this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories: president zelensky says he'll keep asking western allies to send modern tanks to ukraine, after a meeting of more than 50 countries ended without agreement. translation: we will still have to fight for the - supply of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious there is no alternative to making the decision on tanks. in the uk, labour calls for the conservative party chairman nadhim zahawi to be sacked, after reports he paid a tax penalty as part of a multi—million pound settlement with authorities. chris hipkins is set to become new zealand's next prime minister, replacing jacinda ardern, who announced her resignation on thursday. millions around the world

prepare for lunar new year. and britain's andy murray is out of the australian open. he lost to spain's roberto bautista agut in four sets in what could be his last time at the tournament. hello and welcome. ukraine says it will keep pushing to be supplied with modern tanks after a meeting of allied nations in germany ended without an agreement to provide them. protests have taken place in berlin to demand the approval of german—made tanks to be sent to kyiv. aruna iyengar has this report. this is what kyiv wants but can't yet have. german—made leopard 2 tanks, as part of hopes for hundreds of western battle tanks to help defend their country and take

back their land. ukraine says modern tanks are key to holding back russia's expansion plans. translation: the partners are firm in their attitude. i they will support ukraine as much as necessary for our victory. yes, we will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious there is no alternative to making the decision on tanks. president zelensky has made his appeal to this meeting of defence chiefs at ramstein airbase. poland has agreed to train ukrainian soldiers in using the leopard 2s, but berlin gets to decide where the leopard tanks are deployed. the us is also under pressure to make its abrams tanks available to ukrainian forces. it has not said yes yet, but is offering other support. until putin ends this war,

his war of choice, the nations of this contact group will continue to support the defence of ukraine in order to uphold the rules—based international order. domestic politics, its past, and a fear of escalating the conflict all play into germany's caution. but this meeting was about more than just tanks, with much wider pledges of military aid and an air of urgency. frontline ukrainian units are using soviet—era tanks — they need modern equipment. they expect a spring offensive from russia and bigger battles to come. aruna iyengar, bbc news. well, speaking to us earlier, an advisor to ukraine's defence minister, yuriy sak, also called on western allies to unite behind the drive to equip kyiv�*s forces with tanks and weapons. the united kingdom has shown leadership and was the first country to actually overcome this mental hurdle and start providing ukraine with tanks, so we are very grateful to the united kingdom for the challenger 2 tanks that will hopefully arrive

on our battlefield soon. now, at the same time, of course, we know that there are more than 2,000, for example, leopard tanks in europe, and we have said it before, there is no rational explanation why ukraine, which is now fighting for the freedom of europe, why we are not getting a fraction of that, because you know that our military commander has said in the past, we need 300 tanks. this is a fraction of what the nato allies in european countries are actually in a position to provide ukraine, so as our president zelensky said, ukraine will continue to push for this political decision, and we are very hopeful this will be taken in time for our next stages of the military counter offensive. earlier, i wasjoined by timothy garton ash, professor of european studies, university of oxford and author of homelands: a personal history of europe.

its a cocktail of reasons. i think 0laf scholz is of a generation of social democrats who were really obsessed by the danger of nuclear war that recurs again and again in his remarks on this subject. his own party, the social democrats, are divided, whereas his coalition partners, the free democrats and the greens are in favour of sending tanks. germany has a long—standing special relationship with russia, and i think in the current administration, there is a lot of thinking about how do we preserve the administration with russia the relationship with russia after the war, as well, by the way, as a historic blind spot for ukraine. and finally, i'm afraid, i think there is some thinking, and i have had this myself from some senior german officials, that actually, a so—called peace settlement in which russia retains some of the territory it has occupied might not be the worst outcome, and i think it is a cocktail of those motives. by the way, i am absolutely

persuaded that germany will in the end agreed to send the leopards. will in the end agree to send the leopards. and that is what is so perplexing about this for many people. criticism within germany itself has even been, look, why is the government not leading the way when it has a chance to? because this is an inevitability. there is a machiavellian theory that 0laf scholz wants to show that he is being dragged into this. i don't quite believe that. for the last year, the story of german support for ukraine militarily, and it has done a lot, has been, we are not going to do that, we are not going to do that. oh, yes, we are. we're not going to send heavy weapons, oh, yes, we are. we're not going to send armoured vehicles. oh, yes, we are. we're not going to send anti—aircraft tanks. oh, yes, we are. and i suspect it will be the same this time. and it is very hard to understand,

because while germany has sent a very large amount of financial, military and humanitarian support to ukraine, this has been enormously damaging, just enormously damaging, to the reputation notjust of chancellor scholz, but to the reputation of germany internationally. the united states treasury is imposing extra sanctions on the russian mercenary group wagner, which has been fighting alongside moscow's forces. wagner has faced american sanctions since 2017, but the new measures treat it as an "organised crime group". the us says wagner employs 50,000 fighters in ukraine, most of them convicts. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, explains why this action is being taken now. this is another attempt by the united states to curb the activities of the wagner group, said to number some 50,000 in ukraine right now, made up mostly of convicts from

russian prisons. they first came to prominence in 2014 during the annexation of crimea, and then in the months before the russian invasion of ukraine last year, wagner group were said to be involved in the false flag attacks that we had so much about at that time, essentially, the faked provocative attacks that were supposedly designed to give moscow some justification for its invasion of ukraine, and ever since then, the wagner group has been very prominent in ukraine, responsible, according to the united states, of a number of atrocities, and by designating them and organised crime group, this is and organised crime group, this is an attempt to really curb its activities, really notjust in ukraine but globally, by making it more difficult for other countries, organisations and entities to do business with this private group. something else that the united states has identified as an apparent

gulf in thinking about a lack of respect between the traditional russian army, the russian military, and the leadership of the wagner group, and the us is talking that up, playing it up, presumably in a further attempt to curb the overall activities of the russians in ukraine. security forces in burkina faso have rescued 66 women and children after they were kidnapped by suspected jihadists. state tv showed pictures of the rescue operation. the victims were taken by militants while gathering food in an area north of the country hit by an insurgency last week. reports says they were found on a bus at a security checkpoint some 200km or 125 miles south of where they were kidnapped. it is not clear if their captors have also been detained. in the uk, the opposition labour party is calling for the prime minister rishi sunak to sack nadhim zahawi as conservative party chairman after reports he paid a penalty to hmrc as part of a multi—million

pound tax settlement. the former chancellor has been under pressure over claims he tried to avoid paying tax and has now had to pay it back. the bbc has approached mr zahawi for comment on the allegation and is yet to receive a response. he has previously said that his taxes are properly declared and paid in the uk. david wallace—lockhart reports. nadhim zahawi is the chairman of the conservative party and sits around the cabinet table. he was the chancellor for a few months in the final days of boris johnson's government. he's now facing questions about his tax affairs. before politics he co—founded the polling company yougov. questions have been asked about whether he tried to avoid paying tax by using an offshore company to hold shares in the firm. but the conservative party chairman has denied benefiting from or having any involvement with the offshore company. it's previously been reported that he agreed to make a payment to the taxman to settle a dispute.

yesterday, the guardian reported this included a 30% penalty as part of a bill thought to amount to around £5 million. the bbc has not been able to verify these claims. a spokesman has previously said mr zahawi's taxes are properly declared and paid in the uk. labour say he has to step down from government. so, these are very serious allegations, and it is untenable for him to continue in hisjob if he has misled the public on millions of tax which is importantly which goes important money which goes into our public services. but one tax expert told newsnight a 30% penalty is at the lower end of the scale. the first level of penalty is for carelessness, so it is no penalty if you make a genuine mistake and you took reasonable care over your tax affairs. no penalty. if you were careless, then the first level of penalty applies. in the uk, for uk tax, that's 30%. a spokesman for nadhim zahawi previously told the bbc that he has never previously had to instruct

lawyers to deal with hmrc on his behalf, but questions are likely to persist over the coming days. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake explained what implications there might be now for mr zahawi. he isa he is a prominent figure in the conservative party with the seat of the cabinet table. he is currently chair of the conservative party as well, but was briefly chancellor of the exchequer for a well, but was briefly chancellor of the exchequerfor a couple of well, but was briefly chancellor of the exchequer for a couple of months on the borisjohnson as prime minister, and that's why perhaps these questions are particularly awkward for him. at the centre of this is a claim first reported by the son last weekend, which is that mr zahawi paid millions of pounds to hmrc to settle the dispute, the main question is whether mr zahawi tried to avoid paying capital gains tax and shares he owned in the polling

company which he set up, you golf, putting those shares into an offshore company to hold them. —— yougov. there has been that no denial of this from the deems are we or his spokesperson, we have only been told his taxes have been properly declared and paid in the uk. further to that, the guardian reported yesterday that mr zahawi paid a penalty in the taxi out, taking the claim to, the guardian said, £4.8 million. again, no denial that a penalty was paid from mr zahawi or his team, but they did say they did not recognise that figure, and as previously, they said that his taxes were properly declared and paid in the uk. so an effort from nadhim zahawi to contain this continued scrutiny of his tax affairs and really say as little as possible about the detail of it, and certainly not come forward and answer any questions himself, which labour are saying he needs to do, to

be more transparent, and if he doesn't do that, the prime minister rishi sunak said move to sack him. and we have heard from dominic raab today. yes, the deputy prime minister has defended his colleague in government, talking about him having paid over tax that he has owed, and there is nothing outstanding, and as far as mr raab said, that was the central claim. but he was very careful to say as well that he didn't know the detail of nadhim zahawi's private taxi affairs and that was something that he and only he was qualified to talk about. i wouldn't know his private tax affairs. — i wouldn't know his private tax affairs, that is something that is only known to him. but he has been very clear that he has paid all his taxes due in the uk, that his tax accounts are up to date, and he has engaged with hmrc. so that is the position, and i think he has been very transparent about this and if he needs to answer further questions, i'm sure he will do so.

the essential point is that the tax has been — the essential point is that the tax has been paid and there is nothing outstanding due, but if there are further_ outstanding due, but if there are further material questions, i'm sure nadhim _ further material questions, i'm sure nadhim will address them. a senior labour mp has accused the prime minister of failing to deliver the integrity and professionalism he promised, after he was fined for not wearing a seat—belt. sir chris bryant, who chairs the commons standards committtee, said rishi sunak had shown a "pattern of misjudgement". lancashire police issued a fixed penalty notice after mr sunak posted a video shot in the backseat of a car. as you can see, he has no seat belt on. the head of the nhs in england has told the bbc that it's becoming increasingly difficult to manage services while health unions continue their strikes. in an interview for bbc radio 4's today programme, amanda pritchard said that as industrial action was extended over longer periods of time, and with strike dates closer together, the task became more challenging. she also suggested that all sides are "looking to try to reach a resolution". matthew taylor is the chief executive of the nhs confederation, a group which represents health service organisations and bosses.

we saw about a week ago some signs from the department of health and the willingness to talk about pay, and it felt then as though there was progress. that seems to have gone now. i don't know whether this is the treasury or downing street or whatever, but i understand the pressures the government's under, but it needs to show leadership and be pragmatic. it is only by discussing pay with staff that we are going to find a way of avoiding this further industrial action, and it's really important to understand that even if there were no trade unions, no industrial action, we would still have 130,000 vacancies, we would still have an issue about how we recruit, retain and motivate staff, so this wouldn't be backing down to trade union pressure. this would be recognising the reality of the staffing situation in the nhs right now. so i think it really does, you know, both sides need to be pragmatic, both sides need to be willing to compromise, but it

probably does now fall to the government to say explicitly that they will talk about pay, encourage they will talk about pay, encourage the trade unions to come back into the trade unions to come back into the negotiation, and ask the trade unions to stop industrial action while those negotiations are taking place. meanwhile, a bbc investigation has found that hundreds of thousands of calls made to nhs mental health helplines in england are going unanswered. the crisis phone lines which are supposed to be available 24 hours a day are designed to provide support for those who are suicidal or in emotional distress. 0ur reporter adam eley spoke to hannah, who says it took her two days to get through. for me to call, it is because i am at my absolute lowest and i am about to do something. for years, hannah has struggled with her mental health, at times wanting to take her own life. in these moments, she called her nhs trust's 24—hour helpline for urgent mental health support. but too often, she says, no—one picked up. i have literally been crying my eyes out and left a message on the answerphone and no—one has ever got back to me. it makes it ten times worse. i know for me, i start to spiral.

when she has been able to get through, hannah says support can be limited. on one occasion, she told a staff member she no longer wanted to live. she actually said to me, "think happy thoughts and read a book." when i said that is not going to help, that is when she hung up and said, "you don't want to help yourself." i ended up going to a&e. south london and maudsley nhs trust has since apologised, adding that improvements has been made. nhs crisis lines in england receive more than 200,000 calls a month, aiming to signpost people to services and provide urgent phone support. but figures obtained by the bbc show at least 418,000 calls went unanswered in 2021—22. two recent coroner's reports have highlighted issues with crisis lines that preceded deaths, noting the demands on staff. it was a very exhausting job emotionally. it was impossible to answer all the calls. 0ne former staff member says she felt overwhelmed and was not properly trained.

i didn't feel prepared. you are expected to learn on the job, which is disappointing when the risk is so high and you are dealing with people's lives. experts say crisis lines can play a vital role, if they are able to meet demand. the point of them is to make the system really accessible, to make it easy not to go to a&e. and if that's not what is happening, then that's obviously a major problem. nhs england said it had made £7 million available to local areas to improve their crisis lines. for hannah, if crisis lines are to improve, staff must have the time to speak to patients with compassion. you shouldn't have to be at absolute rock bottom to get decent care and to be spoken to like an actual human being. adam eley, bbc news. professor of social and community psychiatry at university college london, sonia johnson, who we saw in that report, told me why

people don't seek support. we know that people obviously overcome quite a lot of psychological barriers when they seek help in a crisis. it is quite a difficult thing to do, and the feeling that they can't be helped effectively is often something that puts people off seeking help. and obviously, if they are feeling that no one will be able to offer them anything useful if confirmed, that's going to put people off further help—seeking. and i suppose in one way, you could see the fact that more people are using and calling these lines as a good thing, because reaching out during a mental health crisis is important. but then, reaching out and not getting the help you need can sometimes be devastating. well, that's right, and obviously, they might have gone elsewhere for help, though we also know that

if people go to a&e departments, getting mental health there can also be very problematic, and gps are not always very much able to respond either, so actually getting these lines right as a source of help is actually very important. but the problems they are having are probably notjust about the crisis lines, but about the wider mental health care system. in what sense? well, they are very much reflecting the pressure on the whole system, in that increasing numbers of people turn to the mental health care system, as you say, but there are not increasing numbers of staff there to meet that demand. recruitment is very difficult, turnover is high, sickness absence is high, and that impacts both and being able to staff these lines, and on them having places to refer

on to, which they very much need to have in place, and it's also very much likely to lead to more crises if people are waiting a long time for mental health care and not getting good ongoing support in the community. so i think it's important that we see this problem as a reflection of the state of the mental health care system as a whole currently. professor sonia johnson. chris hipkins is set to become new zealand's next prime minister, after being the only candidate nominated by the governing labour party to replace jacinda ardern. mr hipkins is expected to be confirmed as the new leader on sunday. i'm a politician. i love myjob, and i'm really passionate about it. it is incredibly, it is a massive honour to have this opportunity. violent protests have continued in the peruvian capital as thousands of demonstrators descended on lima demanding the resignation of president dina boluarte.

more than 45 people have died in six weeks of conflict. protests have rocked the country since former president pedro castillo was ousted in decemberfollowing his attempt to dissolve congress. the co—founder of the bus and coach group stagecoach has been charged with human trafficking offences. dame ann gloag, her husband david mccleary and two other members of their family have also been charged. all four deny the accusations. millions of people around the world are preparing to celebrate the lunar new year on sunday. in china, it's the year of the rabbit, considered the luckiest of the 12 zodiac animals, representing peace and longevity. in other countries, like vietnam, it'll be the year of the cat. azadeh moshiri reports. it's one of the biggest events for many around the world. and this lunar new year is

the year of the rabbit. also known as the spring festival, it is celebrated by china, japan and many other east asian countries. and there's a lot of excitement this year. in china, this will be the first time millions of people can travel without restrictions. these families are making their way from beijing to wuhan, where the covid—19 virus was first detected. translation: we haven't been back i there for more than three years. i we are afraid of doing this trip. we brought medicines. they are not the only ones taking the risk. train stations in china are seeing a big boost in numbers. but for those flying abroad, there are still checks in place. retailers across asia are pulling out all the stops. rabbit—themed cakes, rabbit—themed dolls, rabbit—themed relics — you name it, there's a rabbit for it. celebrating the spring festival, president xi jinping acknowledged

that 2022 was a hard year for china. there were clashes on the world stage and economic troubles at home, but he said he believed they'd bounce back — like a rabbit. translation: the traditional chinese culture sees - the rabbit as auspicious. it is considered smart and agile, pure and kind, as well as peaceful and happy. the auspicious rabbit brings prosperity. not everyone embraces the rabbit, though. vietnam refuses to hop on that bandwagon. translation: | think - the cat is more deserving, year of the cat or year of the rabbit, happy lunar new year from the bbc. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. and britain's andy murray is out of the australian open. he lost to spain's

roberto bautista agut in four sets in what could be his last time at the tournament. murray fought hard and left the court to a standing ovation. after the match, bautista paid his respects to the former number one, saying: "always playing andy at a grand slam is very tough. "there was a lot of love for andy". more on all of these stories on our website. i am on twitter. get in touch. you are watching the bbc. stay with us. hello. milder air is trying to push in from the atlantic at the moment, but it's going to be a real struggle to get everywhere over the coming days.

it is all linked into this zone of cloud which has pushed into the atlantic through the overnight period into saturday. it does mean a great day for parts of scotland, northern ireland. could be further light rain or drizzle around into the afternoon, especially across western scotland. some with a bit of hill snow too into the grampians. but much of eastern scotland stays dry. increased cloud later across the north and west of england and wales, turning the sunshine hazy. but for much of england and wales, sunny skies overhead, but where the fog lingers, a cold day. there has been a few fog patches so far, only one or 2 degrees if they don't shift compared to eight or nine celsius where there are windy and milder conditions in western scotland and northern ireland. it is going to remain breezy here through the night, another batch of heavy rain pushes in later in the night. and cloud increases for wales and western parts of england, so not as cold here compared with last night, but a very cold night through central eastern england. a sharp frost. temperatures down to —7 for one or two rural areas, compared to 9 degrees in western scotland and northern ireland. and that milder air is running around the top edge from the atlantic about this area of high pressure, which extends all the way through into russia

and it is under that, keeps things dry and cold to the south and east. some lingering fog patches across parts of east anglia and the southeast. reasonably sunny for the midlands, southwards and eastwards, but a lot more cloud in northern and western england and wales and temperatures struggling to lift up here. but a very mild day for northern ireland and western scotland. it should brighten up relative to in the morning, but further outbreaks of rain, southern scotland and also edging into irish sea coasts. we do it all again on monday. similar sort of weather pattern. the mildest air running around the northern edge of this area of high pressure. some weather conditions at times on monday in the north of scotland with that breeze. still potential around these irish sea coasts for some patchy rain or drizzle, but some sunny spells to the south and east of england where the fog clears. and some of that fog will linger, just two or three degrees through parts of east anglia, 10—11 celsius again to the north and the west of the country. the pattern really doesn't shift into tuesday. it is this weather front which could bring slight changes into the second half of the week, but for tuesday, at least cross some parts in northeast scotland, we could get as high as around 14 degrees. temperatures, though,

across some southern areas, you can see from the london forecast, only lifting up a little bit to around average for the time of year, but always a bit milder across scotland and northern ireland.

this is bbc news. the headlines... president zelensky says he'll keep asking western allies to send modern tanks to ukraine, after a meeting of more than 50 countries ended without agreement.