welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: donald trump is to be allowed back on facebook and instagram, two years after he was suspended over messages praising rioters who attacked the us capitol. ukraine has welcomed the decision by the united states and germany to provide modern tanks to push back the russian invasion. america is united and so is the world. these tanks are further evidence of our unflagging commitment to ukraine and our confidence in the skill of ukrainian forces. as covid continues to spread across china,

the bbc finds evidence of a mounting death toll in rural areas. we'll be live in sydney for australia day and examine the divisions over the country's colonial legacy, with many young people shunning the holiday. and there is new evidence that the way humans communicate could have come from apes. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news — it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. meta has announced it will reinstate donald trump's facebook and instagram accounts, two years after he was suspended following the capitol riots. nick clegg, the president of global affairs, has laid out the reasons for the decision on the meta website. he says: and that:

the former us president has also given his reaction on his own social media platform, truth social, saying: he goes on to say that: peter bowes told me more about the events leading up to donald trump's removal. he was removed from facebook the day after the january six riots, the assault on congress. the former president in posting claims, repeating old claims of voter fraud claims, repeating old claims of voterfraud during claims, repeating old claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election and praise the action of some of those people who

attacked congress on that day so he lost his platform, his account on facebook and instagram. we had some 3a million followers on facebook and he is now planning to stand for the presidency for third term. there have been some campaigning by those supporters of his to get him back on facebook, the reason being obvious, that it is a very prominent platform for him. do we expect him to get back onto the platform because of twitter made a similar decision and we did not see donald trump back on twitter. did not see donald trump back on twitter-— on twitter. that is the interesting _ on twitter. that is the interesting question. | on twitter. that is the l interesting question. he on twitter. that is the - interesting question. he has this new platform, truth social, which is his own network, and i understand quite a complicated legal relationship with that particular platform. even though he could go back on twitter, he has not returned to that particular platform so it

remains to be seen whether he will once again embrace facebook and indeed instagram. some close to him have been campaigning for it. the signs are that donald trump wants to return to facebook, especially since he plans to be campaigning over the future months for the presidency but we have not seen any movement thatjust we have not seen any movement that just yet in we have not seen any movement thatjust yet in the hours since his announcement. you brou:ht since his announcement. you brought up — since his announcement. you brought up the _ since his announcement. you brought up the interesting timing of all this. give us a sense of what the next political moves and steps might be fought donald trump. == political moves and steps might be fought donald trump.- be fought donald trump. -- for donald trump. _ be fought donald trump. -- for donald trump. donald - be fought donald trump. -- for donald trump. donald trump . be fought donald trump. -- for i donald trump. donald trump has announced he's standing the presidency. he did this last year very, very early in the political framework in the us political framework in the us political agenda. we havejust two years ago before the next general election in 202a. clearly, donald trump has had a head start. it remains to be seen whether he will actually

be chosen as the republican candidate. they will be others. others have indicated they also plan to stand as well so before he goes into competition, whether it be againstjoe biden or another democrat — and we do not know the answer to that as yet that she has to secure the nomination by his party. it is hard to speculate _ nomination by his party. it is hard to speculate about the response of people who use these media platforms and what that might be but i remember at the time when twitter made a similar decision, it did a lot of criticism. what do you think facebook might get in terms of response from its users. there were threats when twitter made this decision that people would leave the platform. this this decision that people would leave the platform.— leave the platform. this is a dee -l leave the platform. this is a deeply divided _ leave the platform. this is a deeply divided nation - leave the platform. this is a i deeply divided nation anything people's attitudes and those existing users of facebook, their views will be divided in a similar way their views will be divided in a similarway to their views will be divided in a similar way to what the countries feel. some will be

strongly pro— donald trump getting back on the platform. others may voice their opinion by moving away from the platform themselves. i think we are likely to see that debate from today. there are certainly some who will simply not abide with the possibility of donald trump coming back on the platform. others will agree strongly with the views expressed by meta. we heard from nick clegg earlier. that americans deserve to here the views, the good, the bad, and the ugly of their political candidates. let's get the latest developments now on the war in ukraine. president volodymyr zelensky has warmly welcomed the decision by germany and the united states to send tanks to ukraine. but in his nightly address, he said speed of delivery and the number of tanks were key to his country's defence against russia. our europe editor katya adler reports. the most serious armed conflict

in europe since world war ii. an attempt by russia to upend 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 leopard 2 - battle tanks to ukraine. we are doing this after intense discussion with our international partners and allies. it was right not to hurry this decision. actually, mr scholz�*s allies had fast been losing patience. lots of european countries own these german—produced tanks. they're stable and reliable. but berlin has all 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. weary of moscow, chancellor olaf scholz was keen for the us to send some of its mighty abrams tanks to ukraine, too. and as if on pre—agreed cue, president biden promised 31 vehicles for kyiv. putin expected europe and the united states to weaken our resolve. he expected our support for ukraine to crumble with time. he was wrong. and he was wrong from the beginning and he continues to be wrong. we are united. washington's announcement and berlin's u—turn are a wish come true for ukraine's president, who turned 45 today. translation: the key now is speed and volume. - we have to form a fist of freedom that will not allow tyranny to rise again.

these soviet—era tanks are on permanent display in the german capital. while many celebrate olaf scholz�*s decisions on tanks, others, including voices in his own party, warn that this conflict could now escalate — threatening lives beyond ukraine. katya adler, bbc news, berlin. i spoke to the assistant director at the atlantic council's eurasia center, andrew d'anieri, and asked him how the tank deliveries would help ukraine's war effort. this is really a significant day in the west's response to russia's war in ukraine. kyiv has been calling out for tanks for many months now. we've seen a similar pattern as with other weapons systems, where kyiv and president zelensky ask for weapon systems, the us and germany say, "no, no, no," and then, a few months

later, those same systems are transferred to ukraine. it's worked relatively well so far, but of course, that strategy could be strengthened even more and ukraine could be even closer to victory were the us, were germany to send these tanks much quicker than they have done, even if today is a big day for this. poland, for example, has been asking germany to send these tanks for months as well. so, this is a strong development, and unfortunately, it will take a few months for the german leopards to arrive in ukraine and even longerfor the us abrams. but this is a signal that allies realise that russia's war in ukraine is not going away for many months and they're ready to stand behind kyiv and fight russian aggression in europe. yeah, there was some reluctance on the part of germany ahead of this in terms of concern with tanks coming into the picture, russia would escalate. it's already called this "blatant provocation". what do you see moscow doing now? well, the irony about russia calling this a provocation

or an escalation is that they're the ones escalating the war. we've seen in the months in between kyiv asking for tanks and different weapons systems, even more russian strikes on civilian apartment buildings, for example, and shopping centres away from the front lines — driving up the death toll in ukraine of people who aren't even involved in the conflict. so it's really doing nothing is the escalatory move there that moscow thinks it can win. that's when they continue these strikes and send tens of thousands of men to the donbas. the fortunate thing is russian capabilities are degraded significantly. they have dumb bombs they can send at civilians, at apartment buildings, they have untrained troops that they can send to the front lines, but really, primitive weapons and just bodies are the two main weapons they have at this point. just briefly — i know it's impossible to say, but where do you see

the war going from here? well, i do think in the spring and summer, we will see the fighting tick up a bit. russia has long been talking about, been murmuring about another offensive at kyiv. it's unclear how they would do such a thing, but i think now that their troops' ranks have increased, we could see that. and we could also see, with these tanks and with some additional capabilities, ukraine launching another counteroffensive in the south. so, lots more to come, but expect more action in the spring, certainly. andrew d'anieri. speaking to us a little earlier. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines: the european court of human rights has confirmed it will hear a dutch case against russia over the downing of flight mhi7. all 298 people died when russian—backed ukrainian separatists shot down the malaysia airlines plane in 2014. amsterdam argues that moscow's disinformation about its role in the incident violates the human rights of

the victims' relatives. spanish authorities in the city of algeciras are treating a series of stabbings, which left one person dead, as a possible terrorist incident. clergymen at two different churches, 300 metres apart, were attacked just after 8pm local time. local media report four others were injured. the uk prime minister has faced more questions about the tax affairs of the conservative party chairman and former chancellor, nadim zahawi. the labour leader sir keir starmer accused rishi sunak of being hopelessly weak in not sacking mr zahawi, after it was revealed he paid a tax penalty to hmrc. mr zahawi says he's confident he acted properly.

in china, a bbc investigation has found evidence of many covid—related deaths in rural areas after the virus spread from big city areas into more remote areas with older populations. people working in the funeral industry say they've been much busier than usual. the chinese authorities have been consistently accused of under—reporting the number of people who've died from covid. our correspondent, stephen mcdonell, has been to the northern province of shanxi and he sent this report. the coffin makers in northern shanxi province have been busy. there's been great debate about the number of covid deaths in china's cities. but there's still no official death toll for rural areas. yet what you see if you visit local crematoriums is that a lot of people have died. translation: she had severe diabetes. -

after she got covid, she had a high fever and her organs began to fail. wang peiwei hasjust lost his sister—in—law. the mother of two was in her early 50s. translation: she was a great person. - we must hold a grand event to send her off, the best we can afford. orders for these paper funeral ornaments are being placed at two or three times the normal rate because of coronavirus deaths, according to this man. translation: some sick people were already very weak. - then they catch covid and their elderly bodies can't handle it. the government has announced more than 70,000 covid—related deaths in china's hospitals, but these rural areas have only sparse facilities and many pass away at home, so are mostly not being counted. for the spring festival, hundreds of millions of younger people already returned

to their home towns. these are the fireworks, the pictures, the lanterns and the snacks that chinese people buy to help them ring in the new year. it's normally a very joyous time — in fact, the most important festival in this country — but this year, people won't necessarily be so happy because they may well have lost friends or loved ones to the coronavirus. everyone seems to know somebody who's died. i ask this farmer about what appear to be new graves nearby. translation: families have been burying their elderly _ relatives. there are just so many. he points to the fresh mounds of earth. they're marked with red flags. in his village of a few thousand, he says more than a0 people have passed away during the outbreak, but they're hoping that covid's worst work has been done. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, shanxi province.

you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we look at new evidence that the way we communicate could have come from these animal ancestors. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman schoolteacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word revolution. the earthquake - singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. _ tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasingj desperation about it as the hours pass. l the new government is firmly in control of the entire

republic of uganda. survivors of the auschwitz concentration camp have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of their liberation. they toured the huts, gas chambers and crematoria and relived their horrifying experiences. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: facebook�*s parent company, meta, says it will reinstate the accounts of former us president donald trump. ukraine has welcomed the decision by the united states and germany to provide modern tanks to push back the russian invasion. let's turn to australia now, where thousands are expected to protest today at rallies in major cities demanding the country's national

day be changed. 26 january is the anniversary of the 1788 landing of britain's first fleet, which began the era of colonisation. our correspondent, phil mercer, is at a rally in sydney. great to see you on the programme again and as i've said it every hour, but crowd is continuing to build behind you. give us a sense of the atmosphere there today. there are thousands _ atmosphere there today. there are thousands and _ atmosphere there today. there are thousands and thousands i atmosphere there today. there | are thousands and thousands of people on this march through part of central sydney, and the sheer weight of numbers is closing down part of the heart of australia's biggest city. the demonstration here is regarding australia day, 26 january, celebrated by many people across this country as a time of national pride to celebrate this country's

achievements, to celebrate this multiculturalism, but for these people on the march here in sydney today, this is invasion day, a time of sorrow, a time of morning and a time to commemorate the arrival of those british ships, 235 years ago. people here believe that that was the start of a brutal and lasting colonisation. as we say, this march in sydney is being replicated in many other cities and towns across the country, but there are thousands and thousands of people here demanding to be heard, demanding that the date of australia day be changed. fascinating. on that, these demands to have australia day, the day changed, as the government listening? fire the day changed, as the government listening? are they do anything _ government listening? are they do anything about _ government listening? are they do anything about that? - government listening? are they do anything about that? there i do anything about that? there are government ministers who believe the date should be changed, but it's not official

government policy. what is also under debate in this country is the government's plans to set “p the government's plans to set up and indigenous body, an independent body to guide official policy, and that and the prime minister anthony albanese wants to hold a referendum to change the australian constitution to enshrine the so—called indigenous voice to parliament, to help shape policy to address indigenous disadvantage. australia's original inhabitants suffered a proportionately higher rates of imprisonment, unemploymentand imprisonment, unemployment and poverty, imprisonment, unemploymentand poverty, but you speak to people on this march and many of them don't want that indigenous voice to parliament. many believe it is an elitist project driven by white guilt that will not address indigenous problems. so it is a huge debate, as is the date of australia day on 26 january.

indeed. phil mercer, a huge debate, one i know you will continue to be a cross for us. thanks so much forjoining us on newsday at this hour. that's it from phil mercer who is at sydney. more on that on our bbc news website. some more stories to bring you now. dozens of homes and businesses have been damaged after storms and a tornado hit pasadena, in the us state of texas. the storm system also affected towns south of houston. high winds damaged power cables and torrential rain caused flooding in a number of areas. police say no one was seriously injured. the controversial social media influencer, andrew tate, has spoken for the first time since his arrest in romania and said the case against him is "empty". tate and his brother, tristan, are due to be held in custody until 27 february, while police investigate allegations of human trafficking and rape. tate gained mainstream notoriety for misogynistic remarks that got him banned from all major social media platforms.

the international olympic committee has suggested that russian and belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete at the paris 2024 summer games, if they participate as neutrals. in a statement the ioc said it was exploring a pathway, saying no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport. the move has been criticised by ukrainian athletes. we can all understand human gestures like waving, smiling or hugging, and it seems we can also figure out some of what apes are communicating. volunteers watched videos of chimps and bonobos and were asked what they were trying to convey. our science correspondent, victoria gill, has the results. 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've 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's 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 suggests 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's 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 ability to interpret them, the researchers say, sends a scientific message about how our own language evolved. victoria gill, bbc news. the cast and crew of the pioneering american children's television show, sesame street, have paid tribute to its co—creator, lloyd morrisett, who's died aged 93. they praised his kindness and wisdom. he came up with the idea of using tv to teach young children basic skills like counting and recognising letters. sesame street with its lovable puppets, like elmo and cookie monster, was first broadcast

in the us in 1969. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. hello. after a week of weather contrasts so far, thursday brings a bit more evenness to the weather across the uk and most will be dry. some decent sunny spells as well, particularly in the west. now, the reason for the change is that the weather fronts, which brought the heavy rain through the evening across east anglia and southeast, will have cleared into france overnight, allowing this ridge of high pressure to even things out. now, it doesn't mean we won't be without frost and ice, particularly across central and western areas, but temperatures still will be nowhere near as low as they have been through recent nights. a few mist and fog patches in the west, too, but for the vast majority, it is going to be a dry and sunny day. northern scotland will see a few showers and across south east scotland into eastern england, this is where we'll see some showers come and go throughout the day.

not everyone will see them. many will stay dry and still a lot brighter across east anglia and the south—east compared with the grim conditions of wednesday. but here and across many eastern counties, it will be quite a blustery day. but temperature—wise, as i said, we're evening things out. 6—9 degrees across much of the uk, which is not far off where we should be for this stage in late january. now, as we go into thursday evening and overnight, there will be some showers across eastern england, perhaps tracking a bit further westwards, especially for northern england, most of them will be dry. partly clear skies, a chance of some fog across scotland, northern ireland and north—west england, and it will be a little bit colder as well. more widespread frost to take us into friday morning with a risk of ice where showers have continued. but if anything, friday should be another pleasant day for most patchy cloud across england, a bit more in the west compared with thursday. and then later on, northwest scotland and northern ireland will see cloud increase, some rain into the western isles before the day is out. and temperatures similar to thursday's values with lighter winds. into saturday, though, more cloud on the scene. there will be sunshine in particular eastern scotland, southern counties of england.

but this sort of cloud here with patchy rain, this is a weather front which is just toppling round our area of high pressure because it's within the area of high pressure — not much in the way of rain on it. it will clear through off into the near continent. but another batch of more active weather fronts into sunday will push into the north—west. we start with the frost again, particularly across some southern areas. but sunday, there'll be some sunny spells across england and wales especially, but increasing cloud to scotland, northern ireland, heavy rain and strengthening winds. gale force winds, if not gusts of wind in excess of 60 mph by the end of the day. will lift temperatures up, though, compared to the next few days, but it will feel cooler in that breeze.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. coming up on this week's show. during the pandemic many of us realised just how intense was our passion for travel. and i am so excited about the opportunities to explore economically and responsibly this year. the ukrainian artwork that has now found a safe home on display at a gallery in madrid. and who discovered the equator?