welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. as the number of dead exceeds 40,000 in turkey and syria, more aid's promised for the surviors of last week's earthquakes. and so that un aid can be delivered to syria, two more border crossings have now been approved for use. nato members meet to discuss more weapons for ukraine, with concerns kyiv is using them faster than they can be supplied. republican nikki haley enters the us 2024 presidential race in a challenge to donald trump.

we begin with the race to get more aid into southern turkey and northern syria, where the death toll from last week's earthquakes has now surpassed 41,000. millions are still left without shelter, in freezing conditions, with little food and poor sanitation. the challenge in northern syria is particularly difficult — the political situation is unstable after years of war and control of the border is split between the syrian government and rebel groups. until today, aid has been routed through a single crossing point, at bab al—hawa. 0ur correspondent laura bicker has been there and sent this report. every day in antakya, relatives huddle around piles of rubble that were once family homes, waiting for news. but rescue efforts have slowly become recovery missions, and now, as workers comb

through bricks and dust, the hope is of finding a body to say a final farewell. 30 people are entombed in what is left of this building. layers of concrete are pulled apart to reveal the remains of someone�*s living room. five of this woman's family live here. translation: all of those | people died while screaming, "save us, save us." there was no one. human life has no value in turkey. there are some who are still defying the odds. after more than 200 hours, two women were pulled from deep within the ruins. at least three others were rescued in other parts of turkey, but there are fewer miracle moments each day. and for survivors, living in fractured cities where damaged buildings

are still collapsing, coping with freezing temperatures with no heating, little water and food, is becoming more difficult by the day. translation: they're asking . for wet wipes, soaps, shampoos. there's water, but there's nowhere to take a shower. people are struggling. president erdogan has denied accusations that his administration's response to this disaster was slow. translation: obviously our country has faced issues that i would have been seen in any part of the world, but our people should have no doubt that our state went all out to reach the earthquake zone. the wait for aid has been longer in syria, but more is now on its way. until today, this was the only route available for aid to get through to syria, but the united nations has now organised two other border crossings. but it leaves key questions.

first, will this be enough to help the millions who are now thought to be homeless? and second, if this had happened earlier, could more lives have been saved? the search for survivors in idlib is over. the living are now focused on staying warm and alive. this has been one of the world's deadliest earthquakes, but without urgent help, this disaster could claim even more lives. laura bicker, bbc news, in antakya. martin schuepp is director of operations for the international committee of the red cross. he told us about the situation on the ground. so you are by now familiar of the terrible images of the huge devastation the earthquake has caused. tens of thousands have been killed. tens or hundreds of thousands have been injured, and millions are scrambling to make sure

to keep warm, have a roof over their head and have food and water and just the basics in order to be able to cope with a difficult situation. that's the situation overall, of course, perhaps you could talk to us about the difficulties in syria given the political situation there and given that these corridors have been open to try and get aid to people who need it. indeed, the earthquake has hit populations in turkey and syria particularly hard. it has been devastating for people living in syria who have endured a number of crisis and conflicts over the last decade. this is a population that has endured already a lot of hardship and has been fragile and destabilised. and now this earthquake has brought them to the brink of exhaustion, and it's a race

against time to make sure that as much aid as possible can reach these people to help them stay warm, get water and food and get medicine. to the war in ukraine now, and the nato secretary general says allies are talking about how to increase support for ukraine at a meeting of defence ministers. jens stoltenberg says ukraine is using up ammunition faster than it's being provided, and has called on member countries to increase production. today, the kremlin said nato demonstrated its hostility towards russia every day, and was becoming more and more involved in the conflict in ukraine. here'sjens stoltenberg's opening remarks at the meeting. nato allies are provided unprecedented support to ukraine to help uphold its right of self—defence. and from the start, we have been working very closely with the european union, determined to support ukraine for as long as it takes.

today, we will discuss our continued support, which is essential to help ukraine prevail as an independent sovereign state. so, more ammunition needed. but will they be able to get it? ian brezinski is seniorfellow at the us think tank the atlantic council, and also a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for europe and nato. ukrainians are sucking down, using up immense down, using up immense amounts of ammunition every day. some 10,000 rounds of artillery. this has caused the west to have its weapons stock drop precipitously. it's clear our industry is struggling to keep up with the production requirements to sustain this effort. it's taking twice as long to produce an artillery round to get it to the field, up from 12 to 24 months. so, this is a very serious problem thatjens stoltenberg and the ministers

are grappling with. we have heard from the us as well, right? lloyd austin saying that the us will ensure that ukraine gets what it needs. but is the west united when it comes to support for ukraine? the west has provided ukraine a great amount of assistance some $50 billion dollars, according to defense secretary austin, which has enabled ukraine not only to survive but also take back some of the territory that russia seized from it. the concern is that it is still not enough to ensure that ukraine will have the capacity to decisively win this war on its own terms. that is, taking back all the territory russia has seized. to get that confidence, ukraine would have to be provided with far more offensive punch. long—range attack options, that can reach behind russian lines, striking logistical depots, transport infrastructure, command and control centres, combat aircraft to provide air defence and additional strikes. that's what's going to be

needed if we are to be seriously confident ukraine is going to prevail. you have described what ukraine needs. once again, there is sort of a reluctance from some in the west. how successful do you think the efforts to get what ukraine needs at the time that they need it will be? you've hit it right on the nose. this is an issue of time and speed of delivery. president zelensky emphasised that in his recent remarks and he is absolutely right. time is becoming a lethal weapon used by putin to get more troops, he has 300,000 there and he is sending more in by the thousands. they are digging in and some of them are driving the russian offensive forward, so speed is essential. as ukraine continues to fight against russian offensives, the kremlin continues to wage another war — against critics at home. draconian laws have been

passed to punish dissent. public criticism of president putin's special military operation carries the risk of a long prison sentence. 0ur russia editor steve rosenberg travelled to the northern russian city of arkhangelsk to see how russian authorities are silencing opposition to the war. 20—year—old student 0lesya krivtsova has been missing a lot of classes lately. she's under house arrest — her every move monitored by this electronic tag. for social media posts critical of the war in ukraine, 0lesya faces up to ten years in prison. she's been charged with discrediting the russian army and justifying terrorism. translation: i never imagined you could get such a long - prison sentence for posting on the internet. i've already been added to the official list of terrorists — the list that includes school shooters and groups like islamic state. it's crazy.

her putin spider tattoo declares "big brother is watching you". it turns out that 0lesya's fellow students were watching her posts — closely. just before her arrest, 0lesya had discovered this online chat. in it, students, some she knew, were discussing denouncing her to the authorities for her anti—war stance. translation: some of them wanted to tell the security - services or the police. others were saying it's better just to discredit me. in the end, they decided that it was their duty as patriots to denounce me. the only time 0lesya's allowed out is to be in court. herfashion statement — her protest against young russians being punished for criticising the authorities. thejudge ruled to keep her under house arrest.

from the russian people, the russian authorities expect total, unflinching support for the offensive in ukraine. if you don't support it, you're expected at the very least to stay silent. if you don't stay silent, well, there's a whole string of repressive laws now in russia for punishing descent. russia for punishing dissent. this opposition politician was convicted of spreading fake news about the army. ilya yashin was sent to prison for eight and a half years. for vladimir kara—murza, the charge is treason. the kremlin critic and anti—war activist faces 20 years in jail. 0n the streets of arkhangelsk, it's not big brother watching you — he's a russian soldier who was killed fighting in ukraine. the patriotic messaging is persuasive. we found little sympathy here for people with anti—war views who are being prosecuted.

"those people who are discrediting our army or spreading fakes, they are sick in the head", konstantin says. "they should be sent off to the front line as cannon fodder." as for 0lesya, she says she dreams of a russia that embraces freedom of speech, where russians are not seen as criminals just for having a different opinion. steve rosenberg, bbc news, arkhangelsk. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. nikki haley announces her 2024 bid for the white house — against herformer boss donald trump. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order but the army defeated in the task

it was sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect for the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the reprecussions in the streets. one wonders who is next. explosions. as the airlift got under way, there was no let—up in the erruption itself. lava streams from a vent low in the crater flow down to the sea to the east of the island, away from the town for the time being. it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded their next generation space station with a spectacular night launch. they called it mir, the russian for peace. this is newsday on the bbc. 0ur headlines.

as the number of dead exceeds 40,000 in turkey and syria, more aid is promised for the surviors of last week's earthquakes. nato members meet to discuss more weapons for ukraine — with concerns kyiv is using them faster than they can be supplied. let's turn to india, where tax authorities have searched the bbc bureaus in delhi and mumbai. this comes just weeks after the bbc aired an inflammatory documentary in the uk, which is critical of indian prime minister narendra modi. we'll come back to that bbc programme in a moment. but first, this was the scene outside the bbc office in delhi on tuesday. police there were preventing people from entering or leaving the building. the bbc released a statement, saying "the income tax authorities remain at the bbc offices in new delhi and mumbai." they go on to say that some staff "have been asked to remain and are continuing

to co—operate with the ongoing inquiries," and that, "we hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible". the ruling bjp party has defended the search. no individual, no agency could be above the law. why is it that there is a hurry by the opposition party, especially the congress party, to give a clean chip to the agency concerned? the government spokesman referred to the opposition congress party there, who have predictably been highly critical. the party's general secretary tweeted that: and here's what another senior congress party leader had to say. translation: the government is

after the bbc- _ translation: the government is after the bbc. when _ translation: the government is after the bbc. when you - translation: the government is after the bbc. when you are - after the bbc. when you are nearing your doom, your wisdom starts working against you. the situation comes after the bbc, last month, aired a documentary critical of prime minister modi, which the government denounced as "anti—india garbage" with a "colonial mind—set". the film focuses on his role during communal violence in gujarat in 2002, when he was chief minister of the state. mr modi has long rejected accusations linked with this, and in 2013, a supreme court panel also said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. there are still a lot of unknowns about tuesday's searches, but the situation has raised questions about both press freedoms in india and the impartiality of the bbc, with a bjp spokesman describing the bbc as "the most corrupt organisation in the world". here are reporters without borders. it very much points to this climate of intimidation that journalists in india who speak for this government and speak

critically of this government, and the prime minister and the government ministers, face. to the us now, and the white house has said preliminary evidence suggests the three aerial objects shot down by us jets were not involved in a wider chinese espionage programme. earlier, i spoke to victor gao, who is a former chinese diplomat and vice president of the centerfor china and globalization, a think tank with links to the chinese communist party. i asked him if china is spying on the us using balloons. first of all, let's be honest. all major countries spy on each other, and i would not be surprised if every inch of land and water in china and in the united states has been fully mapped and checked by the other side. that sounds like an admission, mr gao. it sounds like you are admitting and acknowledging that the balloon of chinese origin was being used to spy on the us.

absolutely not. a balloon is, for everyone to see, it is not very much used in espionage. a balloon is mostly used in weather observation, as the united states acknowledged that the shooting of the three objects after the first shooting were not chinese origin but were balloons for weather observation. i think this whole incident... yes, in the interest of fairness mr gao, washington never said those three objects were of chinese origin, they said they were investigating. i take your point that the investigations are continuing. but i wonder, if indeed what china says is true, that this was a weather balloon then why not tell the us or latin america, where another balloon was also found, in the interest of partnership

that we have these balloons that are traveling through the sky to collect information. why not do that ahead of time? let's focus on the balloon. china acknowledges ownership of. china told the united states it was a chinese balloon. it got out of control due to force majeure and deviated from its course and entered the united states by error. this is the track record. i think the united states needs to disclose what happened between china and the united states about the specific nature of this balloon. now, for the united states to go to such a length to shoot down not only the chinese balloon but shoot down with the most

sophisticated fighter plane three of its own balloons for weather observation it is a farce. let us call a spade a spade. a balloon is a balloon and is not used in sophisticated espionage. both china and the united states have sophisticated satellites which can map every inch of each other�*s land. mr gao, the investigations are ongoing from the us side and they are going through the wreckage and debris of what was found with the balloon. i want to get your thoughts. is this latest episode and escalation in tensions between the us and china something that the countries can't get beyond at this point? this unfortunate incident and the implications triggered by the shooting down of this harmless balloon by the united states, the pentagon itself, is unfortunate. both china and the united states need to do as much as they can to control, contain the incident.

however, allow me to emphasize another washington completely misses. that is, both china and the united states live in the same world and the same earth and share the same atmosphere. no—one is beyond reach of the other side and everyone has observed the other side with full accuracy and full completeness. therefore, both china and the united states need to work for peace rather than agitate for confrontation and rivalry or war. we need to get along with each other rather than doing the other thing. so, from what you've said, is itjust par for the course that superpowers like the us and china will send objects into skies to try and spy on one another? that spying and gathering information is just the way things are done? for the record, the chinese government has condemned

the united states again and again over not only gears but decades for its violation of china's sovereignty and territorial integrity. there is a solid record and tonnes of proof that china can produce to back up that claim. whereas, on the us side, this balloon incident is the first time in my memory that the united states is jumping out of its seat to accuse china of violating its sovereignty. in this situation, i think both china and the united states need to sit down and talk about how to control the situation and prevent escalation, how to prevent escalation of this as this balloon did before the shooting down. in other news out of the us, nikki haley, the former governor of south carolina, has announced she's running to become the next president. she was appointed by former president donald trump as us

ambassador to the united nations, and is the first person to challenge mr trump for the party's 2024 nomination. here's some background on the new republican challenger. the people of south carolina chose me as their first minority and first female governor. i was the proud daughter of indian immigrants. not black, not white. i was different. a hate—filled murderer who massacred our brothers and sisters in charleston has a sick and twisted view of the flag. it's time to move the flag from the capitol grounds. during anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren

call of the angriest voices. i can promise you what i'll be doing is campaigning for this one. and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. america will put our embassy injerusalem. some people look at america and see vulnerability. they all think we can be bullied, kicked around. you should know this about me. i don't put up with bullies. and when you kick back, it hurts them more if you're wearing heels. it hurts them more if i'm nikki haley, and i'm running for president. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news.

hello. after a dry but misty night for some the is actually some for some there is actually some rain in the forecast over the next few days which may come as a bit of a shock to places such as benson, 0xfordshire, pershore in worcestershire and bramham in yorkshire, because these areas over the last four weeks have barely seen over a millimetre of rain. now the rain clouds are gathering out there in the atlantic at the moment. this one will come in through thursday. but we need to shift this one first. it's been held at bay in an area of high pressure, but that high pressure is going to weaken a little bit, allowing that weather front to trundle. start of wednesday, that rain will be across western scotland. northern ireland would be a mild enough start to the day,

but east of scotland, england and wales, temperatures still low enough for some frost around. and the eastern counties of england, some dense patches of fog that won't last as long as the fog did on tuesday. we'll also see the rain in northern ireland quickly clear to brighter skies before more cloud later. rain through the morning in scotland, sunshine and showers later. but then from late morning through into the afternoon, the rain spreads across wales, northern western parts of england into the midlands, east anglia, the south east, the channel islands staying dry all day long, the breeze picking up relative to the past few days and the mildest conditions in the southeast corner, 14 or 15 celsius, even though for some in the west a bit of a drop compared with tuesday. temperatures still above average for this stage in february. now we finish wednesday with some patchy rain of drizzle, east anglia and the southeast. but after a brief clearer spell, more widespread rain and drizzle spreading across england, wales, southern scotland through wednesday night and into thursday morning, it's going to leave a lot of low cloud around, quite a misty, murky, damp sort of day on thursday, especially around hills and coasts. that could be a little bit of brightness here and there, best of which will be in the north of scotland.

and another mild day, even with that cloud, nine to around 13 celsius, rain's gathering up behind me. that's a deepening area of low pressure, which will spell to the north of the country as we go through into friday, bringing some rain southwards, but a lot in the way of stronger winds. the winds will be rattling across the country. the cloud and patchy rain pushing its way southwards. sunshine, blustery showers later in the day across northern half of scotland. and temperatures still on the milder side, especially in the south. but the winds will be a key feature and it's one we'll certainly have to watch. we could see winds top 80 miles an hour across some parts of scotland, gusty winds to the east of high ground in northeast england and eastern scotland, too. we'll keep you updated.

this is bbc news. the latest news headlines will follow click. this week — lara looks at how to 3d—print replacement bones for cancer patients. shiona mounts up for the latest in horse tech. horse tech? yep — horse tech. righto. well, there's no time to stop for dinner, so lj's having it on the go. this is the strangest

experience i've had for quite some time.