this is a bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. today i'm in paris as france gears up for a presidential election in the spring which will test the level of anger and frustration in this country. the incumbent, emmanuel macron looks pretty much certain to be a candidate and he's well—placed to make it into the second round runoff.

who willjoin him there? well, my guest today is the long—time dominant figure in far right politics marine le pen. this will be her third bid for the presidency. in recent years she's tried to detoxify her political brand. but has the strategy worked? marine le pen, welcome to hardtalk. it's a pleasure to be here. i'm looking at your political campaign. i'm thinking that every campaign needs momentum. and right now, you seem to be lacking political momentum. why is that?

but you have been dealt several very severe political blows in recent days. perhaps the worst of all was when your own family, your niece marion marechal, she declared that she could not support you, she was actually going to support the other far right candidate in this election, eric zemmour. she said that you had

lost your vision, you had a lack of logic and vision in your campaign. how did that make you feel? the truth is, eric zemmour has made french people question what you really stand for. you used to say some

of the things that he says but you took a decision years ago to moderate your language, to stop using some of the language about migrants, for example, about islam, that mr zemmour still uses today. you backed away from some of that language but your own father said recently that this policy of yours of adapting, as he put it with mainstream power, it is being punished by people on the right who no longer know what you stand for.

but if i may, can ijust be clear, are you saying sorry for some of the things you used to say in the past? that were deeply divisive and polarising. in the past, even six or seven years ago you were describing migrants as bringing filth, crime, poverty and terrorism to france. are you saying that that language was wrong and that you regret using it?

well, i'm not criticising you for to moderate, and exploring whether

the french people really understand what you are for any more. because they have a candidate mr zemmour who is saying we cannot accept any more muslim migrants in this country. indeed, we need to think of ways of sending them home, he talks about replacement, which is a concept white supermacists use around the world around a fear that christian civilisation is being overtaken by islam. if they want that kind of politics, they've got mr zemmour. so what. .. if you are still concerned about migration, what is your message?

your message generally seems to be one of a failing france, a france that is deeply divided, where the economy is suffering, where globalisation is destroying the livelihoods of the french people. look at the truth, look at the fact that over the past

year the french economy has grown at 7%, an extraordinary figure, unemployment is down, the best figures since 2012. president macron, if he chooses to run again as we know he will, he will have a strong economic story to tell the french people. and all of the polls say that right now, french people a much more concerned about the future of the economy than they are about your issue, that we've already discussed — immigration.

i asked you earlier whether you felt you made mistakes in the past, whether he was sorry for some of the things you said in the past. do you regret that you in previous campaigns embrace the idea of what we in english call frexit, france leaving the european union, that was one of your headline policies, you've now abandoned it. is that because you realise you were just wrong?

well, your vision of what's happening in europe is very different from many europeans vision of what's happening. there's a collective response to the covid crisis which involves new economic cooperation, integration within the european union. we see a desire in many countries, including on the behalf of your government for greater security integration in europe. and we see according to a host of opinion surveys that the approval rating of the performance of the european union has risen in many european nations, including france. so you, with your vision of where europe is going are still out of step with the people.

it isn't the truth and i sense it in your answer, it isn't that true that if marine le pen were to be president of france, france would be at war

with the brussel institution the whole of the time. your great friends, the political friends you have in europe are, for example, victor orban in hungary, the polish government. you regard them as your friend, they are at war with the brussels institution. do you think the french people really want to turn france into the same sort of political enemy of the brussels institution that we see in hungary right now? the polish government has just been fined by the european union. but my question is, is that

what you offer france? you don't feel now that you can tell the french people you would leave the european union but you seem to be telling them you would run a permanent war with the european union. let's talk about the vision you have for france. and i come back to your friends, victor orban talks of a liberal democracy, he has expressed great admiration for authoritarian systems that we see in russia, china and turkey as well. joe biden said during his election

campaign that he thought orban was running a totalitarian style regime. now your great friends with victor orban, your campaign hasjust taken millions of euros in loans from a hungarian financial institution just ia, actually back in 2014 you took a lot of money from a russian financial institution. it seems both your political sympathies and your financial support comes from regimes which, to many in france, look authoritarian. do you think that works for you politically? is that the kind of democracy want to see in france?

have you looked, for example, at the freedom of the media in hungry? really?

i see. you're still, as a party, repaying the loan you took from russia in 2014. let me talk a little bit more about your relationship with putin. first of all, you regard putin as a friend, don't you? a man that you have great sympathy for.

so, let me be specific, you say countries have interest, i understand that. let's just look at what the french people could expect in foreign policy terms in terms of marine le pen. you said quite openly berlin, i'm quoting you, "berlin "is not the right partner for paris in terms of driving for "what a european agenda." you have said that it would be absolutely wrong for the united states and western partners to impose sanctions, more sanctions on russia. you say it would be absolutely wrong for the united states to pressure nato to bring ukraine into

nato. you say it ukraine has no place inside nato. seems to me, in this current crisis we see in ukraine, you are quite clearly on the side of vladimir putin.

you think that vladimir putin is only practising deterrence. what if russian forces move across the border, what if there actually is an invasion of ukraine beyond what we've already seen, what if russian forces make a major military incursion into ukraine, would you still say that the west should not impose sanctions on russia? my question is the same one, if russian forces go into ukraine will you support sanctions? joe biden wants

the most punitive sanctions, severe economic measures, would you support them?

madame marine le pen, beore we end, i'd like to get a sense of what you feel you have achieved in french politics. politics is about winning and you haven't won. this is your third presidential election campaign, you've lost two, the polls suggest you are not there when this time either. i accept that. we should be careful. but i'm just wondering, for you, does it feel like this has to be the last campaign? if you can't persuade the french people this time around of your vision for the future of france, will it be time to take the le pen name out of politics?

marine le pen, it's been a pleasure talking to you. thank you for being on hardtalk.

hello there. a quieter end to the night to come, wintry showers easing away, as are the winds. we are having a little ridge of high pressure building in. not only are the winds easing but as the showers die down, the cloud is breaking and temperatures tumbling away. close to freezing in many parts by dawn, so a cold start by monday morning and potentially an icy start. it will be close to freezing on the roads. you can stay up—to—date with the warnings on our website. for the day ahead, we have got further weather fronts coming in and fairly brisk winds, but not as windy as it has been, and as those weather fronts come in further south, there will not be that much rain but they will introduce much milder air through the day.

there could be some snow on the edge of that weather front as it moves into the hills of scotland, but it will turn back to rain quite quickly. we will find the sunshine will tend to fade as the cloud comes in, still quite dry and bright, but drizzly rain and hail fog across western and northern areas, more significant rain for the highlands and islands and the temperatures, 10—12 celsius. there will be a stronger wind to the north—west, milder air to the south of the weather front, and that continues through monday night into tuesday. some wintry showers in the north, not as cold as it has been, and much milder a might for many as we go into tuesday, when we have that weather front straddling the country. the dividing line between that mild atlantic air and lots of dry weather but cloudy weather in the south, and brighter but showery weather for the north.

we will see sunshine breaking through in the south, and it will be very mild on tuesday, 13s and 14s. still relatively around normal in the north in the colder air. that battle continues in the week, with the weather front straddling central areas, not producing that much rain, but giving a lot of cloud, whilst we could see a spell of windy of windy weather midweek, but then high pressure builds towards the end of the week, for a lot of dry, bright but chillier weather.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: india begins two days of national mourning over the loss of lata mangeshkar — the legendary bollywood singer. her music was played at weddings, funerals and national events. it is hard to find an indian who was not moved by the music of lata mangeshkar. queen elizabeth marks the 70th anniversary of her reign — the first time the milestone has been reached by a british monarch. we report from eastern ukraine where government forces are battling russian

separatists — as president macron co—ordinates diplomatic efforts to avoid an invasion. this entire village is a casualty of the conflict.