welcome to bbc news i m david eades. our top stories: the bbc sees more evidence of apparent war crimes by russian forces in bucha. ukrainian civilians are found to have been deliberately shot. the evidence we found underground here, it is clear they were executed. nato says it s confident sweden and finland willjoin the alliance after public opinion in both countries is transformed by russia s invasion. a gunman opens fire at a church in california. one person is dead and four others wounded before he s later overpowered by members of the congregation. and it s their first chance to vote since an explosion devastated the port in beirut in the midst of an economic collapse so just why did so few
this is bbc news. welcome if you re watching here in the uk or around the globe. i m david eades. our top stories: the bbc sees more evidence of apparent war crimes by russian forces in bucha. ukrainian civilians are found to have been deliberately shot. the evidence we found underground here, it is clear they were executed. nato says it s confident sweden and finland willjoin the alliance after public opinion in both countries is transformed by russia s invasion. a gunman opens fire at a church in california. one person is dead and four others wounded before he s overpowered by members of the congregation. and north korea s covid crisis.
the fundamental question for us is, how do we best protect sweden? and the kremlin has shown that they are prepared to use violence to achieve their political objectives. sweden and finland joining the western military alliance is not just about the symbolism of two more flags being planted here. it would double the length of the land borders between russia and nato countries. it s the sort of expansion that vladimir putin was desperate to avoid. but russia is keeping up its assault on ukraine from air, land and sea focusing on the donbas region, although moscow accused the west of waging a total war on the russian people, and has promised there will be consequences if nato expands. the head of the organisation told the bbc the alliance was prepared. president putin doesn t understand
in this war, they re being targeted. sarah rainsford, bbc news, bucha. finland and sweden have announced their intention tojoin nato in response to russia s invasion of ukraine. the alliance s secretary generaljens stoltenberg has described the move, which amounts to the abandoning of their military non alignment, as historic while president putin, talking about finland, described the plan as a mistake . the north atlantic treaty organization was created back in 1949 by 12 countries including the us, the uk, canada and france. after the soviet union s collapse in 1991, many former eastern bloc countries joined nato, and it now numbers 30 member states. finland, which has a border of more than 1,300 kilometres with russia, and sweden, would bring that number to 32, and would more than double nato s land border with russia.
but suddenly the police - are tear gassing the crowd. we don t yet know why. the prelaunch ritual is well established here. helen was said to be in good spirits, butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world s newest nation. it was a bloody birth for a poor country. and the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now, at least, it is time to celebrate. this is bbc world news. with me, david eades. the latest headlines: the bbc sees more evidence of apparent war crimes committed against ukrainian civilians by russian forces, where its feared civilians were executed. where it s feared civilians were executed. nato is confident that finland and sweden will rapidly become the alliance s latest members, despite the misgivings of turkey. one person has been killed