welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... the actor alec baldwin is to be charged with involuntary manslaughter after a fatal shooting on the set of the film rust. the family of the cinematographer who was shot dead said they supported the decision. but alec baldwin's lawyer says it "represents a terrible miscarriage ofjustice". growing pressure on nato countries to send more tanks to ukraine — we have a special report from the front line. distant explosions very active front lines this morning. we're very close to soledar — seized by the russians in the last few days. shock and surprise — world leaders express

their disbelief after new zealand's prime minister announces she's stepping down. and the harrowing anti—war epic all quiet on the western front leads the nominations for this year's british academy film awards. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, and 3pm in los angeles — where we begin our programme with the news that the hollywood actor alec baldwin is to be charged with the involuntary manslaughter of the cinematographer halyna hutchins, who was shot dead on the set of the film rust. —— 4pm in los angeles. the film's armourer — who was responsible for the weapon — will face the same charge after a gun that the actor discharged on set was found

to contain live ammunition. sophie long has the latest from los angeles. the frantic efforts to save halyna hutchins in the moments after she was shot. it was during rehearsals on the set at the bonanza creek ranch in new mexico when the shootings and deaths depicted on the 19th century western they were filming became all too real. alec baldwin was holding the gun that discharged the bullet that killed her. how's it going, sir? he was also one of the film's producers. he now faces two charges of involuntary manslaughter. in a statement, the actor's lawyer said, "this decision distorts halyna hutchins�* tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage ofjustice." "mr baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun, or anywhere on the movie set." the film's armourer, who loaded the gun, hannah gutierrez—reed, faces the same charges. the first assistant director dave halls has pled guilty to negligent discharge of a deadly weapon. the santa fe district

attorney said... halyna is survived by her young son and husband, matthew hutchins. after he reached a settlement in his wrongful death lawsuit against the producers injanuary last year, he said filming of rust would resume. the criminal charges are a devastating development for baldwin, who is 64, and has said he was heartbroken by the incident. am i being charged with something? he's always denied responsibility for halyna's death, saying he had been told the gun was safe. his lawyer says they will fight the charges and they will win. sophie long reporting on that story for us. former us federal prosecutor and president of la based west coast trial lawyers, neama rahmani, told me what the charges in this case will actually mean. there's two separate manslaughter counts — the first is a potential sentence of 18 months in prison for alec baldwin,

but it's really the second charge that's the most serious because it has a firearms enhancement — that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in a new mexico state prison. so if baldwin is convicted of that second count, a judge can't sentence him to below that five—year number. indeed, and we have that statement from alec baldwin's attorney who has said that the decision distorts halyna hutchins�* tragic death, and that they'll continue to fight these charges, and they're quite confident they'll win. but what will the prosecution have to prove in this case? well, they have to prove that it's more than a mere accident — simple negligence just isn't enough for criminal liability here. so the district attorney today talked about alec baldwin independently needing to verify that the gun was safe and not loaded. and she also discussed the live rounds and shootings onset, the reckless and cavalier attitude of many of

the staff members of the production company. there's also other basis for liability — perhaps baldwin should not have pointed the weapon at hutchins, even though he believed it was unloaded. and he said he didn't pull the trigger, but the fbi says that he did, and there's the question of whether he should've cocked the hammer back. so whether it's one of these factors or a combination of reckless behaviour, that's the district attorney public office will need to prove. and in terms of penalties, what are we looking at here? well, we're looking at potential years for baldwin — and that's why i don't think a resolution will be reached. we saw dave halls plead guilty and get a slap on the wrist with six months�* probation, but i don't think the attorney's office can offer any deal that baldwin and his lawyers will accept. so this case will go to trial — baldwin has a strong defence that he was told it was a cold gun and didn't know and didn't act negligently or recklessly. but if he is convicted, especially of those more serious charges, he'll do

time in prison. so what's next at this point, and do you have an idea of what sort of process and timeframe we're looking at? well, baldwin won't be arrested, he'll be given what we call a summons or notice to appear, and he'll be arraigned on these charges. and then, new mexico has a six months, approximately 182—day speedy trial clock. now criminal defendants like baldwin will waive their right to a speedy trial and push this out, but we'll see the beginning of the criminal process — the first step being baldwin appearing in court and answering to the charges. if you want more on alec baldwin's case and the whole story, head to the bbc news website, orsimply story, head to the bbc news website, or simply download the bbc news app if you haven't done so already, lots of

analysis and in—depth reporting there for you to go through. world leaders have been reacting to the shock resignation of new zealand's prime minister, jacinda ardern. ms ardern will step down next month, after saying she no longer has "enough in the tank" to continue. she became the world's youngest female head of government in 2017 — but will leave her post at the start of february and won't lead her party into october's general election. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent shaimaa khalil, who is in the capital, wellington. well, the prime minister has been speaking a bit earlier in napier, where the caucus of the labour party has been meeting. this is the start of the political year, and they were meeting to set out their plans — and of course, then they have a big, big change ahead of them, who will be the new leader and prime minister? jacinda ardern said she feels relieved this morning, that she slept well for the first time in a long time, and she did point out that she wasn't going to back any particular candidate. the centre—left labour party

will meet here in that building behind me, the parliament building on sunday, and they'll decide who will be the next party leader. chris hipkins, the current education minister, is named as the favourite, but we still don't have confirmation. the reaction here in new zealand has been mixed. remember, jacinda ardern is somewhat of a global political superstar around the world — but here, it's a different picture. many people have said that in this last year, with the cost—of—living crisis, the housing crisis which many feel her government has not delivered on, and the rising crime rates, and also what many people see as draconian measures of covid—i9, with many families isolated with these lockdown extensions, and with the covid—i9 vaccination mandate, bringing people to the streets actually,

that her government failed in many ways. i was actually speaking to someone who said, "i'm glad she resigned, i don't think she handled the covid—i9 crisis very well" — mind you, she was praised in the beginning for that. others have said that this was simply a political tactic, that she stepped down before essentially being pushed out because there have been serious issues and questions about whether she could actually win the next election, with her personal popularity here in new zealand at an all—time low with the recent polls. but with that decision, the way that she did it and what she said — whether it was her supporters or critics — it took both by surprise. she's been at the forefront of politics in new zealand for nearly six years, becoming something of a globalfigurehead. but today, jacinda ardern shocked the nation and the world, announcing she's standing down. i will not be seeking re—election. it was an emotional press conference in which she said she no longer had the energy

to go on as leader. i know what this job takes, and i know that i no longer have enough in the tank to do itjustice. her legacy today has been praised at home and abroad. this job takes a toll on you as a person and on your family as well, especially when you are a woman and there are maybe different standards for women. ms ardern was the youngest head of government in the world when she was elected prime minister in 2017 — just 37 years old at the time. her premiership has been tested time and time again. she led the nation's grieving after the christchurch terror attacks in 2019, in which 51 people were killed, and was praised for her decisiveness and empathy. she also steered the country through the covid—19 pandemic. thanks to an early and strict lockdown, new zealand has had one of the lowest death rates globally — but it's also

led to some criticism. this resignation was delivered in that trademark the prime minister said that, while the last five—and—a—half years were the most fulfilling of her life, she admitted that for her, it was now time. i think she's done an amazing job with the situation she's been put in. no, it was time for her to go, and no—one in their right mind would've voted for her, surely. overseas, she's definitely viewed very well, - whereas i think internally, she's probably maybe - lost the public's - acceptance a little bit. and let's keep moving! her centre—left labour party will elect a new leader and new prime minister on sunday. they'll take over in february. politicians are human. we give all that we can for as long as we can, and then it's time. and for me, it's time. jacinda ardern has been a bit of a rarity in

politics and diplomacy. she embraced being a young female leader, but she never let that define her leadership. it's her style of kindness and empathy that made her stand out and, despite the criticism of what she and her government were not able to achieve, it's that moment where she steered her country from one crisis to another that will define her leadership and her legacy. let's take you live to the capital of peru, lima, where riot police have fired teargas at stone—throwing protesters on a further day of anti—government demonstrations in the country. members of the security forces have confronted crowds demanding the resignation of president dina boluarte. in peru's second city, arequipa, police used teargas

to repel hundreds of protesters who tried to storm the airport. most of the demonstrators back the former president pedro castillo, who was impeached and arrested after he tried to dissolve congress last month. that's the picture in lima right now, we'll bring you more on that story as we get it. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... at least one football fan has been killed and 60 others injured in a crush outside a stadium in the southern iraqi city of basra. it happened as tens of thousands of fans headed to the basra international stadium to watch iraq play 0man in the final of the arabian gulf cup. the indian foreign ministry has described a bbc documentary on the prime minister narendra modi as "propaganda" that questions his leadership during the 2002 gujarat riots. the bbc says its documentary was rigorously reasearched.

british actorjulian sands, widely known for popular films and tv dramas including a room with a view, 2a, and smallville, disappeared last friday while hiking in the san gabriel mountains, north of los angeles. ground teams were forced to abandon their search at the weekend due to avalanche risks but will resume when conditions improve. but a car belonging to mr sands has been found near to where he was reported missing. to the war in ukraine now — and ukrainian forces have acknowledged "stepping back" from the bitterly contested donbas town of soledar, captured by russian forces last week in theirfirst significant victory after many months in retreat. soledar is where some of the fiercest fighting of the war has been taking place, it's close to bakhmut, a crucial supply route. 0ur correspondent andrew harding has been to the front line — and his report contains some scenes that you may find difficult to watch.

incoming artillery fire as we arrive close to the front line. a lot of incoming. a quick run for cover. we're in an area where russian and ukrainian infantry now appear to be fighting at close quarters. i'm going through the remains of a house here, hit by a shell. towards the ukrainian position. we're just hearing small arms fire as well as this heavy artillery fire, which means that the russian lines are very close. in fact, we're hearing they're just maybe a kilometre away across the fields behind me. ukrainian troops firing from the outskirts of the nearby town of soledar. they're clinging on here. but soledar itself is now in russian hands, the kremlin�*s first significant

victory in months. you've lost territory here, you've lost soledar? we have a quite tough situation here, so, but it's a controlled situation anyway. sometimes it's really better to take a step back, but destroy the enemy. then, after that, to make attack and to already crush enemy completely. we destroy each day 50—100 enemy people. ukrainian drone footage appears to back that up. a russian position here coming under artillery attack. several wounded russian soldiers visible in the aftermath. ukraine is losing men, too. it's not clear exactly how many, but medics insist morale remains high. they are tired, they are cold, they are wounded. but they ask me, man, doc, when can i return to my boys?

they don't say, oh, thanks, god, i'm wounded, now i can relax and so on. no. careful, careful. very active front lines this morning. the ukrainians have withdrawn, but they're now trying to pound russian positions as hard as they can to prevent them from advancing here and encircling the next bigger prize, which is the town of bakhmut, which the ukrainians have been defending fiercely for months now. ok, let's go. time to leave a fluid front line that is costing both sides so much. andrew harding, bbc news near soledar, ukraine. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... the harrowing anti—war epic all quiet on the western front leads the nominations for this year's british academy film awards.

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. 0ur headlines... the actor alec baldwin is to be charged with involuntary manslaughter after a fatal shooting on the set of the film rust. growing pressure on nato countries to send more tanks to ukraine. more weaponry�*s been promised, but kyiv says it's not enough. to france now — where there's been major disruption across the country as unions hold a day of strikes and protest marches against president macron�*s plans to overhaul the pension system. thousands of people have been marching through paris and in more than 200 cities. strikes have crippled much of the rail network and caused the cancellation of some flights. 0ur paris correspondent hugh schofield sent this update.

there is no doubt in my mind that the unions will be calling today a big success. four hours after the demonstration here in paris started — and they're still coming down here as night falls. the cgt union is saying 400,000 people have turned out here in the streets of paris — probably a gross exaggeration, these figures tend to be — but even if it's only half of that, it's still a big turnout and the pictures are very impressive. president macron knows that the next step will be more protests to come. probably very soon, they'll get the announcement of another day like this to be staged next week, with more strikes, more protests. president macron needs to get this bill through parliament as quickly as possible — but the challenge will grow. a new report from leading climate experts says that technology to remove, die from

our atmosphere must be urgently ramped up. —— to remove carbon dioxide. scientists say big cuts in co2 emissions won't be enough to limit global warming, and nature alone will not remove enough of it from the air. 0ur environment correspondent jonah fisher reports. scientists are clear that if carbon dioxide levels keep rising, our planet will keep warming. and at the moment, the amount being emitted, mainly through burning fossil fuels like oil and gas, far exceeds the amount being taken out. nature has been doing its best. trees and forests absorb c02, as does soil under certain conditions. but this new report from leading climate scientists makes it clear that the natural world will need some help, even if co2 emissions are massively cut, and that's still a big if, it's likely that some emissions will continue. that's where technology may come in, whether it be power stations that burn wooden crops and then capture the c02,

or huge facilities where carbon dioxide is sucked out of the air. the report calls for more investment in co2 removal now so that it can, if necessary, be dramatically scaled up in the future. this sort of recommendation isn't well received by everyone. many campaigners believe the search for technological solutions diverts attention away from the most pressing need, which is to massively cut the amount of fossil fuels we use and the carbon dioxide we emit. jonah fisher, bbc news. all quiet on the western front, a world war one epic adapted by netflix, is dominating this year's bafta nominations. the german—language film has received 1a in total — the first film to get that many nominations since the king's speech more than a decade ago. our culture editor, katie razzall, looks at this year's contenders.

leading the charge with 1a nominations, all quiet on the western front. visceral and very human, this first world war story's haul of nominations include best film and best director. it's a war or anti—war film without heroes. it's really just about young boys who are blinded by political propaganda, and go into war thinking of it as an adventure. now i'm sitting here next to you, and if you go back inside, i'm following you inside... the banshees 0f inisherin — the tale of two feuding friends in 1920s ireland — has ten nominations, with colin farrell and brendan gleeson among the acting nominees of the film. ijust don't- like you know more. mrs wang, are you with us? i am paying attention. the sleeper hit everything everywhere all at 0nce also has ten — taking travel through different universes to another

level, with michelle yeoh on the best actress shortlist. get a haircut, buttercup! and elvis — with nine nods, including best actor — could make history, if its cinematographer becomes the first woman ever to win that category. it's been a long time, but i think it's getting better. i think there's more inclusion and representation of women in the camera department now. 0n—screen, women being celebrated as best actress include cate blanchett for tar, and danielle deadwyler for till. as for the film that saved cinema after covid, top gun: maverick only picked up four technical nominations. commercial success it seems no guarantee, it seems, of bafta glory. katie razzall, bbc news. now play is under way on day five at the australian open tennis in melbourne. but one player enjoying his day off is andy murray. he was involved in the longest match of his career as he made an incredible late—night fightback to secure victory in his second round match

against thanasi kokkinakis. the match ended just after 4am local time with murray winning the deciding set 7—5 to complete a remarkable comeback from two sets down. 0nly lleyton hewitt�*s 2008 victory over marcos baghdatis in melbourne has had a laterfinish. quite remarkable that, indeed. and before we go — preparations have begun for the lunar new year this weekend, marked by communities all over the world. china's celebrations will include a rabbit—themed musical gala on television — rehearsals are under way. in china, it's the year of the rabbit, considered the luckiest of the 12 zodiac animals, representing peace and longevity. there are already a huge array of rabbit—themed baked goods and toys being sold in shops. in other countries like vietnam, it'll be the year of the cat. the festival begins on sunday, and many will be travelling to spend time with their families.

that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. quite a change of fortunes with our weather this week — it's been cold and frosty, has even been some snow showers around, as well. we'll close out the working week on a similar story — a frosty start, maybe some freezing fog around. but for many of us, it'll be sunny and cold. temperatures to greet us first thing below freezing in towns and city centres — so colder still in more rural spots, particularly where we've got that lying snow. but we've got this little brief ridge of high pressure that'll quieten things down and give us some sparkling sunshine throughout the day. weather fronts waiting in the wings — a change is on its way. now a brisk northerly breeze mightjust drive a few showers along that exposed east coast, it'll be fairly isolated. for many, after a frosty start, lots of sunshine. freezing fog may linger

in northern ireland for a time, but generally, those temperatures will peak for around 3—7 celsius, maybe a little bit milder in the southwest — the reason being this weather front that'll drive in this milder air. so a southwesterly wind starts to kick in to northern ireland and scotland for the start of the weekend — that will bring milder air with it, a rapid snow melt, as well, at times. you can see to greet us first thing on saturday morning, 3—4 celsius here, but across much of england and wales, still temperatures below freezing. it'll be another cold frosty start. lots of sunshine around across england and wales on saturday. but the cloud will push in through scotland, northern ireland, maybe northwest england, and there'll be some showery outbreaks of rain — not really amounting to too much, but a difference with the feel of the weather, 9—10 celsius here maybe temperatures around 3—7 across england and wales. still that weather front creeping in for the second half of the weekend, but the far southeast corner may well cling onto that colder

air throughout the whole of the weekend, so it's a slow process. certainly on sunday, there'll be more cloud around than we saw on saturday. there will be showery outbreaks of rain along west—facing coasts, some poor visibility here, the best of any brightness perhaps in the southeast — only around 3—4 celsius, out to the west, again, we could see double digits. the milder air will start to push in across the country, but it comes at a price, unfortunately — we'll lose that sparkling winter sunshine. there'll be a little more in the way of cloud around, but we'll see double figures for all.

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. venezuela's authoritarian leader, nicolas maduro, has, for the moment, outmanoeuvred those forces inside and outside the country, intent on his removal. last month, the opposition gave up on their own alternative president and indicated a willingness to negotiate with maduro. in the us, in latin america, and in europe, they seem ready to engage with the caracas regime, not least because oil

supplies are at a premium.