you're watching bbc news — i'm lucy hockings in qatar — where there's just 2a hours until the start of the world cup. the president of fifa has expressed support for the lgbtq community and migrant workers — but hits back at western critics of the country's human rights record, accusing them of hypocrisy. i think for what we europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years, around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people. and i'm tanya beckett — also this hour. rishi sunak is in kyiv meeting

ukrainian president zelensky for the first as prime minister — and pledges to continue the uk's support. the head of the housing association responsible for the mouldy flat blamed for the death of two—year—old awaab ishak has been sacked. this week a coroner ruled poor ventalition in the home caused the respiratory illness which killed the toddler in 2020. at cop27 — the un climate agency publishes a draft proposal for a deal to tackle the issue of loss and damage that included creating a new fund to help countries cope with the cost of climate change

welcome to qatar, where on the eve of the football world cup, fifa president gianni infantino has accused western countries of hypocrisy for criticising the human rights record of the country, where male homosexuality is illegal and qatari women need the permission of a man for a range of activities. football's governing body has come under fire for taking the world cup to qatar — but mr infantino said he had difficulty understanding criticism of the tournament. it was a remarkable press conference. the media in the room at times said they couldn't quite believe what they were hearing. dan roan reports. earlier this week, the most powerful figure in football was all smiles at a world cup legacy event in doha, but fifa has been heavily criticised

for bringing the tournament here amid human rights concerns. and today at a press conference its president, gianni infantino, tried to hit back in an extraordinary monologue. today, i feel arab. today, i feel african. today, i feel gay. today, i feel disabled. today, ifeel a migrant worker. ifeel like them because i know what it means to be discriminated. but that was just the start. infantino then appearing to liken his own experience as a redheaded child of immigrants in switzerland to the plight of gay people in the middle east. as a foreigner, in a foreign country, as a child

at school i was bullied because i had red hair. qatar has been under mounting scrutiny, especially in europe, over its treatment of migrant workers and the lgbt community. infantino then turned on the critics. i think for what we europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years, before starting to give moral lessons. it's just hypocrisy. comparing qatar favourably to europe where he pointed out that 25,000 migrants had died trying to get into the continent since 2014, infantino then addressed fifa's late u—turn when it announced beer at world cup stadia would be banned. i think personally, if for three hours a day you cannot drink a beer, you will survive. gianni infantino intended just then

to hit back against this tournament's critics amid a barrage of negative headlines in the build—up. but after that remarkable hour and a half—long press conference on the eve of this tournament, once again the focus is away from the football. two weeks ago infantino asked teams to stick to the sport, but after his words today, this world cup seems more politically charged than ever. dan roan, bbc news, doha. it's clear that gianni infantino, fifa officials, qatari officials, i really wanting to change the narrative here in qatar. what the media are talking about, what people all over the world are talking about when it comes to this world cup, by getting people to focus on the football and not the various earlier i spoke to the chief football writer for the times, henry winter, who was watching the press conference. i asked him why he thought he had to

give this passionate defence of qatar and the world cup. he's embarrassed himself, his embarrassed fifa, if that's possible, with fifa having a very low bar when it comes to these things. he's embarrassed football, and his comments about the workers here, i mean, it's insulting, to have a go, fair enough, having a go atjournalists, we are thick—skinned and we can handle it, but if you look at the european countries that he was singling out, saying, 3000 years of hurt, to use a footballing expression, of shame, at least in countries like the uk, in terms of laws, constitution, culture, we have advanced, and i think the scrutiny of the qataris, it's illegal to be gay here, and the migrant workers have been treated so poorly. i mean, lucy, you are down on the corniche, and when i go down there early in the morning and you see how they are

already toiling so hard in the early morning sun, the treatment of them is wrong, in light of countries like the danes, some of the english, the fa, one or two countries and england fans as well as the media have been highlighting these things, but infantino is out of touch. the qataris would like it to be highlighted, though, that the world cup has meant that labour reforms have been put in place here, changes have happened. it is a slow process, but workers now get the minimum wage, for instance. they are allowed to change jobs in a way they weren't able to before, and crucially they are earning money that they're able to send back to the families. this is a country that is providing employment too. they are people that come from some of the poorest countries in the world. they could be paid more. if you talk to them, as i'm sure you have, they are not going to criticise, not the

regime but the ruling royals here, they will not criticise their employers. it's actually not that easy to change jobs. they do have issues with the companies, which actually are flouting the labour rules, so they need to be stronger on that. how much do we actually know about what has happened inside some of these stadiums? the numbers are disputed, it's hard to gain the hard facts about how workers have died, for instance. if one worker died building a stadium, a something that is meant to be a celebration of life, one life is too much. whatever the figures is, it's hard

to be sure. you see some of the efforts to back estimates of amnesty international, human rights watch, they've been consistent. there's been a number of 6000 articles on it, the qataris dispute that, but this is come from some of the embassies that are here in doha, so whatever the number is the cost is too high, and when the players go out, eventually, you know that rhythm of these events is like, the narrative will focus on football, on messi, kane and so on, and they will look at the stadiums, and think, these stadiums are built on the bodies of workers. henry winter outlining the criticisms and concerns of this world cup. we talked about lgbt cue plus rights, homosexuality is banned in this country, qataris say

everyone is welcome here, and questions about the infrastructure. ijust questions about the infrastructure. i just watched fireworks taking place in the hub here, and qatari say they are all ready to welcome the world and things kick off tomorrow. rishi sunak has made his first visit to kyiv as prime minister, where he met with president zelensky and confirmed the uk's continued support. he said the uk will provide a 50 million pound air defence package for ukraine, including anti—aircraft guns and technology to counter iranian—supplied drones. he told president zelenksy he knew it would be a difficult winterfor ukraine. it is deeply humbling to be with you in your country today. the courage of the ukrainian people is an inspiration to the world. in years to come we will tell our grandchildren of your story, how a proud and sovereign people stood up in the face

of an appalling onslaught, how you fought, how you sacrificed, how you prevailed. as prime minister of the united kingdom, i'm proud of how we stood with you from the very beginning, and i'm here today to say that the united kingdom will continue to stand with you. we will stand with you until ukraine has won the peace and security it needs and deserves, and then we will stand with you as you rebuild your great country. this year alone we have provided £2.3 billion of military support, and we will do the same again next year. as you succeed in pushing back russian forces on the ground, your homes, your hospitals, your power stations are being destroyed by the air. so, to help you defend yourselves we are today providing new air defence support, including 120 anti—aircraft guns, radar and anti—drone equipment.

we are extending our training for the ukrainian armed forces to include specialist expertise from uk medics and engineers, and we are stepping up our support to help you through the cold, hard winter ahead. 0ur political correspondent pete saull gave us this update and said the visit was a surprise. for obvious reasons, for security reasons they probably didn't let us know about this visit in advance. borisjohnson made three visits to kyiv, and that was the case with him too, we didn't know this was going to happen, but it's all about showing solidarity, isn't it, and saying that britain remains absolutely committed to its support to ukraine. rishi sunak has had a pretty important week domestically, with his chancellorjeremy hunt delivering the autumn statement, and jeremy hunt made it clear the reason why we're going to go through a difficult period as a country is, in his view, largely because of the global headwinds caused by the war in ukraine. interesting to note that

rishi sunak, when he tweeted out the video of him arriving and meeting volodymyr zelensky, said that britain would be with ukraine until the end. so, a clear commitment there, regardless of the impact it might have on people's energy bills here in britain, that the prime minister remains absolutely still alongside president zelensky, but alongside this visit today there is some funding that's been announced too, so a bolstering of the ukrainian air defence systems against what the prime minister described as the barbaric aerial assault that we have seen over the past week or so, indiscriminate attacks on ukrainian cities, perhaps in response to the capture by ukrainian forces of the city of kherson. now, of course, one missile ended up on the other side of the border with poland, tragically killing a couple of people on a farm, and the nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg said earlier this week that they thought that was a ukrainian defence missile that had ended up in poland. so, this is one of the reasons why

britain wanted to give a little bit more support in that area so that ukraine has the best possible way of dealing with those aerial attacks from russia. his visit comes after the g20 meeting. he was at pains to rally support for ukraine, wasn't he? he was, yeah, he spoke in very strong terms about the need to continue to support ukraine, and he's also, we're told, meeting emergency responders in ukraine, dealing with some of those people on the front line of having to deal with those missile attacks in the city, in kyiv, and across the country, too — he said it was deeply humbling to be in kyiv, and this air defence system, £50 million, 125 anti—aircraft guns and technology, dozens of radars, anti—drone electronic warfare capability, it comes on top of more than a thousand anti—air missiles announced by the secretary earlier this month, but given the problems at home,

i suppose, with rishi sunak, some questions over his judgment on appointments he made to his cabinet, and the autumn statement on thursday, which i think has largely been well received, certainly by his own mps, a chance to strut his stuff on the world stage again, and this is something that perhaps was a criticism of borisjohnson, that he turned up in kyiv at times when he was really struggling with domestic problems, but here he is today and there will be very few people who will criticise him for turning up today, i would have thought. it is widely suggested the russian agenda is to string out this war as long as possible and wear down, perhaps, western support. at a time when finances are strained at home it does become increasingly difficult to find money to support it, doesn't it? it does, and at the end of the day western democracies rely on the support of voters, and voters are really starting to feel the impact of this — notjust the war in ukraine, and labour pointed out at the dispatch box at the autumn statement on thursday that this is also about undoing some of the damage caused by the not—so—mini budget of 55 days previous. now, the government didn't admit that specifically,

althoutheremy hunt admitting that mistakes were made previous to that autumn statement, it was all about dealing, he said, with these global factors, the world recovering from the covid pandemic and also having to deal with the inflation caused by the war in ukraine and the spike in energy prices, but the longer this goes on the more people are going to really struggle. we saw from various different think tanks poring over the autumn statement yesterday, they were all saying, look, this energy crisis will go on for some time, a recession predicted by the independent 0ffice for budget responsibility lasting 18 months, unemployment on the up, so all of this is going to put strain on western leaders�* ability to convince their electorates they still need to be absolutely 100% committed to their support to ukraine, but rishi sunak sending a very strong message with that visit today. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's huw ferris.

the 61st and final match of the three rugby world cups that have been hosted in england over the last month or so is under way. the men's final is between australia, the defending champions, and samoa, who beat england to become the first finalists from a pacific island. the match at old trafford kicked off at 4. these are live pictures from bbc 0ne�*s coverage. australia have won 8 of the last 9 world cups. they did so in the final against england byjust six points to nil, so you maenus not see too many more points, the defending champions are overwhelming favourites. leading by 4-0 overwhelming favourites. leading by 4—0 against samoa now. australia have won the women's rugby league world cup

with a dominant performance in the final at old trafford, setting a standard that'll be tough for the men to follow. despite the group game between these two being a close affair at one stage thejillaroos were leading 38—nil with isabelle kelly scoring two tries. this there were also two tries forjessica sergis and kennedy cherrington — australia running in ten tries in total — winning 54—1; — and claiming the trophy for a third successive time. that was unbelievable from all the girls. we that was unbelievable from all the uirls. ~ . that was unbelievable from all the i irls, . ., ., that was unbelievable from all the i irls, ~ ., ., . that was unbelievable from all the uirls.~ . ., . ,., girls. we had a defence focus and i've never— girls. we had a defence focus and i've never been _ girls. we had a defence focus and i've never been part _ girls. we had a defence focus and i've never been part of _ girls. we had a defence focus and i've never been part of a - girls. we had a defence focus and i've never been part of a group i girls. we had a defence focus and i i've never been part of a group that can defend like that. that i've never been part of a group that can defend like that.— can defend like that. that was something _ can defend like that. that was something special. _ can defend like that. that was something special. you - can defend like that. that was something special. you just i can defend like that. that was i something special. you just had can defend like that. that was - something special. you just had a moment— something special. you just had a moment with your head coach, what did he _ moment with your head coach, what did he say— moment with your head coach, what did he say to — moment with your head coach, what did he say to you? that moment with your head coach, what did he say to you?— did he say to you? that he was really proud. — did he say to you? that he was really proud, we've _ did he say to you? that he was really proud, we've been - did he say to you? that he was i really proud, we've been through did he say to you? that he was - really proud, we've been through so many years together i can't thank him enough. i love thisjersey and i love what he brings to this jersey. we are going to celebrate later wales have suffered a shock defeat to georgia in their autumn international in cardiff. they were cruising at half time

leading 12—3 at half time thanks to two tries from jac morgan. but they didn't score another point. alex cuthbert was sinbinned shortly after the restart, which started the georgia fight back. a try was followed by this luka matkava penalty — 3 minutes from time — sealing a famous 13—12 victory. elsewhere scotland are playing argentina, who have had a player sent off. they fought back to make it pretty close just after half—time, but they have just added a try to the score you see on the screen, as they are leading by 24—15. a big win for south africa earlier against italy. england's match against the all blacks kicks off at 5.30. world champion max verstappen will start the final formula one race of the season in abu dhabi from pole. the dutchman was almost a quarter of a second quicker than his red bull team mate sergio perez. ferrari's charles leclerc was third, while britain's george russell

who won last weekend's sao paulo grand prix could only manage sixth. less than a week after becoming world t20 champions, england have lost their one day series against australia. they were beaten in the second game in sydney. steve smith top scored for the aussies with 94 in their total of 280 for eight off their 50 overs. and while it wasn't a huge target, england lost two wickets inside the first over without scoring a run. from there they were always struggling and slipped to a 72 run defeat, bowled out for 208. the final match is on tuesday in melbourne. the european tour's season ending championship is taking place this weekend. england's mat fitzpatrick is a shot off the lead heading into the final round in dubai. northern ireland's rory mclroy is also in the mix who has produced some stunning golf. this approach at the eighth almost went straight in for eagle. his round of seven under par puts him just three shots off the lead. held byjohn rahm.

that's all the sport for now. the uk snooker championship is at the final stage, tom ford, and the second semifinal is available across the bbc. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. the boss of rochdale boroughwide housing, who died due to the impact of mould in his home, has been removed from hisjob. an inquest into awaab's death in december 2020 found it was due to a respiratory condition caused by mould in the one—bedroom flat. the board of rbh said it wasn't tenable for gareth swarbrick to stay on. 0ur correspondent samantha nanda has more on this. gareth swarbrick, who

was the chief executive of rochdale borough housing, the housing association that rented the flat to awaab ishak�*s family, he has now been removed by the board. as little as 2a hours ago yesterday the board had given him his full backing. this is after a coroner concluded earlier in the week that the two—year—old had died in 2020 after exposure to mould in his home. his family had repeatedly raised the issue with the housing association, but no action was taken. in a statement today the board of rbh who had previously backed mr swarbrick, as i said, said they had removed him with immediate effect from his position as chief executive. they said they would now work to appoint an interim chief exec. of their decision to back mr swarbrick as little as 2a hours ago, they said their original instincts were for him to stay on to see the organisation through this difficult period and to make necessary changes, but they now recognise that this was no longer tenable. a government source has also

responded to the removal of gareth swarbrick today. they have said that they are welcoming it, because of his profound failings as this chief executive of rochdale borough housing, but there are still some very serious questions for the board to answer. government sources asked why they gave mr swarbrick their full backing after the coroner's report as recently as 2a hours ago, and also why they failed to answer basic questions about the state of their housing stock. the secretary of state for levelling up said he will continue to take a very close interest in rochdale borough housing and will stand up for tenants as necessary. earlier today a vigil was held in rochdale for two—year—old awaab, where they welcomed the news of mr swarbrick�*s removalfrom post, but many people attending there have been asking why it so long. negotiators at the cop—27 climate summit in egypt are considering a draft agreement

that includes payments to help developing nations deal with global warming. there has been long—standing opposition in the west to a so—called loss and damage fund because of fears that china would not contribute. 0ur science correspondent, victoria gill, gave us her analysis from the summit. well, the peripheral event around these negotiations is just closing down around the negotiators, and we have just seen the latest version of a draft agreement, a proposed text that these countries could sign off on at some point in these overrunning negotiations, and it'sjust a question of whether what is in that draft text could be something that every single party here could agree on. crucially, there is no mention of a phase down in fossil fuels, that was lost from the text earlier in the talk. the language on this 1.5 degree target that was set by the paris agreement, this threshold to limit the most dangerous impacts of climate change, the language on that has not been strengthened as much as major players like

the eu would like to see. they have already threatened to walk away from these talks if they don't see that target being really affirmed in this agreement. it's still a case that this vexed issue of loss and damage, of funding for the most vulnerable countries that are suffering the impacts of climate change, we saw those floods in pakistan earlier this year, that issue is still to be worked out, who pays into this fund for all of that loss and damage. there is criticism of the egyptian presidency, as well, for leaving these issues to the countries rather than really steering these negotiations from the top. so, it's still the case that these talks could collapse, but at the moment it's just a case of wait and see, the negotiations go on, already overrunning, and we willjust wait to see what emerges. the prime minister rishi sunak said

he wants to make britain's safer for women and girls following a number of recent high—profile cases. mr sunak said his eldest daughter reaching the age where she wanted to walk to school by herself "brings home" the dangers faced by women and girls. simon jones has more. the role of prime minister inevitably brings with it a high level of security. but on a personal level, it was when rishi sunak�*s 11—year—old daughter said she wanted to walk to school herself that he had to reflect on the issue of safety. he told journalists — in the past i've taken it for granted and many of us as men have, and the events of the last year showed us that so many women and girls actually, for a while, have not felt safe as they should. so tackling that in making it safer for people is something that is personally quite important to me. there have been numerous walks, vigils and protests calling for change. this one was in honour of zara alleema. she was attacked by a stranger as she was walking home in east london injune. police said she had every right to be there,

every right to feel safe. jordan mcsweeney was caught on camera following her. yesterday, he pleaded guilty to murder. at the time of the attack, he only recently been released from prison and his licence had been revoked by the probation service. in a separate case, these women were killed in solihull in 2018. they didn't feel safe, they had asked the police for help. they were stabbed to death by her estranged husband. this is him following them on a night out. west midlands police have failed them beyond imagination. they had so many opportunities to save their lives right up until the end. both were murdered while on the phone to the police begging for help. this is the moment he was finally arrested. yesterday, a jury at the inquest found earlier police errors materially contributed to their deaths. west midlands police

have apologised. last year, the murder of sarah everard by a met police officer prompted grief protests and a national debate on women's safety. police say it's still rare for people to be abducted from the streets but have promised reform. rishi sunak said he is committed to putting more police officers on the streets and increasing the number of prison places. but labour has accused the government are taking an axe to the vital services that are supposed to protect us. simon jones, bbc news. train services between london, the west and the south—west of england have been disrupted today because of a strike by signallers in the thames valley. the row is separate to the ongoing national rail dispute — and a further walkout is planned for monday. donald trump has hit out at the us justice department for hiring a special counsel to investigate whether criminal charges should be brought against him. the us attorney general has appointed a former war crimes prosecutor as special counsel to handle investigations into the former us president.

jack smith will rule on whether criminal charges should be filed against the former president relating to the removal of top secret documents to his florida residence and to the january 6th capitol riots. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt. hello. the rain may have eased off, but river levels will continue to rise, and through today so far we've still had severe flood warnings out from sepa across parts of eastern scotland, and there is still some more rain to come during the next 2a hours. not quite the extent as what we've seen of late, but it's coming in this evening across ireland, then into western scotland, wales, western england. some heavy bursts at times, it's going to turn a bit more erratic as it works its way eastwards, so there will be some drier moments, but we could even see a bit of sleet and snow mixed in on the tops of the hills. temperatures will be a little bit up and down through the night, but by the end of the night most places will be around 5—8 celsius as we start sunday. cloudy and wet start,

that rain falling on saturated ground in eastern parts of scotland, eastern areas of england, as well. brightening up here quicker than it will do across eastern scotland, but the sunshine will come out for most. the far north, east aberdeenshire, parts of caithness and 0rkney may stay cloudy and damp all day long. away from that, though, western areas start dry and sunny, but we will see some showers, some of those heavy and thundery. they'll develop and work their way eastwards for the end of the afternoon and evening. another cool day at 8—12 degrees. now on bbc news, the media show. hello — how should journalists cover climate protests? the climate conference, cop27, ended this week. but you might have seen more about the activists who threw oil on a gustav klimt painting in vienna or the protesters who brought the m25 to a standstill. in an era of apparently increasing climate action,

what's the media's role? and by giving the latest stunt publicity, is it fanning the flames?