two major us telecoms providers delay the rollout 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 almost $70 billion. it's eight in the morning here in singapore, midnight in london, where borisjohnson�*s reported to be on the brink of a leadership challenge — with more mps said to be submitting letters of no—confidence in the prime minister over parties held at downing street during lockdowns. with a decisive day ahead, a difficult one comes to a close. faced with claims by his former closest adviser that he mislead parliament, boris johnson's categorically denied he was warned about parties at his home. in a moment we'll speak to a former conservative party press chief about the pm's position, but first here's our deputy political editor vicki young with the day's events. 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 warned him 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. as we mentioned, there's a growing amount of conservative mps expressing no confidence in the prime minister and the first editions of wednesday's newspapers are reporting that as many as 20 will submit letters against him. this is the front page of the daily telegraph — saying the government plan to scrap covid restrictions known as plan b — as the prime minister faces a rebel plot. i'm joined now by former conservative party press chief, giles kenningham, who now heads up the public affairs consultancy trafalgar strategy. great trafalgar strategy. to have you on the programme. great to have you on the programme. in the first instance, i want to ask you how credible are these reports and is borisjohnson in trouble? the reports are very credible. yes, he is in trouble. the question is, have we hit this tipping point where we get 5a mps who express a vote of no—confidence which reads two leads to the overall party having a vote on his overall leadership what you see today is developers move at breakneck speed for the bars transited his first interview in five days, a 50 minute interview which is very unusual, he often doesn't do long interviews, downing street does not subject them to that. by all consensus it was a car crash interview where he made things worse. he tried to show a huge level of contrition but one of the headlines act them out is him saying, i didn't know that i broke the rules to which the responses well, you made the rules, mate, how do you know you didn't break them? it's a level of incredulity. it is in open rebellion tonight with mps openly speaking out, criticising the prime minister. there is speculation that in the morning you could well have an announcement that he is facing a leadership vote by the evening. it felt like earlier in the week... evening. it felt like earlier in the week. . ._ evening. it felt like earlier in the week... just to “ump in, all of in the week... just to “ump in, au of those * in the week... just to “ump in, all of those points _ in the week. .. just to jump in, all of those points you - in the week. .. just to jump in, all of those points you make i all of those points you make are good ones. at this point, do we have a sense of how many mps are actually going to do this? because there does need to be that pivotal number, that threshold for this to actually turn into some concrete action at this point. turn into some concrete action at this point-— at this point. doesn't it? there needs _ at this point. doesn't it? there needs to - at this point. doesn't it? there needs to be - at this point. doesn't it? there needs to be 54 - at this point. doesn't it? i there needs to be 54 mps. there needs to be 5a mps. obviously they have to put their letters in to the chair of the 1922 committee, the head of the 1922 committee, the head of the 1922 committee, the head of the union for backbench mps, it's confidential so we don't know. but analysis by the press, by the times newspaper today has found that looking at mps comments in the local papers, the facebook pages that there are 58 plus tory mps who have spoken out and actively criticise the prime minister. it does feel like we are hitting this point of no return. , hitting this point of no return-— hitting this point of no return. , , , , return. does this suggest curowin return. does this suggest growing divide _ return. does this suggest growing divide within - return. does this suggest growing divide within the | growing divide within the conservative party? the conservative _ conservative party? the conservative party - conservative party? the conservative party is - conservative party? the conservative party is a l conservative party? tie: conservative party is a series of different coalitions. quite fragile coalition so that the problem for borisjohnson is that seeing these different groups all come out and criticise him when teresa made was prime minister essentially you had two groups in the tory party, brexiteers and the remainders. now you have multiple groups, that's a lot more difficult to manage. what this crisis is also underlined is boris johnson's this crisis is also underlined is borisjohnson's relationship with his mps is incredibly transactional. a lot of mps that are leading the so—called coup against them and then you got election who owe their seats to them to deny him who have say you might�*ve got elected but you may cost me my seat next time. amazing really because boris johnson seat next time. amazing really because borisjohnson delivered one of the biggest majorities tory parties have had in years onlyjust tory parties have had in years only just over two years tory parties have had in years onlyjust over two years ago. it shows you how quick things can move. rewind three months ago, people saying he could walk on water. now he could be on the verge of being kicked out of downing street. indeed. but out of downing street. indeed. ihut nothing — out of downing street. indeed. but nothing confirmed - out of downing street. indeed. but nothing confirmed yet - out of downing street. indeed. but nothing confirmed yet of l but nothing confirmed yet of course and we will be following every single twist and turn out that on pvc. thank you for joining us on the programme. 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 instruments on some olderaircraft, 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. emirates airline cancelled dozens of flights to us cities. the telecoms giants say forty countries using 5g networks already, have shown that flying remains safe. our north american tech correspondent, james clayton, has explained why the mobile operators 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 just 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. 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. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme...(tx 00v + 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 i for the rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gasl and set upon by police dogs. 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. there, he was the gestapo chief. millions came to the spot, a tight of humidity believed by officials to have broken all records. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore, our headlines. prime minister boris johnson faces mounting pressure from his own mp's — over doubts about his leadership. the white house says russia could launch an attack on ukraine at any point, calling the situation extremely dangerous. the statement comes ahead of us secretary of state anthony blinken meeting his russian counterpart sergei lavrov in geneva on friday. fears have been raised after some russian forces moved to belarus, increasing its presence around ukraine where there's already around a hundred thousand troops on the border. the us says it wants to see if a diplomatic solution to the crisis is possible — russia says there are no plans to invade. here's our diplo 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. a little earlier i spoke to our correspondent in washington barbara plett usher — i asked her about these latest comments from the us. they certainly are messaging increased alarm at the threat level. they're 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 estensible 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 ia increase and concern about the potentials here. it seems 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 lavrov. in terms of that meeting with mr 0, what does success look like in terms of the us and the at this point? we asked that 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 that 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 that as 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 blinken 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. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines... new zealand's defence minister said the amount of ash to have fallen on tonga following the volcanic eruption at the weekend was hampering the relief effort. peeni henare said it had contaminated drinking water and making the air quality poor. the tongan government says all the houses on one of the islands have been destroyed while another hasjust two remaining. hong kong independence activist edward leung tin—kei, whose now—banned slogan became a rallying cry during the 2019 pro—democracy movement, was released from jail in the pre—dawn hours of wednesday after serving nearly four years. the british man who took hostages in a synagogue in the us state of texas on saturday was known to britain's domestic intelligence service, m15. malik faisal akram was the subject of an investigation in late 2020. but by the time he flew to the united states at the new year, he was assessed not to present a risk. 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 off the back of these olympic games. what's that going be like in 20 years time where you are? as china's second olympics 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 more than being just a business? we have two choices, we can either divorce ourselves from xingyang and say no, we're 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. the president thinks they are politicising his big moment. it's a distinction some of the businesses looking to ride the olympic wave want you to make as well. you can get much more on that story and many others on that story and many others on the bbc news website where we've covered a lot of the big stories in this edition of newsday including that story for you on the hunger relief efforts trying to get vital supplies to the region following a volcanic eruption. thanks forjoining us on the programme. do stay with bbc 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. just one degree in lerwick in the middle of the afternoon, nine or ten 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 — four 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 four 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 five or six degrees in some places, whereas further north and west, ten 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 in the far northwest. further south, frost and fog could continue to feature, but it will remain largely dry. this is bbc news. we'll 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. it's impossible to be certain about vladimir putin's intentions, but russia's actions suggest a major military offensive in ukraine may be imminent. troops and equipment have massed close to the ukrainian border, russian officials talk of losing patience. from the us and nato allies, we hear dire warnings, but we also see internal divisions.