the conservative party under pressure after its former deputy chairman is suspended for comments branded "anti—muslim". president zelensky reveals the number of ukrainian troops and civilians to have died so far in the two years of war with russia. donald trump's only rival in the race for the republican presidential candidacy vows to fight on even after he beats her in her and oppenheimer is the big winner at the screen actors guild awards— it nets the top prize, as well as best actor for cillian murphy. hello, i'm nicky schiller. here in the uk, the conservative party is finding itself under anti—muslim and racist". lee anderson was suspended from the party after saying london's mayor was controlled by "islamists". the suspension was not for the comments but for refusing to apologise.

the party's leadership was drawn further into the argument on sunday — the deputy prime minister refusing to say whether he thought the comments were islamophobic. our political correspondent georgia roberts reports. lee anderson, seen this morning, was not long ago the deputy chairman of the conservative party, but he has now been suspended for refusing to apologise for these comments. i don't actually believe that these islamists have got control of our country, but what i do believe is they've got control of khan and they've got control of london. speaking this morning, the deputy prime minister said the mp didn't intend to be islamophobic, but acknowledged the comments could have been read that way, which is why he was asked to apologise. i don't believe that lee anderson was intending to be islamophobic, but nonetheless i understand the concern, particularly when it is in relation to the mayor of london, how those words have caused offence. but you're talking about... and because of that, that is precisely why he was given

the chance to apologise. and when he failed to do so, action was taken. the deputy prime minister said there were wider concerns about rising extremism that were right to be addressed. it comes after the speaker controversially allowed labour to have their say in an snp debate, citing concerns over mps' safety. i think what lee anderson was more broadly expressing in his interviews, and others have done, is a deep concern, which by the way i also share, about the way in which politics is being conducted. and what has happened over the past week, i never thought in my lifetime as a politician i would see a situation where what was happening in the house of commons was influenced by the threat of violence, and that has caused huge anger and frustration. labour's shadow international development secretary criticised the prime minister's handling of the row. watching what has unfolded in the conservative party,

the absolute poison that has been allowed to seep into their political debate and a prime minister that is seemingly unwilling to even acknowledge the term islamophobia, let alone stand up to senior politicians in his party dragging our politics into the sewer. the snp are seeking another vote on the gaza conflict this week in parliament, with an aim to keeping the pressure up on the issue. outside parliament, the high emotion on this shows no signs of abating any time soon. georgia roberts, bbc news. the muslim council of britain says it welcomed mr anderson's suspension, but is concerned the action was only taken because he refused to apologise, rather than for the nature of his remarks. the secretary general of the council, zara mohammed, called for an investigation into what she calls "the structural islamophobia" within the party. writing to the conservative party chair, she said, "our view is "that the islamophobia in the party is institutional, "tolerated by the leadership and seen as acceptable by great swathes

"of the party membership." to the war in ukraine. in the last hour, president zelensky has said 31,000 ukrainian troops have been killed so far during the war with russia. the during the war with russia. first time in many mon the the first time in many months that the figure has been revealed. and he said tens of thousands of civilians had also died in the russian occupied territories. speaking at a news conference to mark saturday's second anniversary of russia's invasion, mr zelensky said he couldn't reveal the number of people injured because that information would help russia, but the loss was very painful. he was hopeful of a peace summit in the spring. and was "sure" the us congress would pass its aid package for ukraine. that news conference it is still

ongoing. translation: we cannot lose. what it will mean if ukraine loses, it means there will be no us. no—one is in existence. definitely, this is not the end of our way of existence that we like. if ukraine loses, if it becomes complicated, the number of victims, it will depend on you, on our partners and the western world. if we are strong with the weapons that we get this and that, we won't lose the war. we will prevail. president zelensky there. there has been ukrainian criticism of western support because some allies were failing to live up to the commitments they've made about weapons deliveries. there are reports of shortages of ammunition and other material, and russian invaders advancing on parts of the long frontline. ukraine's defence minister, rustem umerov, said half of the promised assistance was arriving late and that every time this happened, ukraine lost people and territories.

at the moment, commitment doesn't constitute delivery. 50% of commitments are not delivered on time. so which means that in the mathematics of war, we look to the enemy, their economy is almost 2 trillion, they use up to 15% official and unofficial budget for the war which constitutes over 150 billion us dollars. so, annually, it's officially. so basically, whatever commitment that doesn't come on time, we'll lose people, we'll lose territory. that is ukraine's defence minister. yuriy sak, an adviser to ukraine's strategic industries minister, agreed that delays in receiving western support were costly. of course, we have always been, on the one hand, very grateful to our partners for the support we are receiving, but at the same

time, we have always stressed that the delays in the supply of ammunition, any delays in the supply of any weapons systems, results in higher casualties, higher rate of losses, so when we urge our partners to provide these weapons and ammunitions faster, we are not criticising them, we are just stipulating the facts. you know, time is weaponised by russia and we have to be conscious of that. you know, this is why ukraine has already started to produce our own ammunition, we are building up our own defence industry sector and defence industry base, but of course we are still heavily reliant on the support of our western partners and time is of essence. and how crucial will it be for the us billions that are currently tied up in the debate in the house of representatives for you to have over the coming months?

on the one hand, we have always said that, you know, if there is no support coming to ukraine, of course for us it is a war of survival, so we will continue the fight with brooms and sticks if we have to, but as our president, mr zelensky, said just today, he said will ukrainians survive? yes, we will, but not all of us, so that needs to be borne in mind. it is all about the cost that has to be paid, because we are committed to continuing to defend the values of a free europe and free world, we continue to fight this war. we are not asking our partners to send, you know, their soldiers or their boots on the ground, but we are asking for weapons, we are asking for financial support, because it is about our survival and our survival, by extension, will impact the future of european countries and of the world at large.

to the us now. donald trump is one step closer to the republican presidential nomination thanks to a strong win over nikki haley in the south carolina primary. the former president won his opponent's home state by a 20—point margin, his fourth consecutive victory. as he celebrated, mr trump made no mention of ms haley — preferring to attack president biden. the former governor of south carolina says she'll fight on regardless, because she says most americans didn't wantjoe biden or donald trump as president. i was just informed that we got double the number of votes that has ever been received in the great state of south carolina. there has never been a spirit like this and i just want to say that i have never seen the republican party so unified as it is right now. we are going to be up here on november 5th and we are going to look atjoe biden and we are going

to look him right in the eye — he is destroying our country — and we are going to say, "joe, you're fired, get out. "get out, joe, you're fired!" gavinjackson is the host of tv programme this week in south carolina. i asked him how realistic it was that nikki haley would fight on. well, it is still an uphill battle and she knew that was to be the case here in her home state of south carolina, where she lost by 20 points. this continues the trend of nikki haley losing to donald trump, right? donald trump won the iowa caucuses heavily over nikki haley by 32 points, he won the new hampshire primary later that month injanuary by 11 points, and here we are in the south carolina by 20 points. so something that nikki haley knew was going to be on the cards for her. earlier this past week, she did acknowledge she was going to continue on through super tuesday which is on march 5th, so she knew what was coming for her. she continued to say that she wanted to close that gap and continue to build this coalition, but again, still very much an uphill battle as donald trump continues

to cement his support. and we didn't even see him mention nikki haley last night in his victory speech, something that he has solidified going forward with his general election messaging at this point. yes, his focus is all onjoe biden and november, isn't it? yes, that's right. does nikki haley really think that she has any chance going forward, and indeed is she still getting money from donors to be able to continue this campaign, because it is not cheap? no, it is not, you raise a good point. she did raise $11.5 million injanuary which has a very strong sign of support. there is still plenty of money on hand. she had $30 million on hand coming into south carolina, where she had this home state advantage, right? she had a bus tour for the past two weeks, she was still doing this campaign, very much on a shoestring budget. she is very thrifty with her money, this is what got her this far, as well as her messaging. that messaging is still resonating with folks. i went to a lot of these events over the past two weeks, they had crowds from 50 people to folks in their thousands depending on which part

of the state you're in, so there are still people out there who are supporting her. she did get 40% of the vote last night, so she is using that as a signal that people still want an alternative notjust to donald trump but also tojoe biden. we had a lot of democrats turn out last night, we will still be crunching the data going into the future days, but it is pretty clear to me that a lot of democrats crossed over, did not vote in the february 3rd democratic primary and came out in support of nikki haley, but not in enough. but realistically, we are going to have a donald trump versusjoe biden election, are�*t we? yeah, don't ruin the surprise for me, though, but yes, that is where we are heading, the writing has been very much on the wall with these early voting states cementing his dominance in this competition, but again, nikki haley is throwing up these warning signs saying if we have this match—up happen again, you will see joe biden win a second term, because you see these hypothetical match—ups going in november and donald trump does not blow out joe biden like nikki haley does, that has been her message, and she is trying to stay in this race as long as possible so folks

understand what is at risk in november. that is gavinjackson. to the middle east now. benjamin netanyahu benjamin neta nyahu has benjamin netanyahu has says that once troops begin in ratho, what he described as total victory would be just weeks away. —— begin in rafah. gaza's health ministry says more than 90 people were killed through the night — and the total number is nearing 30,000. in the israeli city of tel aviv, police used water cannon for the first time to disperse anti—government protesters demanding the release of the hostages held in gaza by hamas. paul adams reports. tel aviv last night. israel's deep divisions on raw display. these streets are used to protests, but they are bigger now, angrier. for the first time since october, the police resorting to tougher measures. the loathing for israel's prime minister and his hardline cabinet goes back more than a year, but it's spurred on by the war in gaza and the fear

that their government is more interested in defeating hamas than freeing hostages. we cannot keep on doing the military solutions because they are not working. it is becoming worse. a lot of people are dead on both sides. we are waiting for any development and we want them home. the government here says that talks aimed at getting the hostages back are making progress — something hamas denies. the process is due to continue in qatar this week, but the government is also saying it is about to approve plans for an assault on rafah. it says those plans will include a mass evacuation of civilians before ground troops go in. some palestinians aren't waiting, leaving rafah for places where they hope they will be safer. air strikes are already causing panic in a city where more than a million people are sheltering. and with each day that passes, the number of palestinians killed in this war creeps closer to another

grim milestone — 30,000. paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. now it's time for a look at today's sport. a busy day. we're into the second half of chelsea against liverpool, in the league cup final. both sides have gone close with chances, but it's currently goalless at wembley. cody gakpo hit the post for the reds in the first half, just after kelleher saved from chelsea's cole palmer. liverpool with injury concerns coming into this one, no mo salah or darwin nunez — they have seen ryan gravenberch carried off on a stretcher too. chelsea and liverpool have met in two previous efl cup finals, in 2005 and 2022, with liverpool winning the most recent on penalties. let's see how this one pans out. just one match in the english

premier league today and sheffield united remain bottom of the table, losing at wolves 1—0. pablo sarabia with the goal in the first half — his third goal of the season. the result lifts gary o'neil�*s side up to eighth in the table and boosts their hopes of appearing in europe next season. sheffield united did create some chances, but stay at the bottom courtesy of their goal difference. sheffield united are a direct team, long throw all the time, a real big threat from corners and the way the lads stood up to that stuff was excellent. the way they kept going, even when we made mistakes and we turned the ball over, there is no disappointment, it was a team that was desperate to make up for it, desperate to defend the goal, so there loads of ways to win premier league and today we managed to get three points, which is very important to us. to cricket, and india have fought back and are in a strong position to win not only the fourth test but also the series against england after an impressive third day in ranchi.

they started it trailing by 134 runs with three wickets remaining in theirfirst innings, but now are chasing 152 to win, after an england batting collapse. dhrquurel�*s 90 helped them to a total of 307 all out in their first innings, which cut into england's lead. england then collapsed in their second innings. ravichandran ashwin doing the damage for home side with ben duckett and ollie pope removed. five wickets in all for him, including joe root�*s — he was unable to match his heriocs from the first innings. he went forjust 11. england were 145 all out. rohit sharma and yashasvi jaiswal have india on a0 without loss in their chase. it's very much india's match for the taking. india played well. jurel batted really well towards the end and yeah, he probably scored a few more runs than we would have liked. but again, we are going to bowl them out tomorrow. of course there will be pressure, it is my debut series, but once i went in the middle,

the only thing i was thinking was what does my team need? if i could stay in the middle for a long time and add as many runs as possible, it would be better for me and since we had a good understanding, we were chatting a lot and we have played a lot of domestic cricket together, so that was helpful. to rugby union now, and the six nations, where france are playing host to italy in lille. they've just kicked off after half time, where the score is 13—3 to france, charles ollivon with the try in the first half — thomas ramos put them further ahead with a penalty in the second. but the home side find themselves a man down — jonathan danty�*s yellow card has been upgraded to a red. a year after losing his tour card, darius van driel claimed his maiden dp world title on sunday after a two—shot victory in the kenya open. the dutchman — who was working as a delivery driver after losing his place on the tour —

hit a final round of 67 to finish on 1a under par, he ended the tournament two shots clear of england'sjoe dean and nacho elvira of spain. and that's all the sport for now. we will be back with more later on, we will see you then. it was the screen actors guild awards in los angeles on saturday night — a ceremony that is seen a good predictor for the oscars. and oppenheimer was the big winner. christopher nolan's film won the top prize for best film cast. accepting the award on behalf of the cast, sir kenneth branagh said they were all "grateful, humbled and proud". cillian murphy was named best leading actor for his role in the movie about the atomic bomb. killers of the flower moon star lily gladstone was named best leading actress. 28 years ago when i was trying to become an actor, i was a failed musician and i felt extremely like an interloper, but now looking out at all of you guys here today i know that i am part of something truly wonderful. so thank you so much. cheering and applause thank you for all of the compassionate souls in this room and all

of the storytellers here tonight. keep speaking your truths and keep speaking up for each other. have a good one. see you again. the holdovers star da'vine joy randolph was named best supporting actress, a prize she has won consistently throughout awards season and is considered almost certain to take at the oscars. i think the biggest thing is... as a woman of colour it is very imperative to me that the stories i am telling are diverse, authentic, real and quality. so i really took a lot of time on picking the roles and making sure that who i am going to portray means something and will impact people, and people will enjoy to experience, and hopefully feel seen. oppenheimer�*s robert downeer, who has similarly been dominating his category,

was named best supporting actor. he described the award as "incredibly meaningful", and also acknowledged his oscar frontrunner status by asking, "why me, why now, why do things seem to be going my way?" jennifer aniston and bradley cooper presented this year's lifetime achievement prize to veteran singer and actress barbra streisand. she received a standing ovation from the audience and joked it was "such a wonderful award to get, because you know in advance "you're going to get it". she also recalled her childhood. i didn't like reality, i wanted to be in the movies, even though i knew i didn't look like the other women on the screen. my mother said you better learn to type, but i didn't listen. and somehow... ..some way... thank you, god. ..it all came true. film critic helen o'hara told me earlier if the sags are going to predict

oscar winners. it has looked like the frontrunner all awards season. i think there was some speculation beforehand that maybe killers of the flower moon would give it a close run for its money, but it does feel like it's kind of nailed on. there is a lot of overlap in the votership for the sag awards and for the oscars and it feels like, you know, these are the people who are choosing it. yeah, the sags, as you mentioned, have a good track record of predicting oscar winners. i think it's about 70% they get right over the years, so does that mean that cillian murphy, who won last night and also won the bafta, does that mean he is a shoe in for best actor at the oscars? i mean, look, there is always the possibility of an upset, but he is clearly the frontrunner. i would say actually that all four of those actor wins last night for, you know, da'vinejoy randolph, for robert downeer, and for lily gladstone, are the frontrunners for the oscars. i think the baftas were a bit of an outlier going for emma stone because lily was not nominated, but i would be very, very surprised if the winners we saw

last night weren't the winners in the acting categories at the oscars. so your money is on lily gladstone, which would be a first in oscars history, as well, wouldn't it? yes, it would, because native american actresses, actors as well, have not really been recognised. they haven't had the roles to be recognised, lead roles. when there have been stories set in their culture, we have had daniel day—lewis or kevin costner in the lead role, so it is a big moment for her. partly it is a great performance but partly that narrative is one that the oscars really want to celebrate. yes, for anyone who has not seen the film, give us an idea of the outline of it. killers of the flower moon is about the osage nation where oil was discovered early in the last century and a bunch of people flocked there to try and exploit the osage people

and one of them was leonardo dicaprio's character who married lily gladstone's character essentially for her oil money and all matter of shady business went down. robert downeyjunior, if we go back to oppenheimer, what an amazing comeback in a way he has had. 30 years ago, he was huge, he had his troubles, and now he is back really storming the way in all of these award ceremonies. 100%. i think hollywood loves a redemption story, and we all do, it gives us hope, but also his is so compelling. he really had all of the talent, he squandered it on drink and drugs, i don't think i am saying anything out of turn, i think he would agree, and he has been clawing his way back for the past 20 years, most noticeably via marvel and that incredible performance as tony stark, but also to see him get his recognition from his own peers which i think has been very moving to him and he has genuinely been enjoying this oscar season of seeing himself accepted. very briefly, do you think christopher nolan will get best director at the oscars?

i think he will, i think there's always the question of martin scorsese, who you can't count out, but i think the oscars tend to acknowledge people who have been doing good work consistently for years and have not yet been rewarded and he fits that category. for the first time, women injapan havejoined hadaka matsuri, or the naked festival. it's an ancient japanese ritual that's meant to bring good luck and drive away evil spirits. despite its name, the women wore purple robes, and chanted excitedly, while they carried a large bamboo trunk as an offering. but they didn'tjoin the festival's main event, where a large group of nearly—naked men clash to drive away evil spirits. stay with us here on bbc news. hello, there. much of the country enjoying a fine

and dry part two of the weekend, with quite a bit of sunshine around after that cold, frosty and in places foggy start. so, much of the country will remain dry with sunny spells. however, low pressure to the south of the uk will continue to bring wet and windy weather to south wales, south—west england, increasingly so across the south and south—east of england through this evening and overnight. we'll see some showers driving into central northern scotland, a few across north sea coasts of england, as well, wintry in nature. but further north, where we have the clearer skies, a ridge of high pressure toppling in. it's going to be cold and frosty, less cold in the south and east because of the cloud, the wind and rain from this feature which will eventually pull out into the near continent for monday, taking the rain with it, but it will remain quite windy across england and wales. we remain in the colder air mass with this ridge of high pressure which will bring much of the country a lot of dry and sunny weather throughout the day on monday before it turns wet and windy in the far north—west later on. so, quite a windy day to come across southern and eastern areas, the rain eventually clears from sussex and from kent. a few showers across north sea coasts, otherwise mostly dry with some sunshine thanks to that

ridge of high pressure. winds lighter in the north compared to the south and east, that will really take the edge off the temperatures, very windy for the northern isles later on ahead of this weather front. so temperatures on the face of it 6—9, it will feel colder than that in the south—east when you factor in that strong north—easterly breeze. as we head through monday night, clearer skies for england and wales with the breeze tending to die down. it turns wetter, windier and cloudier for scotland and northern ireland, so here less cold than it will be across england and wales, where we will have again a frost, perhaps even a few mist and fog patches around to start the day. tuesday, we see this weather front pushing southwards and eastwards across the country, it will be weakening as it pushes into that ridge of high pressure. some heavy rain likely across scotland and northern ireland for a time, maybe some snow on the hills, that weather front weakens as it pushes into england and wales, so a rather cloudy afternoon here. brighter for scotland and northern ireland into the afternoon, but there will be some blustery showers and these will have a wintry element to them,

temperatures range from 7—10. looks like it remains unsettled for the rest of february, could turn a bit milder midweek but then it turns colder as we head into the first few days of march.

this is bbc news.

senior conservatives in the uk are into an argument over islamophobia — after the now—suspended mp, lee anderson, said "islamists" had "got control" of the mayor of london. the deputy prime minister refuses to say whether the comments are islamophobic. president zelensky reveals 31,000 ukrainian soldiers — and tens of thousands of civilians — have been killed in the two years of war with russia. it's the first time in months that official casualty figures have been released. donald trump is one step closer to the republican presidential nomination, easily beating his only rival nikki haley in south carolina primary by a 20—point margin. despite losing in her home state haley has vowed to fight on in the contest. oppenheimer is the big winner at the screen actors guild awards. it takes the top prize of best cast, as well as best actor for cillian murphy. barbara streisand won the lifetime achievement award.

now on bbc news...newscast. newscast.