hello and welcome. finland will become the 31st member of nato later on tuesday. the application to join the western military alliance was prompted by the invasion of ukraine by russia, with which finland shares a long border. our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, has this story. finland only said it wanted to join nato last year. this afternoon, its flag will be raised at the headquarters in brussels, the quickest accession process in nato s recent history. president putin went to war against ukraine with a declared aim to get less nato. he wanted nato to remove our forces, our structures, from all allies that havejoined after 1997, meaning all allies in central and eastern europe. and he wanted nato to make it absolutely clear that nato s door was closed for any new membership. he s getting the exact opposite. he s getting more nato presence in the eastern part of the alliance, and he s getting two new members, with finland and sweden. finland s long frontier with russi
by russia s invasion of ukraine. in response, moscow says the finland nato alliance increases the risk of conflict and that it will strengthen its military presence in the region. the head of the military alliance, jens stoltenberg, is calling finland s accession a historic moment. here s what he said earlier. in a few hours we will welcome finland as the slst member of our alliance. this will make finland safer and nato stronger. on this very day in 1949 the washington treaty, nato s founding treaty, was signed in washington, and it s hard to imagine a better way of celebrating our anniversary than to have finland becoming a full member of the alliance. nato s foreign ministers meet at a pivotal time for our security. we see that president putin s war of aggression against ukraine grinds on. we will meet in the nato ukraine commission with the foreign minister where we will address how to sustain and ramp up support from nato allies to ukraine. both the urgent needs, but als
of children in the uk. charities condemn the govenment for holding back half the money it promised to spend on the social care workforce in england. hundreds of former football and rugby players take legal action, claiming they weren t reasonably protected from head injuries. why life could get easier for air passengers, with the rules on carrying liquids to be relaxed. and the belfast boy awarded the freedom of the city for inspiring changes to the laws on donating organs. coming up on the bbc news channel. british boxer amir khan is banned from sport for two years after testing positive for a prohibited substance following his fight against kell brook last year. good afternoon. donald trump is preparing for his historic court appearance in new york today, when he ll become the first former us president to face criminal charges. he denies allegations that he paid hush money to the porn star stormy daniels before the 2016 presidential election. mr trump, who wants to run for
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years, farmers are asking dog walkers to be extra careful. in sport this morning. a crackerfrom keane how crucial could this goal be in everton s bid to beat the drop as they draw with tottenham? and meanwhile behind the scenes at everton. hi, how are you? nice to meet you. i mjordan. the moment eight year old cancer patient harry meets his hero, jordan pickford. we catch up with him after he led everton out onto the pitch at that nail biting game last night. it s a cold and frosty start to the day for many of us, also a dry day with sunshine for most, but in the north and west some cloud and rain and the wind is going to strengthen. it s tuesday the 4th of april. our main story. former us president donald trump is preparing to face criminal charges in court in new york today. the allegations which mr trump denies relate to a hush money payment made to a porn star shortly before the 2016 presidential election. extra security measures are in place in new york, where the