now, it is time for news watch. hello and welcome to news watch, with me samira ahmed. were those hours and days looking forward to sue gray's report to be published time well spent for journalists? and why is ofcom now investigating this bbc report on an alleged anti—semitic incident after a complaint was partially upheld? watching and waiting were the hallmarks of this week in news, as day after day, the publication of sue gray's report into lockdown gatherings in westminster failed to appear. the prime minister did appear in front of the cameras on monday but he didn't have much to say about the issue dominating the minds ofjournalists. can you guarantee that no more embarrassing allegations about alleged breaches of lockdown within downing street will come out

before that report is published? what i can guarantee is that this government is focused 100% on dealing with the big problem is that we have. but on the sue gray report... do you think change is now inevitable in downing street after that report has come out, specifically on the sue gray report? i know that, you know, i perfectly understand that people want to ask questions about that. i think you've got to wait for that to come out but what i will say, this government is focused on the stuff that i think people want us to focus on. magda walter was watching that and immediately got in touch with us to say... i just watched yourjohnson interview which you rushed unedited on air. i think it is a disastrous editorial decision to let him avoid questions, divert repeatedly, and regurgitate his talking points over and over again. i've never written to a news outlet before — that is how strongly i feel about this. there were also strong feelings on the opposite side

of the political divide following headlines like this on the news at ten. tonight at ten, downing street admits that staff gathered inside during the first lockdown to which borisjohnson a happy birthday. in the cabinet room at number ten, it is claimed up to 30 people were present at a time when indoor gatherings of more than two people were banned. # happy birthday to you.# s williams e—mailed. an anonymous caller to our phone line on wednesday was clear in her views. i am absolutely disgusted with the bbc news.

all that could be happening with russia and ukraine and what do you put first in the headlines? all about boris johnson. parties, parties, parties, i'm sick of it. all the while, plenty of airtime was being spentjust waiting for you know what. well, we are still not sure when we are going to see the famous report by sue gray because it hasn't actually, we understand, been handed into number 10 downing street. once it is, it is going to take a bit of time for the prime minister to absorb undigested and his officials, and fled them to be released, so whether we are going to get it this afternoon or tonight or maybe tomorrow, we're still not sure. perhaps our political correspondent nick eardley, who is at westminster, can shed a bit of light on that. although, i am afraid i doubt it. but, nick — i wish i could, ben, i wish i could tell you the time it is coming, but we just don't know at the moment. the reaction of an brooks.

well, we still hope to speak to someone from the bbc�*s political unit to get answers to some of those questions. safe to say, the gray report will still be on the agenda next week. now, for some weeks, there have been vociferous complaints about how the bbc reported an alleged anti—semitic incident in london at the end of november. the bbc news website carried an article on the subject and it also featured on bbc london's early evening news bulletin. what we know that this incident is that it took place on monday evening. round about 30 to a0 situation teenagers were on a bus that had

round about 30 to a0 jewish teenagers were on a bus that had been hired to take them into the centre of town to celebrate the festival of hanukkah, and then this happened. music plays. muffled voices. and the footage shows the mob spitting, hurling abuse, and even appearing to perform nazi salutes. well, the metropolitan police of treating this as an alleged hate crime. i should say, though, that we at bbc london did watch this footage and you can hear some racial slurs about muslim people, which does come from the bus. it is not clear at the moment, for the person that said that, what role that may have played in this incident. that mention of an anti—muslim slur in theory edited some members ——that mention of an anti—muslim

slur infuriated some members of the situation community, with marie van der zyl from the board of deputies of britishjews writing to the bbc�*s director general and chairman in these terms. the matter was referred to the bbc�*s executive complaints unit, which on wednesday announced it had partially upheld the complaint, finding that report should have recognised there was genuine doubt over whether a racist slur was heard from the bus. the bbc issued this statement. the ecu, which is editorially independent of bbc news,

the matter is now being investigated by the regulator 0fcom but so far many of those who raised the complaints are far from satisfied. the campaign against anti—semitism had this reaction. do let us know your thoughts on any of the subjects we are covering in this programme.

and stay watching for details of how to contact us. and if one week you miss us for any reason, remember that newswatch is shown on the news channel on friday nights at 8:45pm and for night owls 3:45am, as well as on bbc one on saturdays at 7:45am, as part of breakfast. we are also on the iplayer. now, bbc 0ne�*s weekly debate programme question time aims to provide a spectrum of opinions, both on its panel and in the audience. sometimes the result is a robust, even rowdy exchange of views, which some viewers have told us they think can provide more heat than light. so, it raised some eyebrows last week when the programme's presenter fiona bruce tweeted this invitation to share their views to those who have declined the covid vaccine. mr apple posted this comment.

we issued an invitation of our own to those in charge of question time to come and discuss this. they declined and gave us this statement. finally, two music stories from the end of last week, which elicited similar complaints. first, there was the news that the singer adele

was postponing her residency at las vegas 2a hours before the opening night. half my crew, half my team are down with covid, they still are. and it has been impossible to finish the show. and i can't give you what i have right now. and i'm gutted. mary 0'brien wondered, why did bbc news think that reporting on adele cancelling shows in america is an important topic? 0n the same day, the death was announced at another singer, meatloaf. the us rock meat loaf has died at the age of 7a. he sold more than 100 million albums in a career that spanned six decades. bat out of hell, which was released in 1977, remains one of the bestselling albums of all time. here is keith gibson with a familiar refrain.

thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions about what you see, read, or here on bbc news, on tv, radio, or on social media... that is all from us, we'll be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. note that the country is in for a stormy weekend, both on saturday in then later on sunday but the overall

message for most of us is not necessarily a stormy one, we will call it quite windy with a mixture of sunshine and showers. right now just to the rest of us, we have storm malik forming. just to the rest of us, we have storm malikforming. this just to the rest of us, we have storm malik forming. this tome will be approaching scotland through friday night and into saturday, and the west of the weather will occur during the day on saturday. all the while, across england and wales, it is dry, here is a storm forming just to the west of the hebrides on saturday morning, pushing in mild air. now, here's the weather map for saturday, and noticed these pressure lines, these isobars. that's that very strong wind current flowing out of the northwest, and let's have a look at the warnings from the met office because they have been updated recently. now an amberwarning in force for eastern parts of scotland, so for the populated areas here and aberdeenshire, perth into edinburgh as well,

yellow warnings of wind elsewhere. but the highest gusts will actually be in exposed places of northwestern scotland, we think. 18 mph, possibly more. very windy across northern england, less windy in the south, but actually, a lot of sunshine on offer on saturday. however, the south on saturday, the southern counties, could end up being cloudy for most of the day. so, the storm, malik, pulls away into the baltic, and this next one comes in, so we are for two rounds of severe gales. early on saturday or sunday, this sunday, the weather's looking absolutely fine. certainly some sunshine across many parts of england, but later on sunday, rain sweeps into northern ireland, scotland, some mountain snow as well, and this is, again, a developing storm. so, severe gales in the western isles, 18 mph likely, gales felt across northern england, possibly into the midlands and even into parts of east anglia. a really blustery sunday night into monday, and monday morning, we could have travel disruption across some northern parts of the uk.

next week, it does look as though it's going to remain pretty unsettled. take care.

this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughanjones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the us secretary of defence says russia has the military capability to strike ukraine, but tells vladimir putin it's not too late to prevent a conflict. he can choose to de—escalate. he can order his troops away. he can choose dialogue and diplomacy. tens of thousands of russian troops have amassed on the ukrainian border, but ukraine's president calls on the west to avoid creating "panic". translation: you get the impression from the media that we're at war, - that there are soldiers on the streets, that there's mobilisation going on, that people are running away. we don't need that panic. the latest on partygate — the bbc understands the report will be delivered to the prime minister

without waiting for the police inquiry to conclude.