i of making racist remarks. have never met mr hesti think i have never met mr hester, i don't think he is a racist person, i think he said something stupid and we all say stupid things at times. new legislation will be introduced to automatically quash the convictions of subpostmasters, who were wrongly prosecuted in the horizon it scandal. a presidential rematch. joe biden and donald trump secure their parties�* nominations for november's election. and as a boat carrying aid makes its way, the un says a new land route has been used to deliver food to northern gaza for the first time in three weeks. hello, i'm azadeh moshiri, welcome to the programme. prime minister rishi sunak has said that alleged comments about mp diane abbott made by a top conservative donor were "racist and wrong"

technology boss frank hester — who donated £10 million to the party last year — is said to have made the comments in 2019. our political correspondent hannah miller has more. hello, rishi. how are you? very nice to see you. when rishi sunak made this visit to a mill near leeds in november, his helicopter ride had been provided by one of his party's biggest donors, frank hester, who last year donated £10 million to the conservative party, now alleged to have made comments that the prime minister's spokesperson has described as racist and wrong. "it's like trying not to be racist. but you see diane abbott on the tv," frank hester is reported to have said in 2019, "and you just want to hate all black women because she's there, and i don't hate all black women at all, but i think she should be shot." mr hester has apologised and said that he abhors racism. in a statement he said that he accepts that he made comments that were rude about diane abbott,

but said his criticism had nothing to do with her gender, nor the colour of her skin. the prime minister has suggested that he accepts that apology, but today he's likely to face questions about what will happen to the money frank hester donated. labour are calling for it to be given back. they're absolutely reprehensible comments. rishi sunak should now apologise to diane abbott, and the £10 million the tory party have taken from this individual, rishi sunak should order that money to be paid back. last night a leading member of one conservative pressure group suggested it could be used to promote ethnic minority groups. i would hope that actually hq would use that money to invest in grassroots. there are so many bame activists in the conservative party, there are bame groups and forums, and i think that actually, so many of them are so under supported, that it would be a perfect

opportunity to actually improve that engagement. diane abbott has described the alleged comments as frightening, and reported them to the police unit tasked with investigating alleged crimes against mps. but for rishi sunak, a prime minister who stood in downing street and warned against racism and extremism in politics, questions remain about the language used by some of those who support him. hannah miller, bbc news. speaking to bbc breakfast this morning, the post office minister, kevin hollinrake, said he would accept another £10 million donation from frank hester — — and that he is not a racist. we are not a racist party. i have never met mr hester. i don't think he is the racist person. i think he said something stupid, completely inappropriate. we all say stupid things at times. i don't think people generally say something as stupid as that.

but he has apologised. i think we should try and move on from that and i would reiterate to people that the government has the most diverse cabinet in history. we have got the first british asian prime minister in history. we have a proud record in terms of diversity and equality. that is what we stand for. that is what people should have the confidence in us that that is the case. let's turn to the latest on the post office it scandal here in the uk. the government is introducing new legislation to automatically quash related convictions. a compensation scheme will also be extended to help branch managers who were not convicted of crimes, but who lost money due to flaws in the horizon system. colletta smith reports. it's been nearly three years since the first 39 subpostmasters won the legal victory at the court of appeal to overturn their convictions. but despite the legal precedent, it's been a painfully slow process for others to follow suit and have their criminal records cleared. rather than opening the floodgates,

there's only been a quiet drip of people being exonerated. the post office minister told bbc breakfast in january that things were going to change. when the first convictions were overturned in 2021, we thought there would be a huge wave of people coming forward to overturn those convictions. we probably hadn't anticipated some of the nervousness people might have about reopening their case, about going back through a legal process, about interacting with the post office again. so that's why we'd be looking at different options in terms of overturning these convictions more rapidly, and indeed compensating people more rapidly. janet skinner was one of those who won that high court battle. but she's been less than impressed with what's happened since then. is the government going to take back control over the post office? currently, the post office, they are orchestrating convictions, who has a conviction overturned.

they're in control of the compensation. they are now classified as the criminals. so why are they having the power to control everything? today that question has begun to be answered. the law being introduced means that hundreds of people still living with wrongful convictions for theft, fraud and false accounting, will now be automatically cleared. if they come forward, there'll be no court process needed, and they'll get access to immediate interim compensation. those not convicted, but who lost money because of the horizon scandal, can now receive a sum of £75,000, and anyone who's already settled for less than that can have their payments topped up to this level. a gradual unpicking of years of injustice. colletta smith, bbc news. tim brentnall ran the roch post office in pembrokeshire. he was convicted of false accounting in 2010. his conviction was then quashed

at the court of appeal injuly 2021. speaking on bbc breakfast, he said it's been a very frustrating fight to get compensation. my conviction along with up to 100 other people's was quashed over three years ago and we spent the last three years trying to build our case to claim our recompense from the post office. it is welcome that the remaining convictions are quashed and there are payments made available to people in the other schemes, like the historical shortfall scheme, but for people in any group, whether it is quashed convictions or people left from the glo group, payments need to be sped up because a lot of people are a lot older than me and haven't got the time to wait for these payments to come through. in the us, it's round 2 forjoe biden and donald trump. we now know they will be going head—to—head in this november's presidential election.

it will be the first presidential election rematch in the us since 1956. joe biden secured enough delegates to become the democratic candidate for president. he said he was honored the party had put its faith in him once again. the president faced only token opposition, and will be formally anointed at his party's national convention in chicago in august. donald trump clinched the nomination for the republicans after primary races in several states. his main rival — the former un ambassador nikki haley, who'd also served in his white house — dropped out of the race last week. his campaign for a second term has zeroed in on stricter immigration laws as well as fighting crime and ending the war in ukraine. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis gave us this update. the stage is formally set, as you say, for a rematch of the 2020 election. we have been here before, haven't we? trump versus biden. and both candidates,

as you mentioned there, have put out a statement saying they are honoured to be their respective parties�*s presidential nominees. president biden faced only token opposition during his run for his party's presidential nomination. donald trump won 1a out of 15 state contests on super tuesday and that prompted his lone surviving rival nikki haley, the former un ambassador, to drop out of the republican race. and even though donald trump is facing more than 90 criminal indictments, he still has a lead in most of the opinion polls here over nikki haley. and the early conclusion to these nominating contests means that people in this country are now facing a very long, ugly and expensive election campaign, one which culminates,

as you mentioned there, in the national conventions that either party will hold over the summer. there is a feeling that, at 77 and 81 respectively, donald trump and joe biden are simply too old. a lot of people here would rather see fresh faces going into this presidential campaign and indeed werejoe biden to be re—elected and serve another four years, he would be 86 years old by the time he leaves office. there is a feeling that there would be much more interest in this election were the to have been candidates that people haven't seen before or perhaps had seen before but hadn't been competing at this particular level in american politics. so we shall wait to see. turn out, of course, could be a crucialfactor. all to play for, and some of the key issues i think will be immigration. donald trump had vowed to close

the border, as he put it. also inflation — the economy here is improving butjoe biden doesn't seem to be getting the credit for that. and of course there is the issue of reproductive rights, which has been thrown into the mix, particularly of late in the wake of the revocation of roe versus wade, the constitutional right of all americans to have an abortion. so a lot of very important issues will weigh in on this election. donald trump, i think, will be hoping that his legal woes can provide some sort of rallying cry, if you like, for the base of the republican party, amongst whom he remains extremely popular. let's return to our top story. prime minister rishi sunak has apologised and said comments by a top

conservative donor about the mp diane abbott were racist and wrong. we can now speak to our political correspondent damian grammaticas who has more. damian, will this be the end of it is air pressure for him to do more after this? h0. end of it is air pressure for him to do more after this?— do more after this? no, i think certainly there _ do more after this? no, i think certainly there will— do more after this? no, i think certainly there will be - do more after this? no, i think certainly there will be pressure do more after this? no, i think. certainly there will be pressure on this issue on the prime minister. it is worth saying, that condemnation about this, the individual who made this donation, that came from the prime minister's spokesman and only at the end of the day yesterday, after through the day the government had been holding a different position. so the question today is going to be that rishi sunak, just in a couple of hours' time, it's going to face his weekly prime minister's questions in parliament and there i think there will be two things that are going to be focused on the could be difficult for him.

the first one is going to be the issue about the money, the donation, the £10 million that was given last year from this individual frank hester. the biggest donation to the conservative party. it is a huge sum of money. we have an election coming up. could be soon, sometime this year it has to be called. that money therefore is very important to the conservative party's coffers. question from the opposition, rishi sunak is called the comments made by frank hester, or a spokesperson has called those comments racist and wrong so should he give the money back? the conservative party said no and ministers were saying that again this morning, and going even further, actually they would take another 10 million if it was offered on the basis i don't believe that frank hester himself is racist on the basis of his alleged comments

because they think he has apologised for those comments and he himself is not a racist. that is one issue for the party and mr sue knock. the second issue, is rishi sunak�*s own handling of this and the confusion and flip—flopping we saw yesterday and flip—flopping we saw yesterday and that i think is something that the opposition may seek to press him on. , ., ., �* �* , on. there is more on the bbc news website. around _ on. there is more on the bbc news website. around the _ on. there is more on the bbc news website. around the world - on. there is more on the bbc news website. around the world and - on. there is more on the bbc news l website. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories. there's been another mass kidnapping in nigeria. 61 people were seized in the state of kaduna, in northern nigeria. that comes just days after more than 280 school students were taken by gunmen. more than 11,700 people have reportedly been kidnapped by various groups in the past 10 months. lawyers for ghislaine maxwell have

argued that she should be set free under the terms of a previous deal with federal prosecutors. the socialite was found guilty of helping disgraced financier jeffery epstein sexually abuse young girls. she was sentenced to 20 years in prison injune 2022. an armed man who hijacked a bus in rio dejaneiro has given himself up to police after a three—hour siege. the 17 people who were kept hostage have been released unharmed. the incident happened at rio's busy intercity bus terminal. police say he was convicted criminal who was on the run. you're live with bbc news. 0fficial official figures say the uk economy picked up injanuary boosted by stronger sales in shops and online. the economy grew by 0.2% following a fall in output during the previous

month. let's break this down with our economics correspondent who joins us from buckinghamshire. economics correspondent who “oins us from buckinghamshirefi from buckinghamshire. overall, ositive from buckinghamshire. overall, positive news. _ from buckinghamshire. overall, positive news. slightly - from buckinghamshire. overall, positive news. slightly positive, j from buckinghamshire. overall, i positive news. slightly positive, we have to be careful about placing too much reliance on one—month's figures. we should put this in perspective, yes, we have been through what some people regard as a technical recession and some economics are dubious but we are talking about the rule of thumb definition of recession when you have six months in a row where activity shrinks consistently. that is what they call the recession. what does recession mean? we don't often stop to think about it. it is called that because economic activity receipts. you ever curb of economic growth and when it proceeds

we are in a recession and hopefully start growing again but actually that doesn't necessarily mean everything is bad. you can get better off in recessions and worse off in recoveries and in fact most off in recoveries and in fact most of the last couple of years while living standards have been falling there has been economic growth but there has been economic growth but the wrong sort, the sort that is just adding people. an economyjust being people and their economic activity, if you add people and of course the economy is growing, but it doesn't mean anyone individually have got better off. that is the economy divided by people, gdp per capita, per head, and do not measure as we saw in the budget there is not much to celebrate.— much to celebrate. when we talked about a recession _ much to celebrate. when we talked about a recession last _ much to celebrate. when we talked about a recession last year, - much to celebrate. when we talked about a recession last year, several economists were saying it is a soft recession but what had been the factors that have been driving what looks to be a boost here? yes. factors that have been driving what looks to be a boost here?— looks to be a boost here? yes, a soft recession _ looks to be a boost here? yes, a soft recession in _ looks to be a boost here? yes, a soft recession in reference - looks to be a boost here? yes, a soft recession in reference to - looks to be a boost here? yes, a| soft recession in reference to that is look back to the pandemic, 2020,

when the government deliberately drove down economic activity. it was an engineered recession, a successful policy and the economy died and then came back. now it is much flatter, just stagnant really. so what looking at is we will emerge slowly but in order to feel better off we need gdp per head, the value off we need gdp per head, the value of all the goods and services we produce, to grow and the only way it will grow it if we have improvements in productivity. there are interesting things in these figures like consumer facing services, still 6.2% down to where they were pre—pandemic which doesn't do much for the health of the consumer. thank you so much for that breakdown. thank you so much for that breakdown. let's look at the middle east now. a boat carrying 200 tonnes of aid is making its way to gaza from cyprus. meanwhile, the un says a new land route has been used to deliver urgently needed food to northern gaza for the first time in three weeks. this development comes

as global pressure is growing for israel to allow more access to gaza where famine is looming. live tojerusalem and our correspondent yolande knell. thanks for your time. what more do we know about this delivery of aid? the un is saying it was allowed with its convoy to take lorries along an israeli military road that lies on the israeli side of the gaza border fence and they went up adjacent to the israeli village, next to the north of gaza, then crossed over there and took their forays directly into gaza city. the world food programme has said it showed that it is possible to deliver food and aid by land but food supplies for about 23,000 people were delivered as a result of this and this was a first convoy the un have managed to get to the north of the gaza strip, which is where we are getting most of the

reports of mass starvation, with people, about 27 according to local health officials, having died from lack of food and water in recent days. and is a lot of focus is still on the new maritime route, while there have been airdropped going on to the north of gaza as well, but this was a first time in three weeks at eight went through this way by road. ,, ., , , at eight went through this way by road, ,, , , , at eight went through this way by road. ,, , , , ., ., road. stay with us because i want to rovide road. stay with us because i want to provide audiences _ road. stay with us because i want to provide audiences with _ road. stay with us because i want to provide audiences with another - provide audiences with another update and i would love to get your take on this afterwards. 0vernight three palestinians were reportedly killed by israeli security forces. we received this footage of a 13—year—old boy being shot while holding a firework. gunshot.

what more do we know about that development? this what more do we know about that “moment?— what more do we know about that development? what more do we know about that develoment? , ., , ., development? this footage comes from the refu~ee development? this footage comes from the refugee camp _ development? this footage comes from the refugee camp in _ development? this footage comes from the refugee camp in occupied _ development? this footage comes from the refugee camp in occupied east - the refugee camp in occupied east jerusalem and the 13—year—old boy who was killed has been identified by local media really was the first person killed in eastjerusalem since the start of ramadan by israeli security forces and we have been saying for a few days now that tensions are running particularly high, this is a sensitive time. what the israeli police have said is that a single shot was fired by an officer towards a suspect who they say endangered the forces while firing aerial fireworks in their direction. that this boy was initially arrested and later died

from his wounds. this has inflamed tensions injerusalem, as you would expect, and really there were other incidents happening. you could see that other pictures on social media showed teenagers in this camp where there is an israeli security forces present and their act narrow streets, clouds of tear gas being used against him and other fireworks were being hired. this is something that has happened at the same time as in the occupied west bank we saw overnight incident injenin with two palestinians killed there, at least two more palestinians killed by israeli security forces shotjust outside ofjerusalem in a village. and we had reported this morning of

a stabbing attack by palestinian said to have been 15 years old on a military checkpoint where two israelis were injured. this is a main road used by israeli settlers coming in from the west bank into jerusalem. . ~ coming in from the west bank into jerusalem. ., ~ , ., ., ., coming in from the west bank into jerusalem. ., ~ ., ., , ., jerusalem. thank you for that update and of course — jerusalem. thank you for that update and of course we _ jerusalem. thank you for that update and of course we will _ jerusalem. thank you for that update and of course we will bring _ jerusalem. thank you for that update and of course we will bring you - jerusalem. thank you for that update and of course we will bring you all. and of course we will bring you all the latest information as we have it here as well on our bbc news website and app. the latest on the situation haiti now. the us says it expects a transitional council to be in place over the next two days as the country that's been dealing with a surge in violence, is left without a leader. that transitional council will be tasked with nominating a new prime minister following the resignation of ariel henry on monday. the un says it strongly hopes the agreement will help end the violence carried out by the gangs that control much of the capital. gang leaders had demanded that the prime minister step down. 0ur central america correspondent will grant is just outside of haiti and sent us this report. this is the dajabon crossing between the dominican republic and haiti. and we've already seen the dominican authorities deporting haitians back into the poorest country of the americas, at a time that it's facing its most acute humanitarian crisis since the 2010 earthquake. it's also that they're being deported into a political vacuum. prime minister ariel henry

stood down, citing the fact that his situation was untenable, given the violence on the streets of the capital, port au prince. his decision came after the caricom group of caribbean nations, and the us secretary of state, held an emergency meeting injamaica, and made clear that they saw the road map towards a transitional administration in haiti, starting with his resignation. so what happens next? well, the truth of the matter is that, unfortunately, things can still get much, much worse in haiti. the gangs are going to feel considerably emboldened by the fact that they have forced mr henry from power, and they already control around 80% of the capital, port au prince. and the hopes for a 1000—strong kenyan led security force are beginning to hit difficulties, as the kenyan authorities themselves are saying that you do not deploy police to the streets of port au prince without

a sitting administration. that was our correspondent. ajapanese rocket carrying a small government test satellite has exploded shortly after lift—off in the west of the country. the 18 metre—long rocket erupted into a ball of smoke and flames within seconds of its launch. there it is. you can see that moment right there. you can see that moment right there. its owners, tokyo—based start—up space one, had hoped to become the very first japanese private firm to succesfully put a satellite into orbit. stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. after a very wet february, the rain has continued to fall during march, particularly across southeast england.

here, it's been much wetter than average. we've seen two inches of rain — 50 millimetres in some places, and that's more than the average march rainfall and we're not even halfway through yet. it is looking a bit drier for the southeast in the next few days, but there is rain elsewhere and we're going to see a spell of milder conditions in the next few days. that's because the air is coming all the way from a long way south up across the uk. in between these two weather fronts here and it's this second one here that's focusing the rain as we head into wednesday. now that is stumbling its way across scotland and northern ireland and heading into northern england and north wales. there's going to be some sunshine following to the north, but the wind is picking up, bringing some gales in northern scotland and some showers. and for england and wales there's going to be a lot of cloud again, still some damp, drizzly, low cloud across western coast and hills. further east with the brighter skies temperatures could reach 15 degrees and we're going to be double figures in scotland and northern ireland.

now, that area of low pressure bringing that windy weather in northern scotland, it's going to pull away overnight, so things do calm down. and those weather fronts start to move northwards back into scotland and northern ireland. here it will be a little bit chilly first thing on thursday morning, but again, a very mild start for the rest of the uk. we've got that rain moving northwards into scotland and northern ireland, some sunshine for the north of the country, but we will see further showers coming in to wales, western parts of england, some eastern areas of england and particularly southeast england and east anglia may well be dry. and we should get a bit of sunshine here, so 16, 17 degrees not out of the question. things are a little cooler still across scotland and northern ireland. that weather front then does move northwards, taking rain across more of scotland. the low pressure then driving that system sits across the uk. that weather front will be out of the way for friday. things will be turning a little bit cooler. windy weather actually through the english channel and we'll see showers coming into england and wales. some of these could be

heavy in thundery. bit a snow over the scottish mountains, otherwise it's rain sinking southwards here, a northerly wind pushing down. that's going to introduce cooler air but we still could see 13 degrees across some southeastern areas to end the week.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

labour is urging the conservatives to give back millions of pounds donated by a businessman accused of making racist remarks. a presidential rematch — joe biden and donald trump secure their parties�* nominations for november's election. and, as a boat carrying aid makes its way the un says a new land route has been used to deliver food to northern gaza for the first time in three weeks. the chief—of—staff of the late russian opposition leader alexei navalny has accused president putin's henchman of carrying out an attack against him in lithuania. let's get more on that story now. a long—time ally of the late russian opposition leader alexei navalny has been attacked outside his home in lithuania. leonid volkov was assaulted with a hammer and tear gas while in his car in vilnius on tuesday night. the alleged assailant is unknown,

as is their motive. mr volkov has lived outside russia for some years for his own safety