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
has died at the age of 91. he was the longest serving chancellor of the 20th century, before he resigned in 1989 over thatcher s choice of economic advisor. political figures have been paying tribute to him. prime minister rishi sunak tweeted this: one of the first things i did as chancellor was hang a picture of nigel lawson above my desk. he was a transformational chancellor and an inspiration to me and many others. my thoughts are with his family and friends at this time. the current chancellorjeremy hunt said: nigel lawson was a rarity amongst politicians, someone who transformed our thinking as well as transforming our economy. since he stepped down as chancellor, his shoes have been impossible to fill but he inspired all his successors, leaving the country more prosperous and enterprising. and former prime minister borisjohnson wrote: nigel lawson was a fearless and original flame of free market conservatism. he was a tax cutter and simplifier who helped transform
up to a million households in england, scotland and wales could be paid to use less electricity this evening, as part of a scheme to avoid blackouts. would you switch off your oven or avoid using the washing machine to get a discount? get in touch with me. california police say the gunman suspected of killing ten people near los angeles was a 72 year old man, who shot himself dead as they tried to apprehend him. former employees of the welsh rugby union have told the bbc about a toxic culture of sexism at the organisation. hello and welcome to bbc news. the prime minister is facing growing pressure today, over allegations about the tax affairs of the conservative party chairman nadhim zahawi, as well as a separate row about the appointment of the bbc s chairman. it s emerged that former chancellor mr zahawi paid a penalty to hm revenue & customs of around £5 million, to settle a dispute over his tax affairs. he says the error that caused it was careless and not deliberate
to kyiv to show support for the ukrainian government. he was invited by president volodymr zelensky, who he met with on the trip. president biden s personal lawyer says a further six classified documents have been found in the us president s home in delaware. more than a billion people have welcomed in the lunar new year, one of the world s biggest festivals. police in the us say a gunman is on the run after a mass shooting in los angeles. at least ten people have been killed and ten others have been wounded, some critically. the attack happened at a dance venue in monterey park around 7 miles east of los angeles city centre. eyewitnesses have described seeing a man entering the building and firing indiscriminately. the motive for the attack isn t clear, but the area is home to a large asian community. david waddell reports. we are monitoring this live shot from just outside the city of monterey park civic centre, as you can see, where we expect the los angeles police departm