this is bbc news. our top stories: president biden approves the deployment of 3,000 troops to europe — russia calls it an unjustified and destructive move. the united states stands shoulder—to—shoulder with our nato allies. the current situation demands that we reinforce the deterrent and defensive posture on nato�*s eastern flank. president biden has been clear that the united states will respond to the growing threat to europe's security and stability. new zealand begins the phased re—opening of its borders — vaccinated citizens in australia can finally return home. a key part of the brexit deal unravels as northern ireland halts customs checks on goods coming from the british mainland. and putting his back into it, the cuban strong—man who can break records and cans with his shoulder blades.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. president biden has approved the deployment of 3000 troops to bolster nato allies in the region. this would be the first major movement of us forces in russia's military stand—off with ukraine. 2,000 will be sent to poland and germany, and a 1,000—strong squadron will be redeployed from germany to romania. a pentagon spokesman said the deployments were a signal that america was ready to defend its allies, but he was keen to stress the troops were not going to fight in ukraine. the united states stands shoulder—to—shoulder with our nato allies. the current situation demands that we reinforce the deterrent and defensive posture on nato�*s eastern flank.

president biden has been clear that the united states will respond to the growing threat to europe's security and stability. our commitment to nato, article five, and collective defence remains ironclad. in a few moments, we'll get the reaction of michael 0'hanlon, who's a senior defense analyst at the brookings institution. but, first, what do ordinary russians think of the prospect of full—scale war in ukraine? the bbc�*s moscow correspondent steve rosenberg reports now from the city of vladimir. bell tolls in russia, putin is but one of many vladimirs. this is vladimir, the town. it was founded by a medieval prince who ruled from kyiv — a reminder that russia and ukraine have common roots. andre's mother is from ukraine. he calls the two countries brotherly nations, but he clearly sees russia as big brother. translation: russia must

have a sphere of influence. | it's a superpower. smaller countries can ally with whoever they choose, but it's up to big countries to help them decide. i find that many russians do believe what they are being told — the constant stream of claims in the state media here that it's ukraine and the west that risk turning a cold war hot. at vladimir market, though, on people's minds are troubles on the home front, economic ones. lydia is trying to sell produce from her garden. the money she makes here is a lifeline. "the situation in ukraine is a worry," lydia says, "but so is the russian economy. "prices are rising on everything. "my pension�*s barely enough to survive on." with all the problems

russians have right now — economic hardship, the coronavirus pandemic — there is little appetite here amongst the public for a full—scale war with ukraine, let alone a war with the west. but that doesn't mean that russians don't fear such a war. many do. with east—west tension close to boiling point over ukraine, iten and her husband, viktor, blame their government. they believe the russian authorities have created imaginary enemies as a distraction. so, they want us to hate, they want us to imagine that there is an enemy because there must be an enemy, otherwise people will focus on the problems they have and will be focusing on what's wrong, why they are not living the life they could live if the government would be different, if the policy would be different. so, will russia compromise

or will there be conflict? iten knows that will depend on the other vladimir — russia's current leader, back in moscow. steve rosenberg, bbc news, vladimir. earlier, i spoke to bradley bowman who's senior director of the center on military and political power at the foundation for defense of democracies. his thoughts on latest us troop deployment would be viewed as a threat by russia. i think they are zero threat to russia. nato is a collect of defence alliance. nato is not napoleon threatening russia, nato is not nazi germany threatening russia and putin knows it. as the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff said, this is a situation entirely fabricated by the kremlin to try to coerce kyiv.

it is based on a might makes right model where vladimir putin says i am more powerful than you, ukraine, i can tell you what to do and with whom to associate, so these are prudent steps the biden administration is taking to send a clear message that the united states will honour its article five nato commitments, but will not send combat troops to ukraine. instead they are sending six shipments, already, of defensive weapons to ukraine so ukraine can defend itself. so what do you think would be a deterrent for mr putin and russia to pull back, to de—escalate, that's a word we have heard a lot today. i think additional defensive weapons, to ukraine. i think the biden administration's decision to send weapons is positive but it's insufficient and belated. i'm so glad to see countries like the united kingdom and poland and some of the baltic countries and others stepping forward to provide arms to ukraine. these weapons — don't believe the kremlin talking points to your audience — these are not an offensive threat to moscow, they will simply raise the cost

of aggression and hopefully change putin's mind or convince him that he cannot achieve his political objectives in ukraine with additional aggression against ukraine. how do you see this playing out? we have had a lot of high—stakes diplomacy over the past few days that continued today. we are also hearing from russians how they are feeling at the moment. we have heard from ukrainians as well, so worried about what may happen on their borders. how do you see it? my heart goes out to the people of ukraine. they have suffered the invasion in 2014 in crimea, an illegal annexation, they've seen since that time the russian—backed separatists in the donbass, where roughly 14,000 people have died, they have seen cyber attacks and information warfare, so they have roughly 100,000 combat troops all around their borders and almost every side, including to the west and occupied crimea. the best way to de—escalate this is for the russian soldiers to return to their

bases and make clear, in a believable way with their actions, that there won't be another russian military invasion of ukraine. i suppose the question is there how can president putin do that without losing face? do you have an idea what his end game really is with this whole debacle that has been happening over the past few weeks in particular? i do. i think he's trying to do a former us secretary of state george shultz called "casting the shadow of power over the negotiating table. " i think he is trying to get a commitment that ukraine would neverjoin nato and that, i think, conceding that would be a betrayal of nato�*s democratic principles, of american intervals, and transatlantic principles. you know, again, it's two world views — it's might makes right authoritarianism versus rule of law, territorial integrity, and national sovereignty, the kinds of things that russia committed to honour in the 1994 budapest memorandum, which they are blowing off now.

bradley bowman there. new zealand has announced a five—stage process to reopen its international borders, which have largely been closed for almost two years because of the pandemic. from the end of february, fully—vaccinated new zealand citizens and residents from australia will be granted entry without spending two weeks at an official quarantine centre. they will have to self—isolate instead. new zealanders in the rest of the world can return from mid—march, and the final border restrictions are due to end in october. prime ministerjacinda ardern says the phased reopening is to help slow the spread of the virus. 0verall, opening back up in this managed way balances inflows of travellers so people can reunite and fill our workforce shortages, while also ensuring our healthcare system can manage an increase in cases. after all, our strategy with 0micron is to slow the spread, and our borders are a part of that strategy.

0ur correspondent phil mercer has more from sydney, australia. covid zero was a policy in a new zealand, but events really did overpower that particular policy. now there is an expectation that this phased approach will give new zealanders and the government an opportunity to learn to live with the virus. it is time to move again was the message from the prime minister, jacinda ardern, when she announces. a cautious, phased reopening, as you said, it will begin at the end of this month and will stretch well into the end of the year into 0ctober. so new zealand has had some of the world's toughest bio security border controls keeping out most foreigners for the best part of two years. now the fortress is gradually being dismantled. i am just wondering, here in london there are a lot of people from new zealand

who live here, of course, you often hear chatter about them wanting to go home and feeling very sad about how strict the restrictions were. what about in new zealand or, perhaps, australia, because they are quite close neighbours in the sense of people going back and forth there as well, how were they received, were they fully accepted? i think there will be anxiety in new zealand as the borders gradually reopen. prime minister ardern made reference to that. she also made reference to the fact that the managed isolation facilities that have forced new zealanders, many of them, to wait to return home, this is a system where new zealanders arriving home have to go in to two weeks of managed isolation, jacinda ardern said it was a situation that had created a separation and heart

break, but new zealand's rate defence, according to the government, is its vaccination rate. eligible people in new zealand, 94% of them, have two doses of the covid—i9 vaccine. so the government says it is confident that this staged reopening will be safe, but it is part of a journey for new zealand going into uncharted territory of living with the virus. that is why we have a very cautious staged approach announced by the prime ministerfew hours ago. let's get some of the day's other news. four men have been charged in connection with the overdose death of actor michael k williams in september last year. the men are alleged to have been involved in the distribution of fentanyl—laced heroin that resulted in the death of williams, who was best known for playing 0mar little on the wire. officials in argentina say at least 12 people have died and another 50 are in hospital after taking adulterated cocaine. police have raided a house

and made ten arrests in a poor neighbourhood of buenos aires, where they believe the cocaine was sold. the manchester united footballer, mason greenwood, has been released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of rape and assault. manchester united says he won't return to the pitch until further notice. a unionist minister in the belfast assembly has directed officials to stop carrying out checks on goods entering northern ireland from the rest of the uk. the checks effectively keep northern ireland in the eu single market — post brexit. it also prevents the need for customs at the land border between northern ireland and the irish republic which is in the european union. but the northern ireland protocol, as it's called, is deeply unpopular amongst unionist politicians who don't want any barriers between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. emma vardy reports. it's the most defiant step yet from the dup to frustrate the brexit arrangements in northern ireland. since the uk left the eu, goods from britain have had

to undergo new checks when they reach northern ireland's ports. tonight, the dup department responsible for operating these checks has ordered civil servants to stop carrying them out. i have now issued a formal instruction to my permanent secretary to halt all checks that were not in place on the 31st of december 2020 from midnight tonight. i will prepare a paper for executive consideration in the near future to seek a way forward. thank you. the new checks on goods crossing the irish sea were part of the brexit deal that the uk government signed up to to avoid the need for checks on goods which travel into the irish republic. for unionists, who view this as effectively severing northern ireland's place in the uk, they have been a source of much contention. but it's an arrangement which is supported by other parties in northern ireland. the government in dublin says ordering the checks to stop goes against an

international treaty. the protocol is part of an international agreement. it was agreed and ratified by the uk and the eu, and so to deliberately frustrate obligations under that treaty, i think, would be a very serious matter indeed. i think it's essentially playing politics with legal obligations. what is not clear to me is how civil servants, who are responsible for border checks here, will react tomorrow. there are conflicting views in the northern ireland government over whether the order is lawful, and the first lorries carrying goods will begin to roll off the ferries here just after 6am. other parties at stormont have accused the dup of a political stunt ahead of the elections in may. more than a year since the brexit arrangements were put in place, they're still at the heart of political division and uncertainty. emma vardy, bbc news.

stay with us on bbc news — still to come: experts say they may have uncovered the cause of a mysterious illness affecting us diplomatic staff called havana syndrome. 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 world news. the latest headlines: president biden approves the deployment of 3,000 troops to europe. russia calls it an unjustified and destructive move. new zealand begins the phased re—opening of its borders. vaccinated citizens in australia can finally return home. intelligence experts in the united states say they may finally have uncovered the cause of a mysterious illness among diplomatic staff that's been dubbed havana syndrome which lists dizziness and disorientation among its symptoms. the intelligence community experts panel on anomalous health incidents

has been looking at some of the unresolved cases of the syndrome. it concluded that, �*the signs and symptoms of ahis are genuine and compelling'. it suggested that in some cases, �*pulsed electromagnetic energy... plausibly explains the core characteristics, although information gaps exist�*. it did not look into �*the question of whether a foreign actor may be involved'. it's worth mentioning that an earlier interim report from the cia last month found no evidence of a widespread campaign by a foreign state and said many cases could be explained by natural causes or stress. earlier, i asked alex ward, national security reporter for the news website politico, to explain what havana syndrome consists of. well, it's a pretty nasty set of symptoms — feelings of nausea, acute hearings in your ears, very sharp noises, disorientation, and it seems to come somewhat out of nowhere, and it's affected many us officials. it was first on the scene in havana, cuba, hence the name

havana syndrome, but witnessed elsewhere around the world, and also some foreign officials, or i should say non—us officials. so this has been a mystery for the us and foreign governments going, well, what is happening here? why do all these officials suddenly feel these symptoms, and what is the cause? and that's what the intelligence community is trying to get to the bottom of. yeah, and, i mean, they give some aspects there, right, which they think it might be, but it didn't sound definitive to me. what do you think that they have concluded so far? how would you describe what they've said? well, if i'm being honest, i think we're somewhat at square one that we were five years ago. what we know is that in the majority of cases, they found some underlying medical cause or some environmental cause that has led to the suffered symptoms. as to a small subset of cases that they have yet to solve, what we learned in today's intelligence report is basically, well, it could be, it's scientifically feasible, it is, therefore, technically possible that it is some sort of electromagnetic or ultrasonic

pulse, so in other words, a directed energy device perhaps aimed at these officials. but to be clear, the intelligence community is saying, we just know that it's a possible cause, we're not saying that it is, and we don't know if there is an operator or if there's a foreign agent behind it, so really, they'rejust saying it's one possibility among many. i mean, it sounds like the stuff, alex, of spy movies, right! and i'm wondering how would an electromagnetic pulse really be targeted at somebody — do we have any idea? i don't know, is it, like, phones or...i don't know. have they given any idea of how that might hit a person, so to speak? ah, very little. i mean, there is some history of soviet union having sonic weapons, i mean, these kinds of things have existed in the past, but not

at the level of sophistication that is being considered now. what intelligence officials said today was saying, look, it is possible that in some cases you can have a concentrated amount of sonic waves or electromagnetic pulses headed towards a person on the electromagnetic side, it can be from far away, they can travel through buildings. 0n the ultrasonic side, you know, the perpetrator would have to be very close to the target, but nothing definitive as to, you know, it looks like a ray gun or something from this james bond movie. i'm not trying to make light of it. it's just if there is a mechanism or a device, we genuinely don't know what it is, what it looks like or how it's operated. thanks very much to alex. for the first time since the taliban seized power in afghanistan, some public universities have reopened — allowing female students to return to the classroom. girls remain barred from secondary schools, even though boys were allowed to go back last september. there are conditions

for the university return female students must wear the hijab, although they were already doing this. classes must be segregated by gender, with female students entering via separate doors. and the curriculum must be based on islamic principles. here's yogita limaye in kabul. in six provinces in this country which have warmer weather, universities have reopened, and we have been speaking to students there, and from some areas, we are being told that female students have been allowed to go back to university. in some areas, we're being told that boys are going to their classes in the morning and girls are going to their classes in the evening. in some places where the facilities are available, there are segregated classrooms and different entries for men and women. i've also been speaking to female university students here in kabul. universities in this city,

in this province are not yet open, but they are saying that looking at the developments today, they're feeling hopeful. of course, at the moment, secondary schools across the country remained barred for girls except for a few provinces. on that front, the taliban have been saying that when spring term opens in march, girls will be allowed to go back to secondary schools as well. thanks very much to yogita limaye. in cuba, christian castellanos dreams of catapulting to stardom, not through traditional sports, social media, or music, but by using the strength of his shoulder blades. the 22—year—old claims he broke the guinness world record for pulling a car with his mighty scapulas. aru na iyengar reports. meet guinness record hopeful, christian castellanos, doing what he does best, pulling a car using the strength of his clenched shoulder blades. his unusually large and flexible scapulas allow for unconventional feats of strength. here he pulls a car weighing 1,100 kilos for a distance

of five metres. he is not alone. there is competition in this field. the world record is currently held by india's abhishek choubey. translation: mainly - it is about mental strength, focussing well and concentrating all the strength in the back and a lot of elasticity from exercise. i know a lot of people use their scapulas but i felt like attempting a guinness record and everything is on the right track. these are powerful hinges can be used for other weight challenges. crushing beer cans. he says he can dispatch 82 in a minute. the official record is held by an american, fabrizio milito. 0ther feats he is getting to grips with are lifting the largest amounts

of cookies and crushing cds. translation: people are amazed. it is not a talent likejumping or hitting a ball, it's not a talent like running, it's a somewhat strange talent. he does contortionism, he crushes can, he pulls vehicles — this is major stuff. when people look at him, they think he has superpowers. the 22—year—old works out in the back streets of the sancti spiritus province in central cuba. there's not much equipment. his regime required dedication and some pain. as other athletes lineup in beijing for the olympics, he will be waiting to see if he finally gets his guinness world record. aruna iyengar, bbc news. and we bring you a reminder of our top story. russia has condemned the announcement by the united states that it will deploy 3000 troops to support nato allies in europe. it will be the first major movement of us forces since the russian military began massing on the ukrainian border in november. you can reach me on twitter.

and also on instagram. i'm @bbcnuala. i'd love to hearfrom you. thanks for watching. hello there. it's been mild for the time of year, for the last few days. thursday's also another mild day for most of us. quite a bit of cloud around once again, but i think we should see a little bit more sunshine into the afternoon. and it's going to be breezy, as well, i think a windier day today than what we had on a wednesday. you can see why more isobars on the charts, particularly across the north of uk, and especially when this cold front arrives across the northwest of the country later on. but we're still in this mild wedge of air, as you can see from the yellow and orange colours there. so, a mild, rather cloudy, rather breezy start to the day. some spots of light rain and drizzle across northern and western hills, which should tend to fizzle out. increasing amounts of sunshine, we think into the afternoon, but this weather front will bring some more persistent rain to north—west scotland, northern ireland later on. it'll be a blustery day for all the winds picking up, but turning very strong across the northwest,

with this weather front in excess of 50 mph. now, for most of us, it's going to be mild, 10—13 celsius, but it will be turning colder behind that weather front — only five celsius there for stornoway. so you can see why this colder air moves in behind the cold fronts, as the name suggests, as it slowly works its way southeastwards during thursday night. so it'll be lying through central parts of the country by the middle parts of the night. eventually, that rain will be pushing through england and wales, a little bit of wintriness on its back edge as colder air digs in. there'll be wintry, blustery showers and clear spells for scotland and northern ireland. could see a touch of ice across northern parts of the country by the end of the night, but less cold further south and east ahead of the weather front. so for friday, then, we start with that wet weather with that weather front lying across the southeast. could see some wintriness on its back edge as it clears away — eventually it will — and then, all of the country will have a chillier but bright day for friday with blustery showers. these will be wintry

across northern and western areas, not even down to the hills, maybe even down to lower levels, as well. temperatures much lower than of late, 3—9 celsius. factor in the strong northwest wind and it'll feel even colder than those temperatures suggest. it is a fairly short—lived cold spell because, as we head on into the weekend, we start to draw up some milder air again from the southwest. but it will be quite a windy weekend, and this weather front will be waxing and waning across the country to bring outbreaks of rain. so a milder theme into the weekend, particularly on sunday, but that weather front�*s likely to bring thicker cloud with outbreaks of rain to many areas. that's it from me, bye for now.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

russia has condemned the announcement by the united states that it will deploy 3000 troops to support nato allies in europe. the russian foreign ministry called it an unjustified and destructive move. it's the first major movement of us forces since the russian military began massing on the ukrainian border. new zealand has announced a five—stage process to reopen its international borders, which have largely been closed for almost two years because of the pandemic. vaccinated new zealand citizens and some others from australia will be granted entry without spending two weeks at an official quarantine centre. northern ireland's minister for agriculture has told his officials to stop carrying out checks on goods entering the region from the british mainland. the checks must be carried out under the part of the brexit deal struck with the european union that's known as the northern ireland protocol. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.