this is bbc news, the headlines: french president macron has spoken to president biden to co—ordinate 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 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 run—off. 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?

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 too 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 supremacists 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 brussels institution the whole of the time. your great friends, the politicalfriends you have in europe are, for example, viktor 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 —— but my question is, is that what you want for 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, viktor orban talks —— of illiberal democracy. he has expressed great admiration for authoritarian systems that we see in russia, in china, in turkey as well. joe biden said during his election campaign that he thought orban was running a totalitarian—style regime. now, you're great friends with viktor orban. your campaign has just taken millions of euros in loans from a hungarian financial institution just as, 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? scoffs. crosstalk. is that the kind of democracy want to see in france? crosstalk. have you looked, for example, at the freedom of the media in really?

you're still, as a party, repaying the loan you took from russia in 2014. so, 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.

crosstalk. so, let me be specific. you say countries have interests — i understand that — but let's just look

at what the french people could expect in foreign policy terms in terms from marine le pen. you said quite openly "berlin," — i'm quoting you — "berlin is not the right partner for paris in terms "of driving forward 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 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? —— beyond what we've already seen in the donbass? what if russian forces make a major military incursion into ukraine? would you still say that the west should not impose sanctions on russia?

scoffs. my question is the same one, if russian forces go into ukraine, will you support sanctions? crosstalk. joe biden wants the most punitive sanctions, severe economic measures. would you support them?

madame marine le pen, before 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 going to win this time either. laughs. 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. the 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 on 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, 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 and northern areas. 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 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, enhancing those wintry showers, but then high pressure builds towards the end of the week, for a lot of dry, bright but chillier weather.

zhang gaoli

this is bbc news. i'm sally bundock with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world: 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. looking to thaw tensions between russia and the west — president macron is heading to moscow for talks on ukraine. we report on the frontline 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. did politicians�* comments costs hundreds of thousands of lives?