has provided well supplied. china has provided can phone —— components to boost the defence production. russia has ramped up air strikes against ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. it has rained down ammunition is on brave ukrainians defending their homeland. this weekend, and ifind this amazing, the report of cheers breaking out in the report of cheers breaking out in the trenches in eastern ukraine, i am not show any came from, but they were cheering as they watched the house vote in support for ukraine. they understand what we have done. they understand what we have done. they have noticed how critical it is for them. they have noticed how critical it is forthem. i they have noticed how critical it is for them. i am they have noticed how critical it is forthem. iam making they have noticed how critical it is for them. i am making sure the shipment will start straightaway. in the next few hours, we will begin sending equipment ukraine. for

artillery, rocket systems, armoured vehicles. this package is investment not only in ukrainian security but in european security. and our own security. we are sending ukraine equipment from our own stockpiles and we will replenish those products with new product made by american companies in america, patriot missiles made in arizona, javelins made in alabama, artillery shells made in alabama, artillery shells made in alabama, artillery shells made in ohio, pennsylvania and texas. we are helping ukraine were at the same time investing in our own industrial base and boosting our own industrial base and boosting our own national security, supporting jobs in nearly a0 states across america. the united states is not acting alone, to state the obvious. allies in europe and around the world have constantly been asking me if we will be stepping up, we will not be walking away, are we? a lot of people are very concerned, if we

had not stepped up, who knows what would happen? they are also sending significant health ukraine. we are standing together against this brutal dictator. this is directly in the united states�* national interest. if tilting triumphs in ukraine, the next move could very well be a direct attack on a nato ally and you all know full well that it will be invoking article five, declaring an attack on one is an attack on. if putin attacks a nato ally likely is attacking ukraine today, we will have no choice but to come to their aid, after our allies came to ouraid come to their aid, after our allies came to our aid after the september 11 attack. that is why we are ii attack. that is why we are supporting now ukraine. putin drawing united states into a war in europe and in the future. we should

take a bit of a step back and realise what a critical moment this is for the state and nato. this is a historical moment. in the last two years, we have helped unify and strengthen and expand nato. imagine instead if we had failed to step up now and support ukraine. all those gains would have been beginning to unravel. the cohesion of nato would have been weakened and national security would have been undermined without question. putin started this war and he could easily break the will of the people of ukraine. but he changed his strategy little bit. thinking he would break the will of nato, break the will of united states, but he has failed again. we stand up against dictators. we bow to no one. certainly not putin. this bill also includes vital support for israel. it is ten days ago there was

a launch of 100 missiles and drones and because of them, the response from the region, no serious damage was caused. my my commitment to israel, i want to make clearagain, it my commitment to israel, i want to make clear again, it is ironclad. the security of israel is critical. we will always make your is well has what it needs to defend itself against iran and the terrorists it supports. with this aid, we can help replenish the israeli editor so that iran can never carry out the destruction it intended. at the same time, this bill significantly increases humanitarian assistance for the innocent people of gaza, who have suffered badly, suffering the

consequences of this war. hamas started it and we will work intently to get as much aid to gaza is possible. this bill includes $1 billion from a —— —— an additional humanitarian aid in gaza. we will eagerly secure that aid, including food and medical supplies, clean water, and israel must make sure this reaches the palestinians in gaza without delay. everything we do is guided by the ultimate goal of bringing the hostages home and securing a ceasefire and securing conditions for an enduring peace. there is more that this bill does. you will know, the press here, including providing support to strengthen even further our allies and partners in the indo—pacific region, as well as monitoring 80 places including haiti, sudan, somalia. but there is one thing this bill does not do, border security,

and just this year i proposed and negotiated and agreed to the strongest border security bill this country has ever seen. it was bipartisan. it should have been included in this bill. and i are determined to get it done for the american people and we will come to —— come —— come back to that at another time. this is a reminder that we will come together despite our differences and i want to thank everyone in congress who made it possible, especially the bipartisan leadership, the speaker of the house mikejohnson, the leaders, they don�*t always agree, but when it matters most, they stepped up and did the right thing. and i mean that sincerely, history will remember this time, remember this moment. for all the talk about how dysfunctional things are in washington, when you look over the past three years, we see that time and again in the critical —— on the critical issues we have come together and it has not always been easy but when we decided

to rebuild america we did that with a bipartisan system. when it became time to invest in semiconductors and technologies of the future, we did it. and when it came time to stand with ukraine at israel and help the people of gaza, we did that as well. at the end of the day, most of us, whether we are democrats, republicans, independents, believe that america must stand up for what is right, we don�*t walk away from our allies and we stand with them and don�*t let tyrants win, we oppose them, we don�*t merely watch global events unfold, we shape them. that is what it means to be this indispensable nation and the world superpower and the world�* is leading democracy. some of our republican friends reject that vision but this makes it clear, there is a pipe out —— bipartisan consensus for that kind of situation and that is what we will can he does continue to deliver. thank you very much. i will

have plenty of times to answer questions on this later. that have plenty of times to answer questions on this later.- questions on this later. that is president _ questions on this later. that is president biden _ questions on this later. that is president biden speaking - questions on this later. that is president biden speaking after signing that bill to provide new aid for ukraine, israel and thailand, it had been delayed for a very long time with multi—billion dollar aid packages and he was talking about how ukraine has the will and the skill to win and he said we bow to no one. especially not putin. he also talked about the money that is going to israel and the ironclad commitment to israel to defend itself against iran and those it supports. he also talked of course about how some of that aid is going to gaza, about $1 billion of aid is going to gaza. he says israel must make sure it reaches palestinians in gaza and the aim is to set the conditions for an enduring peace. there is also of course money going to taiwan as well and also sudan and

haiti. around $8 billion in military support for taiwan. he talked about this being a reminder of what the us can do when it comes together, making reference to the fact it has taken such a long time to get this bill through. he talked about america shaping global events and being a world superpower. he said he will make a never speak at a hotel. president biden speaking after signing the bill. let�*s turn our attention to the uk. the uk�*s national crime agency has arrested three men on suspicion of immigration offences, after five migrants died while trying to reach the uk yesterday. a seven—year—old girl was among the victims. they were on board a small, overcrowded boat, carrying more than 100 people. it set out to cross the english channel, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, on tuesday morning. but, not far from shore, panic took hold among the passengers. the uk�*s national crime agency has arrested three men on suspicion

let�*s speak to our reporter victoria bourne, who is at the national crime agency. the national crime agency says that three men were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the uk illegally. the group are aged between 19 and 22 and from sudan and south sudan. the raids where they were detained took place overnight and in the early hours of this morning and they had been taken to police stations in kent where they are now being questioned. early this afternoon, cried turner from the national crime agency gave a statement to reporters. agency gave a statement to reporters-— agency gave a statement to reorters. , ., . . agency gave a statement to reorters. , . . . ., . reporters. this tragic incident once aaain reporters. this tragic incident once again demonstrates _ reporters. this tragic incident once again demonstrates the _ reporters. this tragic incident once again demonstrates the threat - reporters. this tragic incident once again demonstrates the threat to l again demonstrates the threat to life imposed by these crossings and brings— life imposed by these crossings and brings into — life imposed by these crossings and brings into focus why did so important to target these criminal gangs _ important to target these criminal gangs involved in organising them. the nca _ gangs involved in organising them. the nca with partners and also partnered with french counterparts will obviously collect evidence and identify—

will obviously collect evidence and identify those responsible for this event _ identify those responsible for this event and — identify those responsible for this event and bring them tojustice. but event and bring them to “ustice. but this in event and bring them tojustice. this in the event and bring them tojustice. emit this in the context for us because it is of course, just shortly after the government�*s rwanda bill passed. yes, that�*s right. as you said, it happened just after the uk parliament flagship rwanda bill passed and that has taken months of political wrangling. the bill would seize some asylum seekers taken to the east central african country to have their claims process. it has seen rwanda designated as a human —— safe country. ministers argue this will be a deterrent to stop people from making the journey across the country to try to reach the uk. home office figures suggest that the number of people making that perilous journey has increased this year compared to the same period last year. rishi sunak maintains

that the deaths serve as a reminder as to why did so important to tackle people smuggling. as to why did so important to tackle peeple smuggling-— people smuggling. thank you very much. we were _ people smuggling. thank you very much. we were talking _ people smuggling. thank you very much. we were talking about - people smuggling. thank you very much. we were talking about the | much. we were talking about the rwanda policy and james cleverly is in rome meeting his italian counterpart. they will be discussing joint work to stop migrants in north africa from making often perilous journeys across the mediterranean. the rwanda deal is similar in many ways to a plan by italy to outsource the processing of asylum seekers to albania. human right groups have said both deals file of the rights of migrants. —— violate. now to the war in ukraine, and the uk and germany have pledged to support kyiv for as long as it takes, after talks in berlin on toughening europe�*s defence.

the british prime minister, rishi sunak, and the german chancellor, olaf scholz, have agreed a new defence initiative to combat the threat from russia. the announcement came as president biden promised to send translation: russia's - aggression against ukraine has marked a watershed moment, i have repeatedly stated that and that of course also means that we need to take note of the fact that the russian war of aggression has changed and has put at risk european architecture, so in europe and in the world, we need to make it clear that borders must not be shifted by the use of force and for us in europe that means we need to strengthen the european pillar of nato also and especially when it comes to sufficient potential of deterrence. because our european capability is to deter and defend, must always remain credible. europe is divided over how to respond to the russian war in ukraine, but mr sunak praised germany�*s

shift in defence policy. bond between our two nations are stronger— bond between our two nations are stronger than ever. neil threats are rising _ stronger than ever. neil threats are rising across the world. olaf, i want to congratulate you on your leadership in recognising this and taking the historic decision to increase the defence spending and we stand here today together as the leading olaf, i want to congratulate you on your leadership in recognising this and taking the historic decision to increase olaf, i want to congratulate you on your leadership defence spenders in europe, unshakeable nato allies, and the two largest military supporters of ukraine in europe. and together, we will continue to provide unwavering support for our ukrainian friends, as you said, for as long as it takes. to learn more about where the two leaders stand on defence spending and what we learned from today�*s talks, i spoke to our berlin correspondent, jessica parker. yes, i mean, look, broadbrush, in terms of the war in ukraine for example, the uk and germany are essentially on the same page, they are both sending weapons, lots of them, the biggest donors

in europe, to kyiv to try and help them with that effort after the russian full scale invasion but there are differences. first of all these men are actually from pretty different political backgrounds. olaf scholz is a social democrat, rishi sunak a conservative. but they do have a bit of a rapport and they do go back some way because they did know each other when they were both finance ministers. on this issue of defence, there are stations bubbling underneath the surface. one of them for example that came up in the frustrations. olaf scholz is refusing to send long—range cruise missiles to ukraine, something the uk would like germany to do. and yesterday you had rishi sunak announcing that if he remains as prime minister, he will push towards ramping up defence spending to 2.5% of national income by 2030. immediately the question in serbia, what is germany going to do? actually, germany has onlyjust reached 2% for the first time since the 1990s.

the end of the cold war. as you saw in the press conference, a lot of efforts to keep things very diplomatic. i think they do genuinely seem to have some sort of fairly warm relationship and get on, that is certainly what the officials tell me. there are also some questions about donald trump, with an eye to the election in the us this year and his attitude to nato. olaf schultz struggling that off, saying american presidents have always talked about this sort of thing. focus through what was said on that. there is obviously a concern that they don�*t necessarily publicly voice on events like this, that if donald trump were to be elected again to the white house, given the things he has said in the past this could undermine the nato military alliance and the idea of mutual defence. that is the concern. when asked about it in public

as you say leaders, and i have asked this before, they tend to just say, the nato military alliance is very long—standing and lots of us presidents come and go but this has been a long—standing relationship and we have faith that relationship will continue, but officials i have spoken to are also clear that behind—the—scenes conversations are going on and they did kind of address it in that press conference about what europe leads to do to strengthen what is called a european pillar of nato, so strengthening european defence, strengthening the industrial base and spending more, in order and this is something that french president emanuel macron has been talking about right long time, if somehow us support was not there in the same way in the future, could european position to defend itself as well as continue to support ukraine? thank you very much for that. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

well, the us�*s top diplomat, secretary of state antony blinken, is in china to meet with senior officials in beijing and shanghai. china and the us, the world�*s two biggest economies, remain deeply at odds over trade, technology, taiwan and the ukraine war. mr blinken is expected to warn beijing against exporting components that help russia�*s war efforts. washington says moscow uses chinese machine tools and microchips for weapons deployed against ukraine. yuka kobayashi, lecturer in china and international politics at soas, university of london, gave us her analysis of the talks. i think it is a very tense time between the us and china. thejoe biden administration said they did not want to have a second cold war with china, but what we are actually seeing between the two superpowers now is that there is very tense relations.

joe biden is sending antony blinken over now, given that we are actually seeing possibly china exporting things to russia that would help in the war effort with ukraine, we are also seeing the us just pass something in the senate that allows for aid to taiwan. putting together taiwan with ukraine and gaza, which is kind of an interesting... with israel, and that is an interesting development because of the current policy. it is a very tense time and i think it is going to be a very challenging discussion that antony blinken is going to have with his counterpart and he supposedly is meeting president xi as well. it is planned to be a very lengthy conversation that covers everything from trade, economy, military confrontation. let�*s talk about taiwan. the us giving this money that has been allocated to the region and taiwan is very pleased about it but china has responded

today saying that america should not be doing this. in terms of what could possibly be said at these meetings to make things any better on that front, is there anything? i think it is going to be china pushing a lot in terms of what does a safe package really mean, given that the indo—pacific, the south china sea, is seen legitimately as kind of an extension of the chinese back yard. it has a different conceptualisation of the maritime sort of boundaries in the south china sea, given that it has also been labelled the south china sea, they see it legitimately as part of their maritime sort of area. given that the us is now pledging to help taiwan in areas around the indo—pacific, this is sending a strong signal

towards china and the us has also been reacting towards what china has been doing, which has been clarified in the last week, the highest expenditure for military expenditure for china in history, so we are seeing more and more kind of modernisation on the china military front which is actually having this kind of reaction with the aid package and essentially, i think, it is going to be very difficult, the conversations antony blinken will have with his counterpart. and they will talk about tiktok. the us is trying to get the chinese company behind tiktok to sell up. i suppose it is a sign of the distrust isn�*t dead, that there is, and we also had the increased attention because of that chinese spy balloon which was shot down, wasn�*t it, over the us? in terms of the tiktok side of things, how much of that is an issue on the chinese side? it is a very important issue, given that tiktok is one of the key performing sort of assets that china has an the other issue we are seeing

is that we had different understandings of how data is process. you have very divergent positions between china and the united states. you know, the issue here is what happens with the data on these platforms and whether or not the parent company has access to this. we all know that we have very different kind of ideas around data protection around china and also the united states and we are actually seeing sort of trade and sort of us companies of china being taken because of different understandings of data protection and to bear in mind is this is not the first sort of ban on tiktok. this is a development that has been happening in the past couple of years. in 2020, we already saw india

camping down on tiktok with a similar consideration but it has taken a lot longer in the us, given this kind of deliberation, domestically, but it is no surprise and you just raise, it is also a tense time with the spy balloon happening last year and essentially conversations stopping between china and the united states but now it is hopeful that antony blinken is over there and having these lengthy conversations so it is tense but i am hopefulfor some kind of discussion and conversation, communication channel happening around these areas. a recently rediscovered painting by the austrian artist gustav klimt is being auctioned later in vienna. portraits by klimt rarely come on to the open market. this one is expected to fetch at least £32 million. the unfinished work, �*portrait of fraulein lieser�*, was commissioned by a family of wealthyjewish industrialists in nineteen seventeen,

a year before klimt�*s death. for almost a century it was thought lost until it reappeared injanuary. you can see the portrait on the right of your screen. we will keep an eye on that an keep an eye on how much it goes well. very startling scenes in central london a little earler, when a number of military horses got loose — and, just to warn you, you may find some of the images here upsetting. the horses were seen galloping through the streets this morning. they�*re from the household cavalry regiment, which works at buckingham palace. it�*s believed noise from builders nearby spooked the animals. a total of five horses ran loose and four soldiers were unseated. london ambulance service has confirmed that four people have been injured. the horses collided with several vehicles, including a double—decker tour bus.

they have now been contained, an army horse box collected the animals and they are now being assessed by vets. there is very little sign of the weather warming up over the next few days. we will stick with this unusually chilly feel for the time of year. there will be some sunshine, also a scattering of showers, some of those showers will be wintry over high ground in the north of the uk. keeping this cold air being drawn down from the north. you can see the blue colours, that taking us through to thursday and on into friday. for the rest of the day, still some showers around, affecting eastern areas where they will be a brisk breeze and it will feel cold. the best of the sunshine i think further west, highest temperatures around 12, 13 degrees. through receiving and overnight,

some of the showers wintry over high ground. overfairly modest some of the showers wintry over high ground. over fairly modest hills, some of the showers wintry over high ground. overfairly modest hills, we could see snow mixing in with the showers. staying quite windy across northern and eastern coasts. temperatures dropping close to or even below freezing in some spots. a touch of frost was another is to take it into tomorrow morning. areas of cloud southwards across england and wales with bits and pieces of showery rain. some sunny spells for northern ireland. scotland seen a mixture of censure and showers. wintry nursing though showers over high ground. just 8 degrees for aberdeen, nine in newcastle, 13 in cardiff and plymouth. through this thursday night into friday, another front will system grazing the south of the uk. more cloud and showers. further north, sunny spells and showers, still hints of something wintry in those showers over the hills and mountains. still called in

the north—east. even further south, just 11, 12 degrees. for the weekend, some signs of something a little bit less chilly but only a little bit less chilly but only a little bit. these yellow colour is trying to spill northwards but the reason for that is an area of low pressure. certainly not a heatwave and certainly not completely dry for the weekend. they will be some outbreaks of rain for england and wales. the better chance of sunshine for northern ireland and scotland.

this is bbc news, the headlines: three people have been arrested in connection with the deaths of five migrants in the english channel on tuesday. in a world of �*rising new threats�*, the uk and germany announce stronger defence cooperation to counter the threat from russia. president biden confirms that more military assistance will be sent to ukraine within days after the us senate approves a long—awaited aid bill. and four people are injured after escaped horses bolt through central london. an army spokesperson has told the

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