welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. us secretary of state antony blinken is due to arrive in ukraine for urgent talks amid warnings that russia could carry out an attack "at any point." mr blinken also plans to meet the 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 editor james 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's 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 is 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 is 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 where 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 counterparts 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. ukraine's defence minister, 0leksii reznikov, has been speaking to hardtalk�*s stephen sackur about the consequences of a russian invasion. what is your message to the diplomats who are trying to avert a dramatic escalation of the conflict between you and moscow right now? i would say that the main message — let's show to the kremlin that you are seriously understanding all threats and you can make this invasion very expensive for them, and you can start with the sanctions on this moment, before, not after. if they do not, will you regard that as a betrayal? it will be very late because it will be a lot of blood in the land and will be a lot of refugees, it will be disaster for europe, because this war is not only east of ukraine, this war is going in east of europe. iam i am seriously saying this. well, earlier, i spoke to steven pifer who's a former us ambassador to ukraine. i asked for his response to comments made by ukraine's defence minister that new sanctions need to made against russia now ahead of any potential invasion in the future. i can understand his position, and the west is doing what it can to make that sanctions threat as large as possible. but my guess is it would be difficult to persuade all of the european union members to do it now. i'd like to see a us—eu message to the russians that says, "if you go into ukraine militarily again, "this is what will happen." but my guess is also that many eu members would want to see exactly the skill of the russian attack before agreeing to the specific sanctions. yeah, you're really laying out the weakness in a way, aren't you, of the west's position at the moment. it's just not an entirely united front, and i guess vladimir putin recognises that and can very much work with that. certainly, i think the russians are looking for cracks between washington and europe, although i have to say that i think nato did a very good job last week of delivering a solid message with everyone speaking with one voice, and if the russians are looking for cracks, it's not exactly easy to find them now. we've got antony blinken saying that there could be an invasion at any point. the white house saying this is extremely dangerous. and yet, as we know, that build—up has been going on for months and months now, anxieties have risen to a surface and then hovered there. is it realistic to think an invasion could be on the cards? well, over the last six weeks, i have become more pessimistic because it seems to me that vladimir putin is beginning to paint himself into a corner. you had the discussions — us—russia discussions, nato—russia discussions last week, but then at the end of the week, the kremlin was saying our key demands that nato agreed not to deploy troops on those members that entered the alliance after 1997, that those key demands have gone unmet, and so putin may find that he has no way out other than an embarrassing climbdown or to actually use some of the military options that he is now acquiring with the russian deployments near ukraine. and what do you think of the whole issue of nato enlargement, particularly ukrainian membership at this point, because that is the sort of crunch issue. is it a realfearfor moscow, do you think? i mean, obviously, over the years, nato has spread its wings pretty far and wide in the direction of russia. well, two points. first of all, it's pretty clear that although there is no real enthusiasm within nato for putting ukraine on a membership track now, nato is not prepared into this kind of russian pressure to say never. so that's point number one. and i believe the russians understand that. the second point i'd make is although the russians have tried to frame this as a crisis between nato and russia, it really is about ukraine and it's about mr putin's desire to pull ukraine back into russia's influence. but if you look at the last eight years, it's been russian policy, the seizure of crimea, conflict that has now killed more than 13,000 ukrainians. it's those russian actions and that policy that have pushed ukraine further away from russia and towards the west. that is the former us ambassador to the ukraine there. pressure is growing on the british prime minister borisjohnson, who has insisted nobody warned him a drinks party he attended in the downing street garden in the course of the first coronavirus lockdown actually broke the rules. a group of backbench conservative mps who won their seats in the 2019 general election have met to discuss his leadership, some have said they believe there will soon be enough mps calling for his resignation as party leader to trigger a vote of no confidence. the papers frankly are full of it. i will show you a few of the headline. we start with the daily express. what a sorry state. new mps plot to oust the pm. tory plotters in talks to topple borisjohnson, that is pretty thick, and again, the party scandal, porky pie plot to dig the pm, porky by a reference to one of the mps who serve the constituency in which melton mowbray is world famous for, pork pies. it goes on, the times with the same story, an abject looking borisjohnson, abject looking boris johnson, and the abject looking borisjohnson, and the guardian also on the clamour to oustjohnson. so thatis clamour to oustjohnson. so that is the way the newspapers are looking at it. it does feel like things are building to some sort of climax. 0ur political correspondence jonathan blake has given us an update about the mood of the prime minister and indeed of his party in westminster. senior conservative backbenchers summed it up today as morose. in that interview, the prime minister today looked crestfallen, downcast, beaten maybe, and tory mps watching that might wonder if it were 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 that 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 the prime minister faces, 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 enquiry 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'll 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. the view from westminster there. the us mobile networks at&t and verizon have agreed at the last minute to postpone the rollout of their new 5g service near some airports. airlines have complained the signals could interfere with navigation systems. the telecoms giants say they're frustrated at another delay. here's our north american technology correspondent james clayton. there was public stuck firmly in the middle. in one corner, airliners who said the new 5g frequency due to be rolled out on wednesday would interfere with crucial instruments. they said things will have to be grounded must were switched on the airport. in the other corner, telecom company they want to roll out 5g on the frequency that gives lightning speed coverage. they paid a lot of money for the privilege to do so. ., ., ., , do so. tomorrow is the deadline. _ do so. tomorrow is the deadline. our- do so. tomorrow is the j deadline. our objective do so. tomorrow is the i deadline. our objective is do so. tomorrow is the - deadline. our objective is of course — deadline. 0ur objective is of course to— deadline. our objective is of course to reach a solution around _ course to reach a solution around 56 diploma that maintains the highest level of safety — maintains the highest level of safety while minimising disruption to travellers. incredibly, neither side was blinking with less than 2a hours to go. cities across america including here in san francisco, were faced with the prospect of mass grounding the planes and customer chaos. the telecom companies blinked. they a statement on tuesday saying they wouldn't emit 5g close to an airport, a clear win for the airliners. president biden thanked them for doing so. this isn't even close to being over. the delay is only temporary and many have asked how the us got so close, just a few hours away from aviation chaos. the united nations says it is stepping up its response to the volcanic eruption and tsunami in tonga. heavy rainfalls of ash at the weekend has hampered the relief effort, contaminating drinking water and making the air quality poon the tongan government says many of the houses on the islands have been destroyed. estimates from new zealand suggest the main communications cable in tonga will now take around four weeks to repair. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the images china does want you to see during the winter olympics. 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 mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they would carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him the 'butcher of lyon'. klaus altmann is being held on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. millions came to bathe as - close as possible to this spot. a tide of humanity that's believed by officials - to have broken all records. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: a warning from america that russia could attack ukraine "at any point." moscow denies the build—up of troops at the border is a prelude to invasion. british prime minister borisjohnson faces mounting pressure fromhis own mps faces mounting pressure from his own mps over doubts about his leadership. the biggest gaming deal in history is taking shape as the technology giant microsoft says it's buying activision blizzard, the company which makes blockbuster video games such as call of duty and candy crush. the deal is worth almost $70 billion and reflects the soaring success of the gaming industry during lockdown. the bbc�*s gaming reporter steffan powell has more details. 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 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. "big business" is not really the word, is it? i've been speaking to tech analyst russ frushtick, co—founder of american gaming website polygon. i asked if this deal was more a matter of "duty calls" for microsoft. there is no question about it. they made a very aggressive move here with this acquisition. 0bviously move here with this acquisition. obviously we still need to wait for it to be finalised with the. if ec but, if it does go through, they'll essentially be one of the biggest gaming companies in the world by far. biggest gaming companies in the world by far-— world by far. right. we can have a sharp _ world by far. right. we can have a sharp intake - world by far. right. we can have a sharp intake of- world by far. right. we can l have a sharp intake of breath at the amount of money involved here, but is this — at least at the moment — as big as it could be? 0r the moment — as big as it could be? or do you think there are other possible acquisitions that might be coming along soon? it that might be coming along soon? , ~ . , soon? it is certainly the biggest _ soon? it is certainly the biggest company - soon? it is certainly the biggest company they l soon? it is certainly the - biggest company they could have acquired, microsoft could have acquired. going slightly down lower would be electronic arts, which is around $58 billion — so, smaller, but obviously still enormous. i do not think this will be the last large acquisition that happens. i think you're going to continue seeing many, many more of these coming — as your reporter said, people are trying to buoy their catalogue and make themselves have the largest chance possible. hong kong independence activist edward leung, whose slogan of 'liberate hong kong, revolution of our times' became a rallying cry during the 2019 pro—democracy movement, has been released from jail. he'd served nearly four years. the slogan itself was banned by the authorities last year. ingrid betancourt — the politician who was abducted 20 years ago while campaigning for colombia's presidency and held captive by rebels for more than six years — has announced a new surprise bid for the country's top job. stephanie prentice reports. looking relaxed and ready to face the future, ingrid betancourt announcing her bid for colombia's presidency once again, 20 years after campaigning for the samejob led to her being kidnapped by rebels. now she says she is ready to finish what she started. translation: for decades i we have only had bad options, extreme right, extreme left, now it is time to have a good option, the option of the centre, the option of the heart, the option of union and transformation from within. the franco—colombian leader of the 0xygen green party has been living abroad since she was rescued from farc rebels in 2008 as part of operation checkmate. translation: mother, i am free! she had been held for 6.5 years in thejungle, mostly in chains after she tried to escape, and described being forced to walk for days, constantly moving from camp to camp and not being fed. shortly after her release she told the bbc her focus would now be closer to home. now i have to just retreat and be alone with my family and construct my matrix with the one i love and then — it will take time. now the time has come to return to colombia with her moderate centrist agenda. her key objectives — environmental protection and combating violence, corruption and poverty. translation: the system of corruption that reigns i in our country only recognises the rights of the bandits, only they can claim, only they can be protected. the former rebel leader and mayor of bogota, gustavo petro is leading the polls currently, ahead of may's election but with colombia currently at a political crossroads, some analysts say the country may be ready to believe in ingrid betancourt, now an emblem for the country's struggles once again. stephanie prentice, bbc news. it's less than three weeks to go before beijing's winter olympics, 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. 0ne one of the namerous foreign firms hoping to benefit from all this has told the bbc it has divorced itself from the allegations of genocide. 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 yao. but he isn't near the host city of beijing, this is xinjiang, 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 0lympics approaches, these images have been part of state media reporting on xinjiang, almost as if it's part of the games. it's very different to these images from the bbc�*s reporting in xinjiang over recent years of mass indoctrination and incarceration of chinese ethnic muslims, 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 xinjiang. the american snowboard pioneers burton is one of them. we've already seen — in the last couple years, we've seen triple—digit growth, so 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 its presence in xinjiang sit with an ethos that is about more than being just a business? we have two choices, we can either divorce ourselves from xinjiang and say no, were not to do anything out there, or we can try to understand what's going on in xinjiang 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 over the last couple years? yeah, everybody has, i believe so. but again, i divorce myself from that — what i mean by that is, i can't change that. and we focus on... but some say maybe you can, actually. let's just go back to your statement here on the website, you want to "affect positive change for our people, our factories and create ripples" — then maybe you can change things. yeah, i hope so but for the better. again, that's what i'm saying is we'll focus on what we can change for the better. burton is just one of numerous foreign firms who've decided xinjiang, the china market as a whole is irresistible. president xijinping thinks his critics are politicising his big sporting moment. his government says the olympics should rise above politics. it is a distinction some of the businesses looking to ride the olympic wave want you to make as well. robin brant, bbc news, shanghai. i'll be back with the headlines in just a i'll be back with the headlines injust a moment. that is bbc news. thanks for watching. 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 through 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 fall just 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 in the far northwest. further south, frost and fog could continue to feature, but it will remain largely dry. this is bbc news. the headlines: us secretary of state antony blinken is due to arrive in ukraine for urgent talks after warnings that russia could carry out an attack "at any point." mr blinken also plans to meet the russian foreign minister, sergey lavrov, on friday. russia has amassed 100,000 troops on ukraine's border. pressure is growing on the uk prime minister borisjohnson, who's insisted nobody warned him a lockdown drinks party he attended broke the rules. tory rebels have said they believe there will soon be enough mps calling for his resignation as party leader to trigger a vote of no confidence. the biggest gaming deal in history is taking shape as microsoft says it is buying activision blizzard, the company behind video games such as call of duty and candy crush. the deal is worth almost $70 billion and reflects the soaring success of the gaming industry during lockdown. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk.