this afternoon, asjens stoltenberg has been discussing the war in ukraine, with the big announcement from him today is that finland will join nato, formallyjoining the alliance on tuesday. that join nato, formally joining the alliance on tuesday. that helps turke in alliance on tuesday. that helps turkey in the alliance on tuesday. that helps turkey in the fight alliance on tuesday. that helps turkey in the fight against, - alliance on tuesday. that helps turkey in the fight against, for- turkey in the fight against, for instance, the pkk, which is regarded as a terrorist organisation by finland and the european union. of course, we work together to fight this type of organisation. it also helps sweden in addressing some of the organised crime that sweden is seeing taking place in its own streets. we know there is a close link between these terrorist organisations and their objectives and organised crime and drug traffic in a country like sweden. i strongly agree that we
in the case of british men, two of whom are pictured here, who were arrested by the taliban in afghanistan earlier this year. in nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti. amen. pope francis presides over palm sunday mass at the vatican just a day after leaving hospital in rome for treatment for bronchitis. russia says a pro kremlin military blogger has been killed in a blast in a cafe in st petersburg. police say several others have been injured in the incident. the city is the second largest in russia after the capital, moscow. vladlen tatarsky was one of a handful of reporters writing blogs on the telegram platform from the front line and was a vocal supporter of russia s war in ukraine. these are pictures before the explosion. tatarsky was a guest speaker at an event hosted by the cafe in st petersburg when the bomb went off. it is not clear at this time who s responsible for the blast. the russian foreign ministry has paid tribute to victim. i m joined now by sergei
arrested following clashes with police outside a hotel providing refuge for asylum seekers in merseyside in northwest england. you re watching bbc news. now its time for sportsday. hello, and welcome to sportsday. i m hugh ferris. 0ur headlines this evening putting themselves into six nations pole position. ireland win what could be an early tournament decider against france. it s been a rare thing this season. but now it s twice in a row. leaders arsenal drop points in the premier league england off the mark as they beat west indies by seven wickets in the women s t20 world cup opener. also coming up in the programme and from the streets of scotland to the red carpet in hollywood we ll being you the remarkable story of how this triathlete helped make an oscar nominated movie. hello and welcome to sportsday. a match between the top two teams in the world to potentially decide the northern hemisphere s big rugby tournament. and it was ireland. top of the pile in the rank
low pressure bringing strong wind. and now cloud rolling in from the atlantic bringing cloud and rain for some of us already today. this was county down earlier on with grey skies overhead but it could turn brighter in parts of northern ireland to the afternoon. some rain around and ahead of that, north east scotland holding on to some sunshine and further south across england and the south of wales increasing amounts of cloud but it should stay pretty much dry. temperatures between eight and ii pretty much dry. temperatures between eight and 11 degrees and on the night the rain continues north and east, some heavier rain racing into the north west of scotland by the end of the night. but we will see milder air working in from the atlantic so temperatures for some climbing as the night wears on. 5 degrees for aberdeen and ten in belfast tomorrow morning. i pressure to the south tomorrow, southern largely dry. further north the string of weather fronts waxing in the next few d
maximum. not as warm as today because there will be more sunshine. sorry, more cloud. as we move out of tuesday into wednesday, we have france starting to move on from the west and it s a cold front so gradually behind it, some colder air will start to squeeze its way south and east. not too cold but a change to the story. more cloud around and showery epics of rain sinking south and east to begin with on wednesday. brightening up behind, a few scattered showers and some of these. to turn wintry on the tops of these. to turn wintry on the tops of the hills. cooler here, 7 to eight celsius perhaps 11 as we go through the south east and the middle of the afternoon. as we push towards thursday, a ridge of high pressure builds so england and wales will be drier but cooler, 8 or 9 celsius, a brace of rain continuing to the far north west. but these temperatures pretty much where they should be at this time of year. thanks, louise. and that s bbc news at six on monday 20th february