welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... ukraine's interior minister is killed in a helicopter crash in kyiv. it came down close to a children's nursery. 1a people have died, including a child. translation: we ran - into the street and turning. there were bodies and debris lying around. there was smoke, blood and clothes — and mothers were running. after her acquittal on tax evasion charges, philippine journalist and nobel peace prize winner maria ressa tells me about what she calls the weaponisation of the law against her. and you know, it went down to these three things —

facts, truth, and justice. that is who won today. also coming up in this hour of newsday... ambulance staff and nurses in england and wales will strike on the same day next month in the health service's biggest walk—out of the current dispute. and another day gets underway at the australian open, but defending champion rafael nadal heads home after his dramatic second—round exit. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. welcome to newsday. it's 8am in singapore, and 2am in ukraine — where the government says it's suffered its biggest loss of the war, when the three principalfigures in the interior ministry were killed after their helicopter crashed in kyiv. interior minister denys

monastyrskiy died with his deputy and the department's state secretary, along with the crew, when the aircraft came down in bad weather in brovary, a suburb of the capital. the crash set fire to a children's nursery. at least 1a people died, including one child. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse sent this report from the scene — and a warning, you may find some of his report distressing. even with the backdrop of war, it's been one of ukraine's bleakest days. in the mist of the morning, a helicopter came down next to a children's nursery. translation: blood and clothes, and mothers were running. - from the moment the helicopter finally stopped, the a nswers slowly ca me. all nine people on board were killed. so too were those caught in its path. translation: i heard a loud sound, turned and saw- an explosion of flames. i wasn't thinking about what i saw.

we soon learned a child was among the dead. then, news that it was senior government officials on a journey east towards the front line. they included this man, ukraine's interior minister denys monastyrsky — a strong ally of president zelensky. they were together yesterday. he also handed medals to some of ukraine's national guard... ..and said the war was taking lives, health, strength and nerves. you can see where the journey went wrong. denys monastyrsky was travelling eastwards to the front line before his helicopter came down into the heart of this nursery. rescue teams are still going through the rubble. there are body bags in the playground. and he would often make journeys like this at low altitude, which of course comes with its own risks. we went along on one last year. you can't go much higher

than the tree line to avoid being targeted. speaking to world leaders today, president zelensky addressed what happened. 14 ukrainian families lost their loved ones today, and many more families are losing daily. as for the obvious question, the cause is not known. an analysis of images of the crash site by the bbc hasn't revealed any evidence of missile debris, and ukrainian officials have made no mention of any missile fire. in times of war, many suspect the enemy. these are dangerous times to be a ukrainian. james waterhouse, bbc news, kyiv region. i spoke earlier to former us ambassador to ukraine, john herbst, and asked what the impact would be on ukraine's leadership.

so their loss is a loss to ukraine's effort to win a savage war. but there are other able professionals in ukraine who will take the place of those lost today, and i'm sure the impact on the actual war effort will be small. but they were distinguished officials and fighters, and they should be honoured. indeed, and particularly with the interior minister, as i understand it, he was very close to president zelensky. in terms of how you think president zelensky has approached this, he was at davos — i understand you have been there, as well — and when he made that speech to people in the room, he sounded still quite defiant, didn't he? first, he was here virtually, he was broadcasting from ukraine. yes, of course he's defiant, he's facing a war of annihilation waged by vladimir putin. and he's been brilliant as a war leader — in part by rallying his people to deal with the danger to their existence as ukrainians. so he has no choice. what implications do

you think this accident, or what has happened will have in terms of how officials travel safely in ukraine? i suspect they'll take a second or third look at helicopter flights at low altitudes. beyond that, i'm not sure we will see something. but that will be a step forward. and interestingly, in terms of how the war effort goes forward, germany has announced it's no longer dependent on russian energy imports — how important do you think that is in terms of germany's involvement in sending tanks? we didn't get any confirmation of that, of course, when the german chancellor spoke. look, removing the foolish dependency they had on russian oil and especially gas is critical for germany's economic well—being and security, as well as european prosperity and security. however, germany has been less

than resolute in dealing with the russian invasion of ukraine that began last february. they promised a major change in policy providing military as well as economic support to ukraine — they've actually been rather weak on the weapons question, even forbidding other countries from sending their own tanks to ukraine because they had german parts. there is the expectation this week that germany will dismiss their veto on sending other countries their part tanks to ukraine, we hope that's true. but the germans should send their own tanks. but i'm not sure they'll do that yet. i think olaf scholz needs to find his inner bismarck if he wants to be a statesman. the ukrainian president has used an address to the world economic forum in davos to urge allies to send more weapons before russia launches new offensives. the head of nato, jens

stoltenberg, told the same forum that ukraine's allies would promise to provide heavier, more modern weapons, at a meeting in germany on friday. there is an urgent need. contact group with all its many partners, and the main message today will be more support, more advanced support, heavier weapons, and more modern weapons. because this is a fight for our values, for our democracy, and wejust fight for our values, for our democracy, and we just have to prove that democracy wins over tyranny, and oppression. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines.... germany's finance minister says the country is "no longer dependent on russian imports" for its energy supply. christian lindner told the bbc that his country had completely

diversified its energy infrastructure since president putin turned off the gas taps to europe, which had led to fears of blackouts this winter. protesters from around peru are continuing to arrive in the capital, lima, to demonstrate against the president and demand that the government immediately hold elections. at least 42 people have died in five weeks of clashes, between protesters and security forces, according to peru's human rights mediator. last week, peru's top prosecutor launched an inquiry into the president and key ministers after weeks of deadly clashes. the officials are being investigated on charges of "genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries". microsoft says it's cutting 10,000 jobs. it is another big lay off in the us tech sector. although it is less than 5% of the total workforce. microsoft ceo, satya nadella, spoke of the need for caution as parts of the world go into recession. it follows similar announcements by amazon and meta.

to other news now — and the nobel prize winning journalist maria ressa has been acquitted of tax evasion charges by a court in manila. her news site, rappler, was also cleared of tax evasion. ms ressa, who was awarded the nobel prize alongside a russian journalist in 2021, is head of rappler, which earned a reputation for its in—depth reporting and tough scrutiny of former president rodrigo duterte. she was convicted in 2020 of libel and does face several other charges, which she says are politically motivated. i've been speaking to maria ressa about her relief. this is the very first legal win that rappler has ever had since president duterte took office, and the kind of social media manipulation, the harassment online, and then the weaponisation of the law happened. so this is a day that we had hoped would happen sooner. this case was...

we went to trial for more than four years to get to this point, but we are here. and, you know, it went down to these three things — facts, truth, and justice. that is who won today. did you ever think you would see a day like this? yes, ijust did not expect it to take so long. you know, martin luther king says, yes, it will take time, but my lord! i was just reading through the 80 page decision and there was no reason to have taken us to court. but having said that, well, here we go, itjust took a little while, four years and two months exactly, but we are not tax evaders, we never were. and, you know, for your case, this was incredibly important because this was about investments in the philippines, investments in a start—up company, right, that's the other part. so it was where business and economics, where rule of law, which is necessary for growth, and finally

the last one, human rights and press freedom. these were incredibly important. this was an incredibly important day because it would have set a direction for which way the philippines was going. what is your message to young journalists out there today, people who are, you know, trying to embark on this sort of career and looking at all the different factors around them ? oh, my god, karishma, i remember whenjournalists, the trust and credibility ratings of our profession was very high, higher than anyone, that was the time when i decided to become a journalist. i think about this time as creative destruction. the world as we knew it has been completely destroyed, because it has, it only seems familiar, but we must create it now. that is certainly the challenge for us here at rappler. the form ofjournalism has changed so much. are you on tiktok? this is a debate we have at rappler.

i talk about facebook as a mallet for our minds, but tiktok as a surgical probe. there are lots of things that we have to deal with, plus our communities and this generation. gen z is very different. imagine if you're in high school and you are trying to curate your life for a feed, for a crowd that could turn into a mob like this. what types of values do you have? i worry about the next generation, but that is exciting in another way. for the young journalist coming up today, this is up to you, we must create it together. you have talked a lot about social media in our conversation, maria, and if you were in the room with mark zuckerberg, what would you say to him? draw your lines, mark. in america, shareholders say... you know, you prioritise your shareholders, but there is a line between amoral, immoral, and evil. and you have to know when you've crossed those lines, when what you have created inspires autocracy

and fascism, inspires violence, enables genocide. this should make you think. dmitry muratov, who won the nobel peace prize with me in 2021, just came out with a video last night where he asked president marcos to think about his obituary. mark, think about your obituary. if you want more on maria ressa's acquital you can head to the bbc news website or download the bbc news app. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: in australia, rafael nadal�*s open comes to a close. we'll have the latest as the tournament's defending champion makes a dramatic exit.

donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill, in washington. it's going to be only america first. america first. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him - the butcher of lyon. klaus altmann is being heldj on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want i to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief, klaus barbie. - millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot —

a tide of humanity that's believed by officials to have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. to afghanistan now — and the most senior un delegation to visit the country since the taliban swept to power in 2021 has flown into kabul to raise concerns about restrictions on women working for aid agencies. the visit by the un deputy secretary—general, amina mohammad, comes as some international aid organisations have partially resumed work in afghanistan after receiving assurances that women can work in the health sector. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports from kabul. winters are always harsh in afghanistan, but this is the winter of all winters,

not only the temperatures below freezing, but this is a country where electricity is erratic or absent and heating is hard to find, especially in remote areas of afghanistan, which are all but cut off by snow. but on top of that, this year, the taliban have decided that afghan women can no longer work for the international aid agencies who are desperately trying to get this urgently needed aid to millions of people who need it. so just how urgent is the situation? we'rejoined here in kabul by samira syed rahman, who works for the international charity, the international rescue committee. how worried are you? you know, international rescue committee was able to reach five million afghans last year. we've suspended most of our activities across the country because we are not able to work without our female staff at all levels of our organisation. we were already seeing earlier at the end of last year that most families around this country were having to choose

between food or heating. the taliban recently clarified that they'll make an exception when it comes to the health ministry, because they do need women doctors and nurses to serve women of this country. is it possible that step by step, this could be reversed? as we saw with the health sector, it's notjust doctors and nurses. we also need female staff at all levels of our organisation in admin roles, in finance roles, in technical support to work alongside ourfemale colleagues. this is a conservative society. samira syed, we wish you the best and all eyes now are on this high level united nations delegation. it says there needs to be a woman. there also needs to be women coming to this country at this high level to underline that educated women playing senior roles in society is absolutely part of the world we live in today. because it's notjust that afghan women are being stopped from working in certain states, notjust aid, but in many government industries. afghan girls are not going to school. they're not

going to university. they're also not even allowed to go to public parks in this city. the world wants to say with one voice — this is not acceptable. and lyse will be reporting from afghanistan all this week. to the uk now, and health bosses in england and wales say they are "hugely concerned" as the nhs prepares to face its biggest day of industrial action ever next month. our health editor hugh pym reports. claps don't pay the bills, claps don't pay the bills! outside the hospital, the noise from striking nurses and protesters. claps don't pay the bills, claps don't pay the bills! inside, the operating theatres are silent. no planned operations are going ahead. there is no—one in the recovery room. today we would have had two

days' worth of operations planned in these theatres, our newest set of theatres here at the grafton way building, and we have nothing planned at all in terms of surgical activity today or tomorrow. and what normally happens here, what level of activity? normally we'd be busy with orthopaedic or ear, nose and throat surgery. it's one of our busiest surgical hubs in the whole of the uclh campus. but not today. university college hospital in london gave us access to one of their surgical centres. over 2,000 patients across the trust will miss their operations and appointments. the boss has called on unions and the government to settle the dispute. disputes like this, industrial action of this scale, is hugely disruptive, so it's notjust the cancelling of patients and reorganising their care, it's everything that goes behind that. but it's also motivating our staff, retaining our staff, keeping the morale of our staff high. given where this dispute's got to, what's your message to the government? my message and that of many chief executives around the country is that this needs

resolution. we cannot continue to go through periods of industrial action and the disruption that it's causing to patients and our staff. back on the street, nurses defended their decision to strike. so i'm out here to protest. we need a pay rise. we haven't had a pay rise for ten years in line with inflation, so we deserve better. every single day, we're . completely over capacity. it's not a safe environment to be looking after the patientsl and a strike is unfortunately the only thing we feel- like we've got left. what about patients affected today? they've missed out on their operation, their appointment they might have waited forfor a long time. yep, so this is it, but iti feels like this is the last thing that we had to do. as my colleagues have been saying today, it is with deepj consideration that we stand here and do this today. - hopefully, to do this i is to get what we want and for the future, stop any of this happening again. - feelings are clearly running high on picket lines,

but the question is, where do things go from here? right now, there seems to be a stand—off between the government and health unions. the health secretary covering england gave his response to the strike action. i'm disappointed by the strikes. obviously, the losers are the patients who suffer the disruption. of course the strikes are in one quarter of trusts, so three—quarters of trusts are not striking and i'm grateful for the work that nurses and other staff are doing across the nhs. # do a deal, do a deal, do a deal! as striking nurses in wigan called for a deal, a march from university college hospital involving nurses and other campaigners reached westminster and the biggest set of walk—outs by ambulance staff and nurses was announced for a single day in february. hugh pym, bbc news. new zealand's prime minister jacinda ardern has announced

she's to leave her post, saying she "no longer had enough in the tank" to do the job. she said that a general election will be held in october and confirmed she will also stand down as an mp at that moment, although she will finish as prime minister no later than 7th february. she said, "i am not leaving because i believe we cannot win the next election, but because i believe we can and will." she told a labour caucus meeting in napier. already, her deputy grant robertson has said he won't stand to be labour leader. lots of upheaval there, we will get you more on that story as and when we can. the australian open continues in melbourne park with some big names gracing the courts. tennis host and writer, blair henley, told me it was a dramatic day for one of the game's greats. well, i think all eyes were on rafael nadal. last night, for those of us in the states, he was knocked out in the second round by mackenzie mcdonald —

he's the defending champion, the number one seed. we know rafa is prone to injury, it was tough to watch him pull up a little in the second set. he was clearly hampered in the third and watching him limp off the court and down the hallway is never a site you want to see from one of the game's all—time greats. but listen, i don't doubt that rafa will get back on the court as soon as humanly possible, and i think we'll see him later in the year. but there are so many other storylines, as you said — will novak djokovic get that 22nd grand slam title, tying rafa nadal? action all over the grounds on melbourne park today. so exciting, but there's also concern, hasn't there, about conditions in australia, and how that's affected the games? you've heard the saying "fortune favours the brave" — it also favours the adoptable. two days ago, it was around 37 celsius — today, just about 18, yesterday it was raining. and all these different conditions affect the way the court plays, the way

the ball bounces — which can be very good for some players depending on their game style, and maybe not so good for other players. so maybe it's a matter of fighting through on one day until you get the conditions that you prefer. players have been making their feelings known about the quality of tennis balls? i've been reading that, blair, at this year's open, and the reviews haven't been too kind. talk us through that. so we've heard from some of the players that maybe the balls aren't responding to spin quite the same way that a normal ball would. and again, some of that could be because of the changes in temperature, that affects the way a ball bounces. but if a player doesn't feel they can get that good feel when they're rushing up the back of the ball, getting that top spin or slice spin, that'll be a big challenge on the tennis court. that's all for now —

stay with bbc news. hello. this week's weather has been following a familiar pattern — most of the wintry showers have been across northern and western parts of the uk, so it's a good covering of snow in places, especially into the higher ground. the further east you are in the uk, it's been mainly dry. even though it's been sunny though, it hasn't melted the frost. and we're in the cold air clearly. there is a change though going into the weekend — milder air toppling in across the north and west of the uk. warmer colours doesn't translate into sunshine, mind you. the blue hanging on a bit longer towards east anglia and the southeast — so here through the weekend, we'll stay cold. until the weekend, though, it is cold still across the uk. however, where we've had those wintry showers, once we get past thursday morning, they will be easing. another widespread and quite hard frost as the day begins, and do watch out for ice after the showers we've had overnight, and there'll

still be some falling into the morning — northern scotland, for example, for northern ireland, for wales and for western parts of england. there are met office warnings out there, do check those if you're heading out early on. through the day, most of these wintry showers will fade. a lot of people will have dry weather, but windy with further rain, sleet, and snow pushing back in across northern scotland, adding to the snow we've already got here, and maybe the odd shower brushing the north sea coast of northeast england into the afternoon. temperatures only slowly heading up, but it'll clearly feel quite cold — though, for many away from northern scotland, there is a lighter wind on through thursday night and into friday morning. still some wintry showers across northern and eastern scotland along some north sea coasts, as well. but for most, it's dry and clear, though, the chance of getting some fog patches across western parts. and maybe not as cold first thing, but still a widespread frost. and actually on friday, the focus of the showers will be in north sea coastal counties. where we've had most of the wintry showers so far today, it'll be dry

and mainly sunny. temperatures maybe a degree or so higher in places, but it'll still feel cold out there. into the weekend, though, the changes are under way — now i mentioned, although it is turning milder across the north and west, there'll be plenty of cloud around, there will be patchy rain. where it's clearer still, down towards the south and east, the cold air hangs on after a frosty start. there could be a few patches reluctant to clear, and perhaps more widespread fog towards the southeast on sunday. temperatures only gradually rising across southeast england, where elsewhere it's turning much milder — 11 celsius, for example, in armagh.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. brazilian democracy was shaken to its foundations earlier this month, but it is still standing. now president lula has to try to fix the cracks. his government must figure out whether another assault on government institutions is likely and hold those

responsible for what looked like a half—baked coup attempt to account.