it's been impossible. we've been up against so much and itjust ain't ready. i'm really sorry. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the united states has, with the backing of its european allies, warned russia that if any of the tens of thousands of its soldiers massed at the ukrainian border invade, there will be grave consequences. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, and his russian counterpart, sergey lavrov, are scheduled to have crucial talks in geneva later, but moscow denies planning to invade ukraine. here's our diplomatic correspondent james landale. it's notjust the russians who are conducting military exercises. these are pictures released by ukraine's defence ministry, showing their forces training close to crimea. it was annexed by russia in 2014 and the kind of incursion that ukraine and its allies are trying to deter once again. i've been absolutely clear with president putin, he has no misunderstanding, if any — any assembled russian units move across the ukrainian border, that is an invasion. but it will be met with severe and coordinated economic response. in some of the most intensive american diplomacy for years, the us secretary of state has been touring western capitals. he was in berlin today, rallying support for ukraine and appealing directly to the people of russia. you deserve to live with security and dignity, but what really risks your security is a pointless war with your neighbours in ukraine. western allies are threatening russia with massive economic sanctions if there's any invasion. behind the scenes, there are differences over what those penalties shall be, but the public message is united. translation: we are in - absolutely close coordination with regard to joint sanctions because we have an absolutely joint assessment of the situation, but also of the reactions with the regard to the security of ukraine. this also applies to sanctions. fresh satellite images appear to show how russia has massed notjust troops near ukraine, but also military equipment. from klimovo to the north to soloti on ukraine's eastern border and novoozerne to the south, near crimea. the diplomacy now moves to geneva where mr blinken arrived for talks with his russian counterpart on friday. but the discussions at his hotel tomorrow may be difficult because the gap between both sides is so large. the americans want to talk about avoiding war in ukraine, but the russians want to talk about their demands for nato to step back and allow moscow to establish a new sphere of influence across eastern europe. in eastern ukraine, they know what that might mean. pro—russian separatists have been fighting government forces here since 2014, and the scars are all to see. antonina is 72 years old and lives close to the front line. "it's a miracle we stayed alive," she says. "we could've died many times." she's pro—russian and fears a full—scale war. russia denies that is its intention. but its forces are training hard, close to ukraine. the question now is whether all these exercises might soon become the real thing. james landale, bbc news, geneva. earlier, i spoke to andrei korobkov, russian politics expert at middle tennessee state university, about the volativity of this mounting crisis. clearly, putin is making a point that there is a quickly changing balance of strategic power in the world and in the region, that the us is losing its position of the only superpower, europe is losing its position as the centre of the world's system that it held for more than 500 years, and he is shifting from pure negotiations to the use of at least a demonstration of force to get what he wants. and, quite frankly, he is in a very good position, because of the growing china, and because of not very consistent and coherent us policies. what happened yesterday at the news conference in the white house has just worsened the situation in this sense, because clearly, biden sent very controversial signals and probably spelled out some of the issues that are being discussed behind the closed doors. and it, again, strengthens putin's hand. just briefly, before we finish, what could the united states do to stop, for example, russia making that step to try and get access to land, perhaps, towards crimea? clearly, there are both carrots and sticks in this situation, so biden offers something in exchange for russia abstaining from military action and, at the same time, enumerates possible sanctions. so, yesterday, he mentioned essentially blocking all operations going through the russian banks, clearly, while sanctions in regard to the pipeline are still being considered, for better or worse. and then there are other issues. there are personal sanctions against putin, this is something absolutely new, and the uppermost elite circle, including the russian oligarchs. there's an issue of swift and russia's access to it. there's an issue of russian sovereign debt, and all this can be pretty serious in terms of its impact on the russian economy. andrei korobkov there. if you want to know more about whether russia is preparing to invade ukraine, just go to our website where there is more analysis and answers to the main questions about this developing story. the first planeloads of aid have arrived at tonga's main airport after saturday's volcanic eruption and tsunami cut the pacific island nation off from the outside world. more flights and several ships are on their way, bringing urgently needed drinking water, food and medicine. the queen has said her thoughts and prayers are with the people of the pacific nation, which is part of the commonwealth. rupert wingfield—hayes reports. for the first time since last saturday's huge eruption, we're finally getting to see what has happened to tonga's main island. along the coast, the damage from the tsunami looks extensive, with many buildings destroyed. in tonga's capital, nuku'alofa, there's a lot of volcanic ash, but the buildings are intact and the clean—up has begun. telephone services are also back, and that means for tongans living abroad, the agonising wait for news is finally over. it's a relief to finally hear their voices and to finally know how they are back home. my dad had told me that, you know, they're fine, no major damages to our homes. so, at the moment, i've got family over in the outer islands of ha'apai. i have heard from them and they're doing 0k. who i haven't heard from is my father. i'm sure he's out there working hard, doing what he does. we've also learned of a remarkable survival story. this man says he was swept off a small island by the tsunami and was in the water for more than 2a hours before making it to land. help is now arriving. this is an australian c17 transport plane on final approach to tonga this afternoon. the crew quickly unloaded water and emergency supplies, but, because of covid, they were not allowed any contact with locals. tonga's government has decided that until the covid pandemic is over, the islanders will have to deal with the clean—up from this disaster by themselves. meanwhile, on the other side of the pacific in peru, another clean—up is under way. the crude oil on these beaches was spilled from a tanker that was unloading when a tsunami hit the coast here, triggered by the eruption in tonga more than 10,000 kilometres away. rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. let's get some of the day's other news. in britain, downing street is facing further criticism about the way it operates amid allegations that a number of backbench mps have faced intimidation that could amount to blackmail. the prime minister, borisjohnson, has insisted he has seen no evidence to support the allegations, and has advised colleagues who feel threatened to go to the police. the united states has charged four government officials from belarus with aircraft piracy over the diversion of a passenger plane in order to arrest a journalist. the incident took place last may when a ryanair plane travelling from greece to latvia was forced to divert to minsk after the belarusian authorities said there was a suspected bomb threat. the lower house of austria's parliament has passed a bill to make covid—19 vaccinations compulsory for adults. the bill, which is now likely to become law, will mean everyone over the age of 18 without a valid exemption must get the jab. the french government has announced plans to ease covid—19 restrictions from february 2. on that date, it will end the mandatory wearing of face masks when outdoors and lift capacity restrictions for large events such as sport matches and concerts. the french prime minister justified the move by saying it coincided with the introduction of a covid vaccination pass, which will come into force on monday. a dispute has deepened between airbus and one of its largest customers, qatar airways, with the announcement that the european firm is scrapping a contract to supply 50 a321 aircraft. this comes as a court in london has begun hearing the qatari airline's claim for compensation over alleged technical problems with larger a350 jets. shares in netflix fell almost 20% after the streaming platform missed its target for predicted new subscribers in 2021. 0verall, netflix added 18.2 million members last year, roughly half the number who subscribed in 2020. the firm said it expected to add just 2.5 million members in the three months to march, far lower tha n a nalysts had expected. emergency teams in ghana are searching for survivors following a huge explosion that's all but destroyed a village. police have not confirmed the number of casualties, but videos showed many victims. mark lobel has more. a community decimated after a truck collided with and drove over a motorbike. the dynamite—laden truck was 140km from the gold mine run by the canada—based company kinross gold. both drivers had enough time to escape their vehicles before an enormous explosion occurred. the police, army and rescue services joined locals to contain the situation. 0nlookers were struggling to make sense of the widespread destruction. the blast carving out a large crater beside a road. many were injured and bodies were pulled from the rubble. the blast hit a small residential town near bogoso, which has a population of under 10,000 of mostly farmers and miners. ghana's president, nana akufo—addo wrote: but his promise not to spare any effort to return the situation to normal may take some time with so many broken lives and damaged buildings. police have appealed to nearby towns to open up their classrooms and churches to accommodate surviving victims. as ghana, one of africa's largest school producers sufficient another mining—related accident. mark lobel, bbc news. the former pope, benedict xvi, has expressed shock at the sexual abuse of children by clerics after a report accused him of failing to take action in four cases back when he was archbishop of munich, germany. benedict, who was then called josef ratzinger, denies any wrongdoing. 0ur berlin correspondent jenny hill has more details. the world came to know him as pope benedict xvi. but back in the late 1970s and early �*80s, he was archbishopjosef ratzinger, and he presided over the german diocese of munich and freising. and the report's authors say it was there that he, in effect, failed to act in four child sex abuse cases. they say that he knowingly allowed three priests who had convictions for crimes against children to work in the diocese, and they also focused on the case of another cleric who was a known paedophile when he was transferred to the diocese to carry on working as a priest. now, pope benedict, who denies all wrongdoing, has said that he knew nothing about the background of that particular man, but the report's authors unearthed minutes of a meeting at which this particular man, his case's transfer, are all discussed, and the former pope said he had never been at that meeting. the report's authors say that they looked at those minutes and it was quite clear from the minutes that he had indeed been there. we have had nothing directly from the former pope, who is now in his 90s, but the vatican have issued a statement saying they are going to examine and analyse the report. it runs for some 1,600 pages at least, so there is a lot to look through. they also express their regret at the victims, the hundreds of people actually that the report talks about, the hundreds of children who were abused at the hands of clerics within the catholic church in germany. cities along the us east coast are seeing covid infections —— stay with us on bbc news. still to come: how zara rutherford became the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. 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 will 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: new images of the russian military build—up as the us warns any incursion into ukraine will be met with a tough response. aid planes finally arrive in tonga after a volcanic eruption and tsunami left the country in desperate need of supplies. cities along the us east coast are seeing covid infections falling as new cases of the 0micron variant taper off. we've seen that in the uk and south africa too. but hospitalisations in the us from covid are still at an all—time high. for the latest, the bbc spoke to president biden�*s chief medical adviser, dr anthony fauci, who had this to say about the state of the pandemic in america. we are averaging approximately 800,000 new infections per day on a weekly basis, have 156,000 people in the hospital, and we have 2000 deaths per day. that is not a level of control that we should feel we can settle with. ., i. -- fauci. women campaigners in afghanistan have told the bbc that activists parwana ibrahimkhil and also tamana paryani were reportedly abducted late on wednesday night. the two activists were at the forefront of a protest held in kabul on sunday for women's rights. caroline hawley has the latest. in a video, sharing before her apparent arrest. she's inside her home. the taliban were told on the other side of the door. she is pleading with them. she says her sisters are at home and she begs the taliban to come back the following day. but her desperate pleas were, it seems, in vain. fellow activists say she was taken by the taliban on wednesday night. and not just her. another prominent campaigner for women's rights was arrested too, they say, although the taliban deny it. i asked them about the incident and he told me that he will take it up with the intelligence department and the ministry, all of them said that there is no incident like this. chanting both of the women had been at the forefront of a protest last sunday in kabul, demanding that women be allowed to study and work, demonstrating for their rights, demonstrating their own personal bravery as they did so. as much if i am proud of them, and they're brave and going out, but how long if the international community does not stand with them and does not support them? i think i'm just afraid that it will lose momentum. still, week after week, we are seeing women literally risking their lives, because women have been killed at these protests, and tragically over the past few months have been out to raise their voices to demand their rights that have been taken away from them since the taliban came to control. the taliban have banned these protests and other women who have taken part are in hiding and other women who have taken part in these protests are in hiding in fear them coming after them too. let's turn now to an uplifting story. a 19—year—old has become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. zara rutherford has landed in belgium at the end of herjourney, which began in august last year. she flew across more than 50 countries on her own as jessica parker reports. a smooth landing after a long journey. it takes time to fly around the world in a 300—kilo microlight. what was your scariest moment? i got pretty close to a thunderstorm in singapore, so suddenly there was a lightning strike and i think that was pretty scary, but otherwise the mental challenges were definitely mostly over siberia, because i would be flying for hundreds of kilometres with just nothing human, and then i realised that if the engine were to stop i would have a really big problem. both parents are pilots. zara faced serious weather delays along the way, but she also saw the sights. i am in nome, alaska, right now. and now i am in greenland. flying from indonesia to sri lanka. i have arrived in singapore. from korea to taiwan. i am still in greece. i'm in russia! it's pretty cold. zara wants to encourage more girls and women into aviation. her dream is to become an astronaut. the sky isn't even the limit! jessica parker, bbc news, in belgium. a tearful adele has taken to social media to announce the postponement of her entire las vegas residency. the pop star was due to play the first of 2a planned shows at caesars palace's on friday and forecast to make more than $679,000 per performance. adele apologised to fans and promised the shows would be rescheduled. i'm so sorry, but. . . my show ain't ready. we've tried absolutely everything that we can to put it together in time and for it to be good enough for you, but we've been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and covid. half my crew, half my team are down with covid. they still are. and it's been impossible to finish the show. and i can't give you what i have right now. and i'm gutted. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has been following the story from los angeles. it certainly was not expected by her fans, many of whom are already in las vegas for the first few shows and there is a lot of disappointment there. 0n the other hand you could say well, it is not a huge surprise — since left, right and centre here in los angeles and hollywood we hear about cancellations and postponements all the time. the grammys were due to happen in ten days' time and they have been postponed until april. everyone is being affected by supply chain issues and covid itself and we heard her say that half her crew have come down with covid. it is not just putting on the shows it is the weeks and weeks of preparation that goes into them and it seems to be that that is where adele has hit problems ofjust getting everything together in order to launch a show on time. she is clearly hugely disappointed and many of her fans will be as well. this would have been herfirst series of live performances in five years. and amazing for those fans. but i was... maybe i shouldn't be, but $679,000 per performance, that is a good old chunk of change and i was wondering what happens now? it must be a huge loss even if the shows happen at a later date. oh, yes. the shows will go on and you are right, a tremendous amount of money involved for lots of lots of different parties, not least the fans of course who were paying anything from $85 to $685 and i hear that on the secondary market some tickets are being exchanged for much more than that. the fans have been promised that the shows will go ahead and in a few months time, but clearly a lot of problems to solve in the meantime. i think the whole music industry is facing similar problems here in los angeles because this is a pandemic that has really torn apart the industry, in big part because of the rehearsals that have to happen to get a show like this on the road. it is not to say that everything in las vegas in recent months has been postponed. there are still some very successful shows. twin baby elephants have been born in a rare event in northern kenya. the unnamed calves were discovered by guides this week in the samburu national reserve — the first twin birth to be recorded since 2006. really quite something. nothing cuter than a baby elephant. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcnuala. do stay with us here on bbc news. hello again. thursday was a fairly chilly day, temperatures about 2—3 degrees below average forjanuary, but for many of us, we had sparkling blue skies for most of the day. and what a beautiful weather watcher picture this is from buttermere in cumbria. slightly less beautiful were the skies in east anglia. we had a shower stream coming down the north sea. and for norfolk and, to a degree, suffolk, quite a few showers here, but they are fading away. right now, as the winds start to change direction to more of a northwesterly, that shoves the showers over towards belgium and the netherlands. 0therwise we've got clear skies for many areas. and it's a cold one for sure, temperatures at their lowest, about —6, —7. southern wales, central, southern england the coldest spots. might be very cold and frosty, but it should be bright with plenty of sunshine to start the day for most of us. even this cloudier zone in the west will be prone to a few breaks during the morning, so you could see a few glimpses of sunshine for a time. cloud tends to thicken through the afternoon. could threaten an odd patch of light rain or drizzle for the western isles and highlands. 8—9 degrees in the west. 0therwise, temperatures at 6s and 7s. now, friday night is where we keep those clear skies. again, temperatures will fall away to give us some patches of frost. it is going to be patchy rather than extensive, so not as overall cold across england and wales. and the thickest cloud across northwest scotland, temperatures about 8 overnight in stornoway. this weekend, the tendency is for the weather to turn a little bit cloudier. there will be a lot of drier weather to come. some sunny spells, but we could have a bit of frost and fog to contend with as well. essentially, as we go through the weekend, high pressure's still there. we're starting to get this milder air recirculating back around the high and particularly moving into northern areas of the uk, where we'll see the highest temperatures, particularly for northern scotland. saturday, mist and fog could be an issue first thing in the morning. 0therwise, we've got some patchy of frost, but then we'll have some sunshine to compensate across central and eastern areas. in the west, it continues to turn milder, but that's because we've got extensive cloud, thick enough to bring some rain to western scotland, where temperatures reach 11 celsius. second half of the weekend, again, we could go into sunday with some fog patches around. some of it could be quite dense, a few frost patches as well. overall, a little bit more in the way of cloud for most areas, with some mist and hill fog patches around the coasts, a bit of drizzle for western scotland, where it'll continue to be particularly mild. that's your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: the united states has warned russia that if any of the tens of thousands of its soldiers massed at the ukrainian border invade, there will be grave consequences. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, and his russian counterpart, sergey lavrov, are scheduled to have crucial talks in geneva. the first planeloads of aid have arrived at tonga's main airport after saturday's volcanic eruption and tsunami cut the pacific island nation off from the outside world. more flights and several ships are on their way, bringing urgently needed drinking water, food and medicines. many people are feared dead following a huge explosion in the west of ghana. rescue teams are searching for survivors after the blast destroyed hundreds of buildings. police say the incident happened when a truck carrying explosives to a mine collided with a motorbike. they are your headlines on bbc news. now on bbc news,