politics. i m john king in washington. thank you for sharing your day with us. air raid sirens rang through the ukrainian night as russia lobs artillery, drones and missiles in every corner of the country. that as the united states delivers a public warning to china, do not dispatch weapons to vladimir putin. plus, the chairwoman of the republican national committee thinks she can get donald trump to put pen to paper and say yes to supporting the party s 2024 nominee, even if it s not him. and new intelligence pushes the energy department to change its view of how the covid pandemic began. the agency now believes the virus leaked from a chinese lab. up first for us this hour sh, turnover and triage in ukraine. president zelenskyy dismissing the commander of joint force operations. mr. zelenskyy did not explain why or why now, as this leadership shuffle collides with a new russian offensive. 14 iranian made aircraft buzzing over kyiv. they shot towdown 11 of those drone
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
at everton in the premier league. spurs led through a second half harry kane penalty and had a man advantage for around 30 minutes after abdoulaye doucoure was sent off, but a late red card for substitute lucas moura and a 90th minute michael keane equaliser saw spurs throw away three points for the second league game in a row. it is something that we have to improve. it is something we have to work on. it is something we have to improve game by game. it is not an easy thing to do, because obviously you need time to do it, because it is a long process. lawyers representing a group of 100 former rugby league players and 1a former footballers say they ll file claims at the high court for brain damage caused by playing their respective sports. it s part of a legal action already being pursued by over 200 former rugby union players. in total across the two codes of rugby, and football, 378 former players are pursuing cases against the governing bodies of their respective sports.
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
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