welcome to bbc news — i'm david eades. our top stories: can the french break the ice in tensions between russia and the west? presidents macron and putin to meet. we report on the front line of hostilities in the east of the country. this entire village is a casualty of the conflict. it is extraordinary that anyone still lives here. the handful who remain are pretty much cut off. chinese tennis star peng shuai again denies making allegations of sexual assault in her first western media interview since the accusations emerged on social media. a second storm wreaks havoc in madagascar. whole villages are swept away as a cyclone leaves a trail of destruction the canadian capital ottawa

declares a state of emergency as truckers continue their rowdy protest over covid rules. and a leap to olympic glory for snowboarder zoi sadowski—synnott. it's new zealand's first—ever winter gold medal. we'll catch up with her very proud parents. the french president emmanuel macron appears to be taking the diplomatic lead for the west this week in seeking to avert a russian invasion of ukraine. on monday, he heads to moscow to meet president putin after earlier holding a telephone conversation with us presidentjoe biden. he's also due to meet ukraine's president zelensky and possibly germany's

chancellor later in the week. in eastern ukraine, kremlin—backed separatists have been fighting government forces since 2014. our international correspondent, orla guerin, reports now from one village that has been virtually destroyed by the conflict. russia lies across the water, a threat not seen, but felt. on this side of the frozen azov sea, all is quiet on the beaches in the ukrainian seaside town of shyrokyne. these days, less beach resort, more last resort. war came here in 2014, and kremlin—backed separatists are still dug injust a few miles away. "there are defences on the shore "and mines in the water", says the commander, sergei,

who insists president putin is just flexing his muscles. for now, more waiting and wondering — will he, won't he invade? a worry notjust for ukraine, but for the world. and for this village, anotherfront line area, about two hours away. this entire village is a casualty of the conflict. most of the houses are abandoned. most of the people are long gone. it's extraordinary that anyone still lives here. the handful who remain are pretty much cut off. viktor is glad to have a visitor to his home on the first of may street. he's one of the last five villagers, sticking it out

despite the separatist rebels, whose positions are four miles beyond the tree line. his wife, ira, who's 59, like him, says they are too old to move, and loneliness is the greatest battle. "i miss the old days", she says. "there were so many people. "now there's no one to talk to. "we watch tv and do crosswords, and we talk to the animals." standing proud down the road, theodore, a hardy 91—year—old. he tells me his daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren live in rebel—held territory, and have been unable to cross the front line to see him in months. but the villagers are stoic.

they have to be. "life is not so bad that we cry all the time", says ira. "we carry on. "of course, we would like it to be better. "but there's nothing we can do." orla guerin, bbc news, eastern ukraine. the eastern ukraine. development. the chinese tennis player peng shuai has said she met with the ioc president, thomas bach, on saturday inside the winter olympics bubble in beijing. during her first western media interview with the french newspaper l'equipe, peng shuai said she never accused anyone of sexual assault and she'd deleted her social media post that appeared to make such a claim. the well—being of the three—time olympian became a matter of global concern when the allegation first emerged in november.

stephen mcdonell is our correspondent in china. so, we have a run through of what peng shuai feels she said. i mean, what does it reveal? this is the problem with this interview, we don't know what she feels she said, this seems to me to be yet another attempt by the government and the ioc playing along, to somehow put an end to this furore. they have chosen a media outlet, i don't know if they have chosen someone not especially across theissue, someone not especially across the issue, or why they chose that french media outlet but they haven't asked you for example if she said i wasn't accusing this former senior party figure of rape, of sexual assault, what were you accusing him of christian that question wasn't asked. this was the crucial line in her original

post. she said of him... if you speak chinese, that could mean, he took me to a house and raped me. but it could also mean, depending on the translation, you took me to your house and forced me to have sex with you. some people suggesting it means you took me to your house you pressured me into having sexual relations with you. either way, these are serious allegations being made against a member of the politburo standing committee, and now she'sjust saying well i didn't say it was assault. but we are none the wiser as to what she actually did mean by that post. also in that interview they didn't ask anything about the proof of life videos that have turned up with people sitting around a dinner table mentioning the date and who organised those videos, why were they doing that? so, this is again forcing

the forefront to the forefront of media attention, rather than making it go away leaves us asking more questions. the - a - er asking more questions. the paper said _ asking more questions. the paper said we _ asking more questions. the paper said we had - asking more questions. the paper said we had to submit our questions beforehand as well, while they said we got some others in there, it was clearly a controlled environment, that would seem to be the case. you say we are talking about it again here, without having a can loose a view as to what really happened. some question peng shuai thinks she will be able to travel again, at least? well, that would be good, at the end of all of this the most important thing is her safety and well—being. if you can travel around the world and participate in tennis events great, that is what people would ultimately love to see. you can imagine for her, there is all this pressure on her, she made these allegations which she now says she has

deleted that social media post, perhaps she does now somehow want to put all this behind her, and that is her right. but every time someone organises for her to do an interview, like i say, it brings it all up to the surface again. certainly, as long as she is able to travel again, that would be fantastic. at least, does seem to be that she's ok, she's not in some kind of detention, which people were worried about initially, and another pretty staged interview she said, she not even under house arrest. so, you know, she says she can move around the country and she seems happy enough see her on camera, it's just that all these questions remain. �* , ., , ., remain. and if she does travel, as ou remain. and if she does travel, as you say. _ remain. and if she does travel, as you say. the _ remain. and if she does travel, as you say, the story _ remain. and if she does travel, as you say, the story will- as you say, the story will travel with her. thank you again, steve mcdonald. the latest on peng shuai's.

at least 10 people have been killed after a second cyclone hit madagascar in as many weeks. cyclone batsirai made landfall late on saturday, leaving a trail of destruction across the indian ocean island, as courtney bembridge reports. widespread flooding has cut off large parts of the island, making rescue efforts even more difficult. one local official in the south—east of the country said the damage there was so bad it was as though the area had been bombed. translation: many | houses have collapsed. we can't say how many people are affected because we are all affected. mana njary is completely destroyed. no matter where you go, everything is destroyed. rooves were ripped off homes and buildings, while others were inundated with water. translation: it was early morning, we were still sleeping. the owner of the house came to tell us the water was rising. we went to the other side of the house and the walls started to crack. translation: the wind was very strong and there has been a lot of damage. early in the morning, the water was rising and all of the neighbourhood

was under water. cyclone batsirai swept inland late on saturday, slamming into the eastern coastline with heavy rain and wind speeds up to 165 kilometres per hour. translation: we live on the hill, _ on the edge of a cliff. the wind was strong but our house is strong. early in the morning, there was a landslide. to be safe, the head of the neighbourhood told us to go to the evacuation centre. that is why we are here. the red cross was registering arrivals at this evacuation centre, but aide groups say they have not been able to reach many others. what we see now is that 50,000 people are considered displaced and we estimate that up to 150,000 people will be directly affected by the cyclone. and the un has warned those numbers are likely to rise. it comes just a fortnight after the impoverished nation was hit by another deadly stomp, cyclone ana, which killed 55 people and

displaced 130,000 residents. courtney bembridge, bbc news. in canada, a state of emergency has been declared in the capital ottawa in response to the ongoing truckers' protests against covid restrictions. the mayor, jim watson, said the city was outnumbered and losing the battle against the freedom convoy. the truckers have paralysed the centre of ottawa with vehicles and tents blocking roads. i've been speaking tojustin ling, who's an investigative journalist based in montreal, he's been following the story. patience is definitely running out for the folks who actually live in the downtown core who have been absolutely fed up with the behaviour of the protesters, the constant noise — and just this evening there was a raucous dance party with djs taking place just in the shadow of parliament hill. the honking has been nearly incessant. it got so bad in fact that a class—action lawsuit

was filed today, demanding that the court put an injunction in and threaten to fine these protesters up to $10 million canadian because they have basically destroyed any sort of normal life that local residents would otherwise enjoy. so things are getting quite tense in the capital, for sure. i bet they are but their message is clear. we will stay as long as it takes and ultimately, presumably, that means the removal of the vaccination mandate for truckers who want to go back and forth across the border to the united states. it is important to note that they are notjust asking for an end to that mandate for truckers. they want an end to all vaccine mandates top to bottom at every level of government and that is something that the trudeau administration nationally cannot even do. their demands are absolutely untenable and some of the protesters have even insisted that they will not leave until the prime minister resigns from office

and calls a new election. the demands being meted out from these protesters, you... could never be abided to. these people represent about 10% of the country who are unvaccinated and they are asking forjustin trudeau to basically remove every requirement for healthcare workers to be vaccinated, for a vaccine to be required for domestic flights and international flights and for police officers, firefighters, a host of otherjobs and to have these mandates be lifted. but that is not going to happen. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: celebrations in senegal as they beat egypt to win the africa cup of nations football title for the first time.

there's mr mandela, nelson mandela. there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela. a free man taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khomeini, has said he's passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti havej flocked to church to give thanks for the ousting - of their former president, 'ba by doc' duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane a figure in mourning. elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: french president macron to meet with president putin later, for the latest efforts to avoid a russian invasion of ukraine. let's stay with that story. dr michael slobodchikoff is a professor of russian relations at troy university in alabama, and hejoins me now. thank you for your time. i wonder what emmanuel macron brings to the table because the french leader seems to have a slightly different attitude to joe biden but they have spoken on the phone and would want to put a united front.— put a united front. they would. a united front _

put a united front. they would. a united front with _ put a united front. they would. a united front with the - put a united front. they would. a united front with the rest - put a united front. they would. a united front with the rest of. a united front with the rest of europe and all of nato. the french have often taken the lead in negotiations. if you remember back to 2008, when russia invaded georgia, it was the french who brokered a ceasefire. d0 the french who brokered a ceasefire.— ceasefire. do you think president _ ceasefire. do you think president macron - ceasefire. do you think president macron can i ceasefire. do you think. president macron can do ceasefire. do you think- president macron can do the same again? other pieces of that to be played with. he speaks relatively positive about that? he speaks relatively positive about that?— speaks relatively positive about that? ., , ., , about that? he does. i worry they are _ about that? he does. i worry they are not _ about that? he does. i worry they are not on _ about that? he does. i worry they are not on the - about that? he does. i worry they are not on the same - they are not on the same pageant there is little space for them to reach an agreement. the same page. nato insisted it has a right to expand as it sees fit and russia insist nato not expand any further so they are at an impasse.— not expand any further so they are at an impasse. that seems like an immovable _ are at an impasse. that seems like an immovable position - are at an impasse. that seems like an immovable position but emmanuel macron called for a

new balance, to protect european states but also to keep russia happy. do you see how that can be achieved? possibly, what they could agree to and is not expanding nato for a period of time, say ten years, in which case russia and nato would could to new the russia— nato partnership and would begin to try and resolve some of these security issues as well as possibly holding another helsinki conference like at the end of the 70s. some practical ways around bodies are pretty philosophical subject in a sense, about 1's right to expansion or not. president macron also wants to develop a new european defence order and president putin knows that presumably he might see ways to leverage or drive a

wedge between the western allies. . �* , . allies. that's right and the russian playbook - allies. that's right and the russian playbook is - allies. that's right and the russian playbook is to - allies. that's right and the | russian playbook is to drive wages between allies but so far it has not worked with any of the nato states. they all remain united but i think that putin hopes there is some room for negotiations with macron. the tension and anxieties remain. thank you very much in need. . ~ remain. thank you very much in need. ., ~ i. remain. thank you very much in need. . ~' ,, , remain. thank you very much in need. ., ~ , . one of india's greatest ever singers, lata mangeshkar, has been cremated at a huge funeral ceremony in mumbai, attended by the country's prime minister. narendra modi said she "left a void in the nation that cannot be filled". our correspondent raijini vaidyanathan looks back on her life. sings. lata mangeshkar was one of the most prolific artists in history who recorded more songs than the beatles and the rolling stones

combined. bollywood music plays. as a bollywood singer, her vocals were dubbed over generations of actresses as they lip—synched dance routines in indian films. lata mangeshkar leaves a legacy as old as independent india itself — a career of more than seven decades. today, the country's prime minister narendra modi led tributes to an artist so revered, she was afforded a state funeral. affectionately known as india's �*didi', or sister, to millions in this country and around the world, this loss feels personal. india is now in two days of mourning in honour of lata mangeshkar. her appeal was universal, crossing religious and cultural divides. her music was played

at weddings, funerals and national events. it is hard to find an indian who wasn't moved by the music of lata mangeshkar. translation: i have been a fan since i was a child. _ words cannot express how sad i feel at her passing. in one of herfinal last interviews, given to the bbc asian network, she talked about reaching that milestone. "i've reluctantly accepted that i'm old," she said, "but i feel like i'm 25." her voice was ever youthful. it was one of a kind. if bollywood is the soul of india, then lata mangeshkar was its beating heart. raijini vaidyanathan, bbc news. senegal have won the african cup of nations for the first time. they've beaten egypt

on penalties after the game finished goalless. in a match billed as being a battle between two liverpool stars, mo salah from egypt and sadio mane from senegal. it was mane who provided the games most pivotal moments as piers edwards reports from cameroon. this is the olembe stadium, in yaounde, where the teranga lions have, as you said, won their first—ever africa cup of nations title. it's their first ever major title of any note. now, this was billed as the match between mane and his liverpool team—mate salah and, as you say, in the early stages, it was not exactly going the way that mane had hoped it would when he missed that penalty. gabaski, the egyptian keeper, blocking a fiercely driven penalty, to be fair to mane, that really played into the egyptian�*s hands. they are very cagey, they don't like to come out of their shell and they wanted to hit senegal on the break and just rely on their defence, which got them through but neither side could actually make it past the goalkeepers. edouard mendy, the chelsea stopper, was in good form at one end and gabaski, as said, at the other.

we went to penalties and after egypt missed two — they have not lost a penalty shoot—out since 1984. new zealand has won its first ever gold medal at the winter olympics — it came courtesy of snowboarder zoi sadowski—synnott. the 20 year—old clinched the top spot in snowboard slope style, after a dramatic final run that ended the united states' run of dominance in the discipline. well the scenes ofjubilation weren't confined to the slopes, there was also a raucous reaction in wanaka, new zealand — zoi's hometown. a little earlier i spoke to zoi's parents, sean and robin, and they gave me their reaction to her historic win. we were just astounded at the outcome and that was a big - that was a big inaudible - dropped that third run and pull it off after being inaudible| medal position, so you have to dig deep for that.

robin, it must�*ve been a, nerve—racking but b, she is a bronze medallist after all — it is not as if it is a flash in the pan, this. no, we're both avid sort of skiers and snowboarders back on the day, but more recreational and zoi just transferred from skis to snowboards when she was about eight years old and_ skis. | mum was an avid skier and i got into trouble for that, but there we go. well, i mean, i can see you're take — you've got to take all this in. i mean, she's actually got another — she has the big air still to come. she might do it again. is there a chance? well, if you go on the form,

i guess from the x games, you would be placing a bet on a possibility. we will have our fingers crossed for that. what about the sort of response that you have had from friends and family? i mean, i know new zealand has taken off a bit on this, but it must be party time? yeah. david chuckles. it certainly has been. i think yesterday afternoon, i may have dropped the f bomb on a couple of radio shows, live tv, and i know the bbc probably doesn't encourage that l but i will hold those— back for another interview later in the week. i think the big air, she's gonna — she's gonna be there and we're hoping she'll be on the podium and yes, we have been — we had a couple of whiskeys yesterday to celebrate and yeah.

a hint of hangover, possibly, celebrating new zealand �*s first ever winter olympics gold medal. this is bbc news. hello there. a quieter end to the night to come, those wintry showers are easing away, as are the winds, which have been a feature of the weather throughout the weekend. and that's because we're having a little ridge of high pressure building in. so 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 much colder start by monday morning and potentially as well an icy start where the surfaces are still damp because temperatures notjust in the air but on the roads will be close to freezing. you can stay up—to—date with the warnings as ever on our website. for the day ahead, we've 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 to the high pressure further south, there won't be that much rain

but what they will do is introduce much milder air through the day. so initially there could be some snow on the forward edge of that weather front as it moves into the hills of scotland, but it will turn back to rain quite quickly. what we will find though is the sunshine that we start the day with. lovely bright start will tend to fade as the cloud comes in. still staying largely dry and bright across many central, southern and eastern areas, but some drizzly rain and hill fog in western more significant rain for the highlands and the islands but the temperatures — 10—12 degrees celsius. yes, there will be a stronger wind picking up towards the north—west, but much milder air to the south of our weather front, and that continues through monday night into tuesday. the colder air returns though with a few wintry showers in the north. not as cold as it has been, and still much milder a night for many as we go into tuesday, when we have that weather front straddling the country. probably northern ireland, parts of scotland, northern england, perhaps north wales. the dividing line, if you like, between that mild atlantic air and lots of dry weather but quite cloudy weather in the south, and brighter but showery weather further the north. and we will see some sunshine breaking through equally in the south as well, and it will be very mild

on tuesday, 13s and 14s. and still relatively around normal further north, even in the colder air. and that battle continues through the week, with our weather front straddling central areas, not producing that much rain, we don't think, as it's coming into the high pressure butjust keeping a lot of cloud with us here, whilst we could see a spell of windier weather midweek in the north and harnessing those wintry showers, but then high pressure builds towards the end of the week, for a lot of dry, bright but chillier weather.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: french president macron has spoken to president biden to coordinate efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the ukraine crisis. mr macron will travel to moscow later to speak to his russian counterpart, vladimir putin. russia has continued to deploy large numbers of troops on the ukrainian border. at least ten people have been killed and thousands left homeless in madagascar after the island was hit by the second severe storm in two weeks. cyclone batsirai brought strong winds and heavy rains leading to flooding. whole villages were reported to have been almost completely destroyed. the canadian capital ottawa has declared a state of emergency in response to more than a week of protests by truckers against covid restrictions. the mayor said the protests posed a threat to the safety of residents. the truckers have paralysed the city with vehicles and tents blocking roads. now on bbc news, it's time

for dateline london.