and then there is imran khan. his transition from cricketer to populist politician to prisoner has been extraordinary. he is barred from running. his party has had their logo, the cricket bat, banned from ballot papers. it's a huge blow in a country where 40% of people are illiterate, but he is still politically important. imran khan is a fighter. you know, he did that in cricket. he does that in politics. he likes to come from down below. and he's at his strongest, i think, when he is down, and in a way he is a rabble rouser and he is going to come back stronger even if he doesn't win this election. i think he's not somebody who is going to fade away and say, "that's it, i've had enough". and so back to the original question, "who will rule pakistan"? the consensus is that the army's candidate always wins. but if that is nawaz sharif, well,

things might get complicated. he won't necessarily sing the army's tune, because in a sense he will think, "well, look, the army have turned to me because there was no one else to turn to". you know, imran khan is ruled out of contention and the other candidates are regarded as too young and inexperienced. these elections have been described by some as the least credible in pakistan's history. phone and internet services were cut for much of the day. results are being counted slowly. whoever wins will have huge challenges running pakistan, but they will not be governing on their own. you can keep up with the results on the bbc news website. next, newsnight has been reporting on concerns from within university hospitals sussex nhs foundation trust for months. and today, the trust's board met, after a report

from the royal college of surgeons warned of a "culture of fear when it came to the executive leadership team". joe's back and has led our coverage of the sussex trust. joe, what did we learn today? i suppose we find out more about how those at the top of the trust you the crisis they have been facing in recent months, in particular, the investigation into 105 cases of alleged medical negligence in two surgery departments. there is also this week this royal college of surgeons report that has been pretty damning about the management culture right at the top, including accusations of bullying. it's probably worth pointing out who the key people who took part in the word meeting today, which is public and thus about 3.5 hours, first come on the left, the chair of the board since 2018, and the ceo on the right of your screen there, he has been in that position less than two years but recently was in a senior role,

so both of these gentlemen, i think it's fair to say, have been at the top of the organisation in different roles through a lot of the period that everyone is looking at, including sussex police. some, i think i would characterise and have characterised that i've spoken to, the chair of the board being a bit offensive today and how he reacted to some of these reports and questions, but he did come on the topic of bullying allegations, facing the top leadership team, allegations they deny, make this point. ijust want to be clear on one thing, and that is the comments about senior leadership. if there is evidence of bad behaviour, this has never been tolerated and it will be investigated. my view is that media attention has been effectively a series of snapshots, stripped of any context, not surprisingly focused on the negatives. and i don't want to minimise any of the challenges, both past and present, that we face, but the issues that have been raised, as george has mentioned,

do come from...go back as far as 2015. criticism back as far as 2015. of the media coverage of these criticism of the media coverage of these prices there from the trust chair, victoria. the trust argue they now have the right plans and stuff in place, they are making some progress, but they do have this ongoing police investigation and perhaps more significantly, a cqc report expected. perhaps more significantly, a cqc report “meted-— that's all from us tonight. kirsty�*s back tomorrow. until then, goodnight. breaking news from around the world 2a hours a day. this is bbc news.

you have had a wonderful turnout, despite all of these problems. thank you so much forjoining us on newsday, and of course, we will continue to wait for that result from the election in pakistan. ukraine's top military commander has been removed from his post. general zaluzhny, the commander in chief of the armed forces, has overseen kyiv�*s military response throughout russia's invasion. in a statement, president volodymyr zelensky said it's time for some urgent changes in the military. the ministry of defence echoed that line, saying that new approaches and new strategies were needed. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. bbc news analysis reveals that cancer waiting times in england last

year were the worst on record. only 64% of patients started treatment within 62 days of cancer being suspected, meaning nearly 100,000 people waited longer for life—saving care than they should have. the waiting periods have worsened every year for the past 11 years. the co—op retail chain is urging mps to make assaulting or abusing a shop worker a specific criminal offence in england and wales. the company said there'd been a 44% increase in incidents of shoplifting and violence in its stores within the past year. it's already a criminal offence in scotland. the scottish government plans to increase the minimum price at which alcohol can be sold by 30%. this means shops in scotland would not be able to sell a bottle of wine for less than 6—pounds and nine pence. the change must be approved by parliament, and would come into effect in september. you're live with bbc news.

the world s third largest democracy goes to the polls next week. more than 200 million indonesians are eligible to vote in an election which will choose a successor to presidentjoko widodo. he is still hugely popular but has reached the limit of two terms in office. all three rival candidates to replace him are promising to continue his development — and infrastructure—focused policies — but the front—runner, prabowo subianto, is a controversial figure. as our south east asia correspondent jonathan head reports from jakarta, long after the end of dictatorship here, some things still aren't settled. families of those who died or disappeared in the last months of the suharto regime have been protesting outside the presidential palace every thursday for 17 years, demanding answers. this man is one of the disappeared, presumed kidnapped by special forces.

"every week we campaign to stop human rights abusers being elected," he said. and he showed me the words printed on his t—shirt. "bring back those who disappeared. don't let him rule the country." by "him" he means prabowo subianto, the former special forces commander and son in law of suharto. this is him 26 years ago, just before he was dismissed from the army, accused of ordering the kidnapping of activists... ...and of masterminding this — the chaos and rioting which preceded suharto's resignation. today, he's the front runner in the election. the transformation of prabowo's image from feared military heart man to cuddly, avuncular candidate is the most remarkable aspect of this campaign.

younger indonesians with no memory of his past have been flocking to him, thanks to some slick social media messaging. but the real key to prabowo's success has been the unexpected alliance with his one time adversary and today, the most popular politicalfigure in indonesia outgoing presidentjoko widodo. through a controversial court ruling, he's made the president's son his running mate, bringing a decidedly dynastic flavour to this election. presidentjokowi's poll ratings remain astonishingly high for a leader who's been in power ten years. but he's now being accused of misusing that popularity and the power and resources of the presidency to extend his influence beyond his constitutional term limit. in these last days of the campaign, there's been a flurry of online debates highlighting the dangers of a jokowi prabowo axis. do you seejokowi as

a threat to democracy? yes. the word may be big, strong, but, yes. even though he's so popular, he's got such a great reputation. democracy has nothing to do with the popularity. rival parties have been struggling to match the momentum of the prabowo campaign that indonesia has such a lively and well—regarded democracy after only 25 years is an impressive achievement. but no one is quite sure which way it will go after this election. jonathan head, bbc news, jakarta. it's lunar new year this weekend and millions of people in china are on the move as they head to their hometowns to celebrate with theirfamilies. 0ur china correspondent, laura bicker, has been speaking to people in beijing about their hopes ahead. some new year wishes need

spiritual intervention. many young people in beijing come to the lama temple to pray for a job. a slowing economy means millions of graduates are out of work. this dragon year, they're clinging to the hope that will change, as well as dressing up for the occasion. translation: the economy has been sluggish. _ you need to have good ideas and back yourself, but praying to the buddha and the burning incense, that will also help. all: happy new year! even the very young have theirfuture in mind. "i want to get top marks in my exams every time," says this ten—year—old. at beijing train station, families are bundled up and loaded up for the long journey back to their hometowns, and with good reason. the sun may be shining in the capital, but heavy snow

and ice brought some highways in the south of china to a standstill. thousands were stranded in their cars, dozens of trains were delayed or suspended, and passengers were stuck at wuhan railway station for hours. these ladies have a long journey north to see their 90—year—old mum, and they're doing all they can to ensure this year is lucky. translation: l was born - in the dragon year, so this year i've bought red clothes and red pants for a prosperous - and thriving new year. translation: i hope everyone has i a safe new year and you all get i money in your pockets. those left in beijing settle in to their celebrations. traditional costumes have become popular with young people, along with this one new year wish. "money, big money," she says.

whatever their dreams for the future, this week is for food and for family. and for many, this will be their first new year together since the start of the pandemic, and they're determined to savour it. laura bicker, bbc news, beijing. money and food, very important they are. i'm joined now by kitty lu who's director of public affairs at hungrypanda. thank you so much forjoining us. many people will be having reunion dinner is tonight. can you tell us about some of the commonly featured dishes and what they symbolise? £31 dishes and what they symbolise? of course. you know, in china, and lunar new year is all about delicious food and family reunion. the most important and symbolic dish that i can think of is definitely dumplings, especially in the northern part of china. the dumpling is shaped like the chinese...

therefore it resembles wealth and prosperity that we long for in the new year. the pronunciation of dumpling sounds very similar to the translation of new year replacing the old year. at 12 o'clock at midnight, meaning the better is coming. so that's definitely the number one dish every chinese table during the lunar new year. another thing that i think is very important is a fish dish, on new year dinner table because in china, the word fish sounds similar to surplus, abundance, which means we long for always have more than enough in the new year. so this is also a tradition that when you serve the fish dish, you always have a little bit left over on that particular ——,

meaning that we always have extra to have. another one that i can think of is, yes, spring rolls. spring rolls, you can order them in pretty much every chinese restaurant any time, but traditionally, as the name spring rolls, as we understand, is typically served during spring festival, which is also the lunar new year. the shape of the spring roll looks like a gold bar. i’m roll looks like a gold bar. i'm afraid we _ roll looks like a gold bar. i'm afraid we have _ roll looks like a gold bar. i'm afraid we have run _ roll looks like a gold bar. i'm afraid we have run out of time, but it is so fascinating, all the food and all of what it symbolises. heavy lunar new year to you and to all our viewers who are celebrating today. that is it for the programme. thank you so much for watching. hello there. a wide range of temperatures on thursday with mild air towards the south, much colder feeling airfurther north. there was some snow,

particularly over the peak district and over the pennines too — here's hebden bridge in west yorkshire. most of the snow came over the high ground. but misty, mild conditions further south. plenty of heavy rain, too. you can see that on the radar picture just piling into the south of england and south wales earlier on through the night. lots of flood alerts in place here. there's the snowfall further north, most of it over the high ground, but some of the snow towards the south just turning back to sleet and then to rain with that milder feeling air. but still the risk of some travel disruption as we head into friday with an ice risk from northern england northwards and still some falling snow over the very highest peaks as well. the snow riskjust transferring into central southern areas of scotland, too, and some brisk easterly winds. so perhaps some more problems over the high routes in particular with drifting snow. this is how we're starting off the day on friday. a range of temperatures —

below freezing in scotland, but very mild in the south. now as we head through friday, that warm front continues to push its way further northwards, just dragging in the milderfeeling air. still very brisk easterly winds blowing across eastern scotland, northeast england. this should be falling as rain. but across the grampians and the highlands, we're likely to see some accumulations of snow, even to low levels from the central belt northwards, but it will turn back to rain. some early wintriness too, perhaps across northern ireland. once more, quite a wide range of temperatures — between 4 and 13 degrees celsius as we go through the afternoon, and still maybe a bit of wintriness, particularly across caithness and sutherland and across shetland as we head through saturday. now, there will be a lot of dry weather on saturday, but low pressure is close by and there will be some showers, maybe some heavier rainfall across the far south—east of england a little later on three of the day. but coming back up into that milder feeling air, so most of our temperatures will be between 6 and 11 degrees celsius. still double figures in the south. watch out for some heavy rain again across northeastern areas of scotland as we head through sunday. but it will be falling as rain. the air now a lot milder, some scattered showers

elsewhere, along with some spells of brightness. and by the time we get to the end of the weekend, those winds, brisk in the north, will have eased down somewhat, maybe turning more settled into the start of next week with high pressure building in.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, as newsday continues

straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur and today i'm in new york city at the headquarters of the united nations. and this building is supposed to symbolise a shared global commitment to peace, security and international cooperation. but right now, all of that sounds pretty hollow. at this time of spiralling global tension, the un is hamstrung by the mutual hostility of the great powers. my guest today is russia's un ambassador, vassily nebenzia. now, does deadlock and dysfunction here suit russia?