welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. ukraine's president zelensky speaks to the bbc — and warns neighbouring belarus against helping russia launch a new offensive. it will be big mistake for him and for belarus, it will be historical mistake. but belarus�* leader, alexander luckoshenko — tells foreign journalists — he would be prepared to allow his territory to be used again — for any new invasion. an investigation in the us state of georgia finds there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election — rejecting false claims by donald trump. the un launches an appeal for one billion dollars to help turkey recover from last

week's catastrophic earthquakes. and the state of western australia tries to poach more than 30,000 key workers from the uk. hello and welcome to the programme. next week marks the first anniversary of russia's invasion. ahead of that — ukraine's president zelensky has been speaking to the bbc�*s world affairs editor john simpson — reflecting on what's happened and what may happen ahead. mr zelensky claimed his troops could keep defending their country until they are able to launch a counter offensive. and crucially — he ruled out conceding any territory to russia in a potential peace deal. a warning that there are flashing images in this report.

a year on, president zelensky may be stressed and deeply tired, but there's a definite spring in his step. compared with the last time i met him, four months ago, he seemed a lot more confident, even though russia may soon unleash a new onslaught. translation: they are coming from several directions - and we understand it but we are holding defence. modern weapons, powerful weapons, when we get them, speed up liberation and peace because weapons are the only language which russia understands. the fact is, he knows that his nato friends are slowly giving him any of the weapons he needs, and he is sure ukraine can hold out until it is able to launch a major counterattack of its own. —— many of the weapons. so he is certainly not minded to make any concessions to russia.

translation: any territorial compromises will only - weaken our country. why? it is not about the word compromise. why would we be afraid of it? we have a million compromises in our lives. they happen every day. the question is, with whom? a compromise with putin? no, because there is no trust. dialogue with him? no, because there is no trust. so no question now of agreeing to let russia have any part of eastern ukraine, and, he says, no peace is possible while russia holds on to crimea. and meanwhile, looking back... a year ago, would you have thought that you would be sitting here, still president, and the war would still be going on? translation: today, - there is already confidence that we will have a positive, victorious result.

there is more confidence in that. now, though, belarus is threatening to let itself be used by russian troops for an attack on neighbouring ukraine. it will be a big mistake, for him and for belarussia. it will be a historical mistake. but if belarussia does involve itself with the attack, can you survive? we will fight. we will survive. we will survive, yeah. john simpson, bbc news, kyiv. meanwhile — the leader of belarus, alexander lukashenko, says he's ready to allow russia, to use his country as a �*staging post�* for a new offensive in ukraine. last year, the russian military�*s — failed attempt — to seize the capital kyiv, was launched from belarus. translation: i'm ready to fight together with the russians - from the territory of belarus in only one case —

if so much as one soldier from ukraine comes to our territory with a gun to kill my people. president biden says three aerial objects shot down by the us in recent days appear to have nothing to do with china. he told reporters they were probably being used by private companies or for research purposes. alarm had been raised by the discovery earlier this month that a balloon floating over south carolina was part of chinese intelligence gathering. mr biden said there was no evidence of a rise in threats from the skies, but the us would shoot down any objects that threatens its security. i've directed my team to come back to me with sharper rules for how we will deal with these unidentified objects moving forward. distinguishing between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not. but make no mistake — if any object presents a threat

to the safety and security of the american people i will take it down. to the us now, and a special grand jury in the state of georgia has discovered no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. that's a rejection of arguments by donald trump, who has repeatedly claimed the result was rigged. several witnesses were found to have lied under oath during the investigation. the jury's partial report does not say whether the panel recommends indictments related to election interference. it's now up to georgia's district attorney to decide whether the findings should lead to criminal charges being pursued. here's our correspondent in washington, barbara plett usher, with the latest. one of the things it says is that the grand jury believes that one or more witnesses committed perjury in their testimony

and it recommends that the district attorney indicte for crimes where the evidence is compelling. it does not mention any names, it does not say how many they think will have committed perjury. the other thing is you said is that by unanimous vote agreed that there had been no election fraud in the state to the extent that it would have changed the election results. we do know that the grand jury heard from a number of trump allies including his former lawyer rudy giuliani including the republican senator lindsey graham who has already said he felt very confident in his testimony and that the grand jury had contacted him. we also note that the jury spoke to the secretary of state and the governor of georgia. both republicans who stood up to mr trump's demands. so they spoke to a range of different witnesses, they have also made detailed recommendations of who of who they think should be indited and who should not. we know this because the dead so previously, but he did not want to release the full report until the district attorney had made up her mind about what sort of decisions to make

with those for recommendations. ——judge. to the situation in turkey and syria now — and 11 days on, remarkably, there are still people being pulled alive from the rubble, left by the powerful earthquakes that hit the region. a teenage girl has been rescued from a collapsed building near the epicentre of the quakes. overall, the number of dead is now more than 41,000. the united nations has launched a $1 billion humanitarian appeal for the turkish people. 0ur correspondent caroline davies reports from the city of adana, in southern turkey. an incredible story of survival. carefully, with many hands, 17—year—old 0lena is lifted to safety after 248 hours under the rubble. these stories that have amazed the world are often down to a few factors and chance. to survive long term, so let's say over a week or ten days or something like that, you need mainly access to two things — air and some sort of water source. so we say people can survive

without water intake maybe for about three to five days or so. but i do think there's probably a huge psychological component, in the sense that, if people have hope and they believe that they will be rescued, determination probably does play a factor. many fear how long it may take them to be back in a home. in the snow—covered province of kahramanmaras, tent cities have been erected to provide some shelter. in adana, a food market is now a camp. but not for long. these tents have been in position for the course of the last ten days, but the authorities here say they are now dismantling them. you can see the tents over here and people taking some of their belongings as well. now, that's because the authorities say that there is greater need closer to the epicentre, but people who have been living here tell us that they are very worried. the authorities say people will be moved to live in other accommodation but some feel they are being moved

on too quickly. fatma has been living in the camp since the earthquake hit. translation: it was rainy and cold, plus we had to see dead bodies - coming out of the building nearby. it was like a nightmare — i couldn't wash for ten days. this is the situation we are in. 0ur mental strength has broken. the earthquake has already taken so much, but many feel they are now left in limbo, not knowing how or where they can rebuild their lives. 11 days on there is a real sense of the turkish authorities want to show some signs of broadcast but our customers have been showing homes and rebuilt in areas that were almost entirely flattened by the earthquake. 0ne turkish geologist has said these areas need to have ground checks done before more construction is done on top of them.

speaking to the people here in southern turkey there is still a long sense of fear —— large. also a sense of distrust and that maybe take a wild and is a big challenge for the turkish government to repair. the uk's prime minister rishi sunak has travelled to northern ireland this evening. there is speculation that a deal is imminent between the uk and eu on post—brexit trading arrangements. sunak and the northern ireland secretary, chris heaton—harris, will meet political parties there. officials from britain and the european union have been in intense talks on the northern ireland protocol — which was agreed as part of britain's departure from the european union. it's thought the proposals will make it easier for businesses in northern ireland to trade with great britain. nicola sturgeon�*s successor as scottish national party leader is expected to be announced on monday the 27th of march. the winner will likely become first minister of scorland after a vote at holyrood that week. nominations for the post of snp

leader are already open. no one has yet formally declared but one of the potential contenders john swinney has already ruled himself out. the governor of ohio has asked the white house for federal support and on—the—ground assistance, after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed there earlier this month. residents in the town of east palestine have reported headaches and nausea in the wake of the derailment, which is also thought to have caused the deaths of thousands of fish. clean—up operations are continuing in the town. 0ur north america correspondent, nomia iqbal, is there, and filed this report. the toxic smoke from the rail crash hangs over this town like a dark cloud. the train was leaving east palestine on february the 3rd when it derailed, carrying hazardous material. the smell of sulphur still lingers in the air. people say it's causing headaches, they feel ill, their pets are ill, and some say they've seen dead fish in the creeks. for ben, even the sound

of trains is now unnerving. he says the noise is getting louder. this morning, waking up before my alarm because there's a train going off with these umpteen horns, and ifeel like they're stating they're here, they're not going anywhere and they're bigger and more powerful than the town and the entities that are put in place to regulate them. like many of the town's nearly 5000 residents, he is worried about drinking the water. officials say it's safe. he isn't taking any chances, though, especially as he has kids. for the town, it's going to be like a 9/11 moment, it's going to be like a pearl harbor moment, where people remember where they were when it happened. the memories are going to be ingrained early on and how they felt early on, that sense of unease and chaos. i feel like there's going to be a before and after for when that happened to living

post that situation. the clear—up continues. the rocks have discoloured from where the toxic chemicals spilled. as you can see, a train is once again going through the town. once the evacuation was over, the track opened again, and this is what affects the residence so much — the fact that it's not even that not long since this disaster happened, and yet the trains are still going through carrying substances which they say they don't know what they are, and it's really concerning them. people had a chance to ask questions at a townhall meeting, but norfolk southern, which owns the train, didn't show up, saying it was worried about security — leaving residents feel insulted. they feel that they can take advantage of us because we are a smaller town, that what rolls through on those tracks is of more value than the lives

of the residents in this community. norfolk southern has set aside more than $1 million to help people, but residents say it doesn't even begin to address the long—time concerns they have about the environment and our health. nomia iqbal, bbc news, east palestine, 0hio. tesla is recalling more than 360,000 vehicles in the united states due to safety concerns. the national highway — traffic safety administration on thursday said the company's full self—driving software may cause a crash. the agency said the tesla software allows a vehicle to "exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner". tesla said it's not aware of any injuries or deaths related to the recall issue. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme... the state of western australia tries to poach more than 30,000 key workers from the uk.

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 for the town for the time being. it could start flowing again at any time. the russians heralded the next generation space station with a spectacular night launch.

they called it mir, russian for peace. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines. ukraine's president zelensky speaks to the bbc — and warns belarus against helping russia launch a new offensive. belarus' leader, alexander luckoshenko — tells foreign journalists — he'd be prepared to allow his territory to be used again — for any new invasion. the family of the missing woman nicola bulley have called for people to focus on finding her and to stop speculating about her private life. it's nearly 3 weeks since the 45—year—old disappeared on a dog walk in lancashire. detectives have been criticised for yesterday revealing personal details about her struggles with alcohol and the menopause. the force has also referred themselves to the independent 0ffice for police conduct over the contact police had with nicola injanuary —

prior to her disappearance. danny savage reports. nicola bulley, the most high—profile missing person in britain. when she vanished nearly three weeks ago, there was no suggestion from police, friends orfamily she was vulnerable. but at a packed news conference yesterday, lancashire police revealed for the first time that she was classed as a high—risk missing person. based on a number of specific vulnerabilities that we were made aware of, nicola was graded as high risk. they later added that she had significant issues with alcohol due to her struggles with the menopause. today there was a new statement from herfamily. we as a family believe that the public focus has become distracted from finding nikki and more about speculation and rumours. there are people out there threatening to sell stories about her. this is appalling and needs to stop. due to the perimenopause, nikki was taking hrt to help,

but this was giving her intense headaches, which caused nikki to stop taking the hrt, thinking that may have helped her, but only ended up causing this crisis. nikki, we hope you are reading this and know that we love you so much and your girls want a cuddle. we all need you home. don't be scared, we all love you so very much. and there has been an awful lot of unfounded speculation here over the last two and a half weeks. people have come to this village looking for clues, carrying out their own investigations, not believing the police who have had to issue dispersal orders to stop people creeping around here at night. the detail about nicola bulley�*s alcohol problems being released has concerned some experts. at some point in the future i think the police need to give women the reassurance that if their mum or sister or daughter goes missing, it is not typical that this information is released into the public domain. it is only if it evidently

helps the investigation, and i think people are still puzzled today as to why this level of information went into the public domain in the way that it did. lancashire police insist they are being as transparent as they can be. they have now referred themselves to the independent 0ffice for police conduct over contact with nicola bulley on the 10th ofjanuary, when they were called to her home over a concern for welfare report. separately, the iopc is looking at the personal information detectives made public yesterday. the search for nicola goes on. her family hope she is still alive. danny savage, bbc news, lancashire. more stories for you now from the uk. the rmt union has announced rail workers will stage a series of fresh strikes next month in the long—running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. the biggest strike day will be on the 16th of march and will involve both workers from network rail, and those at 1a train operators.

the royal college of nursing in england has announced its largest, longest, and most disruptive strike in its dispute with the government over pay and conditions. unlike previous industrial action, the rcn says no area of the health service will be exempt in future. the owner of british gas, centrica, has posted record profits of 3.75 billion dollars for last year, which is more than triple the amount it made in 2021. the firm said its profits would be used to help customers and the environment. the state of western australia has launched a bid to poach more than 30,000 key workers from the uk. western australia is looking for doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers, miners, plumbers, mechanics and builders — with the promise of higher wages, and a lower cost of living. a delegation of government and industry officials will visit the uk later this month to lure workers away to fill the vacancies.

speaking to the bbc on thursday, western australia government minister paul papali — who's leading the initiative — said his state is a fantastic place to live and work. there is no deception at all, we are up front — we are absolutely out to steal your best people. we have one of the best economies in western australia. we are the engine room of the nation. our economy is booming. we have far more jobs than people and have a magnificent that can attract people. 0ur cost of living here is way lower than the uk and ireland. 0ur wages are higher in western australia and we have a beautiful nice surf sunshine lifestyle so everything you could want. it's nirvana for people who may have it right now tough in the uk. the family of the hollywood actor bruce willis say he has frontotemporal dementia, which affects behaviour and language. willis, who starred in blockbuster films such

as die hard and pulp fiction, is 67. he announced his retirement in spring last year, following a diagnosis of aphasia — which causes difficulties with speech. the actor's family said his condition had since worsened. there are currently no specific treatments for frontotemporal dementia, which is an uncommon form of the disease. a choreographerfor a german ballet who smeared dog faeces on the face of a newspaper critic has been sacked. marco gerka was the ballet director at the hanover state opera when he confronted a journalist for writing a bad review about one of his shows. the opera house has now fired him, saying his "irresponsible actions have deeply unsettled the audience" and "irritated the public". and now, a blast from the past — or rather, the post. a letter lost in 1916 has been delivered to a flat in london more than 100 years later. 0ur correspondent, harry low, has the story.

when this envelope drops into the litter box in south london flat recipient was in for a surprise. i noticed on the stamp it was actually king rather than a queen. fin noticed on the stamp it was actually king rather than a queen.— king rather than a queen. on closer insection king rather than a queen. on closer inspection he _ king rather than a queen. on closer inspection he realised _ king rather than a queen. on closer inspection he realised it _ king rather than a queen. on closer inspection he realised it had - inspection he realised it had been sent over a century ago from somerset. in 1916 george v was king and world were one yet to be introduced. we and world were one yet to be introduced.— and world were one yet to be introduced. ~ , , , ~ introduced. we were pretty shocked and baffled as _ introduced. we were pretty shocked and baffled as to _ introduced. we were pretty shocked and baffled as to how _ introduced. we were pretty shocked and baffled as to how it _ introduced. we were pretty shocked and baffled as to how it could - introduced. we were pretty shocked and baffled as to how it could have. and baffled as to how it could have conceivably happened. then just really curious. figs conceivably happened. then 'ust really curious.�* conceivably happened. then 'ust really curious. as more than 100 ears really curious. as more than 100 years had _ really curious. as more than 100 years had passed _ really curious. as more than 100 years had passed he _ really curious. as more than 100 years had passed he and - really curious. as more than 100 years had passed he and his - years had passed he and his girlfriend decided to see what was inside. it girlfriend decided to see what was inside. , _ ,., ., inside. it is written by someone called cristobal _ inside. it is written by someone called cristobal to _ inside. it is written by someone called cristobal to their - inside. it is written by someone called cristobal to their friend l called cristobal to their friend katie who was mrs 0swald marsh. apologising for what she had said and it opens with will you learn to be your eight i feel quite ashamed of myself of what i had said at circle. it of myself of what i had said at circle. . , of myself of what i had said at

circle. ., , ,.,, ., ., circle. it was posted from one wealthy family _ circle. it was posted from one wealthy family to _ circle. it was posted from one wealthy family to another. - circle. it was posted from one - wealthy family to another. cristobal brady to her friend wealthy family to another. cristobal brady to herfriend katie. for local historians this arrival offers a welcome window into the past. it welcome window into the past. it does not happen every day. you could spend _ does not happen every day. you could spend days _ does not happen every day. you could spend days and weeks researching people _ spend days and weeks researching people and then all of a sudden you -et people and then all of a sudden you get a _ people and then all of a sudden you get a gold _ people and then all of a sudden you get a gold mine and that is what has happened _ get a gold mine and that is what has happened here. a get a gold mine and that is what has happened here-— happened here. a gold mine is that how ou happened here. a gold mine is that how you think— happened here. a gold mine is that how you think of _ happened here. a gold mine is that how you think of it? _ happened here. a gold mine is that how you think of it? yes _ happened here. a gold mine is that how you think of it? yes because i how you think of it? yes because the 're how you think of it? yes because they're so _ how you think of it? yes because they're so much _ how you think of it? yes because they're so much information - how you think of it? yes because they're so much information to i how you think of it? yes because | they're so much information to us within— they're so much information to us within a _ they're so much information to us within a couple of days research. in the within a couple of days research. in the statement royal mail set... it seems a pretty incredible occurrence that i suppose it would have just just gotten hidden somewhere in the sourcing —— office that has been in operation for over 100 years in someone has dug it up and just docketed with the days post. but pretty amazing that it was after all that time. ~ ., , pretty amazing that it was after all that time. ~ . , , that time. with many deliveries disru ted that time. with many deliveries disrupted in _ that time. with many deliveries disrupted in the _ that time. with many deliveries disrupted in the past _ that time. with many deliveries disrupted in the past few - that time. with many deliveries. disrupted in the past few months postal service this feels like a case of better late than never.

you have been watching newsday. stay with us. hello there. the winds are really picking up overnight. we're expecting some travel disruption and perhaps some damage across northern parts of the uk where the winds will be strongest, particularly over scotland, over the pennines and in the north—east of england with the peak of the wind strength expected during friday morning. it's all due to this deepening area of low pressure currently heading to the north of scotland. that is storm 0tto that will sweep its way down into scandinavia. it's the first named storm of the season, although it was actually named by the danish met service. it'll be a very windy start to friday morning, a very mild start as well. the rain in the south being replaced by showers, but it's the strength of the wind. that's the story, could be touching 80 mile an hour in the northern isles for a while. and generally across scotland,

gusts of 60 or 70 miles an hour. similar strength over the pennines and some very gusty winds to the east of the pennines as well. now the winds do gradually ease down through the day and we'll see this band of thicker cloud with some patchy rain heading down into southern parts of england and wales. other areas should see it brightening up and some sunshine coming through. the showers becoming fewer in scotland as the winds continue to ease. during the afternoon, the mild day temperatures nine degrees in scotland, highs of 1a or 15 in east anglia in the south east. northern ireland, though, will turn more cloudy in the afternoon. some rain coming in here as well. and this other area of low pressure comes in overnight. not particularly windy, but it will bring some wet weather for northern areas for a while, maybe some snow over the scottish mountains. most of that wet weather is out into continental europe by saturday morning, leaving behind this band of thicker cloud and patchy rain. southern scotland heading into the central belt, sunshine to the north of that and elsewhere in the uk. we'll see some sunshine at times that will be some cloud as well. breezy perhaps in southern areas of england. otherwise, the winds are much lighter on saturday and it's another

mild day for the second half of the weekend. we've got another area of low pressure approaching from the atlantic that will strengthen the winds during sunday and bring some wetter weather for a while in northern ireland, but more particularly across scotland. and we'll see some patchy rain for northern england as well. further south, it may well be dry, a little bit brighter, perhaps some sunshine in southern parts of england. the winds, though, do pick up, always the strongest in the far northwest of the uk. second half the weekend doesn't look quite so mild, but we've still got temperatures of 10—12 celsius.

hello, i'm hugh ferris. they've had many a high—profile meeting before, and while barcelona and manchester united would rather not both be in the europa league this season, they served up another exciting encounter this evening in spain. the first leg of their playoff tie finished 2—2, as dan 0gunshakin reports. back at the scene of their greatest triumph. the ”99 glory days might not be back just yet, but the current manchester united side are building nicely. barcelona would represent a significant test under the eric ten hag. barcelona would represent a significant test under eric ten hag. the signs looked positive. all in all, a positive first half, only a goal was missing.