this is bbc news. i'm simon pusey with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. after days of confusion, the downing street lockdown parties report is now expected to be delivered without waiting for the police inquiry. the us warns the russian troop build—up near ukraine is the largest since the cold war as attempts to find a diplomatic solution continue. hello and thanks forjoining us. a senior british civil servant is expected to deliver her report on lockdown parties at downing street to the british prime minister soon, without waiting for the police to finish

their investigation. scotland yard has made it clear that it has not delayed the report's publication. here's our political correspondent iain watson. which rules could have been broken behind the famous black door during lockdown? the report by the senior civil servant sue gray was expected to provide some answers this week — that was until cressida dick, the country's top police officer, said on tuesday that her force was launching its own investigation. the metropolitan police had said then that they had no objections to sue gray's report being published but in not one but two statements today, the said they were not delaying the report but crucially, they asked for only minimum reference to be made in the cabinet report to events, saying this was to give detectives the most reliable picture of what happened. so, to translate —

they don't want to see too much in the public domain about the more serious allegations of rule—breaking in downing street until they have carried out their own work. the labour leader said this must be done promptly. what i want to see is sue gray's report in full and the investigation finished as quickly as possible, because we are this situation where the whole of government is paralysed. sue gray's task is to set out the full facts behind events such as the bring—your—own—booze drinks in the downing street garden and the apparently raucous leaving dos on the eve of prince philip's funeral. other political leaders at westminster have gone so far as to suggest that the met could be helping out borisjohnson if its intervention causes a potentially damaging report to be delayed or diluted. well first, the mets that they had to wait for the sue grey report and now they say the sue grey report has to wait for the met. so, of course, people feel this looks like a stitch—up. this does look as if it

has been a stitch—up, and the only person that benefits from this is boris johnson. the government are of course entitled — the government are of course entitled to _ the government are of course entitled to raise _ the government are of course entitled to raise questions- entitled to raise questions about _ these suggestions were met with derision by this government minister. i don't think any prime - minister would suddenly think it was a great idea to be i interviewed by the police. i know people get excited by dead cat strategies - but this is a sort of- trophy—hunted dead lion being slammed _ on the table, which i think it is hardly helpful. i am told sue gray was trying to redraft parts of her report to try to address these concerns. she wanted to avoid redactions — in other words, blanking out whole swathes of text — in case that looked like a whitehall whitewash. but tonight, she seemed to face a choice of either delay or delete. and if anything less than her full report emerges, there will be a political outcry. many conservatives will be keen to read that full report because some of borisjohnson�*s

own mps will try to oust him if they don't like what they see — just look at what the former occupant of number 10 said in a letter obtained by her local paper. theresa may stated: some say that the events have descended into farce at the heart of government. but for those directly affected by the tragedy of the pandemic, it's no laughing matter. for the people who are here at the wall every week painting hearts, it's infuriating. it's distressing, and it's really disappointing. tonight, it seems these families as well as the politicians are going to have to wait longer for the full picture of what happened on lockdown to become clear. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. russia's president vladimir putin says the us and it's —— its allies in the nato military alliance have ignored moscow's main security concerns over eastern europe with ukraine at the heart of tensions. the comments were made

in a phone call with president macron of france after washington had rejected russian demands that nato rule out ukraine joining the defence alliance. gabriel gatehouse reports from western ukraine. somewhere in a frozen field in western ukraine, they're preparing for war, with the help of the british military. ukrainian soldiers are trying out their latest weapon — it's a shoulder—held anti—tank missile that's been provided by the uk. this is an exercise. but here, they know they may have to use their weapons against real russian tanks in the not—too—dista nt future. it's a very big deal when our partners, our friends, from other countries are doing everything possible to improve our defence capabilities. do you need more? do you want more?

you know, it's hard to say what we need more if we are facing the war. for this moment, we have at least something that we make sure that we are capable to defend our countries. the brits have had a small military presence here since 2015. how many of you are there? so, the training team is ranging between eight to nine individuals. a couple of dozen officers in a training capacity. the ukrainians have been fighting russian—backed separatists in the east for nearly eight years now. but by supplying these anti—tank missiles, the uk is sending a strong signal — both about its commitment to ukraine and about how it assesses the current russian threat. part of this is about training the ukrainian military, of course, and about the ukrainian military being ready for any eventuality. but a big part of this also —

and the reason that we've been invited to film all of this — is because this is about sending a public message. is russia really about to launch a full—scale invasion of ukraine? the view in london and washington at the moment seems to be yes, it's likely. but in kyiv, they're playing it down. 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. there's a lot of posturing going on at the moment. moscow saying nato's ignoring its security concerns as it continues its troop build—up on the border. the response from the west is increasingly alarmed and alarming. this is perilous geopolitical terrain and ukraine is trying to chart a course through it. there may yet be what they call an �*off ramp�*, a way of defusing the crisis,

but there's a danger that talk of all—out war becomes a self—fulfilling prophecy. gabriel gatehouse, bbc news, western ukraine. let's get some of the day's other news. police in brazil have disclosed details of an investigation into presidentjair bolsonaro, which accuses him of trying to discredit the electoral system by spreading false information. mr bolsonaro said the electronic voting system was flawed and susceptible to fraud. data from oxford university shows that ten billion coronavirus jabs have now been administered around the world. more than 60% of the world's population have now received at least one dose of a vaccine — though this figure falls to less than 10% in low income countries. tens of thousands of people in three southern african countries have been cut off by floodwaters following torrential rains. officials say 86 people across madagascar, mozambique and malawi have died. rescue workers have been struggling to reach regions where roads and bridges have washed away.

you'll find much more on all the stories we're covering on our website, including the latest on the situation in ukraine. just head to bbc.com/news or download the bbc news app. research from the bbc has cast doubt on the timing of the positive covid test result that novak djokovic recently used to enter australia. it allowed him exemption from rules barring unvaccinated people. however, the serial number on his test, dated december 16th, appears out of sequence with a sample of tests analysed by the bbc. our sports correspondent natalie pirks has the details. cheering. another day, another media scrum. but as novak djokovic received honorary citizenship in a montenegrin town today, this hero's welcome was a far cry from his treatment in australia.

this shot of the unvaccinated star stuck at the border was the beginning of a saga that ultimately saw him deported. fighting to stay, he'd argued he'd been granted an exemption to play by tennis australia because, very close to the wire, he'd tested positive for covid—i9. his legal team presented two covid test certificates to the court from the serbian institute of public health. the first, allegedly taken on december 16th, shows a positive result. the second, processed from a different lab six days later, shows a negative one. but a couple of weeks ago, a german research company wondered why the unique confirmation code on the early test was higher than the later one. usually, they're generated in chronological order. the bbc has delved deeper. a total of 56 test certificates were collected and their unique confirmation codes plotted against the date of each result. in all cases, the earlier the result, the lower

the unique code. all except one — novak djokovic's positive test on december 16. according to the bbc�*s graph, this confirmation code would actually suggest a test some time between the 25th and 28th of december. djokovic travelled to australia on january 4th. how likely is it that that is a glitch in the system? it's not likely, but we don't know all the aspects, so i really hope the public institutions will provide transparency and clarify all this. so far, djokovic, the serbian institute of public health, and its office of information technology have not responded to bbc requests for comment. i think everyone's polarised at the moment on novak djokovic, which will be hurtful to him, but it won't do his reputation any good if it's found out that

he's been telling porky pies. rafael nadal will contest the australian open final on sunday. locked on 20 grand slams with the serbian, a 21st is unprecedented in men's tennis. djokovic may only have himself to blame as his rival takes shot at the prize he so covets. natalie pirks, bbc news. a british hitman has been found guilty of conspiring to kill a pakistani dissident in the netherlands. a court in london heard how muhammad gohir khan, was offered £100,000 to carry out the murder —— a court in london heard how muhammad gohir khan was offered £100,000 to carry out the murder in rotterdam last year. however, he failed to track his target down and was arrested on his return to the uk. with more, here's our pakistan correspondent secunder kermani. hitman gohir khan captured on cctv in rotterdam buying the knife he planned on using to kill his victim, but khan never found his target. instead, he was arrested

on return to london. police found messages on khan's phone with a middleman named as �*mudz�*. he offered khan, who was heavily in debt, £100,000 for the killing. khan replied, "let's get cracking". this is the man he planned to murder — a pakistani activist critical of the country's army. he doesn't want his face shown. five years ago, he was tortured by suspected members of pakistan's intelligence services. now, he believes they are behind this plot to kill him. this trial was taking place in the uk. what's your message to the british government?

pakistani officials wouldn't comment on the case. prime minister imran khan and the military insist there's no clampdown on critics, but human rights groups disagree. over the past few years, i've been reporting on how journalists and activists inside pakistan have faced an intensifying campaign of beatings, abductions and threats for criticising the alleged role of the military in manipulating the country's political system but now, even those living in exile here in the west fear their lives are in danger. we have recently received credible information that would suggest that your life would be in danger if you travelled to pakistan. ayesha siddiqa is an academic. she's one of four pakistani dissidents in the uk who confirmed to the bbc they'd received warnings or safety advice from the british police.

the story that i've found out is that it was a contract on my head given to some afghan warlords, to be eliminated or returned to pakistan. the same sources said that if the temperature was raised, i could be targeted in the uk as well. in court, the lawyers prosecuting gohir khan said the middleman and the client, known only as �*big boss', were both based in pakistan, but their true identities were not revealed. gohir khan now faces years injail, but his handlers discussed carrying out other jobs, and many pakistani activists fear they are still in danger. secunder kermani, bbc news. this is bbc news, the headlines: the report into parties held at downing street during lockdown is expected to be delivered to the prime minister shortly. there had been speculation

the report would be delayed. the us has warned that the build—up of russian troops on the ukraine border is the largest since the cold war. earlier, the russian president, vladimir putin, told his french counterpart, emmanuel macron, that he had no plans for an offensive. ten people have been injured in pittsburgh after a bridge collapsed. the snow—covered forbes avenue bridge gave way on friday morning, with six vehicles, including a bus, on it at the time. our north america correspondent peter bowes joins us now. peter, the pictures from the scene are pretty dramatic but it could have been a lot worse? it happened early in the morning and it could indeed have been so much worse, of course it was catastrophic for the bridge, for the structure but extraordinary that not many people were injured. those that were injured, they suffered minor injuries and no—one was killed. that is the good news coming out of this but as far

as the bridge is concerned, it collapsed in the space of a few seconds, it took everyone by surprise, you can imagine the emergency services were inundated with calls, very difficult conditions, snowy conditions, and when the emergency services actually got to the scene they were confronted with the sight of a bus reallyjust hanging on to what remains of that structure, some cars in a similar position, and of course this is a bridge that the president has been talking about a lot along with many others around the country in dire need of repair, some 3000 in the state of pennsylvania alone, and the president actually pledging when he visited that he would do all that he can in this case but for many other bridges facing similar conditions around the country.- around the country. you mentioned _ around the country. you mentioned the - around the country. you | mentioned the president around the country. you mentioned the president there, peter, just so happened that joe biden was in the area to

talk about, of all things, infrastructure.— talk about, of all things, infrastructure. yes, and he actually — infrastructure. yes, and he actually rearranged - infrastructure. yes, and he actually rearranged his - actually rearranged his schedule for the day. it is quite a coincidence of course that he would be in the area to talk about this very subject today. what he did instead of going straight to his speech, he went to the scene of this bridge, he thanked some of the first responders and pledged to do everything possible to at least repair the damage from this instance but then he talked more broadly later in the day in preplanned speech about the bigger issue and of course the fact that just a few months ago his administration passed a bill that puts aside some $110 billion to repair roads and bridges, and he went on to say that. fit, roads and bridges, and he went on to say that.— on to say that. a bridge more than 50 years _ on to say that. a bridge more than 50 years old, _ on to say that. a bridge more than 50 years old, i - on to say that. a bridge more than 50 years old, i think- on to say that. a bridge more than 50 years old, i think it i than 50 years old, i think it was — than 50 years old, i think it was a — than 50 years old, i think it was a it— than 50 years old, i think it was a it says 50 but i thought it was— was a it says 50 but i thought it was older, collapsed right here — it was older, collapsed right here in— it was older, collapsed right here in the berg. it had been in poor— here in the berg. it had been in poor condition for the past ten years _

in poor condition for the past ten years. what you all know, but if — ten years. what you all know, but if you _ ten years. what you all know, but if you don't you should know. _ but if you don't you should know, there are another 3300 bridges — know, there are another 3300 bridges here in pennsylvania, some — bridges herein pennsylvania, some of— bridges here in pennsylvania, some of which are just as old and _ some of which are just as old and just— some of which are just as old and just as decrepit condition as that — and just as decrepit condition as that bridge was. and across the country there are 45,000 bridges — the country there are 45,000 bridges in poor conditions copy it isjust — bridges in poor conditions copy it isjust simply bridges in poor conditions copy it is just simply unacceptable. that— it is just simply unacceptable. that is— it is just simply unacceptable. that is why your governor and your _ that is why your governor and your members of congress, your mare _ your members of congress, your mare have — your members of congress, your mare have been saying for years. _ mare have been saying for years, we have to do something about— years, we have to do something about this _ years, we have to do something about this. it years, we have to do something about this— about this. it still isn't known. _ about this. it still isn't known, still— about this. it still isn't known, still very - about this. it still isn't known, still very earlyj about this. it still isn't - known, still very early stages why this particular bridge collapsed so suddenly, an investigation is getting under way and local officials have been talking about what happens next, including the first task is to get those vehicles, those cars and that bus away from that mangled wreckage and they feared that because of the difficult conditions, the difficult conditions, the difficult terrain, that is a process that could last for

several months.- process that could last for several months. amazing that no-one died _ several months. amazing that no-one died or— several months. amazing that no-one died or serious - several months. amazing that no-one died or serious injury. | no—one died or serious injury. it peter, thank you very much. a rights organisation has criticised a decision to allow north korea to chair a key un disarmament committee focused on preventing nuclear proliferation. un watch said it was wrong to put pyongyang in charge while it was still being sanctioned for its own nuclear programmes. the australian government says it will spend the equivalent of an additional seven hundred million us dollars over the next nine years, to try to protect the great barrier reef. the money will fund projects that reduce erosion and pollutants entering the sea, and help to combat things like illegal fishing, or the spread of starfish which eat the coral. critics say the plan doesn't do enough to tackle australia's carbon emissions, and their effect on climate change. playing video games for a living is an aspirational career for millions across the world. however, the most influential

online streaming platform, twitch, is accused of encouraging unhealthy practices. there are now calls for the billion—dollar company to change the way it operates, as the bbc�*s gaming reporter, steffan powell explains in this exclusive report. singing: welcome to my... what the... like, what?! i'm in trouble! this is twitch, where all day, every day, you'll find people filming themselves playing video games and interacting with viewers. some, like ninja here, can earn big bucks. he's reportedly worth around £18 million. owned by amazon, 30 million people across the globe visit the site daily. traditionally, communal gaming meant coming somewhere like this and sharing a screen with a mate. but today, online gaming means that people play with friends from all over the world from home, and what online streaming platforms like twitch have done is allowed some to turn that into a job. i missed every shot, i think. which is what sam, known to her followers

as sooshi, did. the former office manager loved it — but is one of many i've spoken to that says they've sacrificed their health to make a living using the site. they say it encourages long periods online. i'd say it had an effect on my confidence a lot. i still to this day don't open the door. i don't open the door to anyone. sam took a financial risk to stream for a living. she was online for up to ten hours a day, every day, to pay the bills. that lead to anxiety and symptoms of agoraphobia. i don't think i went out in the first year that i was full time barely. maybe to the shop at a push. it sounds really silly, but i don't really like talking to anyone face—to—face because it's been so long since i've done it to another human. streamers have told me the longer you're online, the more your channel will grow subscribers and advertising revenue. it is a numbers game

with twitch. it's a lot about being on throughout the day as often and as long as you can, so that it's really, really dis—incentivised to stream for short bursts. as a result of these concerns, bbc news has been told that twitch needs to make changes to better protect content creators. it encourages streamers to be on stream for many hours, sometimes 24 hours or more, and that clearly has an effect on people's physical health or mental health. and i think the platforms really need to think about changing the mechanics of the platform, changing the financial model, to protect the health of streamers. in a statement, twitch said that streamers' safety is their number one priority. they added that advice and mental health resources are available on their site and they say they are developing a new programme to support streamers with the pressures of the job. sam's reduced her hours on twitch now. it got too much. today, she's notjust battling

for victory in the virtual world, but also to get a conversation going about healthy streaming practices in the real one. steffan powell, bbc news. a week after his death, the rock star meat loaf�*s most popular album, bat out of hell, has re—entered the uk charts at number three, its highest ever placing. released in 1977, the operatic rock album originally failed to chart at all, only starting to sell the following year when meat loaf appeared on a bbc television show. it became one of the best selling albums ever and has accumulated more that 500 weeks on the uk chart. meat loaf died last friday, aged 74. let us leave you with pictures of an incredible frost formation on a rock, resembling a fish eye, that has been spotted by an unsuspecting photographer in england. leigh pugh was hoping to get a picture of the sunrise in the derbyshire peak district when he got the feeling

he was being watched. the 51—year—old said it was too cloudy to capture the sunrise butjust as he was heading off he noticed something a bit fishy. a reminder of our top story: the top us military official, general mark milley, has said the russian troop build—up on ukraine's border is the largest since the cold war and a conflict could be horrific. general milley, who's chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff, said the forces russia had assembled could cause significant casualties if they were unleashed, especially in urban areas. earlier, the russian president, vladimir putin, reportedly told his french counterpart, emmanuel macron, that he had no plans for an offensive. but he said the us and nato had failed to address russia's main demands, to halt the expansion of the alliance and avoid deploying strike weapons near russia.

you can reach me on twitter, i'm @sipusey. but from me and the rest of the team, thanks a lot for watching, to stay tuned. hello there. so far this month, it's been pretty quiet with high pressure dominating the scene. we've had light winds for most, but that's certainly not the case this weekend. northern parts of the country will be impacted by some severe gales at times which could cause some disruption. and we'll see another spell of wet and windy weather during sunday night. higher pressure further south, which means the winds will be lighter, but this deepening area of low pressure's been named by the danish met service as storm malik, and you can see why. plenty of isobars across the north of the uk as this system continues to push down in towards the norwegian sea. widespread yellow wind warnings across the north of the country, gusts of 70—80 mph likely across parts of scotland. an amber warning issued for parts of eastern scotland, could see some impacts from aberdeen down towards edinburgh.

got a weather front sinking southwards through the day. that will bring some cloud to southern england, where it will stay quite mild, but behind it, skies brighten, sunshine and blustery showers but it will be turning colder. it will be very windy for a time across the north and east of the country saturday night, but very quickly a ridge of high pressure builds in. winds will turn lighter, most of the showers will ease down, so under those clear skies with lightening winds, then temperatures will fall. a touch of frost out of town under those clear skies. so, our ridge of high pressure will bring us a fine, settled start for much of sunday, but we'll see the next area of low pressure hurtling into the north west of the country. that's going to bring another round of rain, gales and mountain snow. so, it will start chilly with some frost, but plenty of sunshine for much of england and wales. a bit more cloud for scotland and northern ireland. later in the day, it will start to get wetter and windier across the north west. some mountain snow for scotland and gales developing once again, particularly across the west of scotland and then pushing into northern ireland, the rest of scotland, then northern england later in the day.

those winds always little bit lighter further south, but it will be a chillier day compared to saturday, with temperatures of 4—9 degrees. and then that area of low pressure moves across the north of scotland. we'll see a real squeeze in the isobars. gales or severe gales affecting northern ireland, much of scotland, perhaps the north of england. again, gusts of 70—80 mph for a time, so this could cause some disruption. so, two storms this weekend for the north of britain, which could bring some damaging gusts. we're likely to see some disruption in places, so stay tuned to the forecast. see you later.

this is bbc news. the headlines: after days of confusion over the publishing date of the downing street lockdown parties report, it is now expected to be delivered without waiting

for the police inquiry. the exact timing is still unclear. there had been speculation. that the report might be delayed because of a metropolitan police request. the us has warned that the build—up of russian troops on the ukraine border is the largest since the cold war. earlier, the russian president vladimir putin told french president emmanuel macron that he had no plans for an offensive, but that nato had failed to address russia's main demands. doubts have emerged over the timing of the positive covid test which the tennis player novak djokovic used to enter australia. the serial number appears to be out of sequence with a sample of test results, obtained by the bbc, which had been taken in serbia around the same time. now on bbc news, it's time for click. this week, swinging satellites!

and fruit.