welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: an injunction designed to end the protests in the canadian province of ottawa comes into force, but many demonstrators are still there. the so—called freedom convoy seems to have inspired copycats around the world. —— this is the seed near the main canada— us crossing. we will be there live at the scene shortly. before the scene. britain is among the countries telling their citizens to leave ukraine as america warns an invasion could be imminent. we continue to see signs of russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the ukrainian border. we are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time, should vladimir putin decide to order it. borisjohnson receives a legal questionnaire from the police as part of the investigation

into parties held at downing street. and not running so smooth: why inflation and supply chain problems may have a negative impact on valentine's day. an injunction has come into force in the canadian province of ontario, to end days of protests at a major crossing with the us. but large numbers of people are reported to be still at the ambassador bridge, which connects canada with the us. police have been handing out leaflets that outline the penalties protestors will face under a state of emergency declared by ontario. speaking to us in the last hour, the mayor of windsor drew dilkens told us some of the impact these protests

were having and what the next moves would be. it's very disruptive to the auto industry. we are the auto capital of canada. just the other side of the river, about 1.5km away is detroit, michigan — the auto capital of the us. and all of the supply chains that support the auto industry in north america rely on smooth and efficient border crossings and this has to be open, there is no alternative, but to get this bridge open because plants are starting to shut down, running out of supplies. and so, things have to happen, action has to be taken. we have an injunction and if people will not leave voluntarily, we will have to help them leave with police support. we can now speak global news canada reporter sean o'shea, who joins us from the protests in windsor, ontario. protests have been going on for weeks now. can you give us a sense of the mood at the moment?— sense of the mood at the moment? ~ ., ., sense of the mood at the moment? ~ ,, ., moment? well, the mood, simon, here is quite _ moment? well, the mood, simon, here is quite a _ moment? well, the mood, simon, here is quite a party _ here is quite a party atmosphere, actually, even though the injunction that was

—— referred to earlier came into effect seven o'clock this evening, has been no effort by the police to enforce the injunction so behind me, you see people waving their canadian flags, having their signs there, they have been drinking all day and a party atmosphere. they had a meeting earlier about whether they were going to a the injunction, talking about different options and the rousing support was for the first option, it was they were going to stay and not go. we will see whether in fact that happens later today. despite this injunction and despite what the various authorities have been saying to move on, do you get the sense that these protesters are in it for the long haul?— for the long haul? well, they've _ for the long haul? well, they've said _ for the long haul? well, they've said for- for the long haul? well, they've said for several| for the long haul? well, - they've said for several days, we have been at this protest for a couple of days and in the ottawa and toronto protest and they have been many, and the words that you hear from people are we're not going to leave until many of these mandates are removed. until all of them are removed. until all of them are removed, actually. but

that's not likely to happen, the mandates at least, but from a policing perspective, hundreds of police have been deployed here, the local police has been buoyed up by the interior provincial police, the provincial police force, by the royal canadian mounted police, their tactical unit has arrived, so we know that they are massing hundreds of police officers to be able to evict these protesters, should be required. as i'm saying right now, they are not leaving on their own, the injunction is in effect, it is nighttime now, a party atmosphere and many here are not part of the protests, many are from the community, but the main protest consist of trucks, pick up trucks, cars, people are sleeping here, and they are in here and have been here since the beginning. the big question is will the police move in, and when will they move in, and when will they move in?— move in, and when will they move in? ~ , ., , ., move in? we can see dozens of --eole move in? we can see dozens of people behind _ move in? we can see dozens of people behind you _ move in? we can see dozens of people behind you at _ move in? we can see dozens of people behind you at the - people behind you at the moment. what is the significance of the area you are in at the moment? well, the

area we are _ are in at the moment? well, the area we are in _ are in at the moment? well, the area we are in is _ are in at the moment? well, the area we are in isjust _ are in at the moment? well, the area we are in isjust at - are in at the moment? well, the area we are in isjust at the - area we are in is just at the canadian end of the ambassador bridge. this is the most important crossing in north america. trade between canada and the us, about one third goes along this bridge. it has been closed for days now. this has never happened before. this is so tremendously difficult for businesses, auto manufacturing on both sides of the border, the parts, businesses, for the people that work there, it is just horrendously difficult, and so this is the area they have blocked they had to close the bridge because there have been no way for people to get off the bridge. and as i said, they control this area and have done so for several days. in spite of the fact that police are off to my left and off to my right, physically doing crowd control at this point, but we know from our sources that there are, as i said, hundreds of police able to have offices waiting to be able to be deployed here, knowing it may take force to remove the people who have been asked to leave, should they decide not to. this

asked to leave, should they decide not to.— decide not to. as you say, -a decide not to. as you say, party atmosphere - decide not to. as you say, party atmosphere where l decide not to. as you say, i party atmosphere where they decide not to. as you say, - party atmosphere where they are but heavy disruption in canada? absolutely —— may be disruption. absolutely -- may be disruption.— absolutely -- may be disruption. absolutely -- may be disrution. ., ., , ., , disruption. the ottawa protest is auoin disruption. the ottawa protest is going on. — disruption. the ottawa protest is going on. we _ disruption. the ottawa protest is going on, we cover - disruption. the ottawa protest is going on, we cover that - disruption. the ottawa protest is going on, we cover that for. is going on, we cover that for several days, the horns blaring have stopped because of a court injunction there but there is growing anxiety and frustration about these protest because of the disruption that they are causing down the line, the fact that food and medicine is not being delivered in a timely way. these two countries rely on regular trade between them, on regular trade between them, on this bridge in particular, and it is so significant because it has the bulk of the volume of all of the trade, especially in the auto industry. parts go back and forth across this bridge sometimes 7— eight times before a car is finished. the interconnectedness between the two countries is almost like it is one country in this part of canada and the fact this has been disrupted is causing a lot of tanks for people who work in industry in canada because they

are fearful that americans will play at some point we cannot trust canada, we cannot trust it is politically secure for us to be able to do business on that side of the border, and they are watching carefully how canada ends this and how quickly they ended because it has already been five days here and with every day, with every hour, the dollar cost is astronomical.- hour, the dollar cost is astronomical. ., ., ,, ., astronomical. you talk about the anchors _ astronomical. you talk about the anchors to _ astronomical. you talk about the anchors to there, - astronomical. you talk about the anchors to there, what i astronomical. you talk about| the anchors to there, what do you think the general population within canada think of these protest? are they on—site with the demonstrators? ——on side. on-site with the demonstrators? --0n side-— --on side. the polls have shown while there _ --on side. the polls have shown while there was _ --on side. the polls have shown while there was considerable - while there was considerable support for reducing mandates, there has been diminishing support, much diminishing support, much diminishing support, for this kind of activity because it's affecting everyone and many of the mandates have been coming off in canada as we speak. week by week. so the feeling among a lot of people we have spoken to is this is late in the game, this is not necessary, and they

support public health and public health measures have been put in place to try to deal with the covid crisis and what this is doing in the view of a lot of canadians is just not productive and in fact, it is hurting people and hurting a lot of people in this community because theirjobs are affected and the jobs of people down the line are affected and so, you know, people in canada are watching very intensely to see what happens here happens in ottawa and then if this protest is shut down, what happens in other places. two other protests pop—up? what will happen in those cases, what will governments and police do to deal with those? this is a real focus point in canada right now. real focus point in canada right now-— real focus point in canada right now. sean o'shea, in windsor. _ right now. sean o'shea, in windsor, thank _ right now. sean o'shea, in windsor, thank you - right now. sean o'shea, in windsor, thank you so - right now. sean o'shea, in i windsor, thank you so much right now. sean o'shea, in - windsor, thank you so much for bringing us up to date. meanwhile, in france, president macron has appealed for calm after so—called freedom convoy supporters landed in paris, inspired by the canadian trucker demonstration. it's a ripple effect

being seen in other countries across europe including austria and belgium. stephanie prentice reports. a party atmosphere with a serious message. demonstrators from across france have now reached paris to protest against all covid restrictions, harking back to some french fundamentals. all chant: liberte! liberte! the crowd, bolstered by the presence of far right candidate florian philpott, who's campaigned against health passports. translation: hang in there! don't you fall apart! because their world is falling apart. it's you — we — who are going to win! bravo to you! long live freedom! love live the resistance! long live the freedom convoys! horns blare. the �*freedom convoy�* is a reference to the situation unfolding in canada, where truckers have brought the capital ottawa to a standstill, triggering the closures of local

businesses and an avalanche of noise complaints. horns blare. oh, the horns are back! inspired by them, french drivers setting off from bayonne, lyon, lille and strasbourg. people from all corners of the country united by one message — we want our lives back. translation: we want our liberty. that's it. others say this is a resurgence of the yellow vest protests liberte! others say this is a resurgence of the yellow vest protests for economic and political reform back in 2018. translation: when you ask the people here, they don't l have money for electricity, for gas and especially for fuel. the price of fuel has almost doubled — it now costs 2 euros per litre. we can't live like this because the salaries aren't going up. horns blare. across europe in austria, the honking sounds that have come to define daily life in ottawa, with truck drivers

showing their opposition to restrictions by blocking off parts of vienna, defying police orders to not enter the city. horns blare. as with canadian and french organisers, the group here say their intention is to be peaceful, but the threat is there — no more restrictions and no vaccine mandates or the city streets, not its residents, will be on lockdown. stephanie prentice, bbc news. 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 member on friday, and the white house has confirmed that he is due to speak to vladimir putin by phone 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 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 precede any ground invasion, brits in ukraine are being urged to leave. ..leave now. america's warning its citizens us forces will not go into ukraine to rescue them. that's a world war.

when americans and russians start shooting at one other, we're in a very different world than we've ever been in. not even on behalf of simply evacuating americans? no. how do you do that? how do you even find them? "things could go crazy very quickly" — that's how president biden put it when he repeated his warning to all us citizens to leave ukraine. the administration is also withdrawing more officials from the country, and that's because there is deep concern in washington that if someone were to get killed or injured, it would then be very 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. look, it's all about actions. currently, there's over 100,000 - 100,000-130,000 troops stationed at readiness, or exercising, plus warplanes, plus ships into the black sea on the borders of 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 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've 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 on the phone tomorrow.

our north america editor sarah smith reporting from washington. and more countries have now warned their citizens in ukraine to leave the country — australia, new zealand, south korea and japan are among the latest — adding to warnings, as we heard there, from the us and uk governments. let's stay with ukraine now. under soviet communism, as many as four million died of hunger when moscow forced people from small holdings onto inefficient collective farms. the bitterness remains to this day and, in a special report, fergal keane has been to kharkiv, 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? yeah. 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. dr drobovitch 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. president biden has ordered half of the afghan government assets frozen in the us to be used for humanitarian aid in the country. the other half of the funds is being held for settlement of the claims filed against the taliban over their role in the 9/11 attacks. earlier i spoke to adam smith, a partner with the law firm gibson, dunn & crutcher. he is also a former senior advisor to the us treasury. i asked why president biden is only doing this now. it's a combination of two things. one, the situation in afghanistan has become even more dire. and two, i think it's been very challenging for the administration to figure out what to do with this $7 billion—plus that are in the federal reserve bank of new york.

it is very rare for the us government to take — basically take ownership, seize the property of a sovereign state, so i think it took them a long time — since august, frankly — to figure out exactly how to do this in a way that made sense. yeah, absolutely. you say $7 billion is an incredibly large amount of money. what do you do when you are allowed this kind of country's kind of frozen assets — what's the process? well, the process — it's very rare, as i said. in fact, i've been working in this area for quite some time, and there's — even in the context of iran, for example, where assets have been frozen for many, many years, they have not seized those assets. those assets are still frozen, yes, but not owned by the us government. here, you have to go through a sort of 2—step process. one, you actually 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 as the head of afghanistan, they did not have signatory rights. basically, the money was stuck, almost bureaucratically. and so, as of this morning,

they were frozen, which means that the afghani government still owns it, but it's officially frozen now, and now, they'll need to go through a process to basically seize the money in a process that could theoretically be called �*vesting', which is where the us government will take basically control of that money and disperse it, according to the wishes of the president. so, what are we going to see the money go on now? so i think there'll be two parts, as the announcement said. half of it, so 3.5 or so, will go to some sort of trust fund, to help rebuild afghanistan, which would be a nice band—aid, but let's be honest, still a band—aid for what are very significant problems in afghanistan that that money won't really solve, and the other half will go to victims — victims of 9/11 that have settled claims — adjudicated claims — against the taliban for their involvement in the 9/11 attacks. i think there's going to be some interesting sort of litigation here with respect to all of the money and to how much — why only 3.5 billion is going to be going to the victims. i think there will be arguments that they should get more of that, rather than less. and a a precedent, how sort of rare a kind

of thing is this? it is very rare. historically, it happens sort of really only in the time of war, so after world war i and world war ii, there was some vesting of assets of german and japanese sort of government assets, the united states, for payment of the soldiers' claims, essentially — not so different than the 9/11 claims, in some ways. but other than that, as i said, even for long—standing, implacable enemies in the united states — be it iran, be it cuba, what have you — we don't take the money. the money is frozen, yes, but not seized. adam smith, for me there, former adviser to the us treasury. here in the uk, the prime minister has received a legal questionnaire from police investigating a number of parties at downing street, and other government buildings, during the covid lockdowns. london's metropolitan police force has said that about 50 people will be asked for further information about attending particular gatherings. our political correspondent, ione wells, reports from westminster. number ten have confirmed that borisjohnson has now received a questionnaire from the metropolitan police and his

spokesman said that he will be responding to this as required. what we know is that the metropolitan police have said the questionnaires and are sending them to more than 50 people who are alleged to have been at various different events between april — may 2020, and april 2021. 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 or that he will get a fine. this is all part of their ongoing inquiry, but i think it's fair to say that politically, this is an incredibly uncomfortable situation for the prime minister to be in. if he gets a fine, some say

that his position could be untenable. it's not long now until what is supposed to be the most romantic day of the year. all around the world people will be giving cards and gifts to their loved ones. but for some this valentine's day may not go exactly to plan. the bbc�*s tim allman explains. at the california flower mall, this should be one of the busiest times of the year. but the course of true love never did run smooth. there are supply problems, trouble with deliveries, and even a shortage of roses. inflation isn't helping much, either. i don't think you can put a pricetag on — on the cost of love. it has ultimate value. so you do what you can with your heart, and flood your love with flowers and appreciation. it's — it's just going to cost a little bit more this year. if you can't say it with flowers, why not set with chocolate instead ? this award—winning belgian chocolatier has all kinds of flavours on offer. translation: for valentine's day, i made different - of hearts. there's a caramel and sea salt, which is a must—have. aside from that, i made a raspberry coulis, and another

heart — passionfruit and apricot smoothie. although the proof of the pudding is usually the eating, some have other things in mind. "it can spice up relationships," says this woman. "it is possible to put it on the body. "you can eat it, especially if it contains an aphrodisiac. "i think it goes well with love." but what if your romantic situation is currently a little suboptimal? well, here at this conservation centre in the uk you can name one of these cockroaches after an ex — proof not every love story has a happy ending. there we go. tim allman, bbc news. that is about it from us for now. you can get more news on our website, bbc.com/news. you

can also catch me on twitter, i am @sipusey. you're watching 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 bright here 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 1a or 15 degrees.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: an injunction has come into force in the canadian province of ontario to end days of protests at a major crossing with the us. but large numbers of people are reported to be still at the ambassador bridge despite a court asking them to clear the area. 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, borisjohnson, 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.