this is bbc news. i'm samantha simmonds, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. western defence chiefs fail to agree on the provision of advanced tanks to ukraine. the americans say it's still being discussed. you may have heard the german minister of defence earlier say they've not made a decision on the provision of leopard tanks. a top un official has told the bbc she believes progress is being made towards reversing bans on women taking part in public life in afghanistan. teenage girls tell the bbc how they were contacted online by the influencer andew tate and his brother, as they remain in custody in romania on rape and trafficking allegations. and forget life on mars — how about life onjupiter? we report from the space mission heading for the largest planet in our solar system.

hello, and welcome to the programme. a major meeting of ukraine's allies has ended without agreement on whether to send more tanks to kyiv. representatives of around 50 countries gathered at the us airbase in ramstein in germany to discuss co—ordinating military support. germany's new defence minister denied blocking the export of its leopard tanks, which kyiv has been pushing for, saying such a decision had to be carefully considered. ukraine says the tanks are needed to break the deadlock in the war. germany is under pressure to allow its leopard ii tanks to be exported to ukraine, which isn't a member of nato. germany's new defence minister has said no decision has been made, adding that berlin would not stand in the way of exports

if its allies acted together. the uk has commited to sending 1a challenger ii tanks to the front line. russia has warned that providing tanks would mark an "extremely dangerous" escalation. here's our europe correspondentjessica parker. this is what kyiv wants, but can't yet have. german—made leopard tanks, to help defend and reclaim its territory from russia. britain has gone first in sending western main battle tanks, but it is a fraction of what is being asked for. hundreds of thank—yous are not hundreds of tanks. all of us can use thousands of words in discussions. but i cannot put words instead of guns that are needed against russian artillery. defence chiefs have pledged fresh support. but berlin is still resisting pressure to release its leopard iis. it gets to decide where german—made tanks can

go, even those bought by other countries. minister, why is berlin so hesitant on this issue? we are not really hesitating, we are just very carefully balancing the pros and cons. we are not talking just about delivering anything to anybody. this is a new kind of measure. these crowds in berlin want germany to do more, but the government has its eye on broader public opinion. the country's world war ii history still casts a long shadow, while there are fears of escalation. they've not made a decision on the provision of leopard tanks. what we're really focused on is making sure that ukraine has the capability that it needs to be successful right now. the nato military alliance is pressing a sense of urgency. there is a need for support

to ukraine, to enable them not only to survive but actually to retake territory to win this war. but there is a lot of talk about a russian spring offensive. do you think ukraine can take back territory this year? absolutely. that's the reason why nato allies and partners are providing significantly more support to ukraine. a soviet—era tank in a war of today. front line ukrainian units are hungry for more modern weapons to help unfreeze this conflict. jessica parker, bbc news, in ramstein. so to what extent have western countries committed to backing ukraine in the war? our diplomatic correspondent james landale explains. western powers have given ukraine different weapons at different times, depending on what was needed. at the start, portable anti—tank weapons — like these nlaws — were crucial in helping ukraine resist the russian invasion.

then rockets — like these himars — were given to ukraine to hold back russian advances in the south. then it was air defences — like these nasams — that ukraine needed to protect itself from drones and missiles. and now it's hundreds of powerful battle tanks they say they need to break the deadlock on the battlefield. the reason ukraine is asking for perhaps 300 main battle tanks is that ukraine understands that number of high—quality tanks really would a major difference to the battle to take back ukraine, whether you are defending or attacking to it back. britain has promised ukraine some challenger iis — the british army's main battle tank. it's sending 1a — not enough to shift the balance, but enough, it's hoped, to get the ball rolling. but there is, as yet, no agreement on sending german—made leopard ii tanks. they are easy to maintain and there are lots of them —

almost 2,000 in use across europe. but there are fears in germany that sending them could escalate the conflict. the great majority of the tanks are actually outside germany but you do need german spare parts and logistical support, so i hope that after this public discussion we will come together and do what's necessary. the west has already given ukraine a huge amount of military support. you can see from this chart — in monetary terms, the united states has given most. this debate about tanks consent technical at times, but it matters because decisions could shape the next phase of the bore and determine which side has the initiative going into the spring. —— the next phase of the war. so what will be the reaction in moscow to this stalement on sending more military aid to ukraine? here's the bbc�*s russia

editor steve rosenberg. i mean, those three words, "ended without agreement" — putin will have really appreciated that because nothing puts a smile on his face like division or disagreement, or lack of agreement in the west. the fact that there'll be no american german battle tanks going yet to ukraine, russia will be pleased by that. this morning's edition of the russian government paper — there was a warning, pretty clear warning to germany and to the german chancellor not to supply tanks. basically, the paper — this is it — saying, "no—one knows better than the german chancellor what happened the last time that germany sent armour towards the border of russia" — meaning world war two. and there was a picture here of a modern german tank, saying that "when these tanks start killing russian soldiers, then the same thing will happen as in world war two" — and here, a picture of a german tank in 1941 destroyed outside moscow. so threats from the russian

government paper today. but interestingly, when the kremlin commented on this meeting in ramstein, it was quite dismissive, really. it said that supplies of tanks, of western tanks wouldn't make a difference, that their importance shouldn't be exaggerated, and that they wouldn't change the outcome. russia's still confident it will achieve its goals, as it says, in ukraine. so the official message from the kremlin is everything's still going according to plan — but clearly it isn't. steve rosenberg there. let's turn to afghanistan now — where a top un official believes progress is being made towards reversing bans on women taking part in public life. last month, the taliban banned all women from working for aid agencies — the latest in a series of restrictions on the rights of women and girls. amina mohammed, the un deputy secretary general, has been in afghanistan, for talks with the taliban — and she's been travelling with our chief international correspondent lyse doucet.

a space to call their own. their own shops, run by afghan women for afghan women. but a new taliban edict shut down a training programme here. all of us cried. this, their response. all night we cry. these four women, all university—educated, lost theirjobs, the life they knew and loved. our future is very dark. it's not bright. do you see any light? no. we're here because we really want to hear your voices. that's why the un's second in command is here — amina mohammed, its most senior woman. trying to change taliban government edicts barring women from most work places and education. that's why she headed

to the southern province of kandahar to meet some of the most conservative taliban leaders. we're going to use this to push the door wider and not allow to it close. and not allow it to close, because it would close on the women of afghanistan, and that'sjust not an option we will leave on the table. the council of islamic scholars, explaining their strict interpretation of women's rights within islam. so strict it's been criticised by many islamic countries. ms mohammed, a muslim herself, made her case too, in a man's court. amina mohammed, how did it go? tough. tough? tough. as in, no meeting of minds? i think that there is a distance to be covered. we've come little closer to understanding better why they took the decisions. and there is some

hope, but it's tough. so when we sat down i asked — what gives you hope? i think there are many voices we heard which are progressive in the way that we would like to go, but there are others that really are not, and i think that it is a struggle within them to bring those that are not, forward too. there are many who believe, many afghan women, some even in the united nations, who believe that when the taliban say "until further notice" it means never. they say the taliban haven't and won't change. what do you say to that? well, i always have hope, because by agreeing to that i've just written off 23 million people in this country. that's not acceptable to me, and i will fight until we make sure they're included because if we give up on the women of afghanistan, how many other women are we going to give up on when it gets too hard? the taliban — still not recognised by any government, under sanctions — say

they should be brought into the international community. the message from envoys like ms mohammed is — first demonstrate your commitment to international norms, including women's rights. lyse doucet, bbc news, kabul. anti—abortion activists are rallying in washington for the 50th annual march for life, calling for further restrictions on the termination of pregnancies. it's the first such event since the supreme court overturned the roe v wade decision that had recognised a woman's constitutional right to abortion. nomia iqbal reports. it is a key march, in that this is the first time they have marched since the roe v wade was overturned. they've been marching every year since 1973, but today, they're seeing this march as a sort of celebration, happy about the fact that the legislation has been overturned. but all of them, when you stop and ask them, they do say that their work is not over. so behind me is congress —

and actually, usually on the marches, they don't come to congress, they go straight to the supreme court, which is to the left of me. but they're not going there this time because, of course, the supreme court has given them what they wanted. by coming to congress, they're making the symbolic point that their argument is no longer a legal one. this is now a legislative argument, they want more to be done — because remember, up to 12—13 republican—led states have got near bans on abortions, whereas there are still fights happening legally in other states for abortion to be — for a ban on abortion to be enforced. so as far as the marchers here are concerned, their work isn't over. nomia, you said there is more to be done, there are some states that have allowed women the right to seek an abortion. where are we, in terms of cases that are pending, or states that are taking that next step? where are we with this story?

well, as i mentioned, there are 12—13, up to 13 republican—led states which have got a near ban on abortion. you've got a couple of states where abortion hasn't been banned, but it's unavailable. and then, there are other states, of course, as i mentioned, where there are still fights going on to try... what a lot of activists want to do is — what they disagree on, i should say — is what the cutoff point is on when a woman should be allowed to have a termination. the other thing that i think is really crucial to point out is that there are lots of states which have upheld abortion rights — they've enshrined it into their constitution, which we saw in the midterm elections. we're talking about deeply conservative states like kentucky, also kansas. we're talking about deeply conservative states like kentucky, also kansas. and so, i think that has actually empowered the pro—choice movement, and they think that actually, when it comes down to it, not all americans are on the same

page, that many americans don't agree with roe v wade being overturned. and in new zealand politics — chris hipkins is set to replace jacinda ardern as new zealand's prime minister, after being the only nominee for leadership of the labour party. hipkins is expected to be confirmed as the new leader by a meeting of labour's 64 lawmakers, or caucus, on sunday. he is currently the minister for the police, education, public service and serves as leader of the house. you are watching bbc news. the main story this hour... western defence chiefs fail to agree on the provision of advanced tanks to ukraine. the americans say it's still under discussion. let's stay with that story. i spoke to kurt volker, who is a former us ambassador to nato and special representative for ukraine relations. he says there's no reason to not provide ukraine with leopard ii tanks. russia has declared an all—out war against ukraine, determined to eliminate ukraine as a state, as a national identity, as a people. and with that, there's nothing to do but to help them defend themselves,

so there's no reason not to provide these tanks. that being said, i think germany is hesitating and pointing the finger at the us, saying, "well, why don't you provide abramses?" the us is hiding behind technical reasons, why abrams are more difficult than leopard tanks. but frankly, we should both get on with it. the us should provide some token abrams tanks, why not? and we should unlock the german tanks which are holding back not only germany's contribution, but that of several other allies. how important are these tanks for ukraine in securing their ultimate objective, of restoring its sovereignty and territorial integrity? well, everything is a piece of a bigger picture. so the tanks themselves will not be the magic wand that ends the russian aggression against ukraine. but if you don't have them, it is much harder to defend your territory and cities, and civilian population than if you do. and if you do have them,

you have a better chance of recovering the territory than if you don't. so all of these things add up — so it's not a magic wand, it's not some kind of magic bullet the allies are throwing at this, but the denial of this is just putting ukraine in a weaker position where more people will be killed and more civilians will be attacked. what do you think about the fear and threat from russia that if these tanks are sent, that they will escalate and shift their position? many ukrainians will say, "how much further can they escalate this? their people are dying." the thing about listening to kremlin propaganda is not to think about what they're saying, but ask yourself, "why are they saying it?" and right now, the kremlin is giving two contradictory messages. one of them is to say that, "oh, providing these things doesn't matter, it won't matter in the war whatsoever" — that is in order to project a position of strength. the other message they're giving is, "oh, this is an escalatory thing

and we'll have to respond" — that is a message designed to deter the west from acting. so we need to understand what their purposes are and not be fazed by the things the russians say. what's your assessment of the state of the war at the moment? i think ukraine has an advantage in terms of morale, especially, also trained personnel and equipment. and they are fighting for their homeland, for their own territory. so they're not giving up, no matter what. russia is in a vastly different position — its soldiers are former convicts, as well as new conscripts who have very little motivation to be there, very little training. they've destroyed half of their conventional capability. they don't even have the personal military kit to give their soldiers. so they are in a very weak position, but they're trying to use the fact that they have more numbers in order to push

for some kind of advantage that they can then claim towards a negotiation where they get to seize some kind of ukrainian territory. i don't think it'll work, but we have to make sure that ukraine is equipped to push back on those russian efforts. the united states' treasury is imposing extra sanctions on the russian mercenary group, wagner, which has been fighting alongside moscow's forces in ukraine. wagner has faced american sanctions since 2017 — the new measures treat it as an organised crime group. the us says wagner employs 50,000 fighters in ukraine, most of them convicts. the social media influencer andrew tate and his brother tristan are to stay in custody until 27 february after a romanian court extended their police detention. the pair are being held while police investigate allegations of trafficking and rape, which they both deny. meanwhile, teenage girls have told the bbc how the brothers contacted them online, apparently using

a standard formula. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson sent this report from bucharest. andrew tate and his brother tristan still draw the spotlight, even behind the walls of a romanian detention centre. today, bucharest�*s main court extended their detention for another month, until 27 february. the tates' lawyers said prosecutors had not presented any new evidence. any evidence prosecutors may have against andrew tate or his brother is still a well—guarded secret. neither man has yet been charged. but their public image has been complicated by criticism over the things they say and the way they behave online. daria was 16 when she says she received a private message on instagram two years ago from andrew tate�*s account. it read, simply, "romanian girl," followed by a strawberry emoji.

it was very obvious we were high school girls. we had our high schools in our bio and everything. i feel like he was just trying to find girls that seemed as innocent or naive as possible, in my opinion. daria, who's now at university in the uk, says it's important she speak out because so many young men idolise andrew tate. this is a big problem, because we can't wake up in 20 years with, like, two million andrew tates. in a video, andrew tate outlined his method for approaching women online. sometimes, cos like i said, l intrigue, i'll put a completely pointless emoji on the end. some cherries, or an orange, or a strawberrx _ because it doesn't mean anything. i he also recommends asking a woman, "why do i never see you, where are you hiding?" 99% of them say, "i'm not hiding," he explains. this woman had an exchange that seems to follow this script.

she showed me messages apparently from andrew's brother, tristan, sent when she was 17 years old. "you're beautiful," he says. "i feel i've seen you around town before. where have you been hiding?" as andrew tate predicts, she replies, "i didn't hide." translation: | knew | he was writing the same thing to a lot of girls, including a friend of mine. he used the same approach, always starting the conversation with exactly the same line — "you're beautiful." in publicity for his online courses in manipulating and exploiting women, andrew tate has said his job was to "meet a girl, sleep with her, get her to fall in love with me to the point where she'd do anything i say and then get her working on webcam so we could become rich together." with the tates now starved of the spotlight themselves, police have until the end of february to sift their potential crimes from their public image. lucy williamson,

bbc news, bucharest. the news about mr zahawi emerged on the same day it was confirmed that the prime minster has been police in northern england have fined the british prime minister, rishi sunak, for failing to wear a seat belt while a passenger in a moving car. it happened when he was filming a political clip for instagram. the main opposition party, labour, earlier said that a fine would be very serious, as mr sunak also had to pay a penalty for breaching covid lockdown rules while finance minister. scientists from the european space agency are putting the final touches to an ambitious mission tojupiter�*s icy moons, in the hope they may find primitive signs of life. 0ur science editor rebecca morelle reports. bleak yet beautiful, the giant moons ofjupiter, covered in a thick crust of ice, but hidden beneath hints of vast oceans where life could thrive. now a mission is getting ready to make an epic

journey to study them. at airbus in toulouse in france, engineers are putting the finishing touches to the spacecraft. it is called thejupiter icy moons explorer, orjuice. this is a number of scientific instruments that we have onjuice. they range from a radar that will see beneath the ice to lasers creating 3d models of the surface and high resolution cameras. these oceans could sustain the necessary conditions necessary to support the emergence of primitive forms of life in these oceans and it is this environment that we want to further investigate. juice will travel more than four billion miles before it arrives at its destination in eight years' time. the spacecraft will visit three ofjupiter�*s moons. it will fly around ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system. its ocean could contain more water than all of the earth's oceans put together. it will also study callisto, whose ancient surface is covered in craters. this moon could harbour life, but that is not as likely as on europa, where the spacecraft will be

trying to spot plumes of water vapour erupting from beneath its icy crust. i don't think we are expecting to go there and find schools of fish in the ocean, but to be honest with you, we really don't know, and i think that is it. we are at the very beginning of our understanding and our journey towards understanding the habitability of these environments. the next step is to pack the spacecraft up ready for its launch in april. scientists hope we will finally discover what lies beneath the surface of these mysterious moons and whether it is possible for life to exist elsewhere in our solar system. rebecca morelle, bbc news, toulouse. no doubt we will be watching that journey with no doubt we will be watching thatjourney with interest no doubt we will be watching that journey with interest and reporting on any developments. that's it from me for the moment. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @samanthatvnews. keep up—to—date on all the stories we've covered on the

website. stay tuned. hello. well, overall, the weekend for most of us will remain pretty cold. we've also had some snow recently. here's a beautiful picture from wales, from gwynedd — a wonderful wintry scene. now across the northwest of the country, it'll actually be a little bit milder through the course of the night, particularly around the western isles of scotland and northern ireland. a southerly breeze here, cloudy with spits and spots of rain — so seven in stornoway by 6am on saturday, six in belfast. elsewhere across the country, that blue colour indicating the frost. now the reason for this temperature difference is actually this tongue of milder air that's streaming in from the southern climes — and you can see it's in place across ireland, scotland, the northwest of england, and wales. elsewhere towards the east, it's going to be colder. so let's summarise the weekend, then, with this tongue

of milderair coming in from the south. south and eastern parts of the country will stay in the cold air, it'll be sunny — but northwestern areas will be often cloudy, spits and spots of rain, and quite a bit milder. so here's the picture first thing on saturday — that weather front hugging north western areas of the uk, that southerly breeze. elsewhere across the country, we've got sunny, crisp, and cold weather. there could be some mist and fog lingering into the afternoon across parts of the midlands and northern england. so typical temperatures here around four celsius but up to around nine or so in the western isles of scotland. let's have a look at the weather map on sunday — high pressure in charge of the weather in the southeast of the country, but in the northwest there, you can see a weather front affecting scotland, which actually will also affect the irish sea coasts, western fringes of wales, and also the far southwest of england. so here, in that southerly wind, temperatures could actually make double figures at least in 1—2 spots. the further east or southeast you are, the temperatures

will be quite a bit lower. so look at that — struggling in london, norwich and hull, only around 2—3 degrees above freezing. so really, quite a raw day for some of us on sunday. here's monday's weather map — high pressure in charge of the weather, in fact, all the way from western europe through central europe, into russia, too. so lots of fine weather, and there is an indication that here in the uk, the temperatures will recover a little bit as we go through the course of the week, perhaps making double figures in some spots. that's it from me, have a good weekend.

this is bbc news. the headlines... a major meeting of ukraine's allies has ended without agreement on whether to send more tanks to kyiv. representatives of around 50 countries gathered at the us airbase in ramstein in germany to discuss co—ordinating military support. the deputy head of the united nations has told the bbc there is some hope that women in afghanistan will be allowed to resume working for aid agencies — after holding high level talks with the country's taliban rulers. women and girls have suffered some restrictions since they took over. the european space agency is preparing to send a spacecraft to study three ofjupiter�*s moons — in one of its most ambitious missions yet. the craft will use scientific

instruments to give us our best