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 of people 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 thanjust 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 defnce an advisor to ukraine's defence minister, yuriy sak, 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 hopefully will arrive on our battlefield soon.

now, at the same time, of course it is... we know that there are more than 2,000, for example, leopard tanks in europe and we have said before that there is no rational explanation of 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 command has said in the past we need 300 tanks. this is a fraction of what the nato allies in european countries actually are 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 counteroffensive. earlier, i wasjoined by timothy garton ash, professor of european studies, university of oxford and author of homelands: a personal history of europe. i asked him why germany is hesitant to send tanks to ukraine.

it is a cocktail of reasons. i think olaf scholz, chancellor 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 scholz administration, there is a lot of thinking about how do we preserve the relationship with russia after the war? as well as, by the way, a historic blind spot for ukraine. and finally, i am 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 agree to send the leopards. that is what is so perplexing for so many people about this, is that criticism from within germany itself has even been, "look, why is the government not leading the way on this "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. listen, for the last years of germans supporting ukraine militarily, it has done a lot, has been, "we are not "going to do that, we're not going to do that, "oh, yes, we are. "we are not going to send heavy weapons, oh, yes, are, "we are not going to send heavy armoured military vehicles, "oh, yes, we are. "we're not going to send anti—aircraft tanks. "oh, yes, we are." and so, it will, i suspect, it will be again this time. and it is very hard to understand because while germany has actually

sent a very large amount of military and economic and financial and humanitarian support to ukraine, this has been enormously damaging. just enormously damaging to the reputation, notjust of chancellor scholz, but also of germany internationally. ah, and that is what i want to ask you next, which is where does this leave germany standing within europe? well, in particular, the central and east european countries are profoundly disillusioned with germany. germany has had over the last decade is very good relations with those countries and think about it. poland wants to send the german—made leopard 2 tanks to ukraine. all they need is permission from germany. germany has not yet giving that permission. so germany is refusing one of the first and biggest victims of nazi german aggression, poland, refusal to send tanks

to defend one of the other biggest victims of nazi german aggression, namely ukraine. i mean, if one thinks of it in a historical perspective, that does seem massively problematic morally, as well as being short politically. 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 heard 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, for a number of atrocities, and by designating them an 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 is an apparent gulf in thinking about a lack of respect

and perhaps 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. here in the uk, the deputy prime minister dominic raab has insisted his fellow cabinet minister nadim zahawi has been transparent about his tax affairs. labour is calling for the prime minister to sack the conservative party chairman over a report he paid a penalty as part of a tax bill settlement to hmrc. mr zahawi has repeatedly denied trying to avoid tax. a spokesman for the former chancellor said his taxes were properly declared and paid in the uk. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake reports. chairman of the conservative party, with a seat at the cabinet table.

nadhim zahawi was briefly chancellor under borisjohnson. now still a government minister, his tax affairs are under scrutiny. is the hmrc still after you, sir? are you — is the hmrc still after you, sir? are you up—to—date? _ are you up—to—date? the sun has reportedly paid a seven figure sum to settle a dispute, as well as a penalty, according to the guardian, making a total of £4.8 million. bbc news hasn't verified either claim. 0ne cabinet colleague would not be drawn on the detail, but said mrzaha would not be drawn on the detail, but said mr zaha we had paid what he owed. i but said mr zaha we had paid what he owed. ., �* ~' ., but said mr zaha we had paid what he owed. ., �* ~ ., ., ., �*, owed. i don't know about nadhim's ersonal owed. i don't know about nadhim's personal tax _ owed. i don't know about nadhim's personal tax affairs. _ owed. i don't know about nadhim's personal tax affairs. they - owed. i don't know about nadhim's personal tax affairs. they are - personal tax affairs. they are private to him. but he has been very clear that he has paid all his tax due in the uk, that his tax accounts are up—to—date, and that he is engaged with hmrc. so that is his position and he has been very transparent about this. if he needs to answer any further questions about this, i'm sure he will do so. the essential point is that the outstanding tax has been paid and

the is due. but if there are any other questions, i am sure he will address them. well known for his work as vaccines administered during the covid pandemic, nadhim zahawi made big money in business before going into politics. now it is alleged he tried to avoid capital gains tax by using an offshore firm to hold shares in yougov, a polling firm he co—founded. mr zahawi has denied any involvement with the offshore firm, and a spokesman say his taxes are properly declared and paid in the uk. but labour says he has to go. these are very serious allegations, and it_ these are very serious allegations, and it is_ these are very serious allegations, and it is untenable for him to continue _ and it is untenable for him to continue in hisjob if he has misled the public— continue in hisjob if he has misled the public and millions of tax which is important money that goes on to our is important money that goes onto our public— is important money that goes on to our public services. last _ our public services. last summer, during a brief run to replace borisjohnson as conservative leader, nadhim zahawi dismissed claims that hmrc was investigating him as inaccurate smears. mrzahawi investigating him as inaccurate smears. mr zahawi or his staff have not denied that he paid a settlement

and penalty. these are awkward questions for a former chancellor, and for his boss, the current prime minister, but so far, he seems determined to ride them out. jonathan blake, bbc news. it is another day of protests in france against president macron's pension reform plans, with a protest march in paris organised by the left—wing party unbowed. on friday, france saw nationwide strikes affecting travel, finance, education and other sectors in protests organised by unions. 0rganisers say they are opposed to raising the state pension age from 62 to 64. president macron says it's the best way to ensure the system remains affordable. arthur delaporte is a member of parliament from the french socialist party. he joins us from paris. tell me, first of all, why is that you are striking? what is it you want here? we you are striking? what is it you want here?— you are striking? what is it you want here? ~ , ., ., , , want here? we 'ust want to stop this social want here? we just want to stop this social regression, _ want here? we just want to stop this social regression, because _ want here? we just want to stop this social regression, because the - social regression, because the government wants to raise the legal

retirement age, and this is totally unfair, because it will be the same for long carriers and for short carriers, for a rich and poor people. so we can't accept this social regression, and i want to add that today you have to wait till 67 to get a school pension without any penalty, and tomorrow, it will be the same, but the poor people have to work longer for shorter pensions, and this is unacceptable for us. and yet those who are speaking for these changes talk about the fact that without them, france is going to be suffering from, quite frankly, a public spending deficit that is going to be very hard to feel, and if you look at the figures, 50 years ago, you had abouti.7, if you look at the figures, 50 years ago, you had about 1.7, former co—workers for every retiree. at the moment, you have 1.7 workers for every retiree. that is not a sustainable system. surely something needs to change.

yes, you can make changes, but you don't have to raise the legal retirement age. you could also have means to find... you could raise, for example, the taxes, you could tax more rich people, you could just find different... i'm afraid we seem to have lost arthur delaporte. arthur the i'm afraid we seem to have lost arthur the line from paris is not great. let me bring you some pictures we are getting in paris. the me reiterate the story here. many workers in france are striking against plans by the french government to raise the age of pension retirement. this has been a hugely controversial story in france. many a president has tried to make changes to the pensions, to bring in pension reforms, and there has been a lot of resistance in france, despite the fact that many european countries elsewhere in

european countries elsewhere in europe have higher pension retirement ages, including italy and germany, for example, on 67, spain on 65, and of course, the uk, which is outside the european union, though, and has currently an age of 66 for retirement. so there we go. france, lots of strikes in terms of people. i think we... yes, these are live pictures coming into us, and as always, plenty more on this story on our website. if lets move on now and talk about some news globally. security forces in burkina faso have rescued 66 women and children who were kidnapped by armed fighters. state tv showed pictures of the rescue operation. the women and children were taken by militants earlier this month while gathering food in an area in the northern sahel region. 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. 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. he is currently minister for education and policing, and came to prominence as one of the primary architects of the country's much—lauded covid response. 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. last week, the president declared a state of emergency, but security forces have failed to contain the demonstrations. protests have rocked the country since former president pedro castillo was ousted in decemberfollowing his attempt

to dissolve congress. brazil's defence minister says there's no evidence that the military had a direct role in the riots by supporters of the former president jair bolsonaro against the left—wing leader luiz inacio lula da silva. two weeks ago, thousands of people invaded and vandalised government buildings in the capital, brasilia. hundreds of people remain in police custody. this includes members of the police and the armed forces who are accused of condoning or encouraging the violence. back here in the uk... 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 of a 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 pressure the government's under, but it needs to show leadership and it needs to 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 is 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, how we retain and how we motivate staff. so this would not be backing down to trade union pressure. this would be recognising the reality of the startling 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 the trade unions to come back to the negotiation and ask the trade unions to stop industrial action while the 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 have 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.

let me show you some pictures we've just received from ukraine. you can see president zelensky and the first lady taking part in a memorial in kyiv for interior minister denys monastyrsky and close aides killed in a helicopter crash. the accident happened earlier this week in a suburb of kyiv, and set a kindergarten on fire. tens of millions of people are on the move in china in preparation for the start of the lunar new year on sunday. it's the first spring festival in china in four years without any travel restrictions, which were imposed because of covid. here's michael bristow. there is excitement and relief as china begins celebrating its first

lunar new year since the lifting of covid restrictions. not surprisingly, there are more travellers than last year. they are expecting to million individual journeys across china in the holiday, though that's still fewer than the outbreak began. for some, it's the first get—together since before the pandemic. translation: before the pandemic. tuna/mom- before the pandemic. translation: �* , ., , ,y ., , translation: i'm very happy to see m son translation: i'm very happy to see my son and _ translation: i'm very happy to see my son and his— translation: i'm very happy to see my son and his family. _ translation: i'm very happy to see my son and his family. this - translation: i'm very happy to see my son and his family. this is - translation: i'm very happy to see my son and his family. this is our - my son and his family. this is our first reunion in three years. but covid is casting its shadow over the new year. many are still cautious about travelling. this family returning home for the first time in three years, and are frightened. in a new year address, china's leader xi jinping frightened. in a new year address, china's leader xijinping promised glories and dreams in the upcoming year of the rabbit. and perhaps a veiled reference to china's current covid crisis. he said this passing year's achievements have not come easy. chinese officials have tried to convince the public that the

worst is over, but there are fears that such a huge movement of people across china over the lunar new year could fuel further covid infections and deaths. michael bristow, 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. 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". before we go, i wanted to bring you these live pictures from paris. this is a protest march on going. unions and workers are taking to the streets of the french capital to protest against government plans to reform pensions in france. the government basically, amongst other things, wants to raise the pension age from 60 to 64. these reforms have always been quite tough for

french governments in the past, and it looks like that trend is set to continue. more on this on our website. but do stay with us on the bbc 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 greyer day for parts of scotland, northern ireland. there 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, only1 or 2 degrees if they don't shift compared to eight or nine celsius

with 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 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

some wetter 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 across some parts of 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 latest headlines... president zelensky says he will continue to push allies to send tanks to ukraine, after a meeting of 50 countries ended with no agreement on the issue. germany is under pressure to supply tanks to kyiv. the united states 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. new zealand's minister for police and education, chris hipkins, is expected to become the country's next prime minister. he's the only candidate nominated by the labour party to replace jacinda ardern, who announced her resignation this week. and in tennis, britain's andy murray

crashes out of this year's australian open. he lost to spain's roberto bautista agut