welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: 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. after days of confusion the downing street lockdown parties report is now expected to be delivered without waiting for the police inquiry. the race is on to reach one of america's fighterjets which came down in the south china sea before china gets there. president biden uses the collapse of a bridge in pittsburgh to emphasise the importance of his $1 trillion infrastructure bill. more doubts emerge about novak djokovic�*s covid status during his attempt to enter australia for the tennis open.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. russia's president vladimir putin says the us and 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—distant 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. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet is in kyiv with the latest. in circumstances like this where you have a leader who needs the support of external allies to perhaps talk up the situation on the ground or at least to emphasise how critical it is in order to be sure that allies will be there at the

hour of need but i think president zelensky�*s remarks are very much that this is not are very much that this is not a new crisis for him and indeed for anyone in ukraine. they have been living, as we have reporting, with this since 2014. i am not worried about the next russian investigation because there has already been an invasion in 2014, and they dealt with the consequences since. and perhaps the world has turned the other way and you wouldn't be surprised that there may be some bitterness about that. and now suddenly, there is a laser focus on what is happening on ukraine's borders and worry about what comes next. for the ukrainian president, what comes next may be more of the same, and he did not dismiss the idea that there could be more conflict with russia. there could be a possible, another russian invasion. but he said it is not certain and while you wait, better not to exaggerate what's happening on the ground. these two sets there. _

—— lyse doucet there. 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 from 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 and in not one, but two statements today, the police insisted they weren't delaying the report. but crucially, they asked for only minimal reference to be made in the cabinet office report to the relevant events, saying this was: 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're this situation where the whole of government is paralysed. sue gray's task is to set out the facts about 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 met said that they had to wait for the sue gray report. now, they say the sue gray 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 borisjohnson. the government are, of course, 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 slammedl on the table, which i think it's hard to say is helpful. | i'm told sue gray was trying to redraft parts of her report to try to address any police 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'll 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 in lockdown to become clear. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. let's get some of the day's other news. a race against time is under way for the us navy to reach one of its downed fighterjets.

an f—35cjet crash landed off the uss carl vinson in the south china sea almost a week ago, but concern remains about whether china will make an attempt to salvage the $100 million aircraft first. mark cancian is a senior adviser for the international security program at the center for strategic and international studies in washington, dc. hejoins me live now from iowa. mark, thank you forjoining us. china said they have no interest in the jet but many people familiar with the case think that may not be the case? it is certainly not the case. this is the united states's most sophisticated aircraft. it has sensors, weapons, avionics, even materials that are state—of—the—art and the chinese would certainly want to acquire them and in fact they have tried to steal them using cyber tools. have tried to steal them using cybertools. i have tried to steal them using cyber tools. i think given the chance they would go after the aircraft themselves. find chance they would go after the aircraft themselves.— aircraft themselves. and what kind of information _ aircraft themselves. and what kind of information and - kind of information and intelligence and technology is thought to be on board the jet, do you think? thought to be on board the 'et,

do you thinkvi thought to be on board the 'et, do you thinkoi do you think? these aircraft have avionics, _ do you think? these aircraft have avionics, a _ do you think? these aircraft i have avionics, a sophisticated electronic system, sensors, things like radars and infrared detectors, weapons, the us most specific catered weapons, and even the things that go into making these aircraft are very specially designed and developed. these will help the chinese first to counter the us and any country that operates the f-35c and any country that operates the f—35c aircraft, including the f—35c aircraft, including the united kingdom, and also help them build their own aircraft. they are trying to counter the us advantage and they would use this information to make their own aircraft more effective. i to make their own aircraft more effective. , , , ., effective. i guess the question is what happens _ effective. i guess the question is what happens now - effective. i guess the question is what happens now and - effective. i guess the question is what happens now and are l effective. i guess the question i is what happens now and are we going to be able to see the chinese ships encroaching and are the americans going to go and get it? what do you think will happen in the next days and weeks? my will happen in the next days and weeks?— will happen in the next days and weeks? g , ., ,, and weeks? my question the us will no and weeks? my question the us will go get _ and weeks? my question the us will go get it. — and weeks? my question the us will go get it, they _

and weeks? my question the us will go get it, they said - and weeks? my question the us will go get it, they said they - will go get it, they said they will, also went something like this happens, the us routinely goes and covers the aircraft and it doesn't for a couple of reasons. one is because of technology but also for the accident investigation, to find out what happened and why the aircraft crashed. sometimes it's a question of inaudible the case here but once a year there is an aircraft that goes in and the united states will recover, we've pulled aircraft out from great depths, almost four miles of the ocean, and last year, salvage operations recovered a uk f—35 in the mediterranean so this kind of work is relatively routine. the us has a great advantage in this race in that we know where the plane is and the chinese don't. they probably have a rough idea but we know exactly and we will be sending ships out there to salvage it. typically it takes about a week or a month or six weeks, i think, they will try to do it

as quickly as they can. and other any _ as quickly as they can. and other any concerns - as quickly as they can. and other any concerns around issues about this particular type of claim because this is not the first time an accident of this nature has happened. —— type of plane. of this nature has happened. -- type of plane-— type of plane. f-35 is a new aircraft that _ type of plane. f-35 is a new aircraft that has _ type of plane. f-35 is a new aircraft that has problems i type of plane. f-35 is a new i aircraft that has problems but the accident rate isn't bad. the us has lost five. it's not unusualfor the us has lost five. it's not unusual for this kind of aircraft. it is not the accident rate, it's the fact is such a sophisticated aircraft but also a problem that this is the first deployment of these f-sss the first deployment of these f—35s and they were hoping it would go smoothly and something is clearly happened and they are going to have to look about and figure out what happened and figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. and make sure it doesn't happen aaain. ~ ., .., again. mark cancian live in iowa, again. mark cancian live in iowa. but _ again. mark cancian live in iowa, but is _ again. mark cancian live in iowa, but is all— again. mark cancian live in iowa, but is all we - again. mark cancian live in iowa, but is all we time i again. mark cancian live in | iowa, but is all we time for, givenjoining us to iowa, but is all we time for, given joining us to talk about thatjet. —— that is all. data from oxford university shows that ten billion coronavirus jabs have now been administered around the world, but there remain massive disparities in how those jabs are spread across the globe. according to the university's our world in data project,

some smaller affluent countries, like the united arab emirates, have achieved almost 100% vaccination rates. in larger developed economies, like those in the european union, 74% of people have received at least one dose. but in nigeria, africa's most populous state, the figure is only 6.5%. in total, just under 40% of the world's population have still yet to receive a single jab. let's bring you some live pictures now from vinh hang park, in hue's garden of eden in vietnam, where a ceremony is being held ahead of the cremation of influential buddhist monk thich nhat hanh, a prolific author and peace activist. he is often referred to as the "father of

mindfulness". thich nhat hanh was exiled from vietnam in the 1960s after opposing the war. king later nominated thich nhat hanh for a nobel peace prize, describing him as "an apostle of peace and non violence". stay with us on bbc news. still to come: as a bridge collapses in the us city of pittsburgh, president biden promises to fix all the ageing bridges with his infrastructure bill. this is the moment that millions in iran have been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid, and the anc leader nelson mandela is to be set free unconditionally. mission control: three, two, one... a countdown to a critical moment — the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. and apart from its power, it's this recycling of the rocket slashing the cost of a launch, that makes this a breakthrough in the business of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship.

one of them called it "a piece of cake". thousands of people have given l the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming - in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo - around the world, non—stop. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: 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. 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. 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.

0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has the latest. 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, difficult terrain 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 3,000 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. you mentioned the president there, peter, itjust so happens thatjoe biden was in the area to talk about, of all things, infrastructure. yes, and he 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 his preplanned speech about the bigger issue and of course the fact thatjust 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 this. a bridge more than 50 years old, i think it's 150 years. it says 50 years old, but i thought it was older, collapsed right here in pittsburgh. what you all know, if you don't you should know, there are another 3,300 bridges here in pennsylvania, some of which are just as old and just as decrepit condition as that bridge was. and across the country there are 45,000 bridges in poor condition. it is just simply unacceptable. that's why your governor and your members of congress, your mayor have been saying for years, we have to do something about this. it still isn't known, still very early stages of course, 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 fear that because of the difficult conditions, the difficult terrain, that is a process that

could last for several months. people on the us north—east coast are bracing themselves for a powerful winter storm, bringing high winds and heavy snow, due to hit over the weekend. thousands of flights have been cancelled in the region with warnings of possible snow fall of up to 50 centimetres or more in some places. for more on this i'm joined now by meteorologist matthew cappucci who is in cape cod — one of the areas due to be worst affected by the storm. matthew, the warnings are pretty stark. just how big and destruct is this snowstorm going to be?— going to be? here in the north-east _ going to be? here in the north-east we _ going to be? here in the north-east we are - going to be? here in the north-east we are used l going to be? here in the i north-east we are used to north—east we are used to pretty big snowstorms but the really impressive thing is adjust the amounts but the rapidity that there is will come down, close to ten centimetres per hour at times stopping there is no road crew in the world that can keep up with that, under snow, destructive winds over 100 kilometres an hour, blizzard conditions and near zero

visibility so all that is an arsenal is a very powerful storm. �* arsenal is a very powerful storm. , ., , arsenal is a very powerful storm. �* , ., arsenal is a very powerful storm. , ., ., storm. and snowstorms are not unusual at — storm. and snowstorms are not unusual at this _ storm. and snowstorms are not unusual at this time _ storm. and snowstorms are not unusual at this time of - storm. and snowstorms are not unusual at this time of year - storm. and snowstorms are not unusual at this time of year in i unusual at this time of year in that area but what is so special about this one? this one, special about this one? this one. we _ special about this one? this one. we are _ special about this one? this one, we are fortunate - special about this one? this one, we are fortunate it - special about this one? this one, we are fortunate it is i one, we are fortunate it is heading on a weekend but the really impressive thing is that it is undergoing something called explosive intensification. picture rapid intensification. picture rapid intensification with a hurricane, this is doing something rather similar, hurricane, this is doing something rathersimilar, it hurricane, this is doing something rather similar, it is moving over the golf scream and it is like a vacuum effect and suddenly that much more air can be drawn in, you get very strong winds, so in a matter of 24 hours we go from nothing to a hurricane force storm just off the coast and a textbook position to deposit major heavy snows across much of the northeast corridor and big—name cities too, new york, philly, baltimore, boston impacted and especially south—eastern new england. especially south-eastern new encland. ~ , ., especially south-eastern new encland. ~ ., ~ ., england. when you talk about those it is _ england. when you talk about those it is an _ england. when you talk about those it is an obviously - england. when you talk about | those it is an obviously packed full of people, what advice would you give to people who are going to be in the part of this storm? i

are going to be in the part of this storm?— are going to be in the part of this storm? i think here in the north-east. — this storm? i think here in the north-east, we _ this storm? i think here in the north-east, we are _ this storm? i think here in the north-east, we are used - this storm? i think here in the north-east, we are used to i this storm? i think here in the| north-east, we are used to big north—east, we are used to big snows but really the rates are going to be very impressive, so any time tomorrow on sunday local time and even into early monday morning the rates will likely be in pretty bad states, just because there is so much snow coming down so incredibly quickly. we could see a foot or more of snow in about three or four hours time and all of that snow will have drift upwards of two or three metres in places that people just need to be prepared. stay home, don't make any plans at all on saturday, watch netflix, planned to be without power, have your medications and nonperishable foods in advance, just be sure you are good to go for about 36 hours because really if you don't have to hit the roads, plan to stay put.— don't have to hit the roads, plan to stay put. that's very aood plan to stay put. that's very good advice. _ plan to stay put. that's very good advice. watch - plan to stay put. that's very good advice. watch netflixl plan to stay put. that's very l good advice. watch netflix or bbc news and plenty of other things. thanks a lot for bringing us up to date. 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. 0ur sports correspondent, natalie pirks, has the details. 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—19. his legal team presented two covid test certificates to the court from the serbian institute of public health. the first, allegedly taken on december 16, 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 4. how likely is it that that is a glitch in the system? it's not likely, but we don't know all the aspects and it's possible that there is some other explanation, 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 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. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @sipusey. thanks a lot for watching, i will see you soon. 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:

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. —— french president emmanuel macron that he had no plans for an offensive, but that nato had failed to address russia's main demands. 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. 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, we follow three people from tynemouth

who have taken up cold water swimming and say it is doing