dies at the age of 81. hello and welcome. defence ministers from around 50 countries are gathering at the ramstein air base in germany later for a crucial meeting to coordinate arms supplies to ukraine. the main focus is expected to be on whether germany will send its leopard battle tanks to ukraine or at least approve their transfer from third countries. the united states has already announced details of its latest package of military aid to ukraine, worth about $2.5 billion. the uk has also pledged to send 600 brimstone missiles to ukraine. our defence correspondent jonathan beale reports. is this the week when the west finally delivered the weapons ukraine says it needs to win this war? britain is the first promising to send modern main battle tanks. the army s challengers are already parked in estonia to reassure a nato ally also worried about russian aggression. ultimately, this tank was designed to fight russian tanks in eastern europe, and that s exactly what it s off
are you concerned about the influence of andrew tait on boys or young men? get in touch with me on twitter. laterthis young men? get in touch with me on twitter. later this hour, the number of stars people can see with the naked eye has reduced dramatically over the last decade. welcome to bbc news. ukraine s president, volodymr zelensky, has made a direct appeal to germany to provide tanks ahead of crunch talks involving western allies in germany. ahead of crucial talks. the us and european nations have already promised more equipment to fight russia s invasion, but kyiv wants them to go further amid fears moscow will order a new offensive in the spring. ukraine wants nato countries to supply it with germany s highly regarded leopard 2 tanks. but european coutries are not supposed to export them without berlin s permission. and germany is reluctant to allow that unless the us also sends its own tanks. meanwhile, the uk has already promised to send 1a of its challenger 2 t
rangers and australia have discovered what is believed to be the world s biggest toad. it is a cane toad, it was found in queensland and weighed £6 back. the poisonous amphibians were reduced to australia in 1935 and are linked to the decline of native species. the toad we are told was put down and will be donated to a museum. i didn t look at that at all. hello, ben, it is where the time. she was looking away, i can assure you of that. you may not want to look away from this, we have got some beautiful scenes and this is from a weather watcher in wales. there is snow on the ground in parts of scotland, northern england, northern ireland and into wales. there are areas of cloud around as well and they are on the north sea coast, most falling as rain, but some sleet and snow on high ground. this cloud brings a bit of patchy rain into the far west of cornwall, but elsewhere sunny skies overhead. it is a chilly day, three to 8 degrees, but in the sunshine it will not feel too b