of saudi journalist, jamal khashog—ji, is arrested in paris. and, in the uk, leaked footage sparks a row over what appears to be officials joking about a covid christmas party last year — breaching lockdown rules — at the prime minister's residence. hello and welcome to bbc news. the presidents of the us and russia have spent two hours talking about what the white house called �*a range of issues�*. but one topic dominated the discussion — and that's ukraine. white house officials say president biden made clear the �*deep concerns�* of the us and its european allies over russia�*s escalation of forces near ukraine. during a briefing after that meeting, the us national security adviserjake sullivan told reporters what would happen if russia attacked. element in in the event that there is the military escalation in the ukraine. many of our partners in the eastern front, our baltic allies, romania, poland, other countries will be increasingly concerned about the security and territorial integrity of their countries. they will be seeking and expecting capabilities and additional deployments looking to respond positively to those things in the event that there is further incursion into the ukraine. well our state department correspondent barbara plett usher has more on what type of sanctions the us could impose. although he did say these are measures that the west had not been prepared to take into thousand 14 when russia invaded crimea, we understand what they�*re talking about in various forms of financial sanctions and also the north streamed to gas pipeline from russia to europe could be a possible target. and also other actions, if there was an invasion, than the us would increase its supply of defensive materials, including weapons, to ukraine. there�*s already a pipeline for that. and that the americans and fortify their allies in eastern europe with extra capabilities and deployments and there are already troop deployments retaining in and out of eastern europe since the 2014 crimea invasion to give them extra training and support. but that would be stepped up if there was another russian invasion. matthew rojansky is a leading analyst of us relations with russia and ukraine, and director of the wilson center�*s kennan institute. he says it�*s still not clear what action russia will take. the first question i would ask is whether in fact the russians intend to invade? what we know with certainty is that they have positioned themselves with enough troops to do some very lethal damage and indeed, as dick sullivan pointed out very clearly, because all of europe to become nervous and the situation. but that doesn�*t mean they will do it. and i think in part with vladimir putin may be up to here is to declare that the era of fighting over the ukraine in a certain sense is over. he recognises that he has lost the opportunity to control the outcome in ukraine. but he is establishing a new dividing line in europe for them at large. which is a scary prospect but it is a bit more long—term than eminent. prospect but it is a bit more long-term than eminent. what do ou think long-term than eminent. what do you think the _ long-term than eminent. what do you think the russians _ long-term than eminent. what do you think the russians would've i you think the russians would�*ve made of this meeting? will they have gotten what they�*ve wanted out of this? i have gotten what they've wanted out of this?— out of this? i think to an extent. _ out of this? i think to an extent, putin _ out of this? i think to an extent, putin wanted . out of this? i think to an | extent, putin wanted the meeting itself and that is what he got. he explicitly wanted russia to have his security dialogue with the united states and nato. and the president agreed to that. there�*s very little cost to the united states for having that conversation. i do not expect that russia�*s demands about a redline of some kind of promise of no further expansion of nato orany of no further expansion of nato or any other western institution, that those would ever be agreed to. but that said, the composition can be had. the united states having delivered a tough message, having talked about sanctions and i think this message we heard from jake sullivan about the need to reassure, looking favourably on providing reassurances, including troops to european allies is a very tough message as well. so the united states government wanted to deliver at of that conversation. i think vladimir putin got what he wanted in the form of the conversation and the opening to the broader european security dialogue as well. and you can get much more on this story on our website — bbc. com—forward—slash—news. including a section where bbc experts answer your questions about the current state of affairs between russia, the us and ukraine, and this analysis on whether russia is preparing to invade ukraine. all that and more on the bbc website, or download the bbc news app. prime minister scott morrison has confirmed australia willjoin a diplomatic boycott of the beijing olympics next february. he said the chinese government has not yet made any attempts to respond to several issues raised by australia including alleged human rights abuses. the united states confirmed they would not be sending any officials to the games on monday. china has already threatened to retailiate against the move. i�*m joined now by phil mercer in sydney. this news has just this news hasjust come this news has just come out in the last hour or so. what did scott morrison say and he made this announcement? mr morrison said that the _ this announcement? mr morrison said that the decision _ this announcement? mr morrison said that the decision not - this announcement? mr morrison said that the decision not to - said that the decision not to send australian diplomats or politicians to the beijing winter olympics should come as no surprise. in recent years, relationships between australia and its biggest trading partner china have deteriorated and there�*ve been many reasons that. human rights, the democracy movement, tensions over the south china sea as well as other diplomatic and trade disputes. it has left australia�*s relationship with china and a pretty poor place. so, that is why we�*re hearing from the prime minister scott morrison saying that his decision, is governments decision, is governments decision not to send officials to the winter olympics should come as no surprise. china says it will be delivering countermeasures to australia and will have to wait and see how china reacts to this. yes, indeed. how china reacts to this. yes, indeed- we — how china reacts to this. yes, indeed. we have _ how china reacts to this. yes, indeed. we have heard - how china reacts to this. yes, indeed. we have heard this. | how china reacts to this. yes, indeed. we have heard this. and a different reaction from beijing to at the us has decided. butjust on the fact that australia has nowjoined the united states. momentum does seem to be building around the sort of diplomatic boycott of the beijing winter olympics. who knows, which country will follow next. but i think it was inevitable that australia would follow its close ally, the united states. the military, the defence alliance between australia and its most important security partner, the united states dates back to the early 1950s. the australian olympic committee says it supports the government�*s decision. so what that means is that 40 australian athletes will be competing in beijing but those austrian politicians and diplomats would normally attend an event like this will be staying away and as far as australia is concerned, it believes that it is part now of an international movement, sending a very clear message to china that these alleged human rights abuses of its minorities won�*t be tolerated and as we say, we wait to see what china�*s broader reaction to this will be. french police have arrested a saudi national suspected of involvement in the murder ofjournalist jamal khashog—ji in 2018. the suspect was arrested at an airport in paris. mr khashog—ji, who was a prominent critic of the saudi regime, wrote for the washington post. he was murdered at the saudi consulate in istanbul. his body was later dismembered. but the saudi embassy in paris says the thirty three year old saudi national is not linked to the case and should be released immediately. the former un special rapporteur of extrajudicial the foi part un special the foi part of special the foi part of the icial the foi part of the group responsible for receiving the body or parts of the body of mr jamal khashog—ji. he is believed to be one of those who decided to wear the body was hidden. so, this individual could have extremely important information for the justice and for the family. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner, told us more about the saudi national arrested near paris. he is a person who is a 33—year—old member of the saudi royal guard and part of the infrastructure around the crown prince. he was sanctioned already by the west as somebody who was named in taking part of the hit team that murdered jamal khashog—ji. they held a very secretive behind closed doors trial, they sentenced five people to death but commuted those to 20 year prison life sentences in prison and their view is nothing to see here, move along. turkey and human rights groups disagree. they say the real culprits of this got clean with it and the human special reporter has been calling for a full investigation. turkey issued a number of international arrest warrants, of which this is one. he was arrested due to a turkish warrant and it would be really interesting to see what france does because this is potentially quite a diplomatic minefield for france. they have a very good relationship with saudi arabia and the president has recently been there and was the first major western leader to meet the crown prince since that murder, at least publicly and does lots of deals that they would like inside saudi arabia. there is a flurry of phone between riyadh and paris saying that do you really want to do this because this isn�*t going to be good for france if you do this. but of the course of love runs its way, it is possible he could even be extradited to turkey to stand trial, which would be very embarrassing for the saudis. if you want to get in touch with me i�*m on twitter — @bbckarishma the decision tojoin the decision to join the boycott of the beijing winter olympics, i am on twitter. you�*re watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. the prime minster on the front line of climate change, we meet samoa�*s fee—ya may naomi mata�*fa as part of the bbc 100 women series. john lennon was shot at the entrance of the dakota building in the centre of new york. there�*s been a crowd here standing and putting on a silent vigil and the flowers have been piling up. the 14th cease—fire of this war ended at the walls of the old city. witnesses say that the shells were landing every 20 seconds. people up celebrating the passing of a man they hold people are celebrating the passing of a man they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths and oppression. elsewhere, people have been gathering to mourn his passing. the widow of the former. president of the philippines has gone on trial in manila. she is facing seven - charges of tax evasion, estimated as £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wales are to separate. they said the decision had been reached amicably. this is newsday on the bbc. i�*m karishma vaswani in singapore.0ur headlines a high—stakes virtual summit has been held amid heightened tensions over ukraine. president biden warned of tighter economic sanctions following a huge buildup of russian military — vladimir putin blamed provocative actions by kyiv. australia willjoin a diplomatic boycott of the beijing olympics next february. prime minister scott morrison said china had failed to respond to australian concerns about its human rights record. the british government has been defending its evacuation of people from afghanistan when the taliban took over — after a whistle blower at the uk foreign office called it �*dysfunctional and chaotic�*. he said it was clear some of those left behind had since been murdered by the taliban. 0ur diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. this was kabul airport last summer as thousands sought to flee the advancing taliban. amid chaotic scenes, britain and other western powers tried to evacuate those they could, but according to a whistle—blower, there was chaos in london, too. the foreign office crisis centre was handling requests from afghans who were at risk because of their links to the uk. a young official working there called raphael marshall said the process of choosing who could be evacuated was arbirtrary and dysfunctional. he said up to 150,000 people applied for evacuation under the scheme but he estimated fewer than 5% of these people have received any assistance. it is clear that some of the those left behind have since been murdered by the taliban. 0ne weekend in august, when these afghans were trying to get out, mr marshall said in london there weren�*t enough staff with too few staff working overtime, and on one afternoon he was the only one monitoring emails. thousands of which remained unread. mister marshall also said dominic raab the then foreign secretary delayed taking decisions until he had all the facts set out in well presented tables. an interpretation mr raab dsiputed. in terms of presentation, | of course with the volume of claims coming in, - i make no apology for saying i needed the clear facts. for each case so we could make swift decisions. we already knew that many afghans have struggled to get in contact with the foreign office here, mps have raised many of the cases. what this evidence does is tell us what was going on inside it�*s a story of a system that just wasn�*t working. and this afternoon mps got to ask the man responsible and this afternoon mps got to ask the men responsible why? if this isn�*t what failure looks like and i will come onto the specifics of why a think the civil service crisis is system clearly failed in this. what does failure look like? as i said, we successfully... no, i�*m sorry. this isn�*t about the headlines, this is about the system, the bureaucratic civil service system which should be running a proper crisis centre fully staffed. we can categorize this. we went through the gears and putting more people in. what both government and whistle blower agree is that not have people were evacuated in the summer and there are many afghans with links to britain who have yet to leave and still face danger. 0ur correspondent secunder kermani is in kabul and told us what we know about about the fate of people who were trying to leave. well, some of them have reconciled themselves to the idea of living under the taliban and others are looking for ways out because the current economic crisis here, or fearing current economic crisis here, orfearing retribution current economic crisis here, or fearing retribution from the taliban. across those stranded here is a former british army interpreter who i have been in contact with. he is living in hiding and submitted his application months ago but has yet to receive any response but others have been evacuated in recent weeks. but this process has been particularly difficult for those afghans were directly employed by the british or otherforeign employed by the british or other foreign governments, employed by the british or otherforeign governments, but other foreign governments, but they otherforeign governments, but they played an important part in civil societies, journalists, activists, many of them have travelled across the border to pakistan on short—term visas will them to find western countries that they can travel onto, but many really struggling to get any results with that. the british government had announced a policy to accept up to 20,000 vulnerable afghans of the next five years, that application has not yet started an extra reports of killings, it�*s been very hard to verify incidents we do know of at least one in which an individual used to work for the security forces linked to britain was killed, however. it�*s emerged that senior british government staff joked about holding a christmas party last year in breach of covid restrictions —— just four days after a controversial drinks party is alleged to have taken place at the prime minister�*s residence in downing street. a video recording leaked to itv news appears to show boris johnson�*s spokesperson at the time fielding questions about the party in a mock news conference. no 10 insists no party took place. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports. party? what party? the party that number 10 said it didn�*t happen. the building where boris johnson said tight covid rules were always followed. the party last year that a guest told us had food, drinks and games, and the party we now seem to see downing street staffjoking about a few days later. this was a practice press conference for allegra stratton, just tired at the prime minister�*s stratton, just hired at the prime minister�*s press spokesperson. i've just seen reports on twitter that there was a downing street party last friday night. i went home! in a video obtained by itv news, laughing in response to questions from an adviser, ed 0ldfield, about the downing street drinks. what�*s the answer? i don't know! is cheese and wine 0k! at a time when socialising for everyone was meant to be strictly off—limits. this fictional party was a business meeting. and it was not socially distanced! the fictional party was a business meeting, she says, laughing about the office that was making the rules, not following them. in the real world outside number10, pubs had been closed, socialising was strictly off—limits as covid took hold again. lockdown was back. there were fines for holding parties. and on that day, 562 people lost their lives to the virus. three, two, one! the problem for borisjohnson 12 months on was notjust a few dozen of his staff got together, nor the laughter about it now revealed, but that all week he hasn�*t been straight about exactly what went on. this was prime minister�*s questions a week yesterday, a notable non—denial. all guidance was followed completely during number 10... a refusal to give more detail on friday. we followed the guidance throughout and continue to follow it. and then again today. all i can tell you is that all the guidelines were observed. but tonight, outrage from the opposition. last year at christmas, the public follow the rules, and many of them didn't see their loved ones over christmas. some of them didn't see their loved ones again. they had the right to expect the government to follow the rules, and we now know the government broke the rules, they partied, and now they're laughing about it. they're treating the public with contempt. boris johnson has tried i to lead us a merry dance, tried to claim that these things didn't happen. i his position, i would have to say, is untenable. - near quiet from number 10 itself tonight, a statement only. as we have repeatedly stated, there was no christmas party. covid rules have been followed at all times. but there is genuine concern in the tory party itself. can that position hold through a silent night? she is the first woman to be prime minister of samoa in the south pacific. feeya —may naomi mata—affa has been in politics since the age of 27, and she�*s just been named on the bbc�*s list of the 100 most inspiring and influential women from across the globe. megha mohan has been talking to her. samoa, in the south pacific. one of the many island nations where climate change is an imminent threat. this village was settled along this beachfront. but you will see now that most of the village have relocated to higher ground. samoa�*s first female prime minister, fiame naomi mata�*afa, is on the front line. as things stand, her island is projected to experience a sea—level rise of up to 15 centimetres by 2030. she believes the global response to tackling covid could be a blueprint for the climate crisis. that�*s a very clear example of what we can do when they are pushed to act. how do we capture that sense of urgency? and the needed collaboration for climate change? neighbouring pacific island fiji became the first in the world to introduce a climate relocation fund. tukuraki was the first of non—coastal village to be permanently moved. liti is from there. a landslide and two cyclones obliterated her previous home and liti sheltered in this cave during extreme weather events. liti, this is the cave where you stayed? although liti now has a new home, she still keeps supplies in the cave as insurance. across the world, it�*s estimated one person a second is forced to flee their home because of climate—related weather events. that number is alarming. it is three times as many people that were displaced by war and conflict. back in samoa, the prime minister says climate issues are a problem notjust for governments, but for humanity. it�*s not rocket science. no—one else will save us. we have to save ourselves. the un has said 97% of the pacific island population is vulnerable to sea—level rise, on account of living close to the coast. success or failures of climate talks will be seen here first. samoa will be a bellwether for the planet�*s future. megha mohan, bbc news. tuesday marked the 80th anniversary of the japanese attack on the us naval base in pearl harbour, hawaii. presidentjoe biden visited the world war two memorial in washington to observe the anniversary. the attack on december 7, 1941, killed 2,390 americans. malaya, as it used to be known, guam, the philippines, wake island and midway island were also attacked and japanese forces had begun invading thailand hours earlier. that�*s all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello. it will remain pretty wild and windy for some of you as we go through into tonight. some of the strongest gusts today from storm barra have been across some western coasts. these are some of the daytime gusts we have seen. 86mph into the evening at aberdaron in gwynedd. the storm itself is going to start to decay during the next 24 hours, the the but you can see what a potent feature this is. position this hook of cloud is a telltale sign of a pretty this hook of cloud is a telltale sign of a pretty deep and quite stormy low pressure system. bore the brunt across parts of southwest ireland, but it�*s going to slowly move eastwards as we go through the night and gradually start to weaken. but as we head into the end of the day, strongest of the winds, wales, parts of southwest england, through the channel islands and up towards the far northeast of scotland. blustery for a time, but winds falling lighter in scotland, northern england later. some slow—moving showers here, but you can see around that area of low pressure some batches of showers and longer spells of rain, particularly across parts of western wales. it�*ll feel cold enough for a bit of sleet and snow over the hills, plus if you get any clear skies for long enough, there could be frost or ice on the ground into the morning. but the big picture, storm barra, as we go into wednesday, is of low pressure which has now ground to a halt across the uk, but slowly starting to weaken. strongest of the winds around the peripheries, so again, shetland, parts of wales and towards the southwest is where we see the strongest of the winds, widespread gales here. bit blustery elsewhere — lightest winds, northern england and across scotland. mixture of sunshine and showers for wednesday, but some longer spells of rain still possible across parts of wales and northern ireland, and a chilly day for all. those showers, longer spells of rain continue to revolve around what�*s left of storm barra as we go through into wednesday evening and overnight, but it decays further into thursday, and with those isobars starting to become less numerous, it means the winds will be lighter. it means a greater chance of frost and fog thursday morning. a lot of dry weather on thursday, some sunny spells and a bit of cloud across scotland, northern ireland. one or two showers, but turning wider. weakening weather front goes in. temperatures in single figures for most, and another cool day as we go through into friday. showers most prominent in the west, but by saturday, it looks like cloudy conditions will come in. rain in the north and west, and something milder, and that will gradually push northwards across most areas as we go into sunday. latest weather warnings for storm barra remain online. this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour as newsday continues straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i�*m stephen sackur. as 2021 nears its end pakistan�*s leaders may be reflecting on the wisdom of that old adage about being careful what you wish for. islamabad has long aided and abetted the afghan taliban and now they are back in power. america�*s regional power is diminished, china, pakistan�*s close ally is still making massive investments.