welcome to bbc news, i'm lisa—marie misztak. our top stories. as the number of dead exceeds 40,000 in turkey and syria, more aid's promised for the survivors 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. 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? 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 next year's us presidential race, in a challenge to donald trump. and scientists in america say they may have developed a drug

for use as a contraceptive pill for men. 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 now, 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 lived 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. to the war in ukraine now, and at a meeting of defence ministers, nato's secretary—general says allies are talking about how to increase support for ukraine. jens stoltenberg says kyiv

is using up ammunition faster than it's being provided, and has called on member countries to increase production. the kremlin says 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. 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.

my colleague karishma vaswani spoke to victor gao, a former chinese diplomat and vice president of the centerfor china and globalization, a think tank with links to the chinese communist party. she asked him if china's 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. talking about balloons... 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 interests of fairness mr gao, washington never said those three objects were of chinese origin, they said they were investigating what they were. 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 and communication, that we have these balloons that are going through the sky to collect weather and meteorological information. why not do that ahead of time? first of all, let's focus on the balloon china acknowledged its ownership of, shot down by the united states.

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. and 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 also shoot down with the most sophisticated fighter plane and missiles three of its own balloons, for example, for weather observation, it is a farce. let's call a spade a spade. a balloon is a balloon and is not used in sophisticated espionage. nikki haley, the former south carolina governor and united nations ambassador, has announced she will run for the republican 2024 nomination.

her former boss donald trump is the only other canadidate to formerly announce, but more are coming, to formally announce, but more are coming, and they are expected to include florida governor ron desantis and former vice president mike pence. nikki haley made her announcement by launching a campaign video calling for "generational change". let's have a listen. some people look at america and see vulnerability. the socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. china and russia are on the march. 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. i'm nikki haley and i'm running for president. us political analyst max kutner joins us from new york.

thank you forjoining us. just how significant is this for the 2024 presidential election? this is a big deal, and it's not because of nikki haley, it's because this is the first of what could be, and i think will be, a flood of contenders baiting trump, challenging trump. this indicates it's not going to be fringe candidates or unfamiliar candidates and individuals who previously challenged trump in 2020, we probably can't even remember who they are. this is people who they are. this is people who are known in the republican party and conservative circles. so i think this is the first of many, and that is why this is a pretty big deal. many, and that is why this is a pretty big deal-— pretty big deal. does nikki haley have _ pretty big deal. does nikki haley have a _ pretty big deal. does nikki haley have a shot - pretty big deal. does nikki haley have a shot at - pretty big deal. does nikki - haley have a shot at becoming president?—

president? well, you see, she is in the middle _ president? well, you see, she is in the middle of _ president? well, you see, she is in the middle of this - president? well, you see, she is in the middle of this kind i is in the middle of this kind of weird space right now. she's trying to put herself forward as a kind of trump ist candidate but at the same time trying to distance herself from him, so we have to see how it played out. already since her announcement, democrats are coming after her as this trump maga figure, and these never trump ans coming after her as someone who served in his administration. people will see her as someone who left the trump administration but isn't trump. she is too trump for some people but not trump enough for trump supporters. what is donald trump saying about her announcement? donald

trum's about her announcement? donald trump's spokesperson _ about her announcement? donald trump's spokesperson released . about her announcement? donald trump's spokesperson released a| trump's spokesperson released a statement today referring to her as a career politician, saying she was aligned with big business. i think this isn't surprising. trump loves the limelight obviously, he really doesn't like it when people he employed, if you want to call it that, people who served under him or he appointed, try to outshine him or take him on. we see this all the time with people who served in his administration and then released books and have turned on him, former attorney general bill barr comes to mind, mike pompeo is another. he really doesn't like it when people he thinks he built up and gave a platform try to take him on. at the same time, i think he is not too concerned about her when it comes to 2024, i think he has his mind on florida governor ron desantis and some other potential big challenges.

thank you very much for your time. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: love during wartime — the ukrainian soldiers tying the knot on valentine's day. 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 on 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 bbc news, the latest 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. 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 so—called 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 russia is 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 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. scientists in america say they may have developed a drug for use as a contraceptive pill for men. they say it works by temporarily stopping sperm from propelling itself. the drug switches off an enzyme that sperm needs to be able to swim to reach a females egg. tests done on mice show that the effect is short—lived, with normal function restored within 24 hours. earlier, we spoke to

dr melanie balbach, a reproduction biologist at while cornell medicine in new york. i asked her what she's found in her research so far. as you said, we are working on a male contraceptive. what we showed with mice, when we give the inhibitor, they are infertile within 30 minutes, and that infertility lasts for about two and a half hours. when we look 24 hours later, the sperm start swimming again and the mice regain theirfertility. so what exactly happens to the sperm? it's immobilised, but for how long? if this were to be something that humans started using, what would be the likelihood of it being a viable form of contraception? the great thing about our approach is the enzyme we are targeting has the same

function in mice and in humans. it's an on—switch, so as soon as the sperm are ejaculated, they have to start swimming. and we are blocking that with our inhibitor. as soon as the men take the inhibitor, they stop swimming and they can't make it to the oocyte. when would something like this potentially be available to use on the market? we are hoping we will start clinical trials in about two years, so we have to test on a second animal and further improve our inhibitor. and then in about 6—8 years, if everything goes well, we should be able to have it on the market. female contraception has been around for 50 years, so why has it taken so long for a male option to even be in research stages? there are a plethora of reasons.

for a female, you have to only block one oocyte from ovulating. people thought that blocking hundreds of millions of sperm was too hard, but it looks like it could be working. there is a big societal component to it, because so far the burden of contraception has been all on females, so there needs to be a shift that the men also take responsibility and we really want the burden of contraception to be equally distributed ideally over both sexes. in the uk, buckingham palace has said the controversial koh—i—noor diamond will not be used in the coronation of king charles. instead camilla, the queen consort, will be crowned with queen mary's crown, which has been taken out of the tower of london to be resized for the coronation on may 6th at westminster abbey. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri reports. it may not be the largest diamond in the world,

but it's certainly the most controversial. the koh—i—noor is even said to carry a curse. buckingham palace has decided to keep it out of the coronation. so when camilla the queen consort is crowned alongside king charles in may, it will be with this one, queen mary's crown, worn by the consort of king george v in1911. in a statement, buckingham palace said: but for many, this does not resolve the dispute around who owns the diamond. if it's in a treasury box, does it shine any less brightly or burn any less brightly in the psyche of people who

feel they have been wronged? there are many theories about the stone's origins. historians generally agree it was taken from india by nader shah, an iranian ruler in 1739. that's him on the right, next to the mughal emperor muhammad shah. india argues it eventually made its way back home, but that one of its i9th—century rulers was then tricked into handing it to the brits during colonial rule. pakistan made an official plea to have it back because it was a jewel of the treasury of lahore. lahore is now in pakistan, it wasn't at the time, but it is now. the sikhs want it sent back maybe to the golden temple because they say it was part of the sikh kingdom. you go back even further, iran has a claim on it, afghanistan has a claim on it. buckingham palace says the coronation on 6tmay h the coronation on may 6th will be shorter, smaller

and more diverse than before. now the royals have made clear they won't let the koh—i—noor�*s sharp edges outshine their big day, proving not all diamonds are a girl's best friend. it's almost a year now since russia began its invasion of ukraine. thousands of men have joined up to defend their country. 0n valentine's day, some of them took a moment to remember what they're fighting for. the bbc�*s tim allman reports. when your country is at war, it certainly concentrates the mind. and the heart. here, in the ukrainian city of kharkiv, 0leg, a soldier on leave from the front, takes the opportunity to marry his sweetheart yulia. it turns out this is a conflict that both separates and unites. translation: the war introduced us, - since he is from the donetsk region and i am from the kharkiv region.

if it wasn't for the war, we wouldn't have met. we care about each other. every moment is special. further west, in the city of cherkasy, the weddings are taking place on an almost industrial scale. 50 couples have been walking down the aisle, almost every groom a soldier. and there were plenty of guests to offer a little moral support. translation: this kind of event shows that life goes on, - a little bit ofjoy for my comrade, for my friend. for those who just want to go on a date, rather than a more permanent commitment, why not try this train of love? setting off from kyiv, there are candles, decorations, and a romantic meal. but once again, the shadow of war looms large. translation: travelling in this train are soldiers l and their wives. these guys defend our land, defend our country, and today it is our honour to give them moments of personal happiness. and to sweeten the deal,

those soldiers get to travel for free. tim allman, bbc news. hello. after a dry but misty night 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 in by the end of the night. 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. there 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 headlines... nine more quake survivors have been rescued in turkey but the number confirmed killed in both there and syria is now more than 41,000. the who says 26 million people require humanitarian aid and the needs are only increasing, as are health risks with millions homeless in near—freezing temperatures. nato's secretary—general says the allies are talking about how to increase support for ukraine. jens stoltenberg says kyiv is using up ammunition faster than it's being provided and has called on member countries to increase production. the kremlin says nato demonstrated its hostility towards russia every day. scientists in america say they may have developed a drug for use in a contraceptive pill for men.

they say it works by temporarily stopping sperm from propelling itself. now on bbc news, panorama. this programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. devastation in turkey and syria. tens of thousands dead. millions without food or shelter. mounting anger at the emergency response. and the scale of destruction. this is a logistic nightmare. this is not a technical disaster, this an administrative, political, financial and social disaster.