welcome to bbc news. ukrainian and russian forces are fighting in the northern suburbs of the city of bakhmut — which has been battered by seven months of fighting. oleksandr marchenko, the deputy mayor, confirmed the street clashes, but said the russians haven't taken control. western analysts say the scene has been set for ukrainian forces to carry out a fighting withdrawal. a british defence ministry update said ukrainian soldiers are digging new trenches west of the city and are being reinforced by elite troops.

the capture of bakhmut would be the first russian victory of note in more than six months of fighting. our diplomatic correspondent, james landale, sent this report from the capital, kyiv. this is bakhmut, or at least what is left of it, after some of the fiercest fighting since russia invaded ukraine. for more than six months, russian shells and missiles have rained down on the city. thousands of russian soldiers have died trying to seize it and now their commanders are growing increasingly confident. translation: we have - almost surrounded bakhmut. there is only one road that remains in and out of the city. the pincers are closing. before we were fighting a professional ukrainian army but now we fight against old men and boys. ukrainian forces are still defending the city street by street and reports suggest reinforcements are being sent in. but these russian troops say the ukrainian army is destroying bridges like these, potentially to prepare

for what western analysts call a controlled fighting withdrawal from parts of the city. local officials insist ukraine still controls bakhmut but accept there is now fighting in the streets. translation: the city is almost destroyed, not a single - building has remained untouched. the bridges are destroyed, currently there is no communication in the city so it is cut off. the russians are shelling everything, they have no goal to save the city. they want to destroy bakhmut like they did with mariupol. russia broadcast pictures of its defence minister making a rare flying visit to his forces in eastern ukraine. for him and the kremlin, seizing bakhmut would be a rare victory and they hope a stepping stone to gaining more territory. but for now ukrainian fighters on the ground still seem ready to fight them every inch of the way, with russia paying a much higher and bloodier price.

james landale reporting there. australian police say the drugs were intercepted by us authorities off the coast of ecuador in november. thejoint operation with the joint operation with the united states has lent to 12 arrests linked to a mexican drug cartel. the large haul of cocaine was bound for western australia. investigators substituted the illicit cargo with plaster of paris, a fine, white powder. the shipment was dropped into the indian ocean, west of perth, and monitored by drones and helicopters. over a number of weeks, our officers and other offices assisted to reconstruct those identical packages and dropped 1.2 tonnes of those drugs into the ocean a0 miles off the coast.

over the next few days, the police watched as a criminal syndicate with alleged links to a mexican cartel used two boats to find and retrieve the consignment. surveillance images show one of the vessels towing the other after it had washed up on a beach where two men were arrested. others suspected members of the gang were later detained at a harbour in perth, the western australian state capital. the police also stopped a vehicle on a highway several hundred kilometres away where they found a large amount of cash. 12 people have been arrested, including a 39—year—old man from the united states. law enforcement authorities say australia's appetite for illegal drugs makes it a potentially aggressive destination for traffickers, but not this time. this haul is estimated to be about half of australia's annual consumption of cocaine.

the daily telegraph has published more leaked whatsapp messages about the former health secretary, matt hancock. they appear to show that mr hancock and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke covid guidance when he kissed his aide. mr hancock also criticises the then chancellor's eat out to help out scheme. the revelations come as mps investigating the conduct of the former prime minister borisjohnson, say he may have misled parliament multiple times over gatherings at downing street during the pandemic. earlier i asked henry hill, the deputy editor of conservative home, about how these latest allegations affect the party as a whole. it's obviously cutting across what was a very good week for rishi sunak. his windsor framework, this deal he struck to try and ameliorate the problems created by the northern ireland protocol, seemed to have gone down very well

both with elements of his own party, who might have been expected to be critical, and with the public at large, and yet, here we are at the weekend and who are we talking about? borisjohnson. that is not what downing street will have wanted. there is a hard core of borisjohnson supporters and some of them may feel vindicated by his continual energetic rebutting of these concerns, but for the most part, this is not the image the party wanted to be projecting. what do you think it does to any hopes he might of had of becoming more central to politics, making a return to it? does this quash his chances? borisjohnson is unquashable simply because he just refuses to go away but this is a reminder to any mps who might have been on the middle ground, there is a committee of borisjohnson supporters, but for mps who might have been tempted to maybe think borisjohnson is the solution, this

story is a useful reminder of why he left office in the first place. in terms of the job offer for sue gray and the criticism that has come from various conservative voices about that, do you think any of those criticisms and concerns wash with conservative voters or is it a case of actually people had already made their mind up about where they stood on the party gate argument anyway? i don't think sue gray's appointment is going to change anyone's mind about partygate, but for the people who believe it was a stitch up, it is further evidence to their minds that it is a stitch—up, but for everyone else there is no suggestion and no evidence sue gray's personal prerogative is in question. there are broader concerns about having a civil servant who has occupied such a sensitive role in conservative governments going to the opposition, but with partygate specifically, most sides are baked in at this point. you touched on it earlier

about the week that prime minister rishi sunak has had with some of his successes with the windsor framework. but do you think all of this about borisjohnson, what effect do you think they have on how rishi sunak is viewed by party members? again, it's an unhelpful reminder for the party and the core party members who support borisjohnson but it comes down to how he handles this because this story, whilst it is cutting across his good news story about northern ireland, it is a reminder of the sort of leadership that rishi sunak has made a point of putting behind the party. he is saying he is steadying the ship, trying to offer a more professional brand of leadership and again, if he makes sure this is fire walled off and doesn't take ownership of it, it is a reminder for members that however much they might have liked borisjohnson, he came with serious downsides

and there is a reason his government ended up imploding. how steady do think that ship will remain in the continuing leaks over former health secretary matt hancock's whatsapp messages? to an extent that will depend what is in them. obviously some of that might make uncomfortable reading for the former chancellor because he was chancellor at the time and therefore he was involved in some of those decision—making but ultimately, he was relatively sceptical of a lot of the lockdowns which i think for the conservatives, that is no bad thing and unless there is a big smoking gun, the lockdown story is a pre—rishi sunak story and matt hancock and borisjohnson are both on the back benches and i don't think the government will suffer particularly. un countries are said to be finalising an agreement on a long—awaited treaty to protect

the high seas — the area of the ocean not controlled by any one country. after more than 15 years of informal and then formal talks, negotiators are coming to the end of two more weeks of discussions at a summit in new york, the third "final" session in less than a year. the high seas make up more than half of the surface of the earth and are crucial in fight against climate change. liz karan, who is the programme director for protecting ocean life on the high seas at the pew charitable trusts. she and her colleagues have been at the summit which is where shejoins me now. thank you forjoining us. just explain to viewers why exactly the oceans are so crucial in the fight against climate change? the oceans -la a against climate change? the oceans play a critical _ against climate change? the oceans play a critical role _ against climate change? the oceans play a critical role in _ against climate change? the oceans play a critical role in making - against climate change? the oceans play a critical role in making sure i play a critical role in making sure that there is atmosphere in the carbon cycle. every second breath we take comes from the ocean. it also gives us food security, marine

biodiversity which is essential for people and nature and a healthy planet. the high seas make two thirds of the world's oceans. maw; thirds of the world's oceans. many of us when — thirds of the world's oceans. many of us when we _ thirds of the world's oceans. many of us when we hear _ thirds of the world's oceans. many of us when we hear the _ thirds of the world's oceans. many of us when we hear the phrase high seas we associate it with pirate stories. how is it defined and where exactly is the boundary sat between national waters? the exactly is the boundary sat between national waters?— national waters? the high seas are those areas _ national waters? the high seas are those areas that _ national waters? the high seas are those areas that are _ national waters? the high seas are those areas that are beyond - national waters? the high seas are those areas that are beyond 200 i those areas that are beyond 200 nautical miles of countries exclusive economic zones and those boundaries were set by the unc convention, negotiated in the 1980s. what are the negotiations like at the moment? how close do you think we are to any kind of resolution? what are the stumbling blocks? we are right now into overtime on the negotiations. they were supposed to conclude on friday evening. negotiators have been going for over a 24—hour straight, really working

hard to come to a deal to protect the world's oceans. sticky issues are around benefit sharing, ensuring that this will be an effective and equitable agreement, one that developing countries can participate in and have a capacity to do so as well as technology to participate in conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment. it is also about how decisions will be made about how decisions will be made about these high seas and whether or not those decisions will be by consensus or whether there could be a voting procedure. that is important because we don't want protections in these global areas to be held up by one country because it is such an important issue that these areas are protected. i is such an important issue that these areas are protected. i imagine it is not easy — these areas are protected. i imagine it is not easy reaching _ these areas are protected. i imagine it is not easy reaching an _ these areas are protected. i imagine it is not easy reaching an agreementj

it is not easy reaching an agreement when it isn't controlled byjust one country but you just need to get agreement across the board. how likely do you think it is that there will be something worked up soon? that everyone will be happy with or are there particular areas that are going to be more sticky than others? around these issues of how benefits will be shared from commercialisation of the high seas marine genetic resources, financial benefit sharing, how the treaty will benefit sharing, how the treaty will be funded and capacity building for developing countries will be funded. a lot of these sticky issues, the negotiators have been working hard to get through but good progress is being made it is just slow. to get through but good progress is being made it isjust slow. it to get through but good progress is being made it is just slow. it is very important stuff and we want to make sure we get it right. i was

make sure we get it right. i was 'ust make sure we get it right. i was just going _ make sure we get it right. i was just going to — make sure we get it right. i was just going to ask, _ make sure we get it right. i was just going to ask, briefly, - make sure we get it right. i was just going to ask, briefly, whatl just going to ask, briefly, what would some of the things look like in an agreement? just in layman �*s terms, what would they involved doing in order to protect the oceans? , ., , ., ., ., ~ oceans? this would be a landmark trea that oceans? this would be a landmark treaty that would _ oceans? this would be a landmark treaty that would set _ oceans? this would be a landmark treaty that would set forward - oceans? this would be a landmark treaty that would set forward a - treaty that would set forward a legal process for establishing a network of high seas marine protected areas and that will be important for the global community to reach its goal to protect the world's oceans. it would lay out the process for assessing harmful environmental impacts by other activities that would be outside of those marine protected areas. it would make sure those effective and equitable capacity building in technology transfer so developing countries can participate in the conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment and then there is financial benefit sharing

around marine genetic resources. it is a complicated pack of issues that is a complicated pack of issues that is why the negotiations are taking a long time but a good and is in sight. long time but a good and is in siuht. . ., ~ ,, long time but a good and is in siuht. . ., long time but a good and is in siiht, . ., ~' . sight. excellent. thank you so much for takin: sight. excellent. thank you so much for taking time _ sight. excellent. thank you so much for taking time to _ sight. excellent. thank you so much for taking time to speak— sight. excellent. thank you so much for taking time to speak to - sight. excellent. thank you so much for taking time to speak to us - for taking time to speak to us and we will let you return to the summit now. the government will announce soon where it wants to build a ground—breaking power station — one where the carbon dioxide that's produced at the plant is also captured and then buried, which stops most of the gas, which is a main driver of climate change, being released into the atmosphere. our environment correspondent jonah fisher has more. the story of keadby is the story of uk's energy past, present and possible future. because for all the talk of wind and solar, there is a problem that keeps the industry up at night. on those days when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining, when it's cold, when it's still, there are going to need to be other sources of power that are going to keep

the lights switched on. batteries, nuclear and hydrogen will form part of the solution, but the government has also committed to building a new type of power station, one that continues burning fossil fuels that got us into this mess. to take a closer look i climbed up one of keadby�*s two carbon dioxide emitting gas power plants. from here on top of the cooling tower you get a real sense of the energy transition here in keadby. over there on the horizon those mounds are the leftovers from when there was a coal—fired power station here. you can see the wind turbines along the horizon. and just down there that could very well be the site for the uk's first ever gas—fired power station where the carbon dioxide is captured. the idea behind a carbon capture power station is that instead of releasing carbon dioxide

into the atmosphere where it contributes to climate change, the gas is captured and transported underground. in this case beneath the north sea. we are looking at probably double the cost of an unabated gas—powered station. that high cost has held carbon capture back in the past. there are those who argue the money would be better spent on more renewables and batteries. if you translate pound for pound, you will get a better output from a power plant that functions based on renewables and is supported by storage than the fossil fuel power plant that has a carbon capture attached to it. the demolition in 1991 of the towers of keadby�*s coal—fired power station was the end of an era. now the village awaots a government decision as to what comes next. green pioneer or costly white elephant? keadby�*s first carbon capture gas

plant will either be here or further north on teesside. jonah fisher, bbc news in keadby. there has been severe flooding in malaysia in the southern state ofjohor near neighbouring singapore. police said at least four people have died since wednesday, including a man whose car was swept away by floodwaters and an elderly couple who drowned. nearly 41,000 people from six states have been evacuated to schools and community centres. malaysia is facing torrential rain from the monsoon season. time for the sport now. manchester city have kept up the pressure on the premier league leaders arsenal by beating newcastle 2—0. phil foden opened the scoring in dramatic fashion. just a quarter of an hour

into the match, a superb solo effort and then substitute bernardo silva came off the bench to double the lead and that the win leaves city two points off the gunners who play bournemouth at the moment. newcastle fifth, four points behind tottenham. a real tough game but we defended really well. the solidarity between the guys was amazing and we had our moments, they had moments and in the end, big action for the both goals made the difference. they are good and had quality but we didn't lose our composer. that is the most important thing. it's over to arsenal now to see if they can re—establish that lead at they can re—establish that lead at the top of the table. they are at home to bournemouth in 153 o'clock kick—offs but they are behind to one of the quickest premier league

goals. philip billing just after nine seconds. arsenal on the back foot to bournemouth. and there are five games in the scottish premiership. rangers can narrow the gap on leaders celtic to six points with a win at home against kilmarnock, and they lead and they lead 1—0 through connor goldson's goal. celtic are at st mirren tomorrow. qualifying is underway at the bahrain grand prix — the first formula one race of the season. earlier fernando alonso was quickest in final practice in ason martin. the 41—year—old spaniard is a double world champion, but hasn't won a race for ten years. reigning champion max verstappen was second quickest with lewis hamilton, fourth. qualifying currently underway at the bahrain international circuit in sakhir. elsewhere, there's been british medal success already this morning at the freestyle ski and snowboarding world championships.

zoe atkin took the silver in halfpipe in georgia. she was looking good for gold but was eventuallyjust pipped by american hanna faulhaber. atkin, who isjust 20, won bronze at the event last year. the united states tennis association and the us open say they're hopeful that novak djokovic will be able to enter the country soon. the world number one — who's not vaccinated against covid—19 — has asked for special permission to enter the us to compete in this month's indian wells and miami masters events. under current vaccine rules, he's unable to travel there which means he'll miss out on competing for a second straight year. in a statement on twitter, the us open say that... "novak djokovic is one the greatest champions our sport has ever seen the usta and us open are hopeful that novak is successful in his petition to enter the country, and that the fans will be able to see him back in action at indian wells and miami." indian wells tournament director

tommy haas said injanuary it would be a disgrace if djokovic was not allowed to compete this year. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. arsenal behind at the moment to bournemouth. i will be back later on this afternoon. back now to war in ukraine. the supreme commander of nato troops in europe, general christopher cavoli, has said the scale of the war in the country is �*unbelivable' — with 2,000 large battle tanks destroyed, and more than 200,000 russian soldiers killed or wounded, including 1,800 officers. some of the most intense fighting in recent months has been in the city of bakhmut. earlier i spoke to dr patrick bewree, a senior lecturer in security at the university of bath and a former british army captain. he says ukrainian forces are now

trying to retreat west. what you have seen is politically the defence ministry and zelensky in ukraine set the ground, essentially, saying they are coming under increasing pressure in bakhmut. then you have seen the military in terms of these bridges having been destroyed, they have been geo— located, one in the west and one to the north—east, as far as i understand. that is about slowing the the russians down if they are trying to encircle the city. essentially they are in a difficult situation because they are under increasing pressure and what they want to do is basically get out with as much of their forces as they can and then re—establish defensive lines, as james said, further to the west. a fighting withdrawal is really difficult to do. i did one at a low level in my own training and i totally messed it up to be honest. so imagine it at this scale, at the divisional level. there are a few principles of what the ukrainians are trying to do. command and control leadership is probably the most important.

they have to maintain control of everything, all the moving parts. they will probably try to keep a screen to keep the russians engaged, if this is what they are going to. they will need some deception if they do nopt want the russians to know what is happening because then they could make a hasty attack to try to catch them off—guard. and they will need a rearguard etc. there is a whole set of principles which go into a controlled fighting withdrawal, which the ukrainians will be trying to effect. it is a difficult operation to do really well. would the loss of bakhmut be a significant setback? there is argument over how strategically useful it is. i think the ukrainians, at a strategic level, are still playing a blinder. bakhmut is now ruined so putin is welcome to it, i think, in that regard. unfortunately there has been

more of a blood sacrifice, which has made it more politically significant, and that's why you have seen such a stand—off on both sides. but strategically if you zoom out the map it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. even in the battle in the east, it has really been about sucking in resources on the russian side and giving the ukrainians the best chance of destroying those resources in a set piece battle. as you zoom out, the ukrainians are sure to have prepared defensive lines further west towards kramatorsk, the next big city to the west. the land between and bakhmut and kramatorsk rises if you go in a straight line. that is a good area. higher land is easier to defend so i would imagine they would be establishing defensive lines around there. the special oil which will be used to anoint king charles at his coronation in may has been

formally consecrated at a ceremony injerusalem. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell explains more. it is the most sacred moment of the coronation service, so much so that at the coronation of the late queen elizabeth she was shielded from view by a canopy as she was anointed with holy oil. yesterday at the church of the holy sepulchre injerusalem, the oil to be used at the coronation of king charles was consecrated. it has been made from olives harvested from the mount of olives and perfumed with traditional oils and orange blossom. it was brought to the church built on the spot where it is believed christ was crucified to be blessed by the patriarch and the anglican archbishop of jerusalem. the consecration of the oil for the enthronement and the coronation brings about something of a deep and profound meaning, both to king charles, to the church injerusalem,

to the holy land and i think to the whole world. the oil will be brought to westminster abbey in london where, at the coronation service and in line with ancient tradition, it will be used to anoint the king and queen consort. nicholas witchell, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise. hello there. a quiet grey weekend for many but the weather stories on the change from monday onwards. you can see how much cloud there is at the moment, particularly out to the west. and there is a rash of showers across northern scotland and down through eastern england. those showers are likely to continue through this evening and overnight and perhaps become more frequent as the breeze will start to pick up. we keep the cloud around, temperatures on the whole should hold up just above freezing but it is going to be a chilly and fairly cloudy grey start to sunday morning. once again, a relatively quiet story. plenty of showers, though, on those coastal areas

and a frequent rash of showers as we go through the afternoon. the far north of scotland could turn increasingly wintry as cold air starts to arrive. top temperatures generally of around six to nine degrees, colder still in the northern isles. and then from monday onwards, it is set to turn colder with the risk of snow and ice, particularly across the far north and east. this is bbc news, the headlines... the head of russia's wagner group claims its forces now surround most of bakhmut — the eastern ukrainian city that's been the focus of intense fighting. translation: we have - practically surrounded bahkmut. only one route out of the city remains. if earlier we were fighting against a professional army, now we are increasingly seeing old people and children. police in australia say they've made one of their biggest ever drug busts, seizing cocaine worth one billion us dollars.

and the ceremony injerusalem to consecrate the oil that will be used to anoint king charles during his coronation in may. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for talking business. hello, everybody. a very warm welcome to talking business weekly with me, aaron heslehurst. let's go and take a look at what's on the show. the digital revolution is in full swing. expanding the internet of everything and moving life to the cloud is driving a boom in the tech industry, particularly in the world of data and where it's kept from the drive to autonomous cars to using ai chat bots to your emails and text or storing your photos and to watching your favourite show. all of this, almost everything we do on our devices is dependent on these kind of places, and the nuts and bolts powering our online lives comes with a carbon cost, as these data centres are energy hungry and often use vast amounts

of water to keep their systems cool. so can the industry keep growing sustainably? well, i'm going to be discussing all of that with these two. there they are, an it energy watcher from greenpeace and the vice president of a huge multinational who specialise in internet connections and data centres all around the world. also, can you help heat a city by streaming the latest cat video? i'm going to be catching up with the big boss of one of europe's top power companies capturing waste energy to warm your homes. wherever you'rejoining me from around the world, once again, a big hello and warm welcome to the show. you know, all of our lives are moving more and more online and more and more of that life is now in the cloud.

we store our photos, ourfamily memories,