groups and women's rights activists in norway, in an attempt to access to billions of dollars frozen in us banks. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the government says it has intelligence suggesting russia is plotting to install a pro—moscow leader in ukraine. it says there's a "very significant" risk that russian forces will invade the country. president putin has already sent tens of thousands of troops to ukraine's border, but moscow is now accusing the uk, of spreading "disinformation". with the latest, here's our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams. fresh supplies of american weapons destined for ukraine. others including britain also sending supplies. hardly enough to defeat an invading russian army, but the message to moscow is clear. "if you do this, it will come at a price." but now, the foreign office says it's seeing signs of a russian plan to install a puppet government in kyiv after an invasion. washington made similar claims on thursday. pro—russian politicians, they say, in contact with russian intelligence officers involved in planning an attack. it's totally unacceptable, contrary to international law. the international community as a whole needs to step up to the plate. so, one of the things you're seeing, and the foreign secretary, i think, is doing a very good job of this, is making it clear what's at stake, so other countries come and support. the reality is... but is that what you're expecting to happen? an invasion? i think there's a very significant risk of it. the foreign office says this man, former mp yevhen murayev, is being considered as a future leader by the kremlin. he's denied it. ukrainian officials say they know him well. he ukrainian officials say they know him well. ., , ukrainian officials say they know him well. . , ., . ., ukrainian officials say they know him well. . , . . ., ., , him well. he has a channel and tells whatever he — him well. he has a channel and tells whatever he wants, _ him well. he has a channel and tells whatever he wants, but _ him well. he has a channel and tells whatever he wants, but i _ him well. he has a channel and tells whatever he wants, but i believe - him well. he has a channel and tells whatever he wants, but i believe he | whatever he wants, but i believe he alsom _ whatever he wants, but i believe he alsom that's — whatever he wants, but i believe he also... that's what he's trying to do, appealing to the forces in ukraine — do, appealing to the forces in ukraine who still believe that soviet — ukraine who still believe that soviet union and russia is the best way for— soviet union and russia is the best way for ukrainians to develop. it�*s way for ukrainians to develop. it's hiuhl way for ukrainians to develop. it�*s highly unusual for intelligence of this kind to be put into public domain in this manner. it's a reflection of the extreme anxiety about what vladimir putin might be planning. at a time when the government has been accused by some of not having its eye on the ball, it's also a way of saying we're doing everything we can. russia says it's all nonsense, releasing pictures of its latest drills close to ukraine's border. still saying it has no intention to attack. but after friday's geneva talks, diplomacy continues. downing street says it plans to ramp up pressure on russia. paul adams, bbc news. let's explore what's going on. dr eleanor bindman is a senior lecturer in european politics at manchester metropolitan university. thanks very much for coming on the programme. let's start with this intelligence release by the office, what you make of it? it intelligence release by the office, what you make of it?— what you make of it? it seems a little bit far-fetched, _ what you make of it? it seems a little bit far-fetched, it - what you make of it? it seems a little bit far-fetched, it has - what you make of it? it seems a little bit far-fetched, it has to i what you make of it? it seems a| little bit far-fetched, it has to be little bit far—fetched, it has to be said. i think your reporter made the point it seems to have been release quite abruptly. it's more likely to be a rumour or one of these stories that flies around. but it doesn't seem overly credible. white how credible do you take the seem overly credible. white how credible do you tak- seem overly credible. white how credible do you take the threat of invasion? there's _ credible do you take the threat of invasion? there's obviously - credible do you take the threat of invasion? there's obviously a - credible do you take the threat of| invasion? there's obviously a high risk that that — invasion? there's obviously a high risk that that could _ invasion? there's obviously a high risk that that could happen. - invasion? there's obviously a high risk that that could happen. i - invasion? there's obviously a high | risk that that could happen. i hope it won't. i think there are other ways out of this situation that we can explore, but it's certainly a high-risk— high-risk. let's get on to sanctions. _ high-risk. let's get on to sanctions. there's - high-risk. let's get on to sanctions. there's been l high-risk. let's get on to i sanctions. there's been this high-risk. let's get on to - sanctions. there's been this idea floating around of pre—imposing sanctions, so this isn't waiting for action, this is imposing action to action, this is imposing action to act as a deterrent. what sanctions could actually make a difference? in terms of when they're in post, i don't really see the benefit in doing it before things have escalated. i'm not sure that would have any high impact in terms of de—escalation. in terms of the kinds of sanctions that could be imposed, lots of different things have been noted, and we're talking about economic sanctions. that's the main tool against russia against this stage. we could be looking at things like blocking russia from being part of the swift international payment system that's been talked about quite a lot. you can also look at things like visa bans and asset freezes on top people within putin's circle, and perhaps putin himself. what you think his response would be to some of those sanctions? i what you think his response would be to some of those sanctions?— to some of those sanctions? i think the are a to some of those sanctions? i think they are a threat _ to some of those sanctions? i think they are a threat to _ to some of those sanctions? i think they are a threat to some - to some of those sanctions? i think they are a threat to some extent. l they are a threat to some extent. his associates and ministers within his government have very significant assets which they keep outside the country. some of them are in the uk. i think it could potentially have some impact. it'sjust very difficult to ascertain what that might be, but unfortunately, what they can do is limited. just might be, but unfortunately, what they can do is limited.— they can do is limited. just very tuickl . they can do is limited. just very quickly. clearly, _ they can do is limited. just very quickly. clearly, this _ they can do is limited. just very quickly. clearly, this is - they can do is limited. just very quickly. clearly, this is an - they can do is limited. just very | quickly. clearly, this is an effort being led by the us. how significant is the uk's role? i being led by the us. how significant is the uk's role?— is the uk's role? i think it's been relatively insignificant _ is the uk's role? i think it's been relatively insignificant up - is the uk's role? i think it's been relatively insignificant up until i relatively insignificant up until this point. ben wallace has been more outspoken in the last few days. he's also been very strong supporting ukraine, and the uk is sending weapons to ukraine. but they haven't really been involved in many of the high—level talks, and they've also not really work that much with their european partners. i think that would be really beneficial, but they haven't really done that yet. 0k, they haven't really done that yet. ok, great to have you and your 0k, great to have you and your thou:hts. . ~ , ., the uk conservative mp nus ghani, who was sacked as transport minister two years ago, says she was told that her muslim faith was one of the reasons for her dismissal. she also says that when she told borisjohnson what happened, he told her he couldn't get involved. the conservative chief whip, mark spencer, says ms ghani had been speaking to him when she was sacked, and he's called her allegations here's our political correspondent, damian grammaticas. on the eve of a crucial week for him, this is a new dispute borisjohnson has been drawn into. what are you hoping to hear today? nus ghani is now a senior backbencher and was the first muslim woman minister to speak in the commons — a moment she described as importance and she has continued to speak out against the islamic state group and the taliban. as a muslim woman, i will stand with people of all faiths who go against this ideology, their rhetoric and their actions. she told the sunday times when asked in 2020 for an explanation from party whips, which is why she had lost in a realjob, she was told her muslim faith was issued in reshuffle discussions and her status was making colleagues uncomfortable, and if she persisted in raising the issue she would be ostracised by colleagues and her career and reputation destroyed. the chief whip, mark spencer, last night took the unusual step of outing himself as the person who talked to her, and said that these accusations are completely false. adding... someone was trying to bully her if she what she is saying is true. you have two scenarios, parliamentarian a saying something, that she is saying something, and parliament is saying something we need to get to the bottom. we need to establish the truth. the allegations have caused shock. the education secretary said ms ghani was a brilliant mp and there was no place for any form of racism in the conservative party and the health secretary, sajid javid, today said... he called for an investigation into the party three years ago and found that anti—muslim sentiment was a problem, but islamophobia was not institutional. it didn't refer to ms ghani's claims. i believe at times like this, it shouldn't happen, and makes the complaint formally. that's when procedures kick in and to be clear about this, that advice was given to nus back in 2020. now downing street has stepped in to say borisjohnson met ms ghani at the time and invited her to begin a formal complaint process about her extremely serious claim but she did not, and the party does not tolerate prejudice of any kind. but she has fired back, saying she made clear an internal party investigation was not appropriate and this was government business and all she wants is for the government to investigate properly. so, as borisjohnson waits for the results on a vote in the party that could decide his fate, he's now under pressure to launch another. damian grammaticas, bbc news. three days of talks on the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan have opened in norway, with taliban representatives holding discussions with civil society groups and women's rights activists. western envoys are expected to emphasise the need for a more inclusive taliban government. our south asian editor, anbarasan ethirajan, told us what is expected from the talks. it's the first meeting of its kind for the taliban, they are coming to europe for the first time after they seized power in kabul last august, and for the last five months, they have been running the show there. now, the west wants to engage with the taliban. you may remember the taliban has not been recognised by the world community yet and giving aid to a country where the government is not recognised, and many of these taliban ministers, they are on the un sanctions list, so it is a complicated process to give aid to afghanistan. at the same time, after the war ended, there are millions of people waiting for food aid and almost all activity has come to a standstill in afghanistan and people are running short of food and there is a shortage of currency, so that's why the west wants to send aid into afghanistan but they want to engage with the taliban, and that's why they have invited them to oslo for these three—day talks. at the same time, they do not want to give moneyjust like that. they want the taliban to respect what they had promised earlier, for example you know, opening schools, reopening schools for teenage girls and also allowing women in employment in other sectors and also respecting human rights. so, they want to emphasise these things for the taliban when they talk — that is on monday and tuesday. on the first day, the afghan women activists and civil society activists, they are having these face—to—face talks, and then they are finding out what the taliban can offer. you're watching bbc news. we just have to pause to say goodbye to our viewers around the world, but here in the uk, you are watching bbc news with lewis vaughanjones. a former ukrainian mp linked by britain to an alleged russian plot to take control of ukraine says his country needs new political leaders. ukraine's ambassador to britain urges allies to stand with them. the world health organization's european director says it's plausible that the region is moving towards a �*kind of pandemic endgame'. a former british conservative party government minister nusrat ghani says she was sacked from herjob, because of her muslim faith. the government chief whip says the claims are false. and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight arejonathan walker, political editor at the birmingham post and newcastle chronicle, and henry zeffman, chief political correspondent at the times. the omicron variant has moved the coronavirus pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in europe — that's according to the world health organization. its europe director hans kluge said it was plausible the region is moving towards a �*kind of endgame'. his colleague dr maria van kerkhove spoke to the bbc a little earlier. this is a very different virus and it's involving differently. in a sense where we have a lead time in terms of our ability to develop the vaccines and make these educated guesses about how the vaccine composition should be so we could prepare. this is not giving us that opportunity. this virus is spreading really intensely. i think what is the challenge as we move into this next phase is how do we get the balance right with the measures that are needed to reduce the spread group? masks are widely available now. they were not at the beginning of the pandemic. we are asking people to be very cautious. this pandemic will end. we will not be in this cycle forever. a family has been left "devastated" after a 16—year—old boy was fatally stabbed in manchester on saturday night. five boys aged between 15 and 17 have been arrested on suspicion of murder. phil cunliffe has this report. according to local residents, thirlmere avenue is usually a quiet street. but last night, around seven o'clock, that peace was shattered as a boy lay dying on the pavement. another victim of a brutal teenage stabbing. again, we see the utterly devastating consequences of knife crime. it destroys families, communities and lives. it's heartbreaking to see a young life lost in such tragic circumstances and people suspected of being capable of such a horrendous act of violence. this afternoon, police named the victim as kennie carter. the 16—year—old lived close by to where he was attacked. he was taken to hospital, but died from his injuries a short time later. just a lot of sirens, about seven, maybe eight o'clock and a lot of panic through the windows, so i didn't look out unfortunately, but yeah, pretty surprised. this corner of stretford is now a large crime scene with most of thirlmere avenue and neighbouring coniston road cornered off. a number of items have been recovered, with forensic tents put in place. i've actually spoken with the victim's father, who was visibly shocked by what's happened. he says all the family are devastated and he reached into his pocket and showed me the money that he was going to give to his son for him to buy something last night, before tragedy intervened. four teenage boys aged between 15 and 17 are being held under suspicion of murder. crime scenes have also been set up in old trafford, trafford, stretford and hulme. a 17—year—old boy was later arrested after handing himself into police. in the meantime, kennie carter's family are being supported by specially—trained officers. please dispense with your knives. as we all know, knives cost lives and it's utterly devastating for that family today. my thoughts remain with that community and that family in particular. phil cunliffe, bbc north west tonight, stretford in manchester. heavy fighting is taking place in north—eastern syria between islamic state militants and kurdish forces backed by us war planes. the fighting began on thursday when the extremists attacked a prison in the city of hasaka, and attempted to free thousands of is prisoners, as mark lobel reports. scenes syrians never wanted to see again. jihadists attacking a prison containing thousands of militants on thursday. there was a swift and determined fight back by kurdish—led forces guarding the area. taking on islamic state fighters in one of the group's biggest operations since their self—declared caliphate was defeated almost three years ago. from above, us—led coalition aircraft supported the syrian defense forces. many prisoners were recaptured with troops in pursuit of other fugitives that had fled to surrounding houses. families moved to safety in fear of their lives. translation: there's been shelling and killing since yesterday. - the jihadists killed four orfive people in our neighborhood, liquidated them. while this was playing out, across the border in iraq, is claimed responsibility for an ambush on a military post in which 11 soldiers were killed. in syria, it's claimed the prison is largely under control. however, is claim they're holding hostages. the kurdish authorities had long warned that they did not have the capacity to hold, let alone put on trial, many of the suspected fighters under their watch. there's also a concern that this much—feared jihadist group is ramping up once again. mark lobel, bbc news. a british man has been killed in thailand. it's reported he was attacked in the town of kanchanaburi, in the west of the country. the foreign office says another briton was injured and is being treated in hospital. matt graveling has more details. hours earlier, this crime scene in the west of thailand saw two british men sharing a drink. but then, thai police say at around 3am, a row with another man saw one friend killed and the other taken to hospital. local reports suggest the argument began over music being played too loudly and ended in a deadly attack. police recovered a sickle at the scene. police have named the victim as 49—year—old marcus evans from weston—super—mare, who officers say had lived in thailand for three years. his friend, shaun dagnan, suffered a serious injury. his partner says he has a wound to his head, but is doing well in hospital, where he gave a statement. today, police held a press conference expressing their condolences for the region's tourists and promising to bring justice. a thai man in his 20s with a history of mental health issues was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder. he remains in custody and is due to appear in court tomorrow. matt graveling, bbc news. the first minister of wales, mark drakeford, says he wouldn't rule out recruiting nhs workers from england who leave theirjobs due to its mandatory vaccination policy. jabs are not compulsory for nhs staff in wales. speaking to radio 4's broadcasting house programme, mr drakeford said a "vast majority" of care sector staff had also taken the "protections that vaccination offers". we aren't going to make vaccinations mandatory in our nhs, we haven't in our social care services, because we have succeeded by persuasion in getting the vast majority of people who work in our services to do the right thing and to take up the protections that vaccination offers. so, will you recruit actively in england? no, i don't expect us to go looking for people who have not been vaccinated, but if people apply, then they will be interviewed in the normal way. we would look to see what lay behind their decision. we wouldn't rule them out, but we certainly wouldn't be going out there looking for them. but we certainly wouldn't scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, has said the impact of covid restrictions on business and hospitality there have been "worth it." she was speaking to my colleague sophie raworth this morning. is scotland in a better position now than we were previously, and are we in a better position than we would have been without these restrictions? now, it's always difficult in any country to absolutely prove cause and effect in the handling of a virus. but if you look at what we were predicting through our modelling would be the case injanuary before christmas, what we were on track for — it was around 50,000 infections a day and we didn't see that materialise, or anything like that materialise. and i think that was a combination of the acceleration of the booster campaign. scotland is the most vaccinated part of the uk in terms of first, second, third and booster doses _ these sensible, balanced, protective measures we introduced before christmas, and lastly, perhaps most importantly, the magnificent responsible response of the public. they changed their behaviour in the face of omicron in order to try to stem transmissions. so, yes, i think what we did has been worth it and we are hopefully now seeing scotland, as other parts of the uk, very firmly on the downward slope of that omicron wave. let's take a look at the latest coronavirus data for the uk. almost 75,000 new infections have been recorded in the last 2a hours. there were 75 further deaths — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive test. on vaccinations, almost 69,000 boosterjabs were given yesterday, with a little over 64% of all over—12s now having had a booster or three doses of a vaccine. the government of tonga says it's facing a long programme of rebuilding and reconstruction — just over a week after it was devastated by a volcanic eruption and a tsunami. foreign aid is arriving, but strict coronavirus—prevention rules are hampering humanitarian efforts, as the local authorities try to keep the virus out of the country. tonga is made up of a group of islands in the south pacific. entire villages were destroyed in the tsunami and some are still without basic neccessities, like clean water. much of the relief effort for tonga is being coordinated in neighbouring fiji, from where our correspondent shaimaa khalil reports. aid has arrived in tonga, and a lot of it is being coordinated from here in fiji. countries like australia, new zealand, japan and britain have sent everything from water supplies to shelter kits, generator, even sweeping machines as well. the concern now is that this is going to be a slow process. getting aid and distributing it to people who need it the most is very, very tricky on any occasion — add the fear of a covid—19 outbreak to that equation and you see how complex this is. the tongan government has insisted that the aid should be contactless. theyjust do not want a covid—19 case in the country. they don't want to be dealing with a covid—19 outbreak as they're dealing with the devastation, which means that supplies are there on the ground, but aid workers are not. so, essentially, it's up to people in tonga to distribute that aid, whether it be volunteers or other aid workers inside the country. the concern now is how fast the aid is going to get to people and how far it can get, especially to far—flung places. there are also, of course, health concerns, the quality of the air, the quality of the water. they have been compromised by the ash in the atmosphere, not just the thick ash that you see, the fine particles that could be inhaled and can cause respiratory diseases. there are high levels of sulphur in the water, and these also can cause waterborne diseases. so, apart from the aid distribution, the physical destruction all around tonga, there are also the health risks. and un officials have said that the country, the pacific nation, will rely on food aid for a long time to come because the crops have been destroyed, farmers have lost their livelihoods, they've lost their homes. and one of the tongan officials have also said that the road to recovery for this pacific nation is going to be long and hard. so, in the days to come, as this destruction reveals itself, as the extent of it becomes clearer, the challenges facing tonga are also being revealed. thanks to shaimaa khalil for that update. new zealand's prime minister has cancelled her own wedding after placing the country on the highest level of covid—19 restrictions. nine cases of the omicron variant have been detected, and under new restrictions, gatherings will be limited to 100 fully vaccinated people. here's jacinda ardern. my wedding will not be going ahead, but ijustjoin many other new zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic and to anyone who's caught up in that scenario. i'm so sorry, but you are, we are all so resilient, and i know we understand that we're doing this for one another, and i know that will help us continue on. a retired british iranian engineer being held in iran on spying charges has said he is beginning a hunger strike. anoosheh ashoori was arrested five years ago and later convicted by iran of spying for israel's mossad intelligence agency, which he denies. the british government says his continued detention is wholly unjustified and has called on iran to release him. farmers in spain have taken their tractors to the streets of madrid — highlighting the crisis to farming caused by the pandemic. horns honking. the protest organisers said their aim was to bring attention to the "ideological" attacks from the government toward rural spain. their demands ranged from the regulation of prices for agricultural products, to the protection of farmers who breed cattle for bullfights. riot police in belgium have used water cannon and tear gas to disperse a group of protesters in brussels, after a demonstration against covid restrictions turned violent. officers had been pelted with rocks and pieces of pavement. the entrance to the offices of the european union's diplomatic service was damaged. earlier, a much larger crowd had marched peacefully, holding placards condemning what they called vaccine dictatorship. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willets. hello. it's been a predominantly cloudy weekend. we've lost the bright sunshine, but we haven't picked up much rain, and so far this january, we've only had about 50% of the rainfall we would normally see by this time. that dry theme continues for at least another day or two because of this area of high pressure. we do have some weather fronts, but as they come southwards into the high pressure, they tend to get squeezed out. not much sunshine. we had a little in the southwest, more in the northeast, and the skies will persist for the evening and overnight. where we do have some breaks, we will see some patchy fog, a little bit of frost, but neither will be widespread. the rain in the north won't be particularly heavy, but that will bring cloudier skies in and some hill fog told the isles. it will sink southwards, so coming into the first area. further south, i think it will be quite gloomy and cold, and where any fog lingers, perhaps it or 5 degrees. we should see some sunshine coming through. that weather front pivots back on itself, not much rain around on it. stilljust patchy itself, not much rain around on it. still just patchy frost and patchy fog further south as we don't really change much at all. there's very little wind to move things back. monday less windy than sunday and not very windy on tuesday either. still in close proximity to the northwest of scotland. and again, where we've got that morning mist and low cloud, it's good to be cold and low cloud, it's good to be cold and quite gloomy. that high pressure is trapping the cloud, and there's no wind to move in on. just the chance that things may change, particularly toward the north, and there's just enough wind to start to mix the air up a little bit. temperatures also because the winds start to come in will start to lift a little bit. it'll start to feel a bit milder given a bit of sunshine. there's more on the website.