges against him. in the meantime, though, he will appear in court in pennsylvania on thursday. the leader of britain's reform party, nigel farage, has been meeting elon musk at donald trump's mar—a—lago resort in florida. and the bbc�*s been told part of the discussion involved the prospect of a donation, from the world's richest man. here's chris mason. the world's disrupter—in—chief

meets british politics disruptor—in—chief. or, putanotherway, nigel farage and two billionaires — his new party treasurer, nick candy, and the world's richest man, elon musk. this, then, is the money shot. the pictures inevitably shared on x, the social media platform mr musk owns. mr farage saying britain needs reform. elon musk agreeing and endorsing them. they talked about campaign strategy. take over, elon, take over! mr musk played a prominent role in donald trump's election win, but that is not all they discussed. we did talk about money and we will have ongoing negotiations on that. i mean, he is fully, fully behind us. he wants to help us. he's not opposed to the idea of giving us money provided we can do it legally through uk companies. did you get to numbers? no, we didn't. we didn't, we didn't. but i mean, it's an open negotiation. it's a conversation we will have again with him. elon musk donated millions to donald trump. money can be legally given to political parties from uk registered companies, giving mr musk a potential

mechanism for donating here. the government wants to strengthen rules on foreign donations. about time, too, say some mps. well, democracy is about everybody having equal agency in our elections. and so one individual effectively donating the vast majority of a party's election expenditure is deeply unfairand against all of our principles. unfortunately, it's currently legal, and so i think we do need to look at how we operate election expenditure in this country. he's a very spectacular man, very highly- respected, nigel farage. reform uk's leader, a man with friends in high places, and friends with deep pockets. us congress has struck a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded beyond this

friday's looming parcels shutdown deadline. the stopgap funding bill allocates billions of dollars in disaster aid and relief are american farmers, pushing the funding deadline to 14 pushing the funding deadline to 1a march, giving donald trump and congress time to decide how the government should be funded next. and karl nazanin, stay with us on bbc news. —— i'm carl nazanin. hello there. we again saw temperatures reaching 13 celsius on tuesday, but the cloud this time brought with it more rain. and into the southwest, we'll find this rain arriving later in the day on wednesday. but at the moment, this area of low pressure is bringing the rain into the night. it's also bringing some strong and gusty winds — and that's all keeping the temperatures up. it's very mild, these are the temperatures of 12—13 celsius by the end of the night. but it will still be windy into the morning, and the strongest of the winds are likely to be over and to the east of the pennines. gusts 50—60mph in the morning — could be quite tricky if you're travelling on the m62

or the a1, for example. may well be some early rain across northern england to move through, and then, following that, sunshine and scattered, blustery showers will develop in scotland and northern ireland. and across england and wales, it may well brighten up as well, before we see this cloud and rain coming in to the southwest of england and wales later on. temperatures still in double figures for england and wales — but with that northwesterly wind developing in scotland and northern ireland, things will get colder as we head through the day and temperatures will be falling. overnight, we've got that rain coming in from the southwest to push across england and wales — it should've cleared away from the southeast by thursday morning. and then, we'll all be feeling the effects of these brisk northwesterly winds, and it will feel colder on thursday. showers, too, and those could be wintry over the hills across northern scotland. quite a few showers for northern ireland, over the irish sea into wales, perhaps the west midlands, and the southwest of england — and again, a bit of wintry over the hills. more sunshine, though, further east, where it should be dry. we'll all feel colder in those brisk winds, temperatures 6—8 celsius — but at least there'll be more sunshine around.

pretty chilly overnight for a while, before we see this rain coming in from the northwest on friday — that rain pushes away from scotland and northern ireland, into england and wales. it'll be followed by some sunshine and a few showers, and we'll end the week with temperatures of around about 9—10 celsius, so pretty good. heading quickly into the weekend, though, and it looks like a very unsettled weekend ahead. this weather system bringing some rain on saturday, and around the area of low pressure, we'll introduce a polar maritime air mass. and throughout the weekend, it looks like it'll be really quite windy. but through the weekend, it willjust get colder — and, as we see that colder air arriving, particularly on sunday, those showers will be turning wintry.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. democrac