today at six. after much soul searching and debate, germany confirms it will send battle tanks to ukraine. berlin had been under intense pressure to provide the leopard 2 vehicles, and the chancellor had this message for germans, concerned russia may retaliate. translation: there are a lot of people in this country - who are worried about such a decision, and the dimensions such a weapon entails. that is what why i would like to tell these people here and now. trust me, trust the german government. president biden hasjust announced the us will also provide ukraine with tanks. so how could all this, affect the war? we'll be live in washington, russia and berlin. also tonight.

more pressure on rishi sunak, over nadim zahawi's tax affairs. labour goes on the attack. does the prime minister agree that any politician who seeks to avoid the taxes they owe in this country is not fit to be in charge of taxpayer money? since i commented on this matter last week, more information has come forward and that is why i have asked the independent adviser to look into the matter. staff at the online retailer amazon go on strike for the first time in the uk, in their dispute over pay. and could humans have learned verbal communication from the actions of chimpanzees? a new study, gives some intriguging answers. and coming up on the bbc news channel, another masterclass from novak djokovic at the australian open. he's into the final four on that quest for tenth title in melbourne.

in court on criminal charges in the coming weeks and months. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. western allies have made a significant move, in bolstering the ukrainian war effort against russia. after months of controversy and debate, germany has confirmed it will offer some of its leopard 2 battle tanks, and allow other countries to supply them as well. berlin had been under intense pressure from nato allies to provide the vehicles, and while the kremlin warns the move is "extremely dangerous," the german chancellor, olaf scholz, says his country is one of kyiv�*s leading supporters, and germans worried about russian retaliation should trust him. in the past hour, president biden has confirmed america will also be sending battle tanks. more on that in a moment but first,

our europe editor, katya adler, has our top story from berlin. almost a full year of hell. destruction, devastation. cruel deaths and despair, in ukraine. the most serious armed conflict in europe since the second world war. war. an attempt by russia tow up end a sense of security across the continent. but today saw an offer of help kyiv has long been crying out for. translation: we will now be sending our leo ard translation: we will now be sending our leapard 2 — translation: we will now be sending our leopard 2 battle _ translation: we will now be sending our leopard 2 battle tanks _ translation: we will now be sending our leopard 2 battle tanks to _ our leopard 2 battle tanks to ukraine, we are doing it after discussion with our ally, it was right not to hurry this decision. mr scholz�*s allies had fast been losing patience, lots of european

countries owned these german produced tank, they are table and reliable. but berlin has the export rights so countries like poland, desperate to send this powerful help to ukraine couldn't, as long as germany dithered. now, kyiv could eventually receive dozens of tanks, though its soldiers first need to be trained how to use them. the suspicion is olaf scholz was holding out until washington pledged these, its mighty tanks for ukraine too. and this evening and if on preagreed cue president biden promised to send 31 to kyiv. putin exected promised to send 31 to kyiv. putin exnected eumpe _ promised to send 31 to kyiv. putin expected europe and _ promised to send 31 to kyiv. putin expected europe and the - promised to send 31 to kyiv. putin expected europe and the us - promised to send 31 to kyiv. fit “1 expected europe and the us to weaken our resolve. he expected our support for ukraine to crumble with time. he was wrong. he was wrong. he was wrong from the begin, he continues to be wrong, we are united.

washington's announcement and berlin's — washington's announcement and berlin's u—turn are a wish come true for ukraine's— berlin's u—turn are a wish come true for ukraine's president who celebrated his birthday today. just heard _ celebrated his birthday today. just heard about these important timely decisions _ heard about these important timely decisions in a call with olaf scholz. _ decisions in a call with olaf scholz, he tweeted. gratefulto decisions in a call with olaf scholz, he tweeted. grateful to the chancellor — scholz, he tweeted. grateful to the chancellor and all our friends in germanx — germany. public pressure at home germany. — public pressure at home as well as abroad also heavily influenced chancellor scholz as prime minister of germany his is a tricky balancing act. modern and cool, berlin had another face too. city of ghosts. reminders of germany's dark past are everywhere here. its holocaust memorial day on friday and german politicians don't, they shouldn't forget. as the aggressor in two world wars, the idea of german made tanks rolling in to

parts of europe where german soldiers committed so many atrocities, make many here feel extremely uncomfortable. translation:— extremely uncomfortable. translation: ., , ., translation: what russia is doing now in ukraine _ translation: what russia is doing now in ukraine is _ translation: what russia is doing now in ukraine is awful. _ translation: what russia is doing now in ukraine is awful. but - translation: what russia is doingi now in ukraine is awful. but sending in german tanks with our history, it is a terrible idea. i have a bad feeling about sending in our— i have a bad feeling about sending in ourtaping, i i have a bad feeling about sending in our taping, i am scared how putin will react _ will react. these soviet era tanks are will react — these soviet era tanks are on permanent display here in berlin, during the cold war the threat of nuclear attack was ever present. this evening, while many celebrate olaf scholz�*s decision on tank, some powerful voices in his own political party warn the conflict could now escalate beyond ukraine's borders. agreeing to release those tanks for ukraine was a huge decision for olaf scholz, domestically and you can

feel sighs of relief from here in german government quarters after that announcement came from the us that announcement came from the us that it would be sending 31 of its own tank, one of the big concern hearse in the government was germany could stand alone and exposed as the main supplier of tanks, to the battlefield in ukraine, putting it in the euro—of russia, possibly the fire of russia as well. but recently that growing frustration western friends. following germany's annoucement, chancellor scholz, along with the leaders of france, italy, the uk and america, held a conference call, with president biden later announcing the us would also be sending tanks to ukraine. britain has already promised, 1a challenger two vehicles. our north america editor, sarah smith, is in washington. sarah, the president dene stress the

unity of nato in all of this? yes. unity of nato in all of this? yes, these questions _ unity of nato in all of this? yes, these questions round - unity of nato in all of this? ye: these questions round providing tanks for ukraine were threatening to expose the first really serious rift among the nato allies who are backing the ukrainian defence forces and so america, which just last week was saying that their tanks were not suitable for ukraine because they were too complex to use and maintain has had a swift change of heart, which would appear to be based on diplomatic concerns and military concern, president biden believes that maintaining unity among the allies outweighs any of the concerns the pentagon had about supplying the tank, the president has refuted any suggestion that he was forced into making this decision by germany, but, it does come after he has had several direct conversation with german's chancellor in the last few day a one important thing to stress, is that it will be many, many months

before any of those tapings actually arrive in ukrainings because they are not coming from existing stock bus the us will use that time to train ukrainian forces to operate the tanks. train ukrainian forces to operate the tanks. so what's been the reaction to the news in ukraine? thank you our correspondent, andrew harding, has been gauging the mood explosion. ukrainian tanks, half a century old, battling near the front lines. in this area, close to the donbas town of bakhmut, russian forces are slowly gaining ground. and when we visited this tank unit last week, the mood seemed close to despair. both sides have heavy losses. but we need more equipment. we need more weapons. we appreciate the support of our partners, britain, usa and european. no surprise, then, today, to find many ukrainians celebrating the news that modern western tanks will soon be on their way here.

at the bus stop in the front line city of zaporizhzhia, vasily tells me, "russia has better weapons than we do, so this is good news." a pensioner called viktoria isn't so sure. "you start with tanks," she says, "but then it escalates. i'm afraid this will end in a nuclear war." but when another woman, elena, overhears that, she comes over to disagree. "we need any weapons from any countries to help us kick the russians out of here and protect our borders." moscow's forces are not far away from here. on the road towards the front line, we pass tank traps, ready to help block any new russian advance. both the ukrainians and the russians have made it pretty clear that they are planning to launch a major new offensives, perhaps within a matter of weeks.

the question now is whether these new, western tanks are going to arrive soon enough and in large enough numbers to make a real difference in this next phase of the conflict. for now, ukraine continues to fight with what it has. and a senior officer, who agreed to meet as close to the front, said victory was certain, with or without foreign help. translation: the russians keep attacking as in human waves, - and suffer enormous casualties. i believe we can withstand this. it's just a matter of time before we win. ukrainian tanks charge forwards. but it may still be a while before modern western machines are fighting alongside them. andrew harding, bbc news, ukraine. president zelensky thanked the chancellor scholz today,

calling his decision important and timely. but what difference will today's announcements make? with more, here's our analysis editor, ros atkins. ukraine says it needs at least 300 modern tanks to help fight russia. and now it's getting some. earlier this month the uk promised 1a of its challenger 2 tanks. the us has promised to send 31 m1 abrams tanks. we don't know when these will arrive in ukraine, but they matter politcally as well as militarily. germany didn't want to do this alone. now, with that announcement from joe biden, it doesn't have to. and so today germany announced it'll send 1a of its leopard 2 tanks. these are far superior to the soviet—era tanks that ukraine currently uses. the leopard 2 is faster, more powerful, offers better crew protection, and is easier to maintain and repair.

that's because there are more than 2,000 leopards across europe, and all of these countries can help with spare parts and support. that's why germany's decision today is so significant. because as manufacturer of the leopard, germany retains the right to decide if the countries with these tanks can pass them on to ukraine. today it granted that permission. and this analyst says that decision could really count. an armoured brigade of 100 tanks, supported by 100 infantry fighting vehicles, an artillery support is incredibly significant, and what it does is, it basically allows the ukrainians, if you imagine that as the spearhead in one place of attack, if that is going to be in donetsk, for example, or maybe around zaporizhzhia, that is the spearhead unit that would punch through. these possibilities become available to ukraine as the better weather of spring approaches. these tanks deepen the west's commitment to the war that putin started —

it's also worth saying, it's a war which has no end in sight. russia says berlin's decision allowing german made tanks to be sent to ukraine, is a "dangerous escalation". let's get more from our russia editor, steve rosenberg. steve, these are clearly. nous boards from the kremlin —— ominous words from the kremlin. boards from the kremlin -- ominous words from the kremlin.— words from the kremlin. interesting cliff. mixed signals _ words from the kremlin. interesting cliff. mixed signals from _ words from the kremlin. interesting cliff. mixed signals from russian - cliff. mixed signals from russian official, earlier the kremlin spokesman seemed to be play down playing the significance of tanks going to ukraine. he said there was an overestimation of the potential these tankses could add to the ukrainian army, he said the plan was doomed to fail but comments from the russian ambassador to berlin, saying that german tanks, battle tanks going to ukraine was extremely dangerous, and he spoke of a new level of confrontation, and talking

of new levels, the anti—western, anti—european rhetoric in the state mediaer who has reached a new level, it is off the scale. late last night one of state televisions main anchors made astonishing comments about germany. he described german political leaders add cretins, as gnatsy, he said when gentleman tanks appear in ukraine that would make german territory and german bases a target for russia. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has called the prime minister "hopelessly weak" for failing to sack the conservative party chairman, nadhim zahawi, after it was revealed he paid a tax penalty to hmrc. rishi sunak has defended his decision to ask his ethics adviser to investigate the matter. mr zahawi says he's confident he acted properly. our political editor, chris mason,

has more from westminster. is the conservative party chairman done for? wednesday means prime minister's question time. are you going to have to sack your party chairman, prime minister? last week, rishi sunak said nadhim zahawi's tax affairs had been addressed in full, but we now know he'd paid a massive tax bill and a penalty to the tax authority. questions to the prime minister. and so, the labour leader asked... does the prime minister agree that i any politician who seeks to avoid i the taxes they owe in this country is not fit to be in charge - of taxpayer money? no issues were raised with me when he was appointed to his current role, and since i commented on this matter last week, more information has come forward. the prime minister suggested that while it would've been tempting to sack nadhim zahawi this morning, that would've been wrong.

the politically expedient thing to do would be for me... ..would be for me to have said that this matter must have been resolved by wednesday at noon. but i believe in proper due process. and so an inquiry is under way. nadhim zahawi is a multimillionaire. while he was chancellor last summer, and so in charge of the country's finances, he was also sorting out his own with revenue and customs. back in the commons, it was the prime minister's family's vast wealth that featured next. it emerged last year his wife had legally avoided millions of pounds of uk tax before saying she would pay it from then on. we all know why the prime minister was reluctant to ask his party chairl questions about family finances and tax avoidance. _ laughter but his failure to sack him - when the whole country could see what's going on shows how hopelessly

week he is _ when i disagreed fundamentally with the previous prime minister, i resigned from the government, but forfour long years, he sat next to the member for islington north! a reference to former leaderjeremy corbyn, who mr starmer, as leader, later kicked out of the parliamentary party. that's what's weak, mr speaker! he has no principles and just petty politics! a midwinter tussle over political strength or its absence. the backdrop — the loitering mist hanging over the tax affairs of a former chancellor. and there are still loads of unanswered questions about what the prime minister knew and when about his party chairman. there were about 35 minutes of questions from reporters at lunchtime to the prime minister's team about all of this. it was like an insurance slalom

event from his team, as they swerved this way and that, to quite often not really fill us in on much detail. what is clear tonight is that the confidence that downing street has in nadhim zahawi has drained considerably, compared with where it was a week ago. and then there is the broader theme, which we werejust hearing about there is the broader theme, which we were just hearing about there, about the weapon arising of wealth in politics. bluntly, the awkwardness there can be if you are a senior politician. a development and eight, one of the questions we put at lunchtime to the prime minister's team is hard rishi sunak everfaced a penalty from the tax authorities. and there was no answer. there is an answer tonight, and the answer is no, he has not. the time is 6:19.. our top story this evening. germany confirms it will send

leopard 2 tanks to ukraine. the us will also provide 31 abrams to help the fight against russia. and still to come, we report from gloucestershire on the fears for the future of local bus and train services. later on bbc london: the couple missing with their newborn baby. detectives fear they're sleeping rough in freezing temperatures. plus the life—size bronze sculptures returning to brixton station with a story to tell. staff at the online retailer amazon are staging their first ever strike in the uk, in a dispute about pay. 300 members of the gmb union have walked out at the company's warehouse in coventry, over what they call a derisory 5% pay rise. the company, which doesn't recognise trade unions in the uk, says it offers �*competitive' pay. our employment correspondent,

zoe conway, has that story. it's one of the biggest retailers in the world, one of the biggest private sector employers in the uk. hiya, there's a strike on today. i don't know if you saw it on the news. and it's now facing its first ever strike here. nicholas henderson is one of the gmb union's newest recruits. we are basically on the bread line. by the time you add in your rent, your mortgage, yourfood, your bills, you've basically got nothing left. workers here at the coventry site were given a 50p pay rise in august, taking their minimum pay rate to £10.50 an hour. the union says it should be £15 an hour, arguing that the company's profits boomed during the pandemic and so, too, the bank account of billionaire founderjeff bezos. we don't want his boat or his rockets. we just want to be able to live. darren and garfield work at the coventry site and are leading today's action. we just want a decent wage.

we're on our feet for ten hours a day. we get told off if we're caught leaning or sitting. the coventry site is similar to this amazon centre in essex. garfield and darren say their work is monitored. they have to meet targets. the pressure is intense. as soon as you come in the building, you're tracked. you then go on to your station, where as soon as you log on, they know exactly where you are in the building. they know how often you're scanning. if you haven't scanned within a certain time, they will come and speak to you. they both say they've been questioned by managers for taking too long to go to the toilet. heaven forbid you get - there and all cubicles are full. you suddenly find you've got 10—12 minutes of doing nothing - but look for a toilet, _ and then of course you've got to use of the toilet and come back. that could be 15, 16, - 18 minutes in that process. they will then question you, "what were you doing?" - amazon says their pay is competitive

and says that like most companies, they have a system that recognises great performance. and they have coaching to help employees to improve. they also say that performance is only measured when staff are logged in at their workstation. amazon doesn't recognise trade unions, so pay negotiations won't happen anytime soon. but the gmb hopes today marks a turning point, that they can keep recruiting in a sector which for so long has tried to keep them out. zoe conway, bbc news. the jury at the trial of lucy letby, the neonatal nurse accused of murdering several babies in her care, has heard evidence claiming she killed one of them on the fourth attempt. manchester crown court was told baby i died in october 2015, at the countess of chester hospital. our correspondentjudith moritz has the story. the 33—year—old is charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to murder ten others in 2015 and 2016. she denies all

charges. the head of the metropolitan police, says two or three of his officers a week, are expected to appear as defendants in court in criminal cases, in the next few months. sir mark rowley�*s comments come after the failure of the force to root out the serial rapist, david carrick, who was a met officerfor 20 years. the funeral�*s been held of ellie edwards, the 26—year—old beautician, who was shot dead on christmas eve, in a pub in wallasey on merseyside. police say ellie wasn't the intended target of the gunman. connor chapman, who's 22, has been charged with murder, and is due to stand trial injune. there's growing concern among bus and train operators across the uk, overfunding for local services outside london. government investment, that helped regional transport during the covid pandemic, will end in march. mps have been hearing today that two thirds of towns in the north east and south west of england, have no train station, and across the country, rural bus routes are in decline.

our west of england correspondent danjohnson has more from gloucestershire. they've had a long wait in woodmancote. there hasn't been a bus since november. the cheltenham service was one of more than 1,000 rural routes that were cut in the last year. i can'tjustjump in the car and drive into town, can i? i got a bus pass i can't use because i can't get on a bus. they've now reduced fares to two quid, to encourage everyone to get on the bus. so what do they do? they stop the services. where's the sense in that? rural doesn't always mean small. 3,000 people live here. yes, we are supposed to be getting out of our cars and using public transport more. that's not an option now. we can't function without public transport. subsidies are being cut and more services face the chop from april. today, bus industry bosses were in front of mps. we've seen some reductions in rural bus mileage.

there is no doubt about it, the pandemic has sort of given is a really tough time. the government should set out now a clear path forward for sustainable funding for the bus industry, along with the bus operators. that should take place now, because services will be cancelled very shortly if they don't. in cirencester, we found the remains of the rural railway network. there hasn't been a train through here for 60 years. and the committee says two thirds of towns in the south—west and the north—east of england are without a railway station. there is a campaign to reopen this line, but then where would everyone park? when you go to london and see how easy it is to catch a tube, catch a bus, it's cheap, it turns up, it drops you where you want to be. you do feel a bit neglected in the rural areas. devon's dartmoor line reopened just over a year ago. and more links are due to be restored.

the department for transport says it's considering how to support bus services, too. dan johnson, bbc news. new research suggests humans can understand gestures used by chimpanzees, to communicate with each other in the wild. scientists from the university of st andrews asked volunteers to watch videos, and then translate the animals' gestures. the results indicate this form of communication may be the origin of verbal communication among humans. our science correspondent, victoria gill, has that story. grooming builds bonds of friendship... our closest living relatives. social, intelligent primates that communicate without speaking. and it seems that we humans can tune into this silent gesturing language. researchers who have spent years observing great apes closely in the wild have recorded a whole gesture dictionary — dozens of signals, expressions and movements that chimps and bonobos use to communicate.

by showing videos of these gestures to volunteers, scientists discovered that more than half the time, people are able to understand the message that a wild chimp or bonobo is trying to convey. here is how a chimpanzee says "groom me, please". and this is a bonobo silently demanding food from a companion. some gestures are easier for us to understand than others. this display is apparently flirtation. but the fact that we can derive meaning from these gestures suggest they provided a foundation for our own language. our last common ancestors with bonobos and chimpanzees probably used quite similar gestures. and these gestures may then have gone on to scaffold the evolution of human gesture and human language as we know it now. gorillas, orangutans and other great apes also use some of these same signals. it is something that people who work with these primates tune into every day. gesture is so important to great apes.

all of the little ways they need to regulate their social interactions in these amazingly complex social worlds they live in. it's the sort of communicative grease that gets all of that working. these gestures, and our abilities to interpret them, the researchers say, sends a scientific message about how our own language evolved. victoria gill, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's matt taylor. it is robert burns day, and in central scotland it is looking fine through the sunshine. a different story for others. if we look across southern parts of the uk, a much more grey day. it has been cold, a pretty grim one. that sunshine will be on its way southward tomorrow. it's this at the moment, the line of rain across the south and east, raining for most at the moment. as that clears, things are turned dry and clear. there will be showers across the north and east and a bit

of a breeze blowing. across western areas, the chance of a frost, a little bit of ice just about anywhere. the temperature is nowhere nearas anywhere. the temperature is nowhere near as low as some of you have seen through recent days. that sets us up for a pretty decent thursday, especially in western areas. dry and sunny. a few showers in northern scotland. if you focus across eastern counties of england, this is where showers could come in now and again, even stretching towards the south—east at times. a bit of cloud, some sunshine and a much brighter day than recent days. but a windier one. a blustery wind, especially along the coast, making it feel a touch on the cool side. we are evening out the temperatures through tomorrow compared with what we have seen through recent days, closer to where we should be for this stage in january. 6—9 for most. a patchy frost will follow again as we go through thursday night on friday. another fine day for many. you are showers across eastern counties of england. perhaps more cloud across western parts of england and wales. later, the cloud increases, and we finished the day with some more

showers. again, temperatures in