and a hero's welcome for polar preet — challenging stereotypes after her solo expedition across antarctica. hello. we start in australia and the latest in the case of tennis world number one novak djokovic. the tennis star's lawyers are appealing to the federal court, to try to overturn a government decision to cancel his visa for a second time over covid rules. the matter will be heard on sunday morning local time. our correspondent shaimaa khalil has been following the story. this is 9 news... live from sydney... just moments ago, the immigration minister has cancelled novak djokovic�*s visa... it's a story that made headlines here in australia and around the world. for days, novak djokovic has been on the court training and the government has announced its decision. the tennis star's visa has been cancelled again and, for the second time, he faces deportation from australia. in his statement, the country's immigration minister alex hawke said... the prime minister, scott morrison, said the sacrifices australians made throughout the pandemic should be protected. mr morrison's government has faced heavy criticism for allowing the unvaccinated player into australia in the first place, while the country struggled with a spike in covid—i9 case numbers. i think it was a mess—up that they did, but now i think they corrected it. it's unfortunate that novak won't be playing, you know, the tournament, it's a pretty big loss. yeah, i think if everyone else has to follow the rules, why can't he? and, obviously, he thought he was above it all. andy murray says the controversy has been bad for the sport. itjust seems like it's dragged on for quite a long time now and, yeah, not great for the tennis, not great for the australian open, not great for novak. his former coach, the multiple grand slam winner boris becker, said this story has become about more than just sport. he's only a tennis player, we're alljust sportsmen, we're not politicians. if we are used in a political way, then we don't have a chance. the world number one is still fighting to defend his title here. whether or not he'll be able to play, the australian open will take place under the shadow of a controversy that has gone way beyond tennis. that report from shaimaa khalil there. downing street has apologised to buckingham palace, after it emerged two parties were held at number 10 the night before the duke of edinburgh's funeral, last april. a spokesman for borisjohnson, said it was "deeply regrettable that the events took place at a time of national mourning". covid rules had meant indoor mixing was banned, but reports suggest there was drinking and dancing at the parties into the early hours. the prime minister didn't attend either party, but the latest disclosures have amplified calls for him to resign. with the very latest, here's our political correspondent ben wright. it was a moment of national mourning, flags flying at half—mast in honour of prince philip, the duke of edinburgh. but inside number 10, on the evening of the 16th of april last year, two parties took place. there was drink and music at a time covid restrictions on indoor mixing in england were in place... ..restrictions the queen followed at the funeral of her husband the following day. when i heard about this, i was, of course, very, very concerned. and i understand that people across the country are angry about what has happened. earlier this week, the prime minister did apologise for mistakes that have been made. according to the daily telegraph, downing street staff were sent to a nearby shop with a suitcase to buy more booze. number 10 has not denied any of this. borisjohnson himself was not there. itjoins the list of events being investigated by sue gray, a senior civil servant. as well as the two parties on the same night in april last year, back in december 2020, we know of several gatherings — both in downing street and government departments — including one on the 18th of december, about which the prime minister said this. i have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no covid rules were broken. the list goes on, with events in november 2020 being looked at. there was a gathering in the number 10 garden on 15 may 2020 and a bring—your—own—bottle event on the 20th, which borisjohnson has apologised for attending. today's chastened apology to the queen is the latest twist in a saga that has engulfed number 10. as new revelations have dripped out, downing street has appealed for patience, saying all the facts will be known when sue gray publishes her report. but many tory mps are livid about the prime minister's handling of all of this and the apparent culture inside number 10. even a government minister has said things must change. it's not acceptable behaviour. he's apologised, and quite right too, and he needs to change his behaviour going forward. and we all, i think, agree that. a handful of backbench conservatives have written letters to the parliamentary party, asking for a confidence vote in boris johnson. sutton coldfield is a true blue seat in the west midlands. but last night, the officers of its conservative association voted unanimously to withdraw its support from mrjohnson. the constituency�*s mp is a former cabinet minister. are you asking for his resignation? i'm not. i'm not normally a letter writer, but i'm waiting to see what sue gray reports. it is of immense concern, and i'm very conscious that in the local community, in royal sutton coldfield, people are aghast at what's been going on. here and across the country, tory mps will be sounding out their local parties and voters. i think it's disgusting. they're like a rudderless ship, really. i think it's a vendetta - that the media have got. 0pposition parties are now calling on the prime minister to quit. the prime minister allowed this to happen in number 10, not once, not twice, but on multiple occasions. the culture was, it's one rule for everybody else and one rule for us. for a prime minister under intense pressure, much hangs on an inquiry that could lay bare whether those responsible for setting lockdown rules repeatedly broke them. that report by ben wright. all thos comes as official figures show covid infections climbed to a record high in the uk during the first week of january, with an estimated a5 million cases. london was the only part of the country to see a fall in infections during that period. health officials are concerned about the slower take—up of booster vaccines in some areas. here's our health editor, hugh pym. with restrictions in wales to be eased, six nations rugby fixtures with fans can go ahead in cardiff. there'll be no limit on spectators at outside events from january the 21st and, a week later, nightclubs can reopen, as long as covid cases are falling. over the course of this week, we have seen some early positive signs of improvement and they suggest that the measures we have taken are working and they give us hope that we may be turning a corner. the latest move by the welsh government follows a similar easing by scottish ministers, with more confidence about the weeks ahead, though virus infections remain high. the latest survey by the office for national statistics suggests that a5 million people in the uk had the virus last week, up 15% on the previous week, though that rate of increase was slower than during the week before. in england, it was one in 15 who had the virus. in scotland, wales and northern ireland, one in 20 people. there is a renewed push on boosterjabs, with take up much slower since the new year, including here in nottingham and across the east midlands, where the message sometimes hasn't been heard. a part of me questions whether it's actually effective. and how many are we going to have to have after that? i really want to get it done. because of everything that you see in the news, really. health officials in the region say the booster roll—out may have slowed, but vaccine centres are busy. we are still continuing to see hundreds of people coming in each week for their first dose, so we have to recognise that people are on a slightly differentjourney. at this gp practice in kent, though, the waiting area for vaccinations, including boosters, is sometimes empty. 0ur clinics really have been a lot less busy. we've also had problems where patients aren't turning up when they've been invited. he said getting the under—30s to come forward for boosters hasn't always been easy. that age group were vaccinated later, so their boosters come later. quite a lot of them have had covid, and you can't vaccinate someone within four weeks of having covid, but we still think there's quite a lot of young people out there that are eligible that we are very keen to boost. medical experts say more babies are going to hospital during this latest covid wave, but they're not very sick with the virus — which they say is reassuring — and covid poses a very low risk to children. hugh pym, bbc news. lawyers for virginia giuffre, who's accused the duke of york of sexual abuse, are calling for two people based in the uk to give evidence in her civil case, including his former equerry. prince andrew denies all the allegations. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal has the latest from washington. virginia giuffre�*s lawyers here in america have submitted two letters, making a formal request to a british court to help secure evidence from what they are calling two witnesses. so just to let you know who they are, shukri walker. virginia giuffre�*s team claims that shukri walker saw prince andrew at this nightclub in 2001 in london with a young girl. and virginia giuffre alleges that was around about the time that she claims prince andrew abused her in london. the second letter, as you mentioned there, is a request for major rob 0lney. this was prince andrew's former assistant. and virginia giuffre�*s lawyers believe that he may have information relating to the relationship between prince andrew and the dead sex offender jeffrey epstein. prince andrew's lawyers have always said that this is a marathon, not a sprint, but more pressure on prince andrew this evening. that was nomia iqbal. downing street has expressed deep concern, that a suspected chinese agent was able to target mps, in an attempt to make british policy more favourable to beijing. china has denied the claims, and accused the government of being "too obsessed with james bond movies." 0ur security correspondent gordon corera has more. an agent for the chinese state in the heart of westminster. that's the claim that sparked a row between the uk and china. christine lee was a well—known figure, a lawyer seen here encouraging people from the chinese community to engage in politics. your vote is your voice! she had contacts across the spectrum, providing hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding and meeting top politicians. but yesterday, mi5 issued this rare alert, warning she was trying to covertly interfere in british political life on behalf of the chinese communist party. today, china hit back, denying the claims, its foreign ministry spokesperson saying perhaps some individuals have watched too many 007 movies, leading to unnecessary mental associations. the warning is a sign that tensions over china and its covert activities are growing. just two months ago, the head of mi6 said china was now his top priority. china's state news agency responded to that speech with its own spoof of mi6's fictional spy, with a chinese james pond mocking british intelligence. but one former diplomat says the uk does need to be on guard for china seeking influence. by putting in that sort of money, it gets eyes and ears in parliament, it gets to influence, it hopes, various policy decisions. it might be about our critical national infrastructure. this latest warning has caused alarm in westminster, and it's unlikely to be the last. gordon corera, bbc news. the office of the un high commissionerfor human rights says they are deeply concerned by recent incidents of hate speech and incitement to violence in serbia and the serb—controlled entity in bosnia. this comes on the back of recent fears over an escalation of tensions in the region largely fuelled by the actions of the leader of the bosnian serbs, milorad dodik, recently placed under further us sanctions. the un said the authorities should promote reconciliation. these acts included large groups of people changing the name of convicted war criminal ratko mladic during torchlight processions or singing nationalistic songs calling for the takeover of various locations in the former yugoslavia. in one incidence individuals fired shots in the air as they drove past a mock. —— past mosque. the failure to prevent and sanction such acts, which fuel a climate of extreme anxiety, fear and insecurity in some communities, is a major obstacle to trust—building and reconciliation. a reminder of our top stories: novak djokovic's legal team try to stop his deportion from australia, after his visa is cancelled, again. were held at number 10 the night before the funeral of the duke of edinburgh. it was a time of national mourning, and covid rules meant indoor mixing was banned. washington and kyiv have accused russia of preparing to carry out "false sabotage operations" — to create a "pretext" for an invasion of ukraine. the pentagon said moscow had sent a group of trained operatives into eastern ukraine, who could carry out acts of sabotage against russia's own proxy forces there. ukraine's defence ministry said russia was plotting to stage similar operations in neighbouring moldova. the kremlin has denied the reports. but speaking at a news conference, the pentagon press secretary, john kirby, said us intelligence indicated that the plans were well under way. we do have information that indicates that russia is already working actively to create a pretext for a potential invasion, for a move on ukraine. in fact, we have information that they've pre—positioned a group of operatives to conduct what we call a false flag operation, an operation designed to look like an attack on them or russian—speaking people in ukraine, again, as an excuse to go in. that was the pentagon press secretaryjohn kirby. the authorities in kazakhstan say the recent violence in their country had been "an organised attack on kazakhstan�*s statehood." they blamed the clashes on "armed extremists." it's thought dozens of people were killed, many of them in the country's largest city almaty. 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg has more. in a country the size of western europe, there is one question people are struggling to answer. why? why was kazakhstan rocked by violence, the worst unrest here since the fall of communism? outside the morgue in almaty, they're queueing to collect bodies. dozens of people are thought to have been killed in the clashes. gusina's brother renat was missing for a week. she now knows he's dead. "so many innocent people suffered because of someone," gusina says. "those who made us cry should be punished. "why did they do it?" in other words, why did peaceful protests over fuel prices suddenly turn violent? the authorities claim the protests were hijacked by terrorists, including foreign—trained militants, but they've presented little evidence of that. the president of kazakhstan says constitutional order has now been restored. the threat to his country's security averted, but the memory of what happened here, well, that won't be erased quickly and questions remain about who was behind the violence. galym ageleulov says he saw a suspicious group joining the protesters. translation: some - aggressive guys turned up with sticks and clubs. they were on every street corner and they were directing everyone to the main square. it was building up to something. there are indications that fuelling the violence on the streets was a power struggle between president tokayev, here on the right, and groups loyal to his predecessor, nursultan nazarbayev. translation: these gangs were mostly linked to - the nazarbayev clan, including people in the security service, which, it is said, committed state treason by sending these bandits out on the rampage. there are victims on all sides here. in kazakhstan, they're calling these "the black days". perhaps until that question "why?" is fully answered, these will remain uncertain times. steve rosenberg, bbc news, almaty. ok, to the philippines now, and people there are due to vote for a new president in may. the current frontrunner is the son of the country's late dictator, ferdinand marcos. marcos sr was exiled from the country in 1986 following a popular revolt against his corrupt and authoritarian rule. howard johnson reports from manila. i am today announcing my intention to run for the presidency of the philippines. bongbong marcos kicking off his election campaign late last year. running alongside him for vice president is sara duterte, daughter of popular authoritarian president rodrigo duterte. bongbong's father, president ferdinand marcos, ruled the philippines for two decades. his regime rigged elections, tortured and killed political opponents and plundered up to $10 billion of public money — corruption immortalised by wife imelda's extravagant shoe collection. in my four years as philippines correspondent, i've seen how social media has been exploited to revise dictator ferdinand marcos's corrupt and authoritarian rule to one of aspirational leadership. and it's been so widespread that many people up and down the country are now parroting the misinformation with absolute conviction. who will you vote for? of course, bongbong marcos. bongbong marcos, son of ferdinand marcos, the former president? yes! and dictator of the country? excuse me? please correct the word dictator. translation: | would - like to experience the good life that people were seeing when ferdinand marcos sr was still the president. we need to have that back. a man who knows about the marcos good life is americanjournalist jim laurie. he was in malacanang palace the day the family fled the country for exile in hawaii in 1986. you went into imelda's wardrobe room, and she had hundreds of designer gowns and designer dresses with the labels still on. and it was just a sense, in a very, very poor country, it just somehow seemed obscene that. ~ ., ., .. , that. more than three decades later, that. more than three decades later. what — that. more than three decades later, what he _ that. more than three decades later, what he witnessed - that. more than three decades later, what he witnessed is - later, what he witnessed is repeated the question online at. , , repeated the question online at. , _ , repeated the question online at. , , , ~' at. they will say things like, i don't believe _ at. they will say things like, i don't believe this, - at. they will say things like, i don't believe this, this - at. they will say things like, l i don't believe this, this must be dr video from 1986. it could not be true. and it does create a doctored history of events. does create a doctored history of mm— does create a doctored history of events. bongbong's biggest challenae of events. bongbong's biggest challenge comes _ of events. bongbong's biggest challenge comes from - of events. bongbong's biggest challenge comes from a - challenge comes from a politician who beat marcos to the vice presidency in 2016. we approached bongbong marcos for an interview and the right of reply, but they weren't granted. in may, filipinos will not only vote for the next president but also decide what version of history they believe in — the independent media reporting of the brutal martial law period or a sanitised social media version of it. howard johnson, bbc news, manila. a 32—year—old british army officer, who says she's challenging the stereotype of polar explorers, has returned to her home in the uk after walking solo across antarctica. captain preet chandi trekked 700 miles in a0 days. our correspondent frankie mccamley has that story. cheering arriving into heathrow, captain preet chandi reunited with her bridesmaid—to—be and fiance, who proposed a week before she left for the south pole. i'm so, so glad to be back in the uk. it's so great to have an audience here, like, have a few friends here, have my partner here and people from the military as well. polar preet, as she has become known, finished her 700—mile trek to the south pole in a0 days, seven hours and three minutes, almost a week ahead of schedule, enduring temperatures as low as —50 degrees and wind speeds of up to 60 mph, while pulling a 90—kilogram sled containing her kit. and what's next? i know you've just landed, but you already have plans in the pipeline, don't you, for other things? pretty much from monday, i think i'll be in the gym again, training. my aim is to do a full crossing, so, solo unsupported again. it will be a little bit longer, probably a little bit tougher. the 32—year—old will also begin a tour of the uk to share her experience as she plans her wedding. preet�*s story of grit and determination has travelled across the world, getting international coverage. her goal is to try to inspire as many people as possible from all different backgrounds to take on challenges they never knew they were capable of. preet says she will continue to smash glass ceilings and change the image of the arctic explorer. frankie mccamley, bbc news. fantastic. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lukwesaburak. you're watching bbc news. hello there. another cold night, certainly, for england and wales. widespread frost and also some mist and fog reforming. some of it will be quite dense in places to start this morning. but most of the country this weekend will be dry and settled. there will be some showers around, though, as a weak front spreads its way across the uk. here it is out west in the atlantic for saturday. but you can see it's higher pressure towards the south and the east of the country. lightish winds again through the morning. so that means we will start off rather cloudy, misty, murky. some fog around too. most of that fog lifting into low cloud through the day, so quite a bit of grey weather, i think, around. but there will be some sunshine around, the best of it in northern england, into northern and eastern scotland, northern ireland as well into the afternoon, perhaps southwest england too. temperatures, 5—9 degrees for most of us. more of a breeze coming up from the southwest, so that means the air quality should be a bit better for london and the southeast. now, as we head through saturday night, most places will be dry, bar the odd shower around. further north, we've got that weather front spreading down from the north. that'll bring a band of cloud and rain, some blustery showers following in behind there. and temperatures, 1—a degrees across the board, so not quite as cold as what we've had the last few nights. as we head on into sunday, we've got that weak cold front spreading southwards across england and wales. there will be barely anything on it, so a band of cloud, just some spots of rain slowly pushing southwards. behind it, skies will brighten up, but it will be a breezy day right across the board. there are more isobars on the pressure chart. even windy across the north of scotland, with gales in the northern isles. temperature—wise, pretty much where we should be looking at this time of year, ranging from around 7 to 9 degrees. we could see 10 or 11 degrees across southern england and south wales. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, that weather front clears away and then high pressure builds back in it once again. that'll settle things down, notjust for monday, for the rest of the week. so it could be quite a chilly start again for monday. light winds for most, apart from northern and western scotland. there will be a bit more cloud here, a bit more of a breeze. and temperatures — again, around the seasonal average — range from around 6 to 9 celsius. now, apart from a few weather fronts across the north of the uk as we move through this new week — that could bring a few showers across the north — most places will be dry and settled thanks to that area of high pressure. but signs of it turning a little bit chillier towards the end of the week. this is bbc news, the headlines. lawyers for the men's tennis world number one, novak djokovic, are appealing to the federal court in australia, to try to overturn a government decision to cancel his visa for a second time over covid rules. the matter will be heard on sunday morning local time. downing street has apologised to the queen, after it emerged two parties were held at no.10, the night before the duke of edinburgh's funeral, last april. a spokesman for borisjohnson, said it was �*deeply regrettable, that the events took place at a time of national mourning'. official figures show covid infections climbed to a record high in the uk during the first week of january, with an estimated a.3 million cases. london was the only part of the country to see a fall. health officials are concerned about the slower take up of booster vaccines in some areas. now on bbc news. it's time for the media show.