welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: a court in canada orders an end the anti—vaccine blockade that's choking off one of country's main connections to the us. britain is among the countries telling their citizens to leave ukraine as america warns an invasion could be imminent. hello and welcome to bbc news. an injunction has come into force in the canadian province of ontario, to end days of protests at a major crossing with the us. truck drivers calling for an end to all covid restrictions have brought large

parts of the canadian capital ottawa to a standstill. the court order follows a pledge by the premier of ontario to bring the situation to an end. we're now two weeks into the siege of the city of ottawa. i call it a �*siege�* because that's what it is. it's an illegal occupation. to those who have chosen to take a city ofi million people hostage for the past two weeks, to those who have attempted to disrupt our way of life by targeting our lifeline for food, fuel and goods across our borders, to those trying to force a political agenda through disruption, intimidation and chaos, my message to you is this. you are

right to make a political statement. it does not outweigh the right of hundreds of thousands of workers to earn their living. today, i'm using my authority as premier of ontario to declare a state of emergency in our province, and i will convene cabinet to use legal authorities to urgently enact orders that will make crystal clear it is illegal and punishable to block and impede the movement of goods, people and services along critical infrastructure. a prison term or a fine of up to cad$100,000 are said to be amongst the measures which could be taken against protesters who refuse to leave. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, says police are preparing to enforce the law. he's been talking to president biden about the situation. we discussed the american and, indeed, global influences on the protests.

we talked about the us—based flooding of the 911 phone lines in ottawa, the presence of us citizens in the blockades, and the impact of foreign money to fund this illegal activity. president biden and i both agree that, for the security of people and the economy, these blockades cannot continue. karen pauls is national reporter for cbc. she was following justin trudeau's press conference earlier and told us more. he warned protesters, we have heard you and it is time to go home now and justin trudeau says there will be severe consequences for those who don't comply. he says the police and all levels of government will take action, that could include criminal charges and it would affect the ability to travel and work, suspending the trucking licenses and even jail time. suspending the trucking licenses and evenjail time. it would not say how or when that would not say how or when that would happen and he affirmed

their right to a peaceful protest, and automatic democratic society and said but it doesn't extend to blockades at international borders. trudeau says he does not want to deploy the military against canadian citizens, he wants to avoid that at all costs, it would be the last cause of action, but he knows he has to do something, and soon. experts are saying we look to resolve this before the window to resolve this peacefully is closing but as you mentioned earlier, we have news and ontario court has granted an injunction to enter the blockade of the busiest border crossing in the country. we are hearing other cities have also considered injunctions, there is one now in alberta, so maybe court is the way to go.— court is the way to go. karen pauls. let's turn to ukraine now, and the us is warning that russian forces could invade at any time — although there is not yet any intelligence suggesting vladimir putin has decided to do so. president biden held a virtual meeting with the leaders of america's major european allies and nato members.

the white house has also confirmed president biden and the russian leader vladimir putin are due to talk by telephone on saturday. with the latest from washington, here's our north america editor sarah smith. gunfire. the russians are not trying to camouflage these military exercises that their troops are conducting in belarus near the ukrainian border — these pictures were provided by the russian defence ministry. has vladimir putin decided to order these troops into ukraine? the us say they simply don't know but they believe he is in a position to do so, so they are escalating warnings military action could be imminent, possibly within days. now, we can't pinpoint the day at this point and we can't pinpoint the hour, but what we can say is that there is a credible prospect that a russian military action would take place even before the end of the olympics. borisjohnson and other european leaders joined a call

convened by president biden this evening, along with nato chiefjens stoltenberg. johnson urging allies to have ready punishing economic sanctions against russia. with fears that aerial bombing and missile attacks against kyiv could precende any ground invasion... ..british people are being urged to leave and american forces have said they will not go that would be a world war. when americans and russians start shooting each other, we're in a very different world. not even on behalf of simply evacuating americans? no. how do ou evacuating americans? no. how do you even _ evacuating americans? no. how do you even do _ evacuating americans? no. how do you even do that? _ evacuating americans? no. how do you even do that? how - evacuating americans? no. how do you even do that? how do i evacuating americans? no. how| do you even do that? how do you even find them? "things could go crazy very quickly," which is how president biden put it when he called on all us citizens to leave ukraine. the administration is also withdrawing more officials from the country, and that is because there is concern in washington that if someone were to get killed or injured, it would then be difficult to avoid a major escalation in tensions between america and russia. the defence secretary, in moscow, heard again russian assurances there are no plans to invade but left less optimistic about the chances

of a diplomatic solution. it's all about actions. currently, there's over 100,000, 130,000 troops stationed at readiness, plus exercising, and ships and planes, on the borders of the ukraine, and that is an action that is not normal. us forces are already being deployed to poland and romania to bolster those nato allies on the ukraine's border, with an additional 3,000 troops being announced tonight. as the white house warns a conflict they think could begin any day now would bring enormous human cost. the us are being remarkably frank about sharing the intelligence that they have gathered, and also about what they simply don't know — whether president putin has actually decided to invade ukraine — and the reason that such dire warnings are emanating from here is notjust to try to deter russia,

but also to galvanise and unite european allies as well. but the white house has not completely given up the hope of a diplomatic solution. president biden is planning to talk to vladimir putin tomorrow on the phone. our north america editor sarah smith reporting from washington. let's look at some of the day's other news. the united nations is warning that south sudan is in danger of returning to civil war due to delays in implementing the 2018 peace deal. a visiting un team said key elements of the agreement were behind schedule, including setting up a court to try perpetrators of atrocities. president biden has ordered half of the afghan government's assets frozen in the us to be used for humanitarian aid in the country. the other half of the funds is being held for settling the claims filed against the taliban over their role in the 9/11 attacks. for more on all our stories, go to the bbc news website.

you'll find plenty of background and analysis. go to bbc.com/news, or you can download the app. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come — a royal goodnight from the duchess of cambridge: a bedtime story marking children's mental health week. we can all feel scared sometimes, just like our little friend plop. let's get more now on that story that president biden has ordered half of the afghan government assets frozen in the us to be used for humanitarian aid in the country. adam smith is a partner with the law firm gibson dunn & crutcher. he is a former senior advisor to the us treasury. thank you forjoining us. there has been a huge outcry of course of conditions in afghanistan so why only now is

president biden doing this? i think it is a combination of two things, the situation has become even more dire and two, it has become challenging for the administration to figure out what to do with the $7 billion plus in the federal reserve bank of new york. it's rare for the us government to basically take ownership, to seize the property of a sovereign state, so i think it took them a long time, since august, frankly, to figure out how to do this in a way that made sense. e how to do this in a way that made sense.— how to do this in a way that made sense. $7 billion is an incredibly — made sense. $7 billion is an incredibly large _ made sense. $7 billion is an incredibly large amount - made sense. $7 billion is an incredibly large amount of l incredibly large amount of money. what do you do when you are allowed to this kind of country's frozen assets, what is the process? it’s country's frozen assets, what is the process?— country's frozen assets, what is the process? it's very rare, as i said. _ is the process? it's very rare, as i said, and _ is the process? it's very rare, as i said, and in _ is the process? it's very rare, as i said, and in fact - is the process? it's very rare, as i said, and in fact i've - as i said, and in fact i've been working in this area for quite some time and even in the context of iran where assets have been frozen for many, many years they have not seized the assets, they are still frozen, yes, but not owned by the us government. here, you have to government. here, you have to go through a 2—step process. one, you have to freeze the

money because actually, before this morning, the money that was at the federal reserve was actually held by the federal reserve for the people of afghanistan and because the united states did not recognise the taliban is the head of afghanistan they did not have signatory rights and the money was stuck bureaucratically so as of this morning they were frozen which means the afghani government still owns it but it is officially frozen now, and now they have to go through a process to basically seize the money in a process that could theoretically be cold vesting which is where the us government will take control of the money and dispose of according to the wishes of the president ——be called vesting. what are we going to see the money go on to now? tiara what are we going to see the money go on to now? two parts, as the ombudsman _ money go on to now? two parts, as the ombudsman said, - money go on to now? two parts, as the ombudsman said, 3.5 - money go on to now? two parts, j as the ombudsman said, 3.5 also will go to a trust fund to help rebuild afghanistan, which would be a nice band—aid but let's be honest, still a band—aid for significant problems in afghanistan that the money will solve, and the other half to victims of 9/11 that have settled claims, adjudicator claims, against the

taliban for the involvement in the 9/11 attacks. it will be some interesting litigation here with respect to all of the money and how much, why only 3.5 billion will go to the victims. there will be arguments they should get more rather than less. figs arguments they should get more rather than less.— rather than less. as the president, _ rather than less. as the president, how- rather than less. as the president, how rare - rather than less. as the president, how rare a i rather than less. as the i president, how rare a kind rather than less. as the - president, how rare a kind of thing is this —— a precedent. very rare and historically it only really happens in the time of war, after world war i and world war ii there was some vesting of assets of german and japanese government assets, for payment of the soldier's claims, not so different to the 9/11 claims, as i said even for long—standing enemies in the us, cuba, iran, we don't take the money. it is frozen, yes, but not seized.— the money. it is frozen, yes, but not seized. would you say the work behind _ but not seized. would you say the work behind the _ but not seized. would you say the work behind the scenes i but not seized. would you say. the work behind the scenes has been going on for many years with this?— with this? certainly since august _ with this? certainly since august. since _ with this? certainly since august. since august - with this? certainly since august. since august ofl with this? certainly since - august. since august of course is when the taliban took over, afghanistan and the us was put in an awkward position because the afghani government, like

many governments, keep some of the foreign reserves at the federal reserve bank of new york for safekeeping, a rainy day fund. so they could not figure out what to do with it because they did not recognise the taliban is the head of government and they did not have the rights to the funds and therefore how do you use those funds for the benefit of afghanistan when you don't recognise the different go government of afghanistan. this was the challenge they were trying to figure out. what do you do with the money in a way thatis you do with the money in a way that is legitimate as a legal matter but also what do you do without legitimising the taliban government? it was a really difficult situation. adam smith, a very interesting topic. thank you very much for bringing us up to date. adam smith in washington. the home secretary priti patel says, "strong and decisive new leadership" of the metropolitan police is now needed to restore public confidence. it follows the resignation of dame cressida dick as commissioner, who says she lost the confidence of the mayor of london, despite her view that she could bring change to a beleaguered force. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. arriving at new scotland yard this morning, the woman

who is walking away from the biggestjob in british policing. respected by colleagues but forced out by the london mayor, sadiq khan. cressida dick first came to public attention as the officer in command whenjean charles de menezes was wrongly shot — though a jury said she was not personally to blame. in her time as met commissioner, two officers took pictures of the bodies of the murdered sisters bibaa henry and nicole smallman. but, worst of all, a serving met policeman killed sarah everard. a team of officers at charing cross police station exchanged shocking, misogynistic, racist and homophobic whatsapp messages. and the met was slow to investigate alleged parties during downing street in lockdown. the force has also had to face the anger of sarah sak and the other families whose sons were murdered by the serial killer stephen port. the incompetence shown by detectives investigating her son anthony's death was jaw—dropping. there was that many flaws that

you just couldn't even put it into words. i do think it really... it will take years to sort this problem out. i don't think it's a quick fix. but it was that extraordinary canteen culture in a team of officers at charing cross that eventually convinced the mayor that the force needed more radical reform. whatsapp messages making jokes about rape and turning african children into dog food — it will take time to root out that kind of behaviour. if the new met commissioner is upfront and honest with the public about that, is really clear on the package of measures that they are taking to root out inappropriate officers and bring them to justice when they fail the public, i think that will go a long way to restoring trust. but is this just an issue for scotland yard, or a sign of wider issues in british policing? it would be wrong to say this is a policing problem confined to london. that would be wrong for the people of london and wrong for the communities we serve across the rest

of the country. this time, the stakes are even higher, because the scotland yard are investigated the prime minister and staff are a legend lockdown breaching party —— parties. this is a process that will take many months. the prime minister has received a legal questionnaire from police investigating a number of parties at downing street and whitehall during the covid lockdowns. the metropolitan police have said that about 50 people will be formally asked for information on why they attended particular gatherings. ione wells reports. what we know is that the military bodrum police have

been sent these questionnaires and are sending them to 50 people who are alleged to have been at various different events between may 2020 in april 2021. events between may 2020 in april202i. —— events between may 2020 in april 2021. —— metropolitan police. people receiving the questionnaires, including the prime minister now, will be expected to account for why they were there and also expected to answer all the questions fully and truthfully as well. now, the fact that the prime minister has received this questionnaire doesn't necessarily mean the police will find him to have broken rules. it doesn't necessarily mean he will get a fine. this is all part of their ongoing inquiry. but it is fair to say politically it is an uncomfortable situation for the prime minister to be in. ioane wells there. this is bbc news. the headlines. a court in canada orders an end the anti—vaccine blockade that's choking off one of country's main bridges to the us. britain is among the countries telling their citizens to leave ukraine as america warns an invasion could be imminent.

let's stay with that story and russia has long sought to determine the destiny of ukraine. under soviet communism, as many as four million died of hunger, when moscow forced people from small holdings to disastrously inefficient collective farms. the bitterness remains to this day, and, in a special report, fergal keane has been to herrkiv, close to the russian border, to meet some of the last survivors of the famine. as the kremlin's choirs praised stalin, the world was told ofa happy land. archive: and today it is, above all, the granary of eastern europe with the black earth bringing forth millions of acres of peat. but 95—year—old petro knows what a lie that was. forced collectivisation of farms brought starvation and terror to his family. translation: it was very scary. there was a brigade

with pitchforks who came to every house searching for bread. i was five at that time. we locked the doors and all the windows but they used crowbars to come inside, and then they went to all the barns to try and find any buried bread. food was seized to punish peasants who resisted collectivisation. it's thought up to 4 million people died in what ukraine calls the holodomor — killing through hunger. russia denies the famine was a deliberate attempt to break the independent spirit of ukrainians. oleksandra, 98, remembers the corpses of the starved. translation: what could i see? i saw people who died. they made a big pit and threw all the bodies there.

my father went to western ukraine, taking everything good from our home to exchange for food but he got nothing. you can say i had a life, but it was no life. great grandson stasz has heard her memories, as has his older brother, dmitro, who is serving in the ukrainian army. near the family home there is a mass grave from the famine era. stories of the famine are passed on within families from generation to generation, but it's also an important part of modern ukraine's story of origin — this idea of a nation in the 1930s suffering the oppression of a dictatorship based in moscow. this old steel door here? ukrainians who resisted ended up in places like this. some historians say five or 10,000 people was killed here.

in this basement. interrogation cells of the secret police in kyiv. i went there with a man who is creating a national record of what happened. it's just impossible to imagine what went through people's minds as they came through that door, into this place. yeah. pain. investigation of stalin's crimes has been suppressed in russia. this man sees a clear line between this and aggression towards ukraine. they protect stalin, they hide the truth, they attack us, they don't recognise us as an independent country. why? we don't understand why. perhaps because all in this conflict know the power of the weapon of memory. fergal keane,

bbc news, kharkiv. the uk economy has continued to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, with new figures showing growth of 7.5% over the last year. chancellor rishi sunak has welcomed the latest figures, which follow a 9.4% drop in 2020. but economists warn that with inflation still rising, uk households will continue to feel a squeeze on finances. here's our economics editor, faisal islam. at union industries in leeds, the reopening of the economy is finally returning the manufacture of high—speed industrial doors back to normal, back to where it was before the pandemic. we're now back to pre—pandemic levels and looking for further growth in the future. you can certainly say that that pandemic blip is behind you and us and the economy? absolutely, the business blip is behind and now we're back into growth mode. today's figures for the whole of 2021 show the economy

growing at the strongest rate since the second world war, and that is the fastest rate of the major g7 economies in 2021. that reflects a much—needed rebound, though, from having had the fastest fall in the first year of the pandemic in 2020. put all that together and the overall pandemic economic hit, compared with two years ago, has the uk in the middle — just below the size of the economy back then. but that's in the past. what's happening now is a shock to prices and energy and in taxation. the big question is whether wages rise to compensate for inflation at over 7%. the chancellor not backing calls for wage restraint in the private sector, but seems to for public sector workers. when it comes to private wage settlements, i don't think it's the government's role, actually, to get involved. with regard to the public sector, the process we have is an independent process, and what that process does is balance making sure that pay awards are affordable for the taxpayer ultimately who is paying for all of them, but also making sure

that we value public sector workers appropriately and also ensure that we can recruit and retain the workers that we need. the minimum wage is going up in april by over 6%, but even that increase is now on course to be gobbled up by fast—rising prices. the opposition say more is needed. households are facing a triple whammy of rising prices, and in particular energy prices, tory tax rises that are being imposed on the economy at the worst possible time, and declining real wages. chancellor rishi sunak defended the coming rise in national insurance. you have energy bills going up, food bills going up, taxes going up, mortgage costs going up, all at the same time. it's just the confluence of this in one month that's difficult, and you're adding to that with this extra national insurance. well, that's why we've put these other measures in place as well, the national living wage. but you could havejust delayed the tax rise. well, we don't want

to delay getting on with tackling the backlogs and reforming social care. in general, the economy is moving again, returning to some sort of normal service. but for household budgets, the picture's not looking so bright. faisal islam, bbc news, in leeds. the duchess of cambridge has recorded a bedtime story reading for cbeebies to mark children's mental health week. she's chosen to read the owl who was afraid of the dark, which follows the story of plop, a baby barn owl, who's encouraged by others to face his fears. the duchess says it was one of her favourite books as a child, which she now reads, to her own children. what an encouraging tale. we can all feel scared sometimes, just like our little owl friend, plop. but, as mrs barn owl said, it's better to find out about the things that scare us before we make up our mind. and with the help of others, we can often fix things that worry us.

now, it's time for bed. night—night and sleep tight. the duchess of cambridge. that from us. stay here on bbc news. hello there. during friday afternoon, you might�*ve noticed that we had a lot of high cloud moving in across our skies — high cloud that was picked up by the setting sun here in nottinghamshire to give a fine end of the day. but this cloud is the first sign of an approaching weather system that will be bringing wet and windy weather our way this weekend. choose your moments wisely, and there will be some windows of drier and brighter weather to be found. on the satellite picture, this is our area of low pressure that's moving in to bring wet and windy spells — notjust for saturday, but there's another dollop waiting in the wings for sunday as well. all the while, fairly tightly packed isobars, with the winds coming in from a south—westerly direction. it will continue to be on the mild side for february.

right now, we're seeing the rain affecting western areas. we did have a frost earlier in the night, and as the winds continued to pick up, most of that lifted out of the way. heading into the first part of saturday morning, these are your temperatures, around 3—8 degrees. it is going to be quite a wet day for some of you and, broadly speaking, the weather slices and dices into three zones. we've got this area of fairly heavy, persistent rain working in, particularly to wales and northern england, where it's not going to be the greatest of days weather—wise. scotland and northern ireland, quite a bit of cloud, a few bright spells, but there will be showers here. it's across east anglia, south—east england and the south—east midlands that you've got the best chance of just about staying dry, but it will be breezy and there will be some high cloud around. so, bright for much of the day rather than sunny. temperatures are about 8—10 degrees, so a bit milder than friday. there will be some rain around as well through saturday night, but the next zone of rain really coming in quickly as we go through sunday with some strong winds. we're looking probably at gales developing towards the south coast of england as this area of rain extends all the way towards parts of scotland,

although perhaps not reaching the far north. it may well stay brighter through much of sunday with just a few showers around, particularly for shetland and orkney. a mild day for the time of year, though. highs of 8—11 celsius. looking beyond this weekend and into next week, the atlantic stays pretty lively. we'll see further weather systems coming in from the west, bringing in rain or showers, so it is going to stay pretty unsettled. so far, this february has been pretty mild. that theme's set to continue as well in the week ahead, the temperatures at times reaching around 14 or 15 degrees.

this is bbc news. the headlines: a court in the canadian province of ontario has granted an injunction to end the protests that have been blocking ambassador bridge border crossing with the us for the last five days.

truck drivers demanding an end to all covid restrictions have been blocking three border crossings. the white house says russia has got the troops in place to attack ukraine at any time and urges all us citizens to leave the country within the next 48 hours. other countries have also advised their nationals to leave, including britain, the netherlands, japan and south korea. britain's prime minister boris johnson has received a legal questionnaire from the metropolitan police as part of their investigations into a number of parties held in his downing street residence and other government venues during coronavirus lockdowns. a spokesperson said that mrjohnson would respond as required. now on bbc news, it's time for click. this week — i need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle. the terminator is on zoom. robert de niro