this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm sally bundock. the white house says russia's claim of withdrawing forces surrounding ukraine is false and that it's actually sent in thousands more troops. in brazil, a desperate search for survivors after heavy rains cause a mudslide on a mountain. at least 90 people are confirmed dead. a bbc investigation reveals how the vatican's closeness to the italian state sees some clerical abuse cases covered up. disruption and damage after storm dudley. thousands lose power in scotland and northern england, with warnings of worse to come.

the united states says russia's claim that it's withdrawing troops from the ukrainian border is false, and that it's continuing to reinforce its military presence there, with as many as 7,000 more troops. a white house official said russia could at any moment stage an incident serving as a pretext for invasion. moscow has accused the west of "whipping up hysteria." the bbc�*s tim allman reports. this doesn't look much like a ritual. these satellite images appear to show a build—up of armoured vehicles, helicopters and artillery. then there is this... what looks like a pontoon bridge, knelt across the river, not farfrom

ukraine's border with belarus. the situation is controlled by our military. we don't see any changes now, we see a large accumulation of troops. i would not call these rotations ritual of forces by russia, we cannot say that. of forces by russia, we cannot sa that. , , ., of forces by russia, we cannot sa that. ,,, of forces by russia, we cannot sa that. ,, say that. russia insists you can. say that. russia insists you can- they _ say that. russia insists you can. they released - say that. russia insists you can. they released video i can. they released video footage showing tanks being loaded on a train. the final destination, we are told, the home base, now that military exercises have come to an end. washington remain sceptical. there is no ritual, quite the opposite in fact. we there is no ritual, quite the opposite in fact.— there is no ritual, quite the opposite in fact. we are in the winter where _ opposite in fact. we are in the winter where we _ opposite in fact. we are in the winter where we believe - opposite in fact. we are in the winter where we believe in - winter where we believe in attack_ winter where we believe in attack can come at any time. preceded _ attack can come at any time. preceded by a fabricated pretext to give russians used to launch _ pretext to give russians used to launch and invasion. we have seen _ to launch and invasion. we have seen his— to launch and invasion. we have seen his tactics used in the past — seen his tactics used in the ast. �* ., ,, .,, seen his tactics used in the ast. �* ., ,, past. although the us has said there will be _ past. although the us has said there will be no _ past. although the us has said there will be no military - there will be no military response should russia invade,

they are building up its presence in the region, reassuring nato allies while hoping their worst will not happen. hoping their worst will not ha en. ~ , ., hoping their worst will not hauen.~ , ., hoping their worst will not hauen. ~ , ., ., happen. we should continue to exlore happen. we should continue to explore all _ happen. we should continue to explore all the _ happen. we should continue to explore all the options - happen. we should continue to explore all the options in - explore all the options in order to that what would be an absolutely catastrophic large—scale war in the centre of europe. to large-scale war in the centre of eur0pe-— of europe. to continues. the british foreign _ of europe. to continues. the british foreign secretary - british foreign secretary fresh, fractious meeting in moscow is expected in ukraine. the un security council will discuss the crisis later on thursday. all the while, ukrainian military drills go on, preparing for an invasion many fear is still imminent. tim allman, bbc news. 0ur north america correspondent david willis has scrutinizing the white house' response to russian claims of withdrawal. in the last year the white house has basically accused russia of lying over the claims

are of withdrawing troops from along the border with ukraine. a white house official quoted as saying, far from withdrawing forces from that region, the russians in the last few days had added 7,000 more troops, including some who have arrived today, that is wednesday, here in the united states. that echo, allegations made by the nato secretary general, jens stoltenburg, earlier today, he made the point that instead of actively withdrawing troops, russia was accumulating them along the border them with ukraine. white house officials have also said they are increasingly concerned about the possibility of so—called false flag operations by russia, whereby russian troops would carry out some sort of attack against their own forces as a pretext for launching some sort of invasion into ukraine. white house officials say in recent days there have been reports in the russian media

of the discovery of unmarked graves of russian soldiers, of the development of chemical and biological weapons by the us and ukraine, and other such claims, all of which they say are false. but there will be more to come, american officials believe, in the next few days, as russia seeks to sow confusion in this regard. landslides and severe flooding have killed over ninety people in brazil. more than a month's worth of rain fell in just a few hours in the worst affected area — the city of petropolis — in rio dejaneiro state. wendy urquhart reports. more than a month's worth of rain fell in petropolis in a matter of hours. from the air, devastation is clear to see. a huge swathe of the city has been washed down the mountainside by horrific landslides, leaving a pile of

mud and debris in their wake. at least 400 firefighters, civil defence teams and local residents are working round—the—clock, desperately searching for survivors. translation: the teams work 24 hours a day. - they will not stop the search at all. they will continue unless, for technical reasons, it has to stop for one or two hours. but if everything goes to plan, we won't stop at all. around 10,000 poor people built homes on this mountainside because there wasn't enough housing in the area. but they were precarious at best and just not strong enough to survive this kind of deluge. many have lost everything, and some have paid the ultimate price. about eight people in my family were in the house. i've lost my nephew and his five—year—old daughter, we still haven't found them. we didn't expect this tragedy, it's the end of our city. schools and shelters have been set up to house some 300 people, who have been left homeless by the floods. it might not be over yet.

more heavy rain is forecast in the coming days. wendy urquhart, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. rescue officials in canada say they've finished their search by air and sea for survivors, after a spanish fishing trawler sank off newfoundland on tuesday. 21 of the 2a crew were lost. ten bodies were recovered. three survivors were picked up from life rafts. the crew on board the vessel were from spain, peru and ghana. police in the canadian capital 0ttawa have issued leaflets to truck drivers blockading the city centre warning them to leave the area or face arrest. hundreds of trucks remain parked in the centre of the city in a protest against covid restrictions which has brought the city to a standstill for nearly three weeks. australia has become the latest western nation to designate the palestinian movement hamas as a terrorist organisation. a previous listing only referred to the military wing of hamas.

the united states has long designated hamas a terrorist group. presidentjoe biden�*s senior medical adviser on coronavirus, dr anthony fauci, says it's time for americans to start moving back towards normality, despite the remaining risks from the virus. dr fauci admitted many states are facing tough choices. there is no perfect solution to this. they are trying to balance the fact that the world and the united states and particularly certain parts of the united states are just up to here with covid, theyjust really need to somehow get their life back. you don't want to be reckless and throw everything aside, but you have got to start inching towards that and when you do that you then veer away from paying attention to something that might be important, so someone has got to ask the question which i do not have the answer to, what is the balance? really being strict to prevent

any kind of infection or the negative impact on society of being too restrictive and people argue about that all day. i mean, is the impact on mental health, is the impact on development of children, the impact on schools, is that balanced against trying to be covid pristine and protect against infection? i don't have the right answer to that and i don't pretend to have the right answer. china's president xijinping has urged hong kong's leaders to take "all necessary measures" to control an outbreak of coronavirus. more than 4,000 new cases were reported on wednesday — a new record. joe robinson reports. in hong kong, the hospitals are almost bursting at the seams. at this accident and emergency department, the patients queue up on trolleys outside. for more than two years, the authorities have tried to keep the virus out, but covid numbers are rising

at an alarming rate. none of this lost on the central government in beijing, with president xijinping urging the hong kong authorities to get a grip. quoted in a local state—run newspaper, he told them to... they should... the effects of the virus are being felt in numerous ways. locals are facing food shortages, as many of the lorry drivers who bring supplies into the territory have tested positive. hong kong imports around 90% of its food, most of it coming from the mainland, but the authorities insist action is being taken. translation: the first task is to recruit more lorry - drivers who have not been exposed to infection risk, and second is to ensure that all cross—border drivers will have covid—i9

tests every day. once the results are negative, they're allowed to work across the border. so far, hong kong has been relatively lucky, with only around 200 deaths since the pandemic began. but with medical experts warning the number of daily cases could reach nearly 30,000 a day by the end of march, that luck may be running out. tim allman, bbc news. the bbc has uncovered how a culture of complicity and denial conceals the true scale of clerical sex abuse in italy. despite having the most priests of any country and the seat of the catholic church on its doorstep, italy has not documented the crime. calls are growing for it to follow france, which last yearfound over 200,000 cases there since the 1950s. 0ur rome correspondent mark lowen reports.

in the shadow of the vatican are dark secrets that italy itself has buried. clerical sex abuse of minors, thought to be expensive but undocumented. with the most priests of any country and the seat of the catholic church in the heart of its capital, italy is failing to confront its sins. countless survivors have kept silent but one, who we will call mario, agreed to talk for the first time. he said he was abused. for 16 years from the age of eight by his local priest, who was accused of repeated premeditated rape. when i was very young, this abuse happened to me in the vestry. in the vestry of the church! he told me it was a secret between him, me and jesus. but it was fully fledged sexual slavery. when mario soughtjustice,

the bishop began a canon law or church trial by the vatican's congregation for the doctrine of the faith. we have obtained the verdict. while some details were disputed, he confessed the abuse took place. the trial recognise his guilt, he even paid mario 112,000 euros as a sort of damages. but he was not defrocked, as mario requested, instead banned from working with minors for life. when mario's case came to the italian courts, a time limit for trials or statute of limitations meant he was never convicted. it all shows the legal quagmire that has failed survivors. here, based on what countries that have investigated abuse have found. the vatican still has a hold over some parts of italy, perpetuating the culture of silence here. we tracked down mario's

abuser and asked him, is it appropriate he is still a practising priest? there are documents of a trial that reached its conclusions, i urge you to read them. i showed him thejudgment we had and public photos of him celebrating mass with minors present. those are people in general, not specifically minors. then i asked directly, is he a paedophile? this is what you are saying, thanks for your work. that is what your victim says, i add. in our search for the truth, we went up a level to the bishop. why, iasked, hadn't he defrocked the man? the victim was listened to. all the material was sent to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. it is they who issued the sentence, it wasn't the diocese.

but being aware of his guilt, wasn't it immoral not to have advised the vatican to dismiss him? a defendant's guilt can be based on different facts. they could turn out to be of a different scale, a different time frame, a different reality. legal technicalities and interpretations of the addicks have taken the place of accountability, as survivors wait for italy to look deep inside its soul and atone. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. we'll have more live from mark on this story throughout the day. and you can watch all of, �*0urworld — italy's hidden sins�* on bbc news channel over the coming days and if you are outside the uk — watch it on bbc world news, starting from 23:30 gmt on friday. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: syd ney sydney shuts its beaches are tricia hill is a swimmer for the first time in 60 years near the first time in 60 years near

the city. —— after a shark kills a swimmer.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines. the white house says russia's claim of withdrawing troops surrounding ukraine is false and that in fact it's sent in thousands more troops. in brazil, a desperate search for mudslide survivors. heavy rains see hillside homes destroyed. around 100 people have been killed. thousands of people across parts of scotland and northern england remain without power this morning after storm dudley brought heavy rain and wind overnight. it comes after the met office issued a danger to life warning ahead of a second, more powerful weather system, �*storm eunice' which is due to make landfall on friday. alexandra mackenzie reports.

storm dudley approaches, the fourth storm to hit scotland in three months. it meant that rush—hour started early, trains were cancelled across much of the country, as winds of up to 80 mph were forecast. this was the last train arriving in bathgate in west lothian, some travellers had to make alternative travel arrangements. i got to edinburgh and realised just about every train out of edinburgh to the west was cancelled, i have had to jump on the last train out of town, the bathgate train, and get my wife to pick me up. shops and cafes lost people stayed away. with people stayed away. many ferry services cancelled, with many ferry services cancelled, one firm said they would concentrate on getting

supplies to island communities. it will be thursday when we get the next storm and forecast for friday. in the north of england damage was caused by high winds, like here in northumberland, and thousands were left without power. the amber warning remains in place until midnight and there is more to come on friday. storm eunice is expected to hit with possibly even stronger winds and heavy snow. an exhibition opens in paris today displaying the original manuscript of antoine de saint—exupery�*s book "the little prince" for the first time in his native france. the aviator�*s wartime book is one of the best selling and most translated works ever published — into at least 300 languages. dozens of drawings by saint—exupery will also be on show, highlighting his

talents as an illustrator. "the little prince" with its themes of loneliness and friendship was written while the author was in exile in new york in 1942. he left the following year to fight for the free french in north africa and disappeared during a mission over the mediterranean in 1944, never knowing the story's great success. think of tiktok and you'll probably think of teenagers hunched over their phones. but it's notjust the younger demographic who use — and appear — on the platform. an 85—year—old grandad has found fame after performing duets online with his granddaughter. john tucker's videos have had more than 4.4 million views — he's even been asked to appear on tv in america. andrea 0rmsby has the story.

# wise men say... hanging with her grandad, 22—year—old singer songwriter yazzi and her 85—year—old grandad are attracting a lot of attention with the singing. it has been pretty crazy, i didn't expect the response. obviously i love grandad so i knew everyone else would love grandad. the pair started singing together during lockdown whenjohn couldn't get to choir practice. from the day i was born i think i was in a choir. born methodist. singing charles and john wesley's hymns. they wrote the most beautiful hymns in a book and that's how it started. now one of the duets has gone viral. it's one of the most

recent videos on tiktok. it's a cover of hallelujah and has just hit 4.5 million views, which is really crazy. well, i don't think it's really sunk in yet. that's a lot of people, isn't it? ..i don't know what i do. theirfame is spreading with an appearance on television in the usa. this granddaughter and her grandfather in the united kingdom are showcasing their beautiful voices and beautiful bond. so many people around the world are seeing less and really loving your videos. # i can't help falling in love with you.# this grandad and granddaughter plan to keep singing togetherfor as long as they can. andrea 0rmsby, bbc news.

really lovely! a swimmer has been killed by a shark off the coast of sydney in australia, in the city's first fatal attack for 60 years. eyewitnesses at little bay beach said the shark was over four metres long. police later said they had recovered human remains from the water. beaches in the surrounding area have also been closed whilst an investigation is underway. let's cross to sydney now and speak to dr vanessa pirotta, a wildlife scientist at macquarie university. good to have you on the programme. very shocking. i imagine there is a lot of fear the sharpest still at large. what can you tell us? this is a very terrible thing to have happened. just about 24—hour is ago from now. this is a case where we have had an animal the

size of most likely three metres. unfortunately there was... in a good pace there was vision obtained in the incident to allow authorities to make identification and to learn more about this tragic circumstance. what we do know is this shark very much is still swimming and is out there. we have had authorities all day searching for the animal but it is very tricky to identify the animal. we do have sharks in australian waters that it sharks in australian waters thatitis sharks in australian waters that it is not every day we see a shark over three metres long, i am a great white shark that people in bondi beach swimmer sharks every day that this animal was large and was properly moving through the area. in properly moving through the area. ., , ., properly moving through the area. ., ,., ., ., properly moving through the area. ., ., ., area. in reason. you are a wildlife — area. in reason. you are a wildlife scientist. - area. in reason. you are a wildlife scientist. this - area. in reason. you are a wildlife scientist. this hasj wildlife scientist. this has not happened, someone who has been killed in over 60 years. give your thoughts about what might be going on in what is

happening now and if it is a threat in time going forward? sharks play important ecological roles in our marine environment. they are there for a reason. in terms of this being... this is a tragic situation. this has not happened since 1963 in terms of fatality in sydney. it does not happen everyday and that is why it is making headlines around the world. it is an opportunity for science to learn more. we have fantastic research going on here in australian to provide some insight into shark movements. white sharks are capable of large geographical movements. this is an unfortunate interaction. an animal and unfortunate interaction. an animaland human had unfortunate interaction. an animal and human had an overlap in the same environment. most likely shark was opportunistic. thank you for providing that

and feel thoughts on what happened. this time yesterday the incident happened. all the top business stories next. a stormy end to our week — the first of the storms, storm dudley, arrived during wednesday afternoon and into the evening. and as we went through the latter stages of the day, wind gusts were quite widely around 70 mph, gusting in excess of 80 mph through capel curig. now, it looks likely that we'll continue to see some rain and snow, as well, over the next few hours, even snow falling at lower levels across the highlands — so there will be some accumulations, there will be some icy stretches to look out for first thing. so we keep the potential for some rain and some snow over the next few hours, further south across england and wales. quite breezy still, but the winds will start to ease down, and it will stay largely fine and dry here. but temperatures will hold up above freezing — so first thing tomorrow morning, around 4—7 celsius, noticeably colder into the far north. now, as we start off thursday, then it looks likely that we'll continue to see some

showers slowly easing and, as we go through the day, still windy, but not as strong as they have been. a good deal of dry weather on thursday, with some sunshine coming through. temperatures in the north between 5—7 celsius — not quite as mild in the south, with 12 celsius the high here. but we have to draw your attention to what's happening during thursday into friday — this is storm eunice. now, this will intensify quite dramatically, this area of low pressure, and will cause some issues. now, in several areas across scotland and northern ireland, it's not the wind, it's the snow. we are likely to see some heavy wet snow falling on power lines that could have an impact, 10—30 centimetres of snow. as i say, the winds not quite as strong here, we're looking at gusts of winds around 25—35 mph. but the snow will start to tot up. now further south of that, the snow will ease and it'll be largely dry with some sunshine — but look at the gusts of wind. we are likely to see

widely gusts in excess of 70—80 mph inland, and on extreme west—facing coasts, we could see wind strength around 90 mph gusts, potentially up to 100 mph. so the met office has issued an amber warning. be prepared for some significant disruption, dangerous, damaging gusts of wind. and, even as we head into the weekend, we keep plenty of isobars on the chart — showers on saturday being replaced by longer spells of rain.

this is bbc news with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. faster and higher — we'll have the latest signals from the us federal reserve on its plans for interest rate hikes. going green — the aviation industry looks to clean up its image through eco—innovation. we have a special report from the singapore airshow. and the wonder material that's all around us. we go to sweden to learn how to build skyskrapers out of wood.