new government plans, the bbc understands. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. lawyers acting for the tennis star novak djokovic have released documents that say he had a vaccine exemption to enter australia due to a recent covid infection. in the early hours of thursday morning, djokovic was denied entry to australia after landing in melbourne this week to play in the australian open. he is currently in an immigration detention hotel, with a court challenge due on monday. but documents released by his legal team today claim that his first positive pcr test was recorded on 16th december. it's emerged the same day that novak djokovic�*s legal team says he tested positive for covid, serbia's post office presented him with postage stamps in his honour. the tennis player tweeted about it the day afterwards, on the 17th. djokovic, who has said he's opposed to vaccination, had been granted a medical exemption to play in the tournament in a decision that infuriated many australians. our correspondent, shaimaa khalil, has the latest from melbourne — outside the hotel where djokovic is being held. the whole djokovic saga hinges on why was he given an exemption and if this is a valid exemption, why has he been told he could come all the way over here to australia, only to then be told he is not welcome and he has to be deported? this is essentially what his legal team are challenging and this is what the judge has to look at. from these legal documents, we understand that novak djokovic had tested positive for covid—19 on december 16th, so about a month ago, less than a month ago, and a recent covid—19 infection within the last six months is a valid reason for an exemption, according to australia's technical advisory on immunisation. these are the rules that tennis australia and the victorian government have abided by and have followed, and remember, the exemption was given by two medical panels, two independent medical panels who said that this was a valid reason. but when he showed up on wednesday he was told by the border authorities that he did not provide appropriate evidence and that a recent infection, in fact, is not a valid reason, so there is a clear contradiction in the information here and this again is what the court has to look at. why have the players been told something and why are the border authorities then going by different rules? which rules apply to who and when? and this is really, then, when... where the complications and the controversy have taken place and caught in the middle, of course, are those tennis players and officials and the world number one, who is still in that hotel, despite asking to be moved to a different facility with a tennis area, where he can practice because essentially this is why he is here. he is here to defend his title at the australian open. and this is what is going to happen on monday, essentially what the judge is going to look at, but whatever the outcome is this has been quite controversial. it has provoked a great deal of anger and essentially has been embarrassing for australia. well, absolutely, shaimaa, because some have said that actually the australian authorities�* response has been driven by the public outcry. that is right. this is, again, one thing that we have seen in those documents, that novak djokovic had been granted that exemption by tennis australia, by the victorian government, state government, only for the federal government to revoke that because of the public outcry, referring there to the political handling of this whole situation. remember, scott morrison's government has been under a lot of political pressure because of the way that they handled covid—19, especially the omicron wave. many australians have been quite angry at the chaos at testing clinics, its skyrocketing numbers. it is an election year and observers have said the scott morrison government is using this, essentially to appear tough on borders and to say that rules apply equally to everyone, but the key question here is what rules? if the players have been told to follow a set of rules — and they have, by tennis australia — and then the federal government have contradicted that, who should have given them that information and when? shaimaa khalilfair. earlier i spoke to our balkans correspondent, guy delauney, who was in the serbian captial, belgrade. they were out on friday afternoon, christmas day here in serbia and people instead of spending christmas afternoon walking the dog hundreds of them turned up in front of the national assembly in belgrade to join the djokovic family in showing their support for novak djokovic. and they were tying neon yellow tennis balls around a sign which says, "novak, you are our heart," so in lieu of yellow ribbons he got yellow tennis balls instead. so they were doing that yesterday. and then this morning the papers of course are full of this idea that novak might be able to prove that he had covid at a particular time, which should have given him an exemption in terms of entering australia. and they have pictures of a basketball match he attended in belgrade on the 14th of december hugging a player from barcelona who later tested positive for coronavirus, saying, look, this is the moment when novak might have contracted coronavirus. so there is a lot of hope and optimistic messaging going on,ful slightly less outrage and slightly more hope, perhaps, that their champion is going to get out of the quarantine hotel and onto the kind of court he prefers. he has said in the past that he is opposed to vaccination. has that elicited much sympathy among serbians? well, a lot of serbians are not vaccinated either. if you look at the vaccination rate for serbia, at the moment it is hovering just below the 50% mark. and sure, there are some people who have been vaccinated who are quite irritated with novak djokovic, some people saying, look, if he is given an exception, it sends entirely the wrong message. and it is also not great for the government, which is trying to persuade people to get vaccinated, but they have been putting their support behind novak djokovic. what would be the icing on the cake for them, really, would be if novak djokovic got himself out of this situation and got himself vaccinated. let's speak to george bellshaw, tennis reporter and co—host of the love tennis podcast. thank you forjoining us, george. now, first of all, whatever you think of djokovic's exemption, the australian prime minister accepted the exemption on tuesday and then changed his mind and raised questions over it on wednesday. as has been handled pretty poorly by the australian authorities, it seems? , ., , , ., seems? yes, absolutely. i mean? you know. — seems? yes, absolutely. i mean? you know. a— seems? yes, absolutely. i mean? you know. a lot _ seems? yes, absolutely. i mean? you know, a lot of _ seems? yes, absolutely. i mean? you know, a lot of people's _ seems? yes, absolutely. i mean? you know, a lot of people's personall you know, a lot of people's personal feeling would be if he was vaccinated in the first place, this whole mess is avoided, but that said, it does feel like he is a bit of a pawn in a political game, if you like. it is becoming more clear that tennis australia and the victorian government kind of granted djokovic this these are to come into the country, this exemption, and the federal government seemed ok with that until the noise came about and have now done a swift u—turn, so it will be very interesting to see how it holds in court on monday. i suppose it depends on whether they think djokovic being told he could come in the first place holds or whether they actually want to stick with the harder federal line. whether they actually want to stick with the harderfederal line. it will be fascinating to watch, but if he does get through i am sure he will be incredibly motivated to win this title. , ., , will be incredibly motivated to win this title. , . , ., this title. yes, the fault lines are re this title. yes, the fault lines are pretty interesting _ this title. yes, the fault lines are pretty interesting here, - this title. yes, the fault lines are pretty interesting here, aren't. pretty interesting here, aren't they? because do think it is more divided over the people who are pro—vaccination and people who are anti—vax? or do you think it is pro—djokovic and anti djokovic? because there is no denying, he does tend to draw a strong divisive response among tennis fans. that's a reall aood response among tennis fans. that's a really good question. _ response among tennis fans. that's a really good question. i _ response among tennis fans. that's a really good question. i do _ response among tennis fans. that's a really good question. i do think- response among tennis fans. that's a really good question. i do think the l really good question. i do think the people of melbourne... you know, the original listed response, or that it has been the most looked down the city in the world, there probably is a degree of annoyance that... it will feel to them there has been a fudging of the rules or allowing the world number one tennis player to come into the country when others have had to wait a long time, you know, it is an 80% vaccination rate for australian citizens to even get across the state borders, let alone out of the country, so i can understand the frustration for them. there are going to be people out there who has been wrapped up the wrong way by djokovic in the past and his anti—vaccination situation has not helped, i am sure. though zeus has been hammered home. but there is no denying the situation is not good for anyone, whether or not you think you should have been vaccinated in the first place. find vaccinated in the first place. and do ou vaccinated in the first place. and do you think _ vaccinated in the first place. and do you think there _ vaccinated in the first place. and do you think there are people who have gone off him as a result or do you think actually it has strengthened the fault lines that were there already? how has this affected his standing among tennis fans? , ~' ., affected his standing among tennis fans? , ~ ., , ., , fans? yes, i think, to be honest, it will probably _ fans? yes, i think, to be honest, it will probablyjust _ fans? yes, i think, to be honest, it will probably just leave _ fans? yes, i think, to be honest, it will probablyjust leave people - will probably just leave people entrenched will probablyjust leave people entrenched one way or another, more than anything. you know, ithink there is a degree of sympathy with him from perhaps those in a more neutral standpoint, him from perhaps those in a more neutralstandpoint, but him from perhaps those in a more neutral standpoint, but the situation has not been handled that well around him. you do have a kind of have to question if he is getting an exemption for testing positive on the 16th of december, what actually was going to be his plan otherwise? was he just not going to play, was he playing on a last—minute one—shot vaccine? it doesn't necessarily seem that well thought through by him if he was waiting this long to try to find some way through, but yes, he has always been a divisive figure, someone who is there a one track minded. that is what makes them such a great tennis champion as well and if he does get there and he is booed, which is very possible, it will probablyjust spur him on even more, so yes, i am will probablyjust spur him on even more, so yes, iam not will probablyjust spur him on even more, so yes, i am not sure he will be that bothered by the public perception and he is getting candlelit vigils as well, so he's probably enjoying that as well. thank you, george for your thoughts on that. that is george bellshaw, tennis commentator and host of the love tennis podcast. you're watching bbc news. the authorities in kazakhstan say they've arrested the former head of the domestic intelligence agency on suspicion of high treason. karim massimov was sacked from the national security committee by president tokayev on wednesday as violent anti—government demonstrations escalated across the country. dozens of people have been killed in the protests. meanwhile, the us has questioned kazakhstan�*s decision to seek russian military aid to deal with an ongoing wave of violent unrest. the first of about 2,500 russian—led troops have arrived there, though moscow says the deployment is temporary. russell trott has the latest. more troops and equipment on its way to kazakhstan. the intervention marks the first deployment by the eurasian military alliance of five former soviet republics and russia. after days of violence in which more than 20 protesters and almost as many security personnel have died, kazakhstan�*s government is seeking to regain control of the country. the us had this warning for the regime over its recent reliance on moscow. the us had this warning for the regime over its reliance on moscow. one lesson from recent history is that once russians are in your house it is sometimes difficult to get them to leave. in a televised broadcast to the nation, kazakh president kassym—jomart tokayev said he had given orders to his security forces to shoot to kill without warning, describing the street demonstrations as coordinated attacks by foreign—led agents. the events in kazakhstan are being closely watched by opposition groups in other former soviet republics, including belarus and its exiled opposition leader, svetla na ti kha novs kaya. it is shameful belarusians should not fight abroad and should not participate in such operations, should not help another dictator to stay in power, by all means. russia says its deployment of troops is temporary. china has expressed support for what it calls "strong measures" taken to restore stability in kazakhstan, where it has significant investments. the us has advised some of its consular staff to leave, describing the country as "in a state of emergency." russell trott, bbc news. at least 21 people have died in northern pakistan after heavy snowfall trapped them in their vehicles. roads to murree, east of the capital, islamabad, became clogged with traffic as thousands of people headed there, with the prospect of viewing the mountain resort in wintry conditions. let us get more on this from our correspondent shumaila jaffrey in islamabad tragic events there, what more do we know about how this happened? this is know about how this happened? ti 3 is happening in know about how this happened? ti 1 is happening in a very know about how this happened? t1i1 is happening in a very popular destination for tourism, but authorities say this year and unprecedented number of tourists travelled there in the past few days to enjoy the first spell of snow and such a massive flow of traffic and snowstorm club to the main highway between the capital, islamabad, and murree, and as a result thousands of people got struck. the authorities don't say that they started to reach out to these people immediately and the punjab ministers say they rescued 20,000 uighurs last night, but still hundreds more remain stranded on the roads and some of the travellers in these vehicles froze to death overnight. —— they rescued 20,000 vehicles. the roads leading to the station have been closed, military and paramilitary troops are being called in to support the country in the relief efforts and since the... the interior minister hoped they will be able to complete the rescue operation tonight, but it will depend on the weather conditions and there is forecast of more rain and snow in the next few hours. band there is forecast of more rain and snow in the next few hours. and has an hinu snow in the next few hours. and has anything like — snow in the next few hours. and has anything like this _ snow in the next few hours. and has anything like this happened - snow in the next few hours. and has anything like this happened before? | anything like this happened before? have safety concerns been raised about the area?— about the area? that, there is culture, about the area? that, there is culture. you — about the area? that, there is culture, you know, _ about the area? that, there is culture, you know, mr- about the area? that, there is culture, you know, mr khan i about the area? that, there is i culture, you know, mr khan has about the area? that, there is - culture, you know, mr khan hasjust tweeted about it, that so many people have just travelled to his station without checking the weather. so there was a forecast of snow, but it seems that people did not pay any attention to it and since, you know, there is one main hwy that connects the rest of the country to the station at view resort, as a result that road was clogged and all these people got stuck in the snowstorm. bind clogged and all these people got stuck in the snowstorm. and 'ust very briefly. fl stuck in the snowstorm. and 'ust very briefly. you i stuck in the snowstorm. and 'ust very briefly, you mention i stuck in the snowstorm. and just very briefly, you mention their. very briefly, you mention their 23,000 vehicles were rescued. that must have been a massive operation? yes, it is a massive operation. that is why they have called in the military. they are trying to, you know, send people blankets and food, but they are still, you know, in the morning one of the officials told the media that in the last four days more than 100,000 vehicles entered murree and its surrounding areas to see the snowfall.— see the snowfall. well, thank you for bringing _ see the snowfall. well, thank you for bringing us — see the snowfall. well, thank you for bringing us up _ see the snowfall. well, thank you for bringing us up to _ see the snowfall. well, thank you for bringing us up to date - see the snowfall. well, thank you for bringing us up to date there. i shumaila jaffrey in islamabad. up to half a million flat owners across the uk will no longer be liable for the cost of replacing dangerous cladding on their properties, under new government proposals. the plans, set to be announced by the housing secretary, michael gove, would instead see developers forced to pay up to an additional £4 billion to help resolve the crisis, which has left many unable to sell their homes. newsnight�*s lewis goodall has more. it's estimated that more than half a million people are caught up in britain's fire safety crisis. and we can exclusively reveal the government's latest plans to deal with it. up until now, the government's approach broke down as follows. dangerous cladding removal would be paid for by the building safety fund only for buildings over 18.5 metres in height. everything else would be covered either by developers paying or by a loan scheme for leaseholders. but we understand that michael gove, the levelling up secretary, will make the commitment on monday that up to £4 billion of extra funding will be available to remove dangerous cladding in buildings between 11 and 18.5 metres, and that leaseholders won't have to pay anything towards that cost — a significant shift. but gove will also make clear that money will come from developers, not from the taxpayer, and if developers won't pay voluntarily, he will threaten the force of law to make sure that they comply. but this change will cover cladding only, not the host of other building safety issues found in thousands of buildings since grenfell and experts wonder how mr gove will be able to extract the money. well, they won't choose to pay. they'll have to be dragged to the table to offer something up. and i suspect it relies on showing, whether it's by sampling the buildings and showing that these buildings weren't built to spec, because fire breaks and compartmentation have always been required by regulations — if they're not there, that's a product of conscious choice, or it's a product of negligence, for which the developer is responsible. so michael gove needs a big stick to beat them with, along those sorts of lines, that no, this is quite clearly evidence that this is your choices and your responsibility to pay. and if the levelling up secretary is unsuccessful, leaked documents from the treasury seen by newsnight show that if the government can't raise the money from developers, then it'll have to come from existing housing budgets. hardly ideal at a time of a wider housing shortage. three white men are beginning life sentences in the us state of georgia for murdering a blackjogger who ran through their neighbourhood. 25—year—old ahmaud arbery was chased in pick—up trucks and shot, in a case that became a focus of protests by the black lives matter movement. david willis reports. ahmaud arbery�*s death has been likened by his family to a latter—day lynching. three white men hunted down the unarmed jogger and killed him in cold blood. footage of the incident led to nationwide protests after it emerged that, despite being interviewed at the scene, none of the men involved had been arrested after local officials accept their plea of self—defence and deemed the killing of ahmaud arberyjustified. do what you need to do, man. that's. .. i can only imagine... former police officer gregory mcmichael, his 33—year—old son, travis, and the man who filmed ahmaud arbery�*s death, william roddie bryan, were eventually arrested and brought to trial and found guilty of murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. they chose to target my son because they did not want him in their community. these men deserve the maximum sentence... ..for their crimes. what i'm going to do is i'm going to sit silently for one minute. to set in context the terror that he said ahmaud arbery must�*ve suffered as he was chased through a residential neighbourhood for more than five minutes, thejudge ordered a moment's silence... ..before sentencing all three men to life in prison. count one... only william �*roddie' bryan will be eligible for parole, but not until he is 82 years of age. ahmaud arbery�*s death paved the way to a period of national reckoning over the state of racial injustice in this country — one which culminated in nationwide protests over the death of george floyd. though these men received the maximum sentence, civil rights campaigners believe it will take more than that to influence attitudes that in many cases, go back generations. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. in the uk allegations of another party at downing street are set to be included in the official investigation into events held at number ten during the pandemic. it comes after borisjohnson's former chief adviser, dominic cummings, claimed a senior official invited people to "socially distanced drinks" in the garden, while restrictions were in place in may 2020. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, has been following the story. one of his now semi—regular contributions online, publishing his blog, with a couple of key points about this ongoing investigation into social events that may or may not have happened, that may or may not have breached lockdown rules in place during 2020. specifically around an event which he claims invitations were sent out for on may 20th 2020, described as a socially distanced drinks, as you say, from a senior number ten official. he claims that he warned at the time that should not happen because they would be against the rules. but was subsequently told that it did go ahead. he has invited the official in charge of investigating these events to dig up the e—mail that he sent at the time. he's also referred to the picture which is now widely available online, published by the guardian newspaper last month, showing people month, showing people, including himself and the prime minister on a terrace at 10 downing street having cheese and wine, on may 15th. five days earlier. he has added his voice to the defence of what was happening there, which the pm has said all along was a work setting, a work context, and this was a meeting or the aftermath of a meeting that happened outside. a couple of interesting interventions there. we do not have a timeframe for this enquiry to wrap up, but i would expect that quite soon. political correspondent, jonathan blake, there. now to take you out of this world. nasa scientists will today begin the task of unfolding the second and final mirrored wing of the james webb space telescope. when complete, the telescope, which was sent in to orbit last month, will be able to look further into the cosmos than ever before. the astonomer, dr emma curtis—lake, will be using the telescope and told me what she will be looking out for. it's an amazing observatory and we're going to be to look further back in time than hubble, we're going to be able to search for the very first stars and galaxies to form in the early universe. well, to misquote an advert, this telescope can reach parts of the universe that others can't. how exactly, in layman's terms, bearing in mind not everyone will have your specialist knowledge, in basic terms, how will it do that? well, it looks in the light in a different way to hubble. it looks, actually at longer wavelengths, at heat wave length wavelengths, at heat wavelengths and objects in the early universe, they are actually moving away from us really quickly because the universe is expanding. when that happens, the light gets shifted and it gets shifted out of what hubble can see, out of the range our eyes can see, but into the range that webb can see, so if it is really far away, it is moving away from us very quickly, webb would be able to see it, but hubble couldn't. now, this has been a long time coming, hasn't it? it hasn't been an easy task. how much work has gone into this? well, years and years of work. for my part, we have been planning on what we are going to look at with webb for the last five years that i have been contributing to. and on the engineering side, it has been decades in development and building. dr emma curtis—lake there. now, bringing you back down to earth... a volcano perched on top of one of ecuador�*s famous galapagos islands has erupted, producing a spectacular lava flow. the one mile high wolf volcano is located on isabela island, home to a rich variety of flora and fauna of the type that helped inspire charles darwin's theory of evolution. you are watching bbc news. a year ago most school pupils were being told to study from home and the bbc started its "give a laptop" appeal. we asked you to donate old devices, and the response was staggering. well over 100,000 laptops and tablets were handed over to families across the uk. however, the need has not gone away, as fiona lamdin has been finding out. this time last year, edwina and her four children were struggling with home schooling on a phone. this was the moment when their family received a donated laptop. your laptop isjust here if you'd like to come and grab it. oh, my goodness! a year on, we've been back to see them. having the laptop has made a lot of difference, notjust in my life. it has impacted positively in the lives of my kids, because currently, they're able to access schoolwork and all of that, it's been fantastic. it was a similar story for the adam twins, who were relying on paper hand—outs. wow! they're now both at secondary school. it's made a huge difference. we're still using the laptop we got a year ago today. primary schools, secondary schools and colleges across england... as the prime minister closed schools last january, the pandemic shone a light on the 1.7 million students who didn't have access to devices or data. we noticed that children who had been doing the work online came back to school in a much better place than those who hadn't. how reassuring is it for you to know that those laptops are there now? it is reassuring because we are having to work hard every day to keep the school open, with staff absences, every day we come in and we have to think about how we're going to cover classes, and there remains the possibility that some children will have to be educated from home, so those laptops will come in handy. in the last year, over 100,000 devices like these have been donated. but as you can see, there's still demand. today, donated laptops are being handed out at the somali community centre in bristol. this is your laptop. thank you so much for that, that'll help me. mara is 23 and is taking maths gcse. use it for your gsce, good luck for you! yeah. the waiting list is quite long. a0 individuals and families are on our waiting list, each week. hassan, this is for your children. yes, for my, children, yeah. hassan has four children, and has been waiting for months. they need more, but maybe they give me the only one. it's still going very strong. we are receiving donations almost every day, we are collecting, wiping, repurposing those laptops. and after a quick lesson logging in, they're good to go, and so the hope that people will still keep giving while the need is very much there. fiona london, bbc news. to donate a laptop or device, head to bbc.co.uk/makeadifference and click "give a laptop". now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. it certainly wasn't the prettiest of starts to the weekend for many, with some very wet and windy weather around. big area of low pressure in the north atlantic has been driving things. that's pushing towards iceland, but it's throwing these weather fronts across us. notice, though, on this cold front, we will see some of the heaviest rain behind it, some cooler air pushes back in, but also some brighter weather, so, the north and west, in particular, will see a little bit more sunshine developed through the afternoon, whereas to the south and east we've got the rain turning even heavierfor a time. in fact, there could be some lively gusts of wind, with the heaviest of the rain still pushing through parts of the midlands and southern england as we go through the afternoon, but towards the south—west, wales, northern england, should see sunshine develop and sunny spells and a few showers across scotland and northern ireland through the rest of today. those showers turning increasingly wintry. it will be a gusty day and the winds could make you feel cool once again across the north and the west, even though the sunshine comes out, temperatures actually drop through the afternoon to 3—5 degrees, just about holding to around 8—10 celsius, east anglia and the south—east cornerfor a time. but as that rain clears this evening, temperatures will drop once again. with the clearer skies across eastern areas, in particular, a chance of frost. wintry showers out there in the west, the most frequent across parts of western scotland, and that could lead to some icy conditions, with temperatures at or above, only just above freezing, as we start tomorrow morning. but, at least for sunday morning, if you've got cloud and rain today, eastern areas, in particular, much, much brighter day to come. east anglia and the south—east, especially, but we will see plenty of showers across central and southern scotland through the morning, northern ireland, too.