welcome to bbc news. our top stories: nato warns that russian troops are heading for eastern ukraine. we report from the front line where ukrainians are preparing for an invasion. the troops here say they have been fighting a long war against russian—backed separatists. they know that president putin may now send more forces. president zelensky seeks a route out of the crisis without globalisation of the army. a us jury finds three white men who murdered a black

jogger, ahmaud arbery, guilty of federal hate crimes. one killed and ten others remain missing after flash floods in australia. innovative ideas from teachers, coming up with ideas with students during the pandemic. a special report. and fans are the globally successful tv drama set between wards welcome back the notorious shelby clan. thank you forjoining us.

the us secretary of antony blinken says it makes no sense to go ahead with talks on thursday. america hasjoined other allies in imposing sanctions intended to her russia's economy. japan and australia have also announced sanctions, including targeting specific individuals. australian prime minister scott morrison accuses them of acting like ducks and bullies. vladimir putin ordered troops entity new grain after recognising these regions held by pro— russian rebels, donetsk and luhansk the areas in grey are those already controlled by russian backed allies. the yellow show where american government forces hold sway. a glimpse of the kremlin�*s firepower today near the russian city of rostov—on—don, close to the border with ukraine. if president putin's forces

cross that line, which will come as no surprise, many in ukraine will be bracing for the worst. dog barks and on the front lines in zolotar, here in the east, they've been getting in some target practice. president putin has his eye on ukraine. the world watching and waiting for his next move. they know all about waiting here. yevgen has been in the trenches for seven long years, fighting kremlin—backed rebels, trying to keep moscow off ukrainian soil. "russia is rotten," he tells me. "and ukraine must blossom. that's why i'm here. "i want my wife and my daughter to live in peace and quiet." well, we've just started hearing some shelling

in the last few minutes. the troops here say they have been fighting a long war against russian—backed separatists. they know that president putin may now send more forces, and the question is — if his troops arrive, how far will they go? how much of ukraine will he try to take? troops here tell me russian forces are already in the separatist areas and have been for years. now that president putin has officially recognised the breakaway enclaves, he can openly send in more. translation: now we can hear the shelling continue. _ we are already prepared. everybody knows what to do in any situation. you just have to follow your orders. for you here on the ground, does anything change now? translation: absolutely no changes, except more motivation

to do what we do on a professional level. we are standing here just for this. and some have paid with their lives. in kyiv today, the state funeral for a fallen soldier. captain anton sidorov, a father of three daughters, was killed by shelling on saturday. he had been fighting the separatists since war broke out in the east in 2014. on the other side of the front lines last night, small—scale celebrations in the separatist enclave of donetsk, which moscow has declared to be an independent state. the reverberations may be felt for years. orla guerin, bbc news. me is our reporter, michael

abella. things have been moving very quickly in the last 2a hours, where are we up to? the triu aer hours, where are we up to? the trigger form _ hours, where are we up to? the trigger form in _ hours, where are we up to? tue: trigger form in the hours, where are we up to? tte: trigger form in the package hours, where are we up to? "tte: trigger form in the package is triggerform in the package is russia recognise these two rebel areas as independent in eastern ukraine. if you look at the map, this explains how a russian invasion could stretch beyond the two separatist areas, and they are in grave. the us president think that putin also includes the ukrainian controlled yellow areas on the map as part of his responsibility to protect those areas and if that is the case, the two sides of come into conflict immediately if russia sent troops to gather that area. and this is what president biden had to say. these regions extend actually deeper— these regions extend actually deeper than into areas he recognised, claiming large areas _ recognised, claiming large areas currently under the jurisdiction of the ukrainian government. this is the beginning of a russian invasion of the —

beginning of a russian invasion of the ukraine and as he asked for permission from the duma and we — for permission from the duma and we will impose sanctions as and we will impose sanctions as a response _ and we will impose sanctions as a response far beyond the steps we and — a response far beyond the steps we and our allies and partners did in— we and our allies and partners did in 2014. we and our allies and partners did in 2014-— did in 2014. that is when crimea was _ did in 2014. that is when crimea was annexed. - did in 2014. that is when crimea was annexed. if. did in 2014. that is when i crimea was annexed. if you did in 2014. that is when - crimea was annexed. if you look at the sanctions, we can show them country by country. this is what america has done, taking out sanctions against two russian banks with limited access for some russians to limited financial systems. and we go to what i think is the most considerate sanctions so far is the german suspension of a gas pipeline project between russia and germany, and it was olaf scholz saying nord stream two will not be commission, doubling the gas from russia into europe and germany. then borisjohnson, he said sanctions will be imposed on five russian banks and three russian individuals. the question is whether those sanctions will act as a deterrent and some are arguing these leaders should be going further, faster. one thing i would say is that the diplomacy

is taking a step back since yesterday. we have seen americans cancelling meetings between foreign ministers of america and russia and also the presidents of russia and america and they said they do not want the meetings to be seen as a pretense to diplomacy. iiit seen as a pretense to diplomacy-— seen as a pretense to diloma . . , ., diplomacy. in which case, how has president _ diplomacy. in which case, how has president putin _ diplomacy. in which case, how. has president putin responded? he had a brief press conference and said that the ukraine renounced its ambition to join nato and demilitarised the country and these are unlikely things that ukraine with resolve hard and through this has agreed to. yet stoltenberg called this the most dangerous moment in european security, the secretary general of nato —— jens stoltenberg. this shows the border in southern belarus, and new deployments, more than 100 military vehicles and dozens of troops, intense and trip hop spittle and the big question is what is putin

thinking and how will the west respond to what he has done next. and this is a clue from one of russia's neighbours, the latvian prime minister. this one of russia's neighbours, the latvian prime minister.- latvian prime minister. this is the new usual, _ latvian prime minister. this is the new usual, so _ latvian prime minister. this is the new usual, so to - latvian prime minister. this is the new usual, so to speak. i latvian prime minister. this is. the new usual, so to speak. we have _ the new usual, so to speak. we have an — the new usual, so to speak. we have an aggressive _ the new usual, so to speak. we have an aggressive neighbour l have an aggressive neighbour who is— have an aggressive neighbour who is interested _ have an aggressive neighbour who is interested in _ have an aggressive neighbourl who is interested in recreating an empire. _ who is interested in recreating an empire. he_ who is interested in recreating an empire, he believes - who is interested in recreating an empire, he believes in - who is interested in recreating an empire, he believes in thel an empire, he believes in the right— an empire, he believes in the right to — an empire, he believes in the right to subjugate _ an empire, he believes in the right to subjugate others - an empire, he believes in the right to subjugate others and| right to subjugate others and has disregard _ right to subjugate others and has disregard for— right to subjugate others and has disregard for national - has disregard for national self—determination. - has disregard for national self—determination. thisl has disregard for national. self—determination. this is a threat — self—determination. this is a threat to— self—determination. this is a threat to all— self—determination. this is a threat to all of— self—determination. this is a threat to all of us. _ self-determination. this is a threat to all of us. meanwhile, american _ threat to all of us. meanwhile, american troops _ threat to all of us. meanwhile, american troops have - threat to all of us. meanwhile, american troops have moved l american troops have moved closer to the russian and ukraine borders in europe and the ukrainian president has called up reservists in his country. called up reservists in his country-— called up reservists in his count . . ~' , ., , country. 0k, thank you very much. country. 0k, thank you very much- two _ country. 0k, thank you very much. two other _ country. 0k, thank you very much. two other main - country. 0k, thank you very much. two other main use i country. 0k, thank you very i much. two other main use this our: the three white men convicted of murdering a black man while he was outjogging have now been found guilty of federal hate crimes in georgia. the three defendants had already been sentenced to life in prison last month

for killing ahmaud arbery. aleem maqbool reports. victory! this family feels a sense of justice having been achieved. a jury decided the men who murdered ahmaud arbery did so because of his race. i knew ahmaud's hands was in this from the very beginning. amen. clapping the way ahmaud left here, i knew that we would get victory on the state level and in the federal level. i knew that from day one. it was two years ago that ahmaud arbery was chased through a neighbourhood in which he was running close to his home. he was ambushed and shot dead. but though the police knew who killed him, no—one was arrested and charged for more than ten weeks and only after this video of what happened went viral. in a murder trial in november, father and son greg and travis mcmichael and their neighbour roddy bryan were found guilty of murder. now in a hate crimes trial, the evidence they exhibited

a history of racism in the past, the killers' actions were deemed racially motivated. the us attorney—general said the only acceptable outcome would have been the victim returning safely to his loved ones two years ago. i cannot imagine the pain that a motherfeels... ..to have her son run down and then gunned down while taking a jog on a public street. my heart goes out to her and to the family. there are still questions as to why it took a viral video at a national campaign to get ahmaud arbery�*s killlers detained. without that, it's not hard to imagine the justice the family's thankful for remaining elusive. taking a look at other news

today. russia has agreed to postpone for five years, some of cuba's repayments on its $2.3 billion debt, days after the communist island reiterate support over moscow over ukraine. cuba was a former ally of the soviet union and continues to enjoy friendly deliberations with president putin. the president of ecuador has announced that around 5000 visitors will receive an official pardon. the move aims to reduce pressure in the country's overcrowded and often violentjails. the pardons will be targeted mainly with those charged with non—violent crimes. at least one person has been killed and ten others missing in eastern australia after torrential rain caused

flash flooding. emergency services have been inundated with calls for help from people stranded. heavy rain also batted sydney, cutting off roads and saturating homes and businesses. let's get the latest from this from our correspondent, joining a flight from sydney. what is the situation there at the moment? live from sydney and caught in the rain earlier today! it has not stopped raining and it is raining quite hard! sydney, as you say, has been caught in his reign for many days and we have seen dramatic pictures of the grounds being flooded and also the floors of trains actually being flooded and roads cut off as well but a scary amount of rain according to the bureau of meteorology in south east queensland. we know that an 80—year—old woman, the body of an 80—year—old woman was found, and many others are still missing. we also know that the

emergency services they have received dozens of calls. there was a story of a couple early morning today who were rescued from a tree. the caravan was washed away by rain and the bureau of meteorology has warned we have not seen the worst of it. it may stop for a bit but south east queensland and new south wales may receive up and new south wales may receive up to 300 millimetres of rain and the dangerfor that up to 300 millimetres of rain and the danger for that is that the dams would overflow and then the problem is how do you contain that situation? yes, very dramatic pictures. major disruptions in different areas across sydney and in different parts of queensland but more rain and more destruction is expected. rain and more destruction is expected-— expected. parts of australia seem to be _ expected. parts of australia seem to be suffering - expected. parts of australia seem to be suffering from | seem to be suffering from extreme weather recently. shortly before you began your stint there as our

correspondent in sydney, there were floods, there were fires. this looks like it is starting to become a bit of a pattern? it is becoming a bit of a pattern and on every, on every platform, if you will, in every summit, when it comes to climate change, including cop26 in glasgow earlier this year, this australia is mentioned as the front line for these extreme weather events. as a result of climate change. it is something the authorities cannot ignore anymore. remember, this is an election year and climate change is going to discussed by many. the government is still, you know, very reluctant to commit to concrete solutions but you are right. i started here on the week of those bushfires, the black summer as it was called, and in covering that, i also covered the floods and covered those many, many times more in

my stints and yes it is becoming a pattern of extreme weather that we can expect more of an expected to become more extreme as the years go by. many thanks for the update. stay with us on bbc news. still to come on the programme: the wait is almost over for fans of peaky blinders, the globally successful tv drama sees the return of the notorious shelby clan. prince charles has chosen his bride. the prince proposed to lady diana spencer three weeks ago. she accepted, she says, without hesitation. as revolutions go, this had its fair share of bullets. a climax in the night outside the gates of mr marcos's sanctuary, malacanang, the name itself symbolising one of the cruellest regimes of modern asia. the world's first clone has been produced i of an adult mammal. scientists in scotland i have produced a sheep called dolly using a cell from another sheep. i warren beatty and faye dunaway

announced to the world that the winner of best film was la la land. the only trouble was it wasn't. the mistake was only put right in the middle of gushing speeches by the team behind the modern musical. not for 20 years have locusts been seen in such numbers in this part of africa. some of the swarms have been ten miles long. this is the last time - the public will see this pope. very soon, for the sake of the credibility- and authority of the next pope, benedict xvi - will, in his own words, be hidden from the world for the rest of his life. i this is bbc news. the latest headlines: nato reports that russian troops are heading for eastern ukraine as the west announces sanctions against moscow. aus a usjury finds a us jury finds three white men who murdered a blackjogger, ahmaud arbery, guilty of

federal hate crimes. children in the philippines were forced to learn online for nearly two years because of covid. rampant omicron infections forced many to keep their doors firmly closed volunteer teachers in the south of the country have come up with a genius idea to keep children up to date with their education. this railway track in the south of the philippines is rarely used, which made it the perfect choice for a creative project. volunteer teachers shoved this wooden trolley along the rails, visiting three different neighbourhoods a day, three times a week. it's packed with blackboards, books and pencils that they used to teach more than 60 children. translation: the main object of of this mobile library is firstly to teach those struggling to read and secondly to teach counting, adding and subtracting to

children that are poor with numbers. children that are poor with numbere— numbers. schools in the philippines— numbers. schools in the philippines were - numbers. schools in the philippines were shut i numbers. schools in the| philippines were shut for numbers. schools in the - philippines were shut forjust under two years because of the covid pandemic and the rise in omicron infections has meant many are still closed so when the mobile classroom arrives, the mobile classroom arrives, the kids can't wait to get their hands on the books yellow translation: it's their hands on the books yellow translation:— translation: it's important that we do — translation: it's important that we do this _ translation: it's important that we do this now- translation: it's important that we do this now because | that we do this now because there is a pandemic and the children can't do face—to—face learning. education is very important for these children. most of the volunteer teachers come from poor backgrounds themselves so they know what it is like to have nothing and are delighted to have the opportunity to help these children, fire their imaginations and keep their dreams alive. time now for the latest sports. hello i'm mark edwards with your sport. we start with the news that uefa almost certain to move the venue for the champions league final away from the russian city of st petersburg due to

the growing crisis. the governing body says it is closely monitoring the situation and any decision will be made in due course if necessary. on the pitch, some champions league history made in the last 16, striker scoring 32 seconds into has maiden outing in europe's premier competition, quickest ever by a champions league bittern. valerie did equalise midway through the second half courtesy of danny for a a ho. one all is how it finished. chelsea taking control of their champions league around after a convincing win over the fence champions —— french champions, giving the world champions a comfortable victory however record signing the mullaloo khaki remained on the bench but according to his manager thomas to there was a reason for it. physically tired which they can understand, he played like a thing since the liverpool game and he started every match for us and there were some extra

times in it as well and for sunday we have four days to decide and to recover and of course he has every chance to play. course he has every chance to .la . ., course he has every chance to play. to amortise in the champions _ play. to amortise in the champions league - play. to amortise in the champions league on . play. to amortise in the - champions league on wednesday as manchester united travelled to madrid to face atletico while ben affleck are host in amsterdam. you kopp has revealed that his driver told him tottenham had beaten his title rivals manchester city on saturday, a city lead the premier league six points of liverpool and the two sides meet in april. liverpool host leeds on wednesday. we meet in april. liverpool host leeds on wednesday. we went out and the driver _ leeds on wednesday. we went out and the driver was _ leeds on wednesday. we went out and the driver was very _ leeds on wednesday. we went out and the driver was very excited - and the driver was very excited and the driver was very excited and told me that it was to happen two and three to. and when he said three to i thought city won and is a tottenham, and that was my reaction. nothing changed, really. we have to win all our games. to uolf and have to win all our games. to golf and phil mickelson has apologised for comments he made over the saudi arabia back super league after being

described as naive, selfish, egotistical and ignorant by rory mcilroy, his admitted to dealing with the kingdom to gain leverage but claims the comments were taken out of context. . ., �* , comments were taken out of context. . ., �*, , context. nicholson's comments were made _ context. nicholson's comments were made to _ context. nicholson's comments were made to american - context. nicholson's comments were made to american golf. were made to american golf writer alan shipp look in the publication last week was explosive. nicholson called the saudis scary but despite the human rights record, he still wanted to do business with them to shake up the pga tour. rory mcilroy said the comments were selfish and ignorant and now mickelson admits they were reckless. and a lengthy statement he apologised to anyone offended, claiming he had spoken off the record and had spoken off the record and had been taken out of context. he insists golf remains in desperate need of change but admits that he not been at his best as a person and needs away to work on being the man that he wants to be.— he wants to be. and that's all of our he wants to be. and that's all of your sport _ he wants to be. and that's all of your sport for _ he wants to be. and that's all of your sport for now. -

he wants to be. and that's all of your sport for now. the - of your sport for now. the award—winning drama peaky blinders has become a global phenomenon with millions of fans worldwide books on the story of the notorious shelby family. sediment the street of birmingham, phil mackie has been finding out more. —— set on the streets of birmingham. it's nine years since tommy shall first rode into town. since then, peaky blinders has come a global phenomenon on. now it's time to say farewell to tommy and the shelby clan, at least for a while. season six will be the last on the small screen. but the man whose creation this is has plans to start making a big—screen sequel in his home city with fellow brumbies have taken the show to their hearts. birmingham is a hard place to

please, and arejust birmingham is a hard place to please, and are just fair that people will say well, this is a tough but it seems to have really, you know, struck a chord in birmingham and i think that hadn't been for that, it wouldn't have struck a chord elsewhere. it needed to be, you know, appreciated in its home town. ~ know, appreciated in its home town. ., ., , ., town. most of what you see on the show _ town. most of what you see on the show never _ town. most of what you see on the show never happen, - town. most of what you see on the show never happen, it's i the show never happen, it's completely made up. of course it's a drama, it's affection but there are some element of truth in their too and there were real criminals called the peaky blinders who operated in this part of birmingham. and this part of birmingham. and this was one of them. edward derek. tt this was one of them. edward derek. . , , derek. it was here in this birmingham _ derek. it was here in this birmingham bachelors i derek. it was here in this i birmingham bachelors that derek. it was here in this - birmingham bachelors that the first attack took place by men who were called peaky blinders. and this is as great—grandson professor carl and whose books have debunked some of the show�*s maths. tt’s have debunked some of the show's maths.— show's maths. it's really important _ show's maths. it's really important to _ show's maths. it's really important to bear - show's maths. it's really important to bear in - show's maths. it's really. important to bear in mind show's maths. it's really - important to bear in mind that the real peaky blinders were not glamorous, well—dressed, charismatic antiheroes. they

were vicious and vile backstreet thugs who attacked each other, the police and who preyed upon the decent respect book poor amongst whom they lived. �* ., , �* lived. and no, they didn't conceal— lived. and no, they didn't conceal razor _ lived. and no, they didn't conceal razor blades - lived. and no, they didn't conceal razor blades in i lived. and no, they didn't i conceal razor blades in their peak caps. brumbies no it's not historically accurate but hasn't stopped it becoming part of their culture. superfans of their culture. super fans love of their culture. superfans love dressing up to show their devotion, there's even a peaky blinders festival in birmingham later this year. it's lovely to see, a barometer, you say i've been there, know that road, and now all the people want to come to birmingham to see it as well yellow migrate granddad grew up and used to say to me, oh, the peaky blinders, it was something he was like wow! now the waiting is nearly over and it doesn't look like tommy shelby is going to go quietly.

how do you follow that? well, you can reach me and the team on social media. you soon. —— see you soon. some of us are still feeling the effects of the storms. we are flooding in places. how about the weather in the short term? well, it's not going to be a bad start to the day for many parts of england and wales. but for scotland, northern ireland and to an extent, the very far north of england, it is going to be once again a very blustery day on wednesday and it will turn progressively wintery through the day. it is still very active on the satellite picture here. these weather fronts across the atlantic racing our way. all of this, this is wintry weather, linked to this low pressure. a cold front is approaching but to the south, we are under the influence of

a high—pressure here. so, clearer skies, lighter winds and through the early hours of the morning, a touch of ground frost at the very least in rural areas. city centres itself won't be that cold, 6 degrees in plymouth, pretty nippy enough in birmingham at 2 celsius. milder, slightly milder weather than the morning in the lowlands of scotland and northern ireland. now, here's the next low pressure that is coming in. a cold front and behind it, we have wintry showers. the morning is going be pretty soggy in northern ireland and scotland, with increasing winds and gale force winds and 60 mile an hour gusts. the weather will eventually go downhill in the far north of england too. particularly blustry in the northeast there in newcastle, but all the while there, new england and wales, but overall not a bad day. increasingly through the afternoon we will see winter showers and scotland and northern ireland to lower and lower levels. and then that takes us into wednesday night and thursday. that cold front crosses the country and then we are all in the blustery, chilly stream of air from the north atlantic

and you can see how frequent the winter showers are across northern ireland. some showers could be wintry also across england and wales, maybe not the extreme south and in fact, if anything, thursday should be a decent enough day. single—figure temperatures. it will certainly feel coldest in the northwest here. 5 degrees and you add on that gale—force wind and you'll feel like it's barely above freezing. there is a hint of better weather on the way as high pressure builds on friday. i think that's going to be a very decent day and perhaps into the weekend, some of us could hold onto some that better weather. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us announces new sanctions against russia following the escalating tensions between russia and ukraine. this escalating tensions between russia and ukraine. as russia contemplates _ russia and ukraine. as russia contemplates its _ russia and ukraine. as russia contemplates its next - russia and ukraine. as russia contemplates its next move i russia and ukraine. as russia | contemplates its next move we have our next move as well. rush will pay a steeper price with its integration and escalating prices. we with its integration and escalating prices. we look at what is on — escalating prices. we look at what is on the _ escalating prices. we look at what is on the ground - escalating prices. we look at l what is on the ground between the second biggest economy and europe's smallest economy. and as the economy struggles from the pandemic, south africa's finance minister presents his 2022 budget.