the prime minister and he'll be giving evidence to the official inquiry. two major us telecoms providers delay the roll—out of new five g networks near airports — after warnings it could cause chaos in the aviation industry. and betting big on gaming — microsoft is buying the company that makes call of duty and candy crush for more than $70 billion. it's seven in the morning in singapore, and 1am in kyiv, where the american secretary of state antony blinken is due to arrive for urgent talks, amid warnings that russia could carry out an invasion of ukraine "at any moment". mr blinken also plans to meet russian foreign minister sergey lavrov on friday, with the white house describing the situation as "extremely dangerous". russia has amassed 100,000 troops on the border and over the weekend moved forces to belarus forjoint military drills but it denies planning an invasion. here's our diplomatic editorjames landale. russian forces training near the border with ukraine, just some of thousands deployed there since the autumn, raising fears in the west that russia is planning an invasion. fears that are dismissed by moscow. but exacerbated by this — the arrival of russian forces this week in belarus, north of ukraine for what moscow says are joint military exercises to repel external aggressors. but nato�*s secretary general said the risk of conflict was real. the main task now is to prevent a military attack on ukraine, and that's exactly why we send a very clear message to russia that if they once again decide to use force against ukraine it will come with a high cost for russia. britain is sending short range anti—tank weapons to bolster ukraine's defences with, downing street said, about 100 british troops to help with the training. russia's estimated to have about 100,000 troops on the border with ukraine. most to the north and the east, with fears they could try to link up with crimea that russia annexed in 2014. but with russian troops now in belarus there are fears they could also target the capital, kyiv, from the north. but what's the west prepared to do to deter russia? would it abandon this new gas pipeline from russia to germany that could leave energy prices soaring across europe? well, today germany's foreign minister was in moscow and said her country was ready to pay a high economic price, and there could be consequences for the pipeline. russia's foreign minister said that would be counter—productive and rejected what he called speculation about russian aggression. translation: we are not | threatening anyone but hear threats directed at us. we cannot accept demands related to military operations on our own territory. but the white house said the situation was extremely dangerous. we're now at a stage that russia could at any point launch an attack on ukraine. i would say that's more stark than we have been. for now, the us is still looking for a diplomatic solution, with the country's secretary of state holding talks with his russian counterpart in geneva later this week. meanwhile, the russian training continues. today, ukraine's defence minister told the bbc any conflict would be a disaster for europe with a lot of refugees and a lot of blood. james landale, bbc news. i'm joined now by our washington correspondent barbara plett usher who has been following the story. great to have you on the program. in the first instance, russia is obviously denying that the troop build—up is a prelude to invasion. so these comments coming out of the us, are they ratcheting up the rhetoric or a serious consideration on their part?— on their part? they certainly are messaging _ on their part? they certainly are messaging increased _ on their part? they certainly are messaging increased alarm - on their part? they certainly are messaging increased alarm at i on their part? they certainly are l messaging increased alarm at the threat level. there saying that russia was in a position to attack or invade at any moment. they've been talking not only about the ukraine's border but also the deployment of russian troops to belarus for these extensible military exercisers with the state department told us today that this was not about exercise and not normal troop movements. the official said this was about a show of force, possibly to increase russia's leverage. the official also said that if the russians did decide to invade this would give them another route, another avenue to do so because of course belarus is on ukraine's border. there is very much in increase and concern about the potentials here. it seemed at the very least it is a way of trying to deter any decision by the russians to invade. because also the americans say they are not sure whether mr putin has decided to do so and they are still testing diplomacy with the visit to the ukraine and also to europe where he is going to meet mr 0. in ukraine and also to europe where he is going to meet mr 0.— is going to meet mr 0. in terms of that meeting _ is going to meet mr 0. in terms of that meeting with _ is going to meet mr 0. in terms of that meeting with mr _ is going to meet mr 0. in terms of that meeting with mr 0, _ is going to meet mr 0. in terms of that meeting with mr 0, what - is going to meet mr 0. in terms of| that meeting with mr 0, what does success look like in terms of the us and the at this point? irate success look like in terms of the us and the at this point?— and the at this point? we ask that ruestion and the at this point? we ask that question they _ and the at this point? we ask that question they always _ and the at this point? we ask that question they always say - question they always say de—escalation means moving troops away from the ukraine borders and sending them back to barracks but there are 100,000 troops there. so is not clear to what extent they would have to happen i think for the americans, if the russians would agree to talk to would just continue talking that maybe they wouldn't denounce it is a big success but see thatis denounce it is a big success but see that is a way to keep tensions down. they have consistently said that diplomacy isn't going to work as long as russians keep escalating and they have specifically said this week that the russians continue to escalate. you can see that they are very concerned that diplomacy might not work and the state department said that mr blinklen was going to speak with mr lavrov to test whether diplomacy was possible. they didn't know whether the russians were serious but they would do as much as they could to take all avenues to try and get a peaceful solution. faced with persistent claims that he misled the house of commons, borisjohnson has �*categorically denied' that he was warned about a drinks party in the downing street garden during the first lockdown. he insisted nobody had told him the gathering was against the rules. but his former adviser, dominic cummings, says he did warn mrjohnson, and he accused the prime minister of misleading mps. 0ur deputy political editor vicki young has the latest. prime ministers are surrounded by people offering advice. but in the end, they have to use their own judgment. borisjohnson has admitted joining colleagues for drinks in the garden when the country was locked down, something he now regrets. i carry full responsibility for what took place, but nobody told me, i'm absolutely categorical about it, nobody said to me this is an event that is against the rules. and what about staff partying into the early hours the night before prince philip's funeral? was having to apologise to the queen about those parties the night before she put her husband of over 70 years, she laid him to rest, was that a moment of shame for you? i deeply and bitterly regret that that happened, and i can only renew my apologies both to her majesty and to the country for misjudgments that were made and for which i take full responsibility. mrjohnson wasn't there on that occasion, but questions remain about the drinks he did attend. he insists he thought it was a work event. but dominic cummings, his former top adviser who's turned against him since leaving the job, says he wanted it was a party and he needed to grip his madhouse. not for the first time there are conflicting accounts of what went on here in downing street during the pandemic. the senior official sue gray is investigating and will of course be looking for written evidence, but for now, the prime minister's approaches the apologise at every opportunity, admit misjudgments and hope that people believe him. for now, support among senior ministers is holding up. he's a hero, according to the man in charge of party discipline. it's going to split the difference. and answering questions for the first time was the chancellor, the man many mps think could succeed mrjohnson. do you believe the prime minister? of course i do. you believe he's telling the truth? the prime minister set out his understanding of this matter in parliament last week, and i would refer you to his words. as you know, sue gray is conducting an inquiry into this matter, and i would fully support the prime minister's request for patience while that inquiry concludes. but others are going public with their concerns. junior health minister maria caulfield is the latest to post online, saying she was very angry. this evening, the prime minister was spotted returning to the commons. just six conservative mps have publicly expressed no confidence in him, but that certainly doesn't tell the whole story. 0ur uk political correspondent jonathan blake has sent us this update about the mood in westminster. senior conservative backbencher, summed it up to me tonight as morose. in that interview the prime minister today looked crestfallen, downcast and beaten maybe and tory mps watching that might wonder was it a moment of humility or humiliation for the prime minister? he said again wait for the report to establish the facts and some mps agree but many don't want to wait. and among particularly the newer intake of conservative mps tonight there is a confidence that enough have, or will soon, submit a letter of no confidence in the prime minister to trigger a contest. 0ne told us tonight, i think we've done it, it's difficult to tell. for all the difficulty of the prime ministerfaces, though, there is no consensus on when, if he should be replaced, and by who. ministers are offering, albeit qualified support, with one telling the bbc in an interview today the inquiries should be allowed to run its course and after that we can decide upon what next steps to take. tomorrow could be a decisive day for boris johnson. whatever happens, he will face mps in the house of commons at prime minister's questions needing to say something to shore up some support that he desperately needs. jonathan blake. the us telecoms giants, at and t and verizon have agreed at the last minute to delay the roll—out of new 5g mobile networks near airport runways. the move follows a warning from airlines that the technology could interfere with altimeters on some older aircraft, making them unsafe to fly. the aviation industry had warned of mass disruption to both commerical and cargo flights if the roll—out went ahead. the telecoms giants say a0 countries using 5g networks already, have shown that flying remains safe. wednesday's launch had already been delayed twice, because of the airlines concerns. president biden has thanked the telecoms companies for agreeing to delay some of it, again. more than 90% of transmitters are still expected to go live tomorrow. but the issue around airports is far from settled. this was the white house earlier. we are commited a bid to reaching a solution around 5g deployment that maintains the highest level of safety while maintaining disruption, while minimising disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations and our economic recovery. we certainly understand what's at stake for both industries with up we believe that with continued cooperation we can chart a path forward. 0ur north american tech correspondent, james clayton, has explained why verizon and at&t are so frustrated by the delay. you'd think there'd be some binding arbitration. at&t bought this c band 5g months and months and months ago, and this has been an issue for a long time. you would've thought this would've been sorted out. the airlines essentially say that the new 5g will interrupt some of their equipment, particularly when landing. what at&t are saying is some of these concerns are overblown, and you have this kind of chicken situation, this standoff. less than 12 hours to go until 5g is supposed to roll out, and we've only heard a decision. a lot of people looking at this, thinking why is this happening so soon to the deadline? and viewers on bbc world news will be able to hear more on that story in asia business report later this hour. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. the images china wants you to see during the winter olympics — but this is the troubled xinjiang region where beijing is accused of human rights abuses — we have a special report. donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first! america first! | demonstrators waiting for the rebel| cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police talk. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests l throughout the tour. they called him the butcher. being held fraud charge in bolivia. they west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed more wartime france. millions came to the spot believed to by officials who have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore, our headlines. in tonga, the scale of destruction has been described as �*unprecedented' by the government — after a volcano erupted over the weekend — triggering a tsunami. at least, three people are known to have died but it is still early in the relief effort. some of the pacific islands have been totally submerged there's a virtual communications blackout with the islands blanketed by an ash cloud. that is contaminating the water supply and is blocking efforts to bring in aid. one of those trying to help is pita taufa— tofua, an athlete most famous for being tonga's torch bearer in at the past three 0lympics. now he is trying to fundraise to help those on the ground — including his own family on the island of ha'apai. i'm joined now by pita, who is currently in brisbane in australia. wonderful currently in brisbane in australia. to have you on ti program. wonderful to have you on the program. apologies for mispronouncing your name and the island. just want to start by asking you, what is the latest you've heard from your family and friends in this area? ,., ., from your family and friends in this area? , ., ., ., from your family and friends in this area? ,., ., ., ., ., area? good morning, good evening wherever you _ area? good morning, good evening wherever you are — area? good morning, good evening wherever you are in _ area? good morning, good evening wherever you are in the _ area? good morning, good evening wherever you are in the world. - area? good morning, good evening wherever you are in the world. i've| wherever you are in the world. i've just heard some good news a few minutes ago i heard that my family they are safe, no one is injured, there is damage to the home which was on the water but we still haven't heard from my father. some aood news haven't heard from my father. some good news at _ haven't heard from my father. some good news at least _ haven't heard from my father. some good news at least and _ haven't heard from my father. some good news at least and i'm - haven't heard from my father. some good news at least and i'm so - haven't heard from my father. some good news at least and i'm so glad to hear that but it must be such a worrying time, especially with the lack of contact and communication with your father. lack of contact and communication with yourfather. how lack of contact and communication with your father. how difficult has it been to put up lines of communication given the fact that so much of the access and contact to this area has been damaged? i5 much of the access and contact to this area has been damaged? is been next to impossible. _ this area has been damaged? is been next to impossible. there's _ this area has been damaged? is been next to impossible. there's only - this area has been damaged? is been next to impossible. there's only one | next to impossible. there's only one or two satellite phones on the island. and they are being used for the larger scale things, forgetting information about the whole country out to the world. so we haven't been able to contact anyone, we can call, e—mail or use any social media to contact them. all we can do is do the work that we are doing from outside the country. in the work that we are doing from outside the country.— outside the country. in terms of that work, _ outside the country. in terms of that work. i _ outside the country. in terms of that work, i know _ outside the country. in terms of that work, i know there's - outside the country. in terms of that work, i know there's been l outside the country. in terms of| that work, i know there's been a degree of outpouring of support certainly for one of the initiatives you started a crowdfunding effort that i think at this point has raised more than 390,000 australian dollars. tell us a little bit more about that. i dollars. tell us a little bit more about that-— about that. i started, iwas actually out _ about that. i started, iwas actually out fishing - about that. i started, iwas actually out fishing when i | about that. i started, i was - actually out fishing when i heard that there was a salami in tonga. so i thought, how can i contact people —— tsunami. i started crowdfunding page tonga tsunami on go fund me and the goal was to prepare funds for organisation is soon as the munication can open. the goal is to raise and million dollars, we are almost halfway there. we were just thankful if we were to raise five, ten, $100. people have been sharing in all of social media and were getting the funds ready for as soon as communication opens and we could see the need and how best to address that need. specifically whether it be helping hospitals, schools, water purification plants, anything that needs help we are ready to go. indeed. pita taufatotua, thank you so much forjoining us. i hope you are able to get in contact with your father very, very soon. the biggest gaming deal in history is taking shape, as the technology giant microsoft says it will buy activision blizzard, the company which makes blockbuster video games such as call of duty and candy crush. the deal is worth almost $70 billion. steffan powell reports. call of duty, a multiplayer war game. it's one of the biggest and most profitable entertainment franchises in the world. made by us company activision blizzard, the studio which has 400 million people playing every month in 190 countries. and that kind of young fan base is one of the reasons that microsoft, now itself a veteran tech firm, have swooped — paying over £50 billion for the company, the largest acquisition in gaming history. but why? more and more companies are looking at ways to either break into or expand their gaming strategies. even netflix is doing the same thing, where they have launched a gaming footprint specifically around mobile games. activision blizzard has been at the centre of a storm after employees walked out in protest after numerous sexual harassment claims and an allegedly toxic environment. the company's ceo apologised and took a pay cut. but what does this mean for the gamers? at the moment, microsoft's xbox consoles are lagging behind sony's playstation 5 in terms of sales. by buying call of duty and the company behind it, microsoft are fighting back by owning more and more exclusive rights. the question many players want to know now, though, is, will they restrict their rival�*s access to these major titles? like many of the games themselves, tech companies are fighting their own battles — but for content. and gaming is fast becoming the most lucrative market in entertainment. steffan powell, bbc news. it's less than three weeks to go before the winter olympics kick off in beijing but the focus is instead on xinjiang. china has been repeatedly accused of human rights abuses against the province's uighur ethnic minority. but now it is using the games to create a snow sport boom in the region. robin brant reports. this is the image of china you'll be seeing over the next few weeks beautiful snow covered slopes. china's communist party leaders hope it will persuade millions to grab a board or boots and come here like him. but he isn't near the host city of beijing, this is xingyang, it's a troubled region hoping for a major boom of the back of these olympic games. what's that going be like in 20 years time where you are? as china's second 0lympics approaches these images have been part of the state media reporting on xingyang, almost as if it's part of the games. it's very different to these images from the bbc�*s reporting over recent years of massive indoctrination and incarceration of chinese ethnic muslims with inside places that china used to deny even existed. china's leaders call it anti—terror re—education, the us and others say it's part of a genocide. there are numerous foreign firms lining up to sell you part of the alternative xingyang, the american snowboard pioneers burton is one of them. over the last couple years we've seen triple digit growth, we are very excited about that. burton has signed up a world—class chinese boarder and she isn't even a teenager yet. the company is planning dozens more stores here but how does his presence sit with an ethos that about morgan ——more than being just a business? we have two choices, we can either divorce ourselves from xingyang and say no, were not to do anything out there or we can try to understand what's going on better. yes, there may be some again, factually, i don't know, i'm not a politician, i've never studied the aspect. have you seen the media reports of the last couple years? yeah, everybody has. i divorce myself from that, what i mean by that is, i can't change that. but some say maybe you can, actually. going back to a statement here on the website you want to affect positive change for our people, factories and create ripples with that maybe can change things. yeah, and for the better. we're more focused on what we can change for the better. burton is just one of numerous foreign firms who decided xingyang, the china market as a whole is irresistible. that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. hello. there is lots of dry weather in the forecast for the rest of this week, although many of us will see a little bit of rain through the first part of wednesday as these frontal systems push southwards across the uk. now, these weather fronts are cold fronts. as the name suggests, the air behind is turning a little bit colder. and i think you'll notice that particularly given the strength of the wind. but the weather fronts will bring some cloud and some outbreaks of showery rain southeastwards across england and wales to the day, tending to fizzle all the while. any fog in the southeast should clear pretty quickly, i think, and then most places are looking at sunshine through the day, albeit with a scattering of showers — some of these wintry — especially in the far north, where we could see snow to quite low levels, particularly in shetland. just1 degree in lerwick in the middle of the afternoon, 9 or 10 further south. and as we head through wednesday night, we'll keep some showers going around northern, eastern and some western coasts. many places will be dry with clear spells, the winds will falljust a little lighter and temperatures will drop, with quite a widespread frost. maybe staying a little bit milder for some of these western parts — 4 degrees there for belfast and for plymouth. now, as we get into thursday, it's looking like a beautiful winter's day for many with lengthy spells of sunshine. some showers grazing west wales and the far southwest of england, some for north sea coasts as well. temperatures, well, no great shakes, topping out between 4 and 9 degrees in most places. as we head through thursday night and into friday, high pressure really reasserts its influence, the centre of the high across southern parts of the uk. close to the centre of the high, i think it will remain relatively chilly, particularly if we see any fog lingering for any length of time. but up towards the north, we start to bring the winds in from the atlantic, so it'll start to feel a little bit milder. lots of cloud, though, filtering through northern ireland, and particularly into the western side of scotland. further south, some early frost and fog. some of the fog could linger. that will peg the temperatures back. maybe just 5 or 6 degrees in some places, whereas further north and west, 10 there the high in stornoway. and as we look towards the weekend, i think the highest temperatures will be generally across the northern half of the uk, although there will be quite a lot of cloud here and some patchy rain further south, frost and fog could continue to feature, but it will remain largely dry. this is bbc news. the headlines: the us secretary of state, antony blinken, will meet his russian counterpart in geneva on friday for face—to—face talks on ukraine. it comes as america warns russian could invade ukraine at any moment. borisjohnson has denied he was warned about a party at downing street that broke lockdown rules. the civil servant leading the inquiry will now speak to mrjohnson's former adviser dominic cummings, who made the claim. us telecoms giants at&t and verizon have agreed to delay the roll—out of new 5g mobile networks near airports, after warnings it could cause chaos in the aviation industry. microsoft is set to buy the company that makes call of duty and candy crush for more than $70 billion. the takeover of activision blizzard is the biggest deal ever by the technology giant. those are the headlines from abc news. those are the headlines from bbc news.