welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: britain's prime minister vows to fight any challenges to his leadership as he faces calls to resign, because of parties at downing street during lockdown. dramatic scenes in parliament, as a conservative mp defects to labour and a former minister joins the calls to quit. you have sat there too long for all the good you have done. in the name of god, go! also in the programme: us presidentjoe biden marks his first year in office with a press conference defending his record and warning president putin of the costs

of invading ukraine. and making formula one history. 22—year—old guanyu zhou will become the first ever chinese driver to take up a spot on the starting grid next season. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news — it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. the uk's prime minister, borisjohnson, has insisted he will challenge any fight to his leadership, as the row surrounding social gatherings in downing street during lockdown continues. a former conservative cabinet minister has joined the calls for mrjohnson to resign. one conservative mp even defected to the opposition labour party on wednesday. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. the atmosphere in the prime minister's neighbourhood

is full of risk. danger dangles all around for borisjohnson, uncertainty hanging in the air. downing street confronting the truth that some of his own mps want him gone. as ministers gathered to agree to ditch some covid rules this morning, some of his own side waiting and watching, thinking about ditching him. is it under control, chief whip? yeah. all is calm. all is calm 7 do you think you might be in denial about that if you think this is calm? i think we need to focus on propping up the country and dealing with covid and making sure we've got that right. but can it really go on like this? some of your mps are putting letters in. is it all overfor the prime minister, do you think? don't be ridiculous. it is not, perhaps, ridiculous, despite his allies�* claim to suggest their boss could be gone before too long. is it time to resign?! it was no ordinary wednesday. pressure on borisjohnson after weeks of claims about what went on in number

10 during lockdown. 20 mps who discussed sending letters of no confidence in their leader, then a shock. political chat interrupted. hearing christian wakeford, the bury mp, is defecting to the labour party. a huge surprise for his colleagues, and the rest. that is quite incredible. the first tory mp since 2007, christian wakeford, cheered to the rafters in the commons as he defected and took a seat for labour instead. can i start by warmly welcoming the honourable member for bury south to his new place? cheering. and to the parliamentary labour party. mr speaker, like so many people up and down the country, he has concluded that the prime minister, the conservative party have shown themselves incapable of offering the leadership and government this country deserves. a sting from keir starmer at a vulnerable moment for borisjohnson.

and as for bury south, mr speaker, as far as for bury south, let me say it... in a unionjack mask, the new labour mp opposite, not behind, the prime minister this time. we will win again in bury south at the next election. there was more energy from the prime minister today in a chaotic prime minister's questions as he sought to stand and fight, mocked by the labour leader. doesn't the country deserve so much better than this out of touch, out of control, out of ideas and soon to be out of office prime minister? mr speaker, when the history of this pandemic comes to be written and the history of the labour party comes to be written — and, believe me, they are history and will remain history, mr speaker — it will show... it will show... it will show that we delivered while they dithered and we we vaccinated while they vacillated, mr speaker. then, just when he thought he might have got through without a new wound, a brutal

blast from his own side. a prominent tory quoting cromwell to try to oust the leader of the tories�* 21st century revolution. i expect my leaders to shoulder the responsibility for the actions they take. yesterday, he did the opposite of that, so i'll remind him of a quotation. "you have sat there too long for all the good you have done. "in the name of god, go." david davis and borisjohnson used to be allies of a sort. "what a day," you hear the speaker, aghast. what a day. what else to say? hi. it's good to see you again. so a senior tory, the latest to call for the prime minister's exit, the smiling labour leader welcoming a conservative to his fold. yet there have been more public efforts from conservatives to get out and defend.

well, he is the bounce back king. i've always supported boris and i wouldn't be an mp here if it wasn't for him. mps and ministers who want borisjohnson to stay have been falling over themselves to call for cool heads all round. one loyal cabinet minister even claimed the threat to borisjohnson wasn't real. it is true to say no—one can be sure in a secret process how many conservative mps are really willing to try to oust him. yet today's chaos demonstrates clearly there are members of different tory tribes who want to see him gone. mr cummings, are you going to provide sue gray with evidence that boris johnson lied? the prime minister has always had political detractors and has gathered enemies along the way. he may not want to rest until this is over. and tory tradition shows when the party concludes the leader is out of line, they are removed. but only two years after a huge election victory, borisjohnson

will resist attempts for a changing of the guard. laura kuenssberg on that story for us. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the man behind the deaths of 39 vietnamese migrants has been given 15 years in prison. the migrants were found dead inside a lorry in england in 2019 after suffocating during the journey. vo van hong led a gang of people—smugglers, who would charge $27,000 per person to get into the uk. 18 other men were also imprisoned for their involvement. a court in indonesia has sentenced a top islamist militant leader to 15 years in prison for his role in the 2002 bali bombings which killed more than 200 people. aris sumarsono was a former military commander ofjemaah islamiyah. a growing number of airlines

are cancelling flights to the us because of safety concerns about 56 mobile networks. british airways, emirates, and air india are among those to cancel flights. others have changed which model of plane they fly to the us. it comes despite at&t and verizon agreeing to a partial delay, to the turning on of some new 56 services. just a few hours ago, the us presidentjoe biden warned that it would be a disaster for russia if it invades ukraine and that it would suffer "heavy human losses". russia has around 100,000 troops deployed at the border, but denies it's planning military action. earlier today, the us secretary of state antony blinken arrived in ukraine and urged president putin to choose diplomacy. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams has more. british military equipment arriving in ukraine.

short—range anti—tank missiles, with a small team of trainers to follow. the latest western gesture of support for a country facing a mounting threat from russia. diplomatic support, too. the us secretary of state antony blinken flew to kyiv, promising relentless american efforts to prevent russia from invading. washington's message to ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, there will be no talks about you without your involvement. and tonight, another expression of support direct from washington. if they actually do what they are capable of doing with the force they have massed on the border, it is going to be a disaster for russia if they further invade ukraine, and that our allies and partners are ready to impose severe cost and significant harm on russia and the russian economy. and all the while, russian troops maintain their menacing presence on ukraine's northern and eastern borders.

now, in neighbouring belarus, too, preparing for what are called joint military drills. american officials say these could be used as a cover for an invasion of ukraine. kyiv says it has what it takes to withstand an attack. we have 261,000 in our ukrainian army. we have the options to have territorial defending forces, 130,000. we have 400,000 veterans of ukrainian—russian war, so i'm sure that we have a capacity to deter this activity from moscow. last week, we saw a diplomatic trail that criss—crossed europe from geneva to brussels and vienna. at the end of it, the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov, appeared to throw in the towel. "our patience," he said, "is at an end." but here we are, four days on, and the process is actually shifting up a gear. mr lavrov and antony blinken

are due to meet on friday, once again in geneva. the talking, it seems, is not quite over. but the tremors of this crisis are being felt right across europe. on the baltic island of gotland, sweden is beefing up its presence, concerned about nearby russian activity and what it calls russia's direct threat to europe's security. paul adams, bbc news. president biden�*s warning on ukraine came as part of a press conference marking his first year in office. mr biden�*s approval ratings are hovering just above 40% as he faces rising inflation, a pandemic that isn't over, and narrow democratic majorities in congress. earlier, i spoke to the bbc�*s washington correspondent gary o'donoghue to help us break down biden�*s powerful words towards russia. i think some the strongest rhetoric we've heard from the president so far on russia, really talking about threatening serious

consequences and talking about economic sanctions and also warning russia there were they to him freed the ukraine would have huge consequential loss of life on russia and while they may overwhelm the country that in the long—term, there will be a price to pay. some pretty strong rhetoric and indication of the presidents view that the diplomacy up until now, the meetings in vienna and geneva and brussels have produced nothing and that is what he said today. they have not produced anything in some kind of decision point is about to be arrived at and there is going to be more talks on friday, but there's no indication that there's any give. and meanwhile that trip buildup continues on the ukrainian border. not just that, but the troops that we saw the package

in belarus as well. yes, indeed. gary, let us move away from the foreign policy points of those remarks that he made and focus a bit more on the domestic issue that he tackled. he is obviously listening to the press conference earlier and under great pressure to defend his record. also really bad approval ratings at this point. what is your sense of how he is doing? it's been really a year of two halves. there's no question about that. the first half was pretty good and the approval ratings held up pretty well and he got the american rescue plans through which is a huge piece of legislation, $2 trillion worth of aid for covid, etc. and then we hit the summer there two things in particular, the question of the pull—out from afghanistan and the way that was handled, seen as something of a debacle and the delta variant of omicron and really, since the summer, the approval

ratings have been plummeting and as you pointed out, not onlyjust under a0%, that's the lowest of any recent president except donald trump and his first year. so, he's taken a big hit despite what he said are some achievements, notably, the unemployment numbers coming down, which is going up but inflation is a threat and other elements of the programme for helping american families are completely bogged down in congress, not least by his own party. there are significant challenges for him and he is suggesting in some ways that is a communications problem going on here, but he goes deeper than that. some of the solutions he believes are necessary for raising children at of child poverty and for creating the economic environment tied up with legislation that he simply cannot get done at the moment. gary o'donoghue on that story for us. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: making motoring history.

we speak to guanyu zhou, formula one�*s first—ever chinese driver. donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first. america first. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they would carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him the 'butcher of lyon'. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie.

millions came to bathe as - close as possible to this spot. a tide of humanity that's believed by officials - to have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: britain's prime minister vows to fight any challenges to his leadership as he faces calls to resign because of parties at downing street during lockdown president biden has warned vladimir putin that the us will do significant harm to russia if he decides to invade ukraine. and now, other stories for you today. the united nations says it is stepping up its response to the volcanic eruption and tsunami in tonga. a thick coat of ash has been removed from the main airport runway in tonga, clearing

the way for emergency aid to be delivered by air to the island nation. the tongan government has released more pictures. they say many houses on the islands have been destroyed. our correspondent howard johnson sent us this update. today we heard from new zealand bosman foreign ministry who said this us cable company sub, who are looking at the severed internet cable beneath the sea, they said it will take at least four weeks for the cable to be repaired —— subcom. that is what is causing these delays with communications of the internet is obviously still down on all of the islands and what we are hearing today though is that the cloud above the island, the ash cloud, is dissipating so that kudlow followed communications have improved, good enough for the international federation of the red cross specific chapter to get in contact with the red cross team in tonga —— pacific chapter. today they said the message, saying please tell the

world we're here and doing our best to serve the tongan people who have lost so much, they also relayed information there has been extensive damage on some of the outer lying islands. now we are hearing that flights will be landing on the main island tomorrow, thursday. that has been confirmed by tongan official but the ash has cleared to such an extent that a large plain command there now. and we are also hearing but in the days ahead, these two naval ships from new zealand will arrive carrying 250,000 litres of clean water — an issue for islanders at the moment because ash is contaminating water supplies. howard johnson reporting. more than 1,000 police officers were sent into a sprawling favela in rio dejaneiro to reclaim the streets from local drug gangs. armed police patrolled the area as part of an effort to increase police presence, as will grant reports.

residents of this favela in rio are no strangers to men with guns on the streets. who by any standard this was a huge police operation. hundreds of officers, including an armoured vehicle, entered the slum in a swift operation intended to reclaim the territory from local drug gangs, the city authorities said. last year, a violent shootout between the police and a powerful gang called the red command left more than 20 people dead. however, there was no repeat of such violent scenes on this occasion is around 1200 officers patrolled the streets and entered homes. translation: it is the beginning of a reconquest of the territory and this is a window of opportunity for us to rekindle the flame of hope to rescue citizens in these urban conflict zones. but for all the _

these urban conflict zones. but for all the talk _ these urban conflict zones. but for all the talk of pacification of the favelas by the police and state governors office, there is great distrust office, there is great distrust of the police among the local residents. translation: we know that it is the _ residents. translation: we know that it is the police _ residents. translation: we know that it is the police that _ that it is the police that scares, that kills, the harassers residents. it is the police that invades the houses and we do not want that. we want social projects and active culture, jobs and social and cultural stability within our community. cultural stability within our community-— cultural stability within our communi . ., ., community. the governor has said that the _ community. the governor has said that the security - said that the security operation is the first stage of a plan to bring some of those things to the favela and neighbouring shanty towns. but there have been plenty of such promises in the past and many in these poor communities expect this to be little more than another short lived show of strength by the security forces. will grant, bbc news. history will be made in next season's formula 1 championship when, for the first time ever, a chinese driver will be on the grid. 22—year—old guanyu zhou will line up alongside valtteri bottas for the alfa romeo team. it is hoped his inclusion will boost the sport's

popularity in the country. this is what he had to say when i spoke to him earlier. yeah, formula 1 was always my dream. it was the reason why i started my racing career, and the reason that i'm moving to the uk, the home of formula 1, and competing against maximum level of the drivers and then, last year has been sensational that we finally achieved my all—time dream to become a formula 1 driver and also the first ever chinese driver. so i'm very proud of all the work we put them together and also definitely, i think all the people back home, they're very proud of what i have achieved and yeah, are looking forward to getting the season started and giving me the opportunity. a massive thanks to them at alfa romeo.

you must be seeing in china. how popular is f1 in china right now? it is very popular, formula 1 especially in recent years. the first grand prix in shanghai, i was there watching. i saw the amount of people that were there and then, each year, i was following things growing up and how they built up their fan base. it's very popular, now f1. motorsports, we started a few years late behind the other countries especially europe, but, yeah, in general, there's a lot of people watching. particularly the wonderful season they had last season. and now, with me signing with a formula 1 team, becoming the first

driver of the country, there will be a lot of eyes watching me and a lot more pressure, but i love dealing with pressure and just focusing on myjob. indeed, i think loving to deal with pressure is a prerequisite for the job, with pressure is a prerequisite forthejob, isn't with pressure is a prerequisite for thejob, isn't it? talk about your own success, do you think that will help to inspire other chinese drivers to enter formula 1? . i other chinese drivers to enter formula 1?— other chinese drivers to enter formula 1? , i mean, hopefully the will formula 1? , i mean, hopefully they will be _ formula 1? , i mean, hopefully they will be more _ formula 1? , i mean, hopefully they will be more chinese - they will be more chinese drivers, chinese faces you know, in the motorsports area because for us, as a chinese driver, to be having the dream, of course it's always easy to have the dream and to achieve that, to be getting closer but is very difficult because of course, i've been through this journey from the beginning all the way from f4, formula three, formula two and formula 1, finally, but i know how hard it is and how much stuff you really have to forgive, how much stuff you have to compromise— lifestyle and to be really pushing yourself and i

think never giving up really paid off in myjourney, that's for sure. and it's been super intense but i'm just very thankful that, you know, we finally made it. but for me, there is still a long way to go in formula 1 so hopefully, i can prove myself and do well in the formula 1 world.— can prove myself and do well in the formula 1 world. right. the tenacity and — the formula 1 world. right. the tenacity and persistence - the formula 1 world. right. the tenacity and persistence you . tenacity and persistence you talk about certainly are key skills that are required for thejob. and looking at the sort of consequences and conclusions of some of the most famous races that we've seen recently, what did you make of that dramatic ending to last season's championship? i'd be keen to know your thoughts. yet, for me, i think it's pretty crazy how the season went because, you know, from all of the years i've been watching formula 1, started when i was a kid and raising the same weekend and i would never expect firstly to be equal on points because, you know, formula two is always

very difficult to get equal on points until the last round of it actually happened this year in formula 1, which is like something impossible to happen, in my imagination, as it did and it was super crazy that the championship was decided in the final lap of the final race, so that's pretty insane, to be honest, but yes, of course there was some dramatic things happening in the race but, you know, it's up to the steward, to the guys in the fia to decide all of these rules but, you know, i'mjust decide all of these rules but, you know, i'm just super happy orsuper you know, i'm just super happy or super proud of the drivers because they've done an absolutely amazing job the whole season to get, like, me as a young driver, this inspiration and giving the fans all this, you know, excitement of races. just before we go, let's show you some of the many brave souls across eastern europe who have been taking a dip in icy waters for epiphany. a christian orthodox tradition to commemorate the baptism ofjesus in the riverjordan, swimmers symbolically wash away their sins with a quick plunge.

the first person to retrieve a holy cross thrown into the water is believed to be blessed with happiness for the year ahead. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello there. we've got a much colder day of weather coming up today. it was yesterday that we had a cold front bring a bit of patchy rain southwards. as that cleared, we had a fine end to the day in hampshire — a lovely sunset here. for northern scotland, though, it was quite a turbulent day. gusty winds, and those winds have been bringing in some snow showers to shetland, we've seen some in orkney and, more recently, across the north of the mainland as well. that will leave a risk of some icy patches here as we get into the first part of thursday morning with the frost otherwise pretty widespread. for many of us, though, the skies will be clear. now, any showers in northern scotland very quickly will lose their wintriness and turn back to rain. some very slightly less cold air works in here. and for most of the uk, although a cold and frosty start, there will be sunshine pretty much from dawn till dusk.

it's going to be a lovely, if somewhat chilly, winter's day. now, there will be some showers coming down the north sea. they'll be affecting eastern parts of scotland. and with the winds blowing more or less parallel to the eastern coasts of england, most of the showers will stay offshore. the greatest risk of a shower will be across norfolk. you might see one or two coming into the north york moors as well. another cold night to come on thursday night — if anything, even colder across parts of england and wales, plumbing the depths. temperatures could get down to about —5, —6 degrees in the coldest spots but it will be turning milder in the north—west — that's because we've got some thicker cloud here. that'll probably give us quite a nice sunrise for some but the best of the sunshine through the day will be across eastern wales, central and eastern england, eastern scotland, probably eastern counties of northern ireland, whereas in the west, you're likely to see some of the higher temperatures but you will also see the thickest of the cloud, perhaps with some mist and fog patches developing around the coasts and the hills at times. little overall change, really, into the weekend. high pressure stays firmly with us — the same one that's been with us for ages now — and for the most part,

that will keep weather fronts at bay — this one just skirting into northern scotland but it will be a weak affair. so, for saturday, mist and fog and some frost patches around first thing in the morning. again, it's western areas that will keep the thickest cloud. and here's our weak weather front, bringing a little bit of light rain or drizzle — no great amounts. for the western isles and the highlands, temperatures could reach double figures here but otherwise, still quite chilly across the south—east — 5 or 6 celsius here. and, to be honest, looking at the long—range forecast through the rest of the week and most of next week, the weatherjust stays dry, thanks to that same area of high pressure.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. when i was growing up, my grandmother used to tell me that we lived here forever. there's this collective conscious knowledge that is handed down from generation to generation. what you do to the land, you do to yourselves. that is how i was raised. but since a child i have seen changes in ecosystems, i've seen less water, i've seen the trees struggling with drought and heat anxiety. if you abuse the land, climate change is a logical consequence.