this is bbc news. i'm rich preston with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. western leaders put forward a unified front as they call for military support for ukraine in its fight against russia, just days before the first anniversary of the invasion. ukraine needs more artillery, armoured vehicles and air defence, so now is the moment to double down on our military support. a uk—based iranian broadcaster which has covered anti—government protests in iran extensively says it's had to suspend its operations in the uk following threats against its journalists. we visit the turkish city of antakya, where some of the country's significant

historic monuments lie in ruins after the earthquakes that have killed more than 16,000 people. translation: this was - a beautiful area we took our groups to, old antakya houses, old anta kya streets. all destroyed, unfortunately. and queues as far as the eye can see — british children and teachers returning from half—term school trips in europe are hit by long delays at calais because of a strike by uk border staff. there's been an increase in people taking up treasure hunting in the british countryside — but should their discoveries be finders keepers? hello and welcome to the programme. just days before the first anniversary

of the russian invasion of ukraine, western leaders have appealed for countries around the world to unite in providing long—term military support for kyiv. speaking at a security conference in munich, rishi sunak said russia was betting the west would lose its nerve and now was the time to double down and provide more weapons. a separate meeting of 6—7 foreign ministers in the city agreed to tighten sanctions against moscow and quickly provide more weapons to kyiv. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, reports from munich. this is a conference like few others — a chance for western allies, yes, to put on a show of unity, but also a chance to reaffirm their support for ukraine and demonstrate their resolve to stay the course. so today the prime minister urged allies to double down on their support for ukraine, and called for a new nato charter to ensure its long—term security. but he also said this: what's at stake in this

war is even greater than the security and sovereignty of one nation. it's about the security and sovereignty of every nation, because russia's invasion, its abhorrent war crimes and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric are symptomatic of a broader threat to everything we believe in. with that argument was echoed by america's vice president, who said no country would be safe if russia could violate territorial integrity. and as for the torture and rape she said: we know the standard and there is no doubt these are crimes against humanity. applause. in other words, this

war is about more thanjust ukraine, an argument yet to be accepted by some leaders in africa and asia, who say it is damaging their economies, and they want peace fast. we suffer disruption of supply chains, increasing prices, recession of the economy. this money by russia and the west that is used to buy weapons, to enable russia and ukraine to kill one another, could be better utilised to promote development. it is opinions like that that is concentrating minds here, with western policymakers realising that, even after almost a year of war, they have still yet to convince some countries that it's right to arm and defend ukraine. so this war is being fought on the snowy plains of eastern ukraine, but there is a diplomatic battle too, and the west is realising it has work to do.

let's get some of the day's other news: the uk government has played down suggestions that a deal on post—brexit trading rules for northern ireland is close to being agreed, saying there are still challenges to work through. the row has sparked political paralysis at stormont. but representatives of the eu say they're optimistic about the discussions. the family of the former us president jimmy carter says he's decided to spend his remaining time at home after a series of short stays in hospital. the carter center said the 98—year—old would receive hospice care. north korea says it test—fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the sea of japan on saturday. state media says the test demonstrated pyongyang's efforts to build nuclear counter—attack capabilities against what it said were heightened military threats by the us and south korea. washington, tokyo, and the eu have condemned the missile launch.

a uk—based iranian broadcaster, iran international, says it's had to suspend its operations in the uk after mounting threats against its iranian journalists. it comes after what the network calls a �*significant escalation in state—backed threats from iran. the 24—hour channel will continue its output from its washington dc offices instead. our reporter, sofia bettiza, has been following the story. this was a difficult decision for iran international. the tv network said that it was acting on advice from the metropolitan police. and just to give you a bit of context, rich, in november, two british—iranian journalists were told by police that there was a possible threat to their lives. so, after that, armed police were stationed near their offices in west london. but on saturday, the network said that the threats had grown

to such an extent that it felt it was no longer possible to protect its staff. in a statement, they said, "this is notjust a threat "to our tv station, but to freedom of speech "and to the british public at large." now, a senior editor for iran international spoke to the bbc a little earlier. let's have a listen. what we heard from the police was that the amount of the threats was so much that, actually, the security concerns mounted and it was not possible to maintain the security of the personnel. we know that this has not been a single issue, this has been a continuous effort against iran international. the metropolitan police said that there have been 15 kidnapping and assassination attempts which were foiled, which probably they were aimed at iran international.

sofia, this can all be traced back to september, when a young woman, mahsa amini, 22 years old, died at the hands of iran's morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. pressure really has been mounting on the regime there ever since. that's right. the timing of this is significant. as you just mentioned, iran has seen anti—government protests over the last five months, which have posed one of the biggest threats to the islamic republic since the revolution in 1979. now, the network is already banned in iran but it's become one of the main sources of news in a country where internationaljournalists find it very, very... i mean, independentjournalists find it very, very hard to operate, and that is why in october, iran's government imposed sanctions against iran international, accusing them of inciting riots and supporting terrorism over their coverage of the government protests.

now, iran international said they will continue to operate in their offices in washington, dc, and that their staff will not be silenced by these threats. syrian state media says that israel has launched attacks on a residential building. it says that syrian air defences were active but gave no finer details. israel frequently attacks targets in syria which it says are linked to is —— i ran and hezbollah but really acknowledges its actions. turkish rescue teams have located more survivors of earthquakes that struck almost two weeks ago. a total of more than 16,000 people are now known to have been killed in turkey and syria with millions left homeless.

the turkish city of antakya is one of the most severely damaged, with residential areas and some significant historic monuments destroyed. caroline davies reports. the devastation only gets closer, until you weave in the gaps between the slipped slabs of concrete, deep into the old city of antakya. for 20 years, mehmet led tourists around these ancient streets. now, even he can't find his bearings. "everything has changed," he says. stones and debris of collapsed homes block our path at almost every turn. translation: this was - a beautiful area where we took our groups to. old antakya houses, old anta kya streets, all destroyed, unfortunately.

known as antioch, in roman and medieval times, this city has been significant forjudaism, islam, and was one of the earliest centres of christianity. now, the gaping arches are all that remains of the orthodox church here. bell towers and minarets crumbled. outside a restaurant, mehmet makes a call to the owner. i'm afraid to call people, because i don't know if they are dead or alive, so i'm scared. i am relieved to hear your voice. the owner is alive, but his business partner and their entire family have been killed. this was how these streets used to look. full of life and noise. now drained and empty. outside a butcher's shop, this man weeps for his nephew who used to work there. "my dear one has gone, the world has ended for me," he says.

across antakya, the devastation is still raw. but mehmet is taking comfort in the city's history and its record of resilience. so many cultures and civilisations have been and gone here. it has been destroyed and rebuilt, and this time it will be reborn again. caroline davies, bbc news, antakya. british children and teachers returning from half—term school trips in europe have been hit by long delays at calais. uk border staff are currently on a four—day strike leading to people waiting in queues for up to six hours. our money and work reporter peter ruddick has more details. so, what we know is that there are massive queues at calais, mainly of coaches trying to get back to the uk from, as you say, these big half—term trips. it's actually one of the busiest days of the year

for schools returning from, quite often, ski trips, actually, during half—term. so, we've seen pictures of incredible queues just outside calais and as you were saying, p&o have been tweeting, warning people that there is a 6.5—hour wait at calais for coaches at the moment. now, this — these queues, these pictures here were taken by a teacher who's actually just messaged to say they've finally got through passport control, they're waiting for the next ferry, they hope to be on board within the next 30 minutes or so, but it's seven hours after they arrived there. now, these queues coincide with, as you say, a border force strike, which is happening by uk border force staff but on the calais side. however, the home office are very keen to point out that they do not think the queues we're seeing here, these queues, are down to the industrial action itself. they say there are issues with the calais infrastructure and they say it is, as i was saying, one of the busiest days

of the year for coach travel. clearly, the strike dates are not helping, or, you know, are exacerbating this situation. this is bbc news, the headlines: western leaders put forward a unified front as they call for military support for ukraine in its fight against the russian invasion but britain's prime minister says the country needs more support. the security conference in munich provided the backdrop for the first high—level meeting between the us and china since the us shot down what it said was a chinese spy balloon. ho—fung hung from johns hopkins university told me about the chinese reactions. actually, after us detected the chinese spy balloon and later found out it is actually not the first time that a chinese spy balloon has shown up in us skies, and also in other countries.

then shooting it down over the ocean, and now they retrieve it, is a kind of action of caution, and definitely, and some people speculate that china might take action to sue the us for compensation of the downed balloon, but i don't believe that china would pursue this course, and i hope that after these heated exchanges and mutual condemnation on the incident, that they could forget, people can forget about it and we want a more important issues. as you mentioned, this is not the first time one of these balloons has appeared in american skies. i think ten or so over the last year. strong words from mr lincoln, warning china against incursions into us airspace, but is this likely to deter beijing? i think it is kind of a pattern, that besides balloon we see that china has been dispatching for example fishing

boats in the south china sea, with regard to its territorial dispute with its labour in the contested territory, so it has kind of been a pattern that china used this kind of apparently less threatening kind of vessels or means or equipment to expand its actions and influence and freedom of movement, so this kind of balloon programme, as the us has now found out that china has kind of an elaborate balloon programme for surveillance and spying, and i don't think china will cancel it. maybe it will be more cautious in sending a balloon into the us skies, but i would believe that china will continue to do it over the territorial space, air space of other countries, if they have been doing it for a while. it is important to zoom out here and look at the bigger picture, because of course the us aligned with europe and its nato allies, in particular when it comes to what we mentioned in the introduction, russia and its invasion of ukraine.

china more likely to side with russia on that front, and the us doesn't want china supplying weapons to moscow. how does this affect both the dynamics there? it is very crucial issue because right now, of course, russia is suffering a lot of losses, in terms of the wounding and also the death of its soldiers, but also there is an affirmation that russia is also seeing its ammunition and weapons supply being depleted very fast, and it will definitely affect russia's capability to continue in the war and the invasion of ukraine. if china really supplied russia with for example missiles or chips that can be used in missiles and all these ammunitions and weapons, and it would definitely prolong russia's capability in engaging in the invasion, and it will be kind of quite a big factor.

so it is why the us and international community should concerned about it. in new zealand — the death toll from cyclone gabrielle has risen to ii, but the prime minister, chris hipkins, says that figure is bound to rise. the cyclone hit new zealand's north island last sunday, causing widespread devastation. in some areas, new zealanders are taking things in to their own hands — including blocking roads to stop looters. jasen syms is a british expat living in hawkes bay, new zealand. i asked him what it's like where he is. well, where i am at the moment is pretty much like paradise, because i have walked a mile over the hills, got picked up by a friend and then brought down into this part of the city where there is actually reception where we are, and the vast majority of hawke's bay is just devastation. the numbers you just mentioned about loss of life, that is absolutely so far

from what we will be. it has been absolutely devastating for hawke's bay. the morale of the people is low, but incredibly knit together. i mean, communities arejust helping each other. we do have the horrific side that you just mentioned, where we have got, you know, the pack wolves of society which are just literally feeding off people's sadness and misery. one of the reasons why it has been so hard to inaudible to you guys, i presume, is that the cell towers, as soon as vodafone or 02 or whoever it is putting in generators to give help for people to actually contact loved ones or such things, they are stealing the generators. holding up people at gunpoint. it is just absolutely unbelievable. anyway, that's something that needs addressing in new zealand

as soon as this catastrophe can be somewhat put back on the right axle, which is going to be a lot of years — i mean, hawke's bay is the fruit bowl of new zealand. it is not going to be for a lot of years, a lot of years — decades, maybe. you mentioned the problem with the cell towers there and just the other day, chris hipkins said 4,500 people still couldn't be contacted. is that what you're still hearing? well, 4,000 — what we're hearing here is 4,000 people unaccountable for, that's why — i mean, the government's downplaying, same as what i've been listening to the horrific — the first time i've heard anything about turkey and syria for probably five or six days, you know, the last time i heard the death toll was probably at about 15,000. and what's it up now to? nearly 50. it will be not them numbers here but it's certainly going to be vastly more elevated than what they're

actually reporting in the media down here, or what they're told to report in the media. very, very sad times. you're talking about the community working together and the problems you're having with looters. are you getting enough support from the government, from law enforcement, or are therejust not the resources to deal with it? well, to be fair, i don't think there's the resources to deal with it, not something on this scale in such as a small populated country. i mean, we've only got barely — well, just over 5 million people and for a landmass which is larger than the whole of the great — you know, great britain or the british jasen symsjoining us jasen syms joining us from jasen symsjoining us from new zealand earlier on. mr yusuf said he will go forward with a campaign to be the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with ash the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with ash regan the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with ash regan who the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with

ash regan who said the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with ash regan who said she the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with ash regan who said she will the first minister. that decision puts him at odds with ash regan who said she will be standing, she quit the cabinet over the issue and should see she would be in the bill if elected. here in the uk, treasure hunting is becoming an increasingly popular hobby. but the debate is open — what should happen to objects that treasure hunters find? the government wants to widen the legal definition of "treasure" in england, wales and northern ireland so that when important historical artefacts are found, they end up in public rather than private collections. tim muffett has the story. eyes down, fingers crossed. detectorists live in hope. metal detector beeps slowly. bryan and julian have been metal detecting for decades... are you feeling excited? oh, very much so! let's hope it's that gold coin. chuckles. ora ring pull — you never know. ..and still find it exciting. why do you love this hobby so much? why this hobby? that's a question i've been asked by several ex—wives as well. um, it's one of those things — you just don't know what you're

going to come across. these machines are like having access to a time machine. what is it you've found here? tarpaulin ring from a wartime tent. just don't know what's coming up, and that's the wonder of the hobby. but if you do find something significant, what happens next in england, wales and northern ireland depends on whether it's defined as treasure. as things stand, an artefact is classed as treasure if it's more than 300 years old and made in part from a precious metal, such as gold or silver, or if it's more than 300 years old and one of a number of items found together — or a hoard, as it's known. treasure is offered to museums first, to see if they want to buy it. it's a way of keeping nationally important items on public display. the treasure act protects our heritage, enables finds that we make in fields like this to go into national museums, so everybody can share them.

if it's not treasure, it can be sold straight to a private collector — that's what happened to this roman helmet found in cumbria. made of copper, which is not a precious metal, it wasn't deemed treasure and it was sold for more than £2 million to a private collector. so, this is our birrus britannicus... chelmsford museum nearly missed out on this rare roman figurine because it's made of a copper alloy and not a precious metal. because it wasn't classed as treasure, when we were looking to acquire this, the detectorist had sold it to a buyer abroad. we had to have the government intervene, essentially, and put in a trade export ban to keep this within the country. the government is proposing to change the legal definition of treasure. it would encompass all exceptional finds over 200 years old, regardless of what metal they're made of. and a new significance test would apply. if an item is connected to a particular area, individual or historical event, it could be classed

as treasure. what do you make of these proposed changes? would they help your museum? yes, they'll be very positive for us. we'll be able to get first refusal on keeping any items like this, that are historically significant but not made of a precious material. but with metal detecting, you never quite know what's around the corner or below your feet. tim muffett, bbc news. finally, hundreds of dogs have paraded through rio dejaneiro to mark brazil's carnival celebrations. the yearly pooch parade attracts dogs of all shapes and sizes, dressed by their owners as everything from minnie mouse to superheroes, clowns, and bees. rio fills with brazilians and tourists from all around the world for five days of celebrations and elaborate parades in rio's sambodrome

and on the streets. what great animals. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @rich preston. hello. we've a fair amount of cloud out there, a little bit of drizzle here and there, too. how about sunday overall? well, actually, for many of us, it's not looking too bad. a fairly bright day, not necessarily all that sunny but it will be generally dry — at least across england, wales and northern ireland. now, from the motion of the cloud, you can see the weather's coming in generally from the south—west. that's a mild direction, so it is mild out there. and notice this large area of low pressure just sweeping to the north of us. now, it's not mild everywhere — in fact, in eastern scotland through the early hours, temperatures will be pretty low and after the damp weather, there is a chance of one or two icy patches but in contrast, the rest of the country really

will be very mild indeed sunday morning — around eight degrees in many major towns and cities. so, in the north—west, rain and gales — in fact, the gales may strengthen as we go through the course of the day. really windy around the north coast of northern ireland, too, but elsewhere, yes, a breezy day but that bright day and some sunny spells possible, too. temperatures will be typically around 12 degrees or so. now, let's have a look at sunday evening and the gales continue to strengthen across the north of scotland, turning severe as we head into monday, and it's all because of this low pressure. you can see a lot of isobars there. tight pressure gradient — that means strong winds. but to the south of the low pressure, we have a mild south—westerly spreading — at least, across the bulk of the uk. so, here's the forecast for monday, then, and you can see these mild south—westerlies, yes, dragging in a fair amount of cloud, but a few breaks in the cloud as well, and temperatures could actually get up to around 14 or 15 degrees. different story to the north

with gale force winds. it's cold — only seven degrees in lerwick. the forecast for tuesday continues to show these milder south—westerlies across the bulk of the uk so it stays, of course, mild, but this weather front is approaching and that heralds a change for later on in the week. in fact, behind that weather front, we'll see slightly colder air arriving from around wednesday and into thursday. it's not going to turn particularly cold but those temperatures will be widely into single figures. you can see by the time we get to wednesday and thursday, the temperatures are closer to around nine degrees but, you know, overall, it's still on the mild side.

this is bbc news, the headlines: western leaders have put forward a unified front as they called for military support for ukraine in its fight against russia, just days before the first anniversary of the invasion. britain's prime minister rishi sunak said the sovereignty and security of every nation was at stake. a uk—based iranian broadcaster which has covered anti—government protests in iran extensively says it's had to suspend its operations in the uk following threats against its journalists. it comes after what iran international called a significant escalation in state—backed threats from iran. the number of people confirmed to have died