the race to rescue hundreds of people still missing or trapped in taiwan. a magnitude 7.5 earthquake killed at least nine people and injured more than a thousand. and a major medical trial begins to find out if blood tests can be used to spot the early signs of dementia. and airport passengers leaving the uk may need to remove liquids and laptops from baggage for another year after delays in the installation of new security scanners. hello, i'm luxmy gopal. we start the programme in brussels, where a ceremony is being held this morning to mark the 75th anniversary of the nato alliance.

as the war in ukraine continues, the alliance has agreed to start planning for a greater role in co—ordinating military aid to the country. on the second day of this meeting in brussels, ministers will mark the signing in washington on 4th april, 1949, of the north atlantic treaty — which established the transatlantic political and military alliance. nato started with 12 members but now has 32, with the newest being finland and sweden. nato�*s secretary generaljens stoltenberg has been speaking at the ceremony, and says the bloc not only strengthens europe's security, but also makes north america stronger. to nato, the united states has more friends and more allies than any other major power. i don't believe in america alone, just as i don't believe in europe alone. i believe in america and europe together in

nato. the uk foreign secretary, david cameron, has ruled out western boots on the ground in ukraine. we are looking for a nato mission for ukraine, not a nato in ukraine. we want to help deliver some of the support that ukraine needs. fundamentally, i think that we should do everything we can to help ukraine. that has been britain's position. i think it is not escalatory to say we are going to help this independent sovereign country to fight an aggressor and we will give it all the help we can. you don't see the prospect of nato

boots on the ground in ukraine? m0. boots on the ground in ukraine? no, i think we boots on the ground in ukraine? iifr, i think we don't want to give putin a target like that. and nato can do lots of things to better co—ordinate the help we give to ukraine, but fundamentally, for countries like britain and those who support ukraine, this is a question of political will. ukraine, this is a question of politicalwill. do ukraine, this is a question of political will. do we have the patience, do we have the will, are we prepared to give the resources. in britain the a answer is yes. let's speak to our defence correspondentjonathan beale who's in brussels. david cameron saying that he wants to get nato into the best possible shape by november. it begs the question, what shape does he and others feel nato is in currently? i think david cameron, lord cameron's specific plea was for all members of the nato alliance to spend at least

2% of their national income, their gdp, on defence. at the moment they not all are. jens stoltenberg said by the end of this year the majority will. more than 20 countries. but that still leaves 10 that won't have reached that 2% goal. i think that is what david cameron was pressing for when he arrived today. clearly the focus has been here on that support for ukraine, which lord cameron was mentioning, and plans that have been put forward byjens stoltenberg to have a long—term footing for continuing that support. some people are saying a trump—proof plan, should he become president again in the us after the elections. that would allow a fund of about $100 billion, euros, for the next five years, to help ukraine get the ammunition, the weapons it needs. but also possibly to take over the

us—led co—ordination efforts, what people call ram stein, the contact group of countries providing weapons to nato to become internationalised. not everybody is on board with that, but the hope from jens stoltenberg is by the time of the summit when the heads of government meet in washington, that they will have agreed something concrete. thank ou. later we will be speaking to finland's foreign minister live from the nato meeting in brussels. let's now turn to the middle east where calls for an independent investigation into the death of seven aid workers killed by israeli air strikes on a convoy in gaza earlier this week are growing. the non—governmental organisation that employed the aid workers — the world central kitchen — has released a statement calling on "the governments of australia, canada, the us, poland and the uk tojoin

us in an investigation into the attacks". they added that an independent investigation is the only way to determine the truth of what happened and to prevent future attacks on humanitarian aid workers. israel has called the incident on monday a mistaken air strike. the un has supended overnight aid operations in the strip for at least 48 hours "to evaluate security" in the wake of the attack on monday. the head of the world central kitchen has accused israel of deliberatly targeting his staff. israel's economy minister nir barkat says it's nonsense to suggest that the idf deliberately targeted aid workers. there is no way in the world that israel would target people that come to give people aid. that's nonsense. i'm sorry. give us a bit of respect that we care about those people. it is the same people that helped

israel. we will never target people like this. i'm sure there was a mistake and it will be... the israeli army will interrogate this and give the families of people that have unfortunately were killed all the details and we want to make sure it doesn't happen again. 0ur middle east correspondent — yolande knell — brought us the latest from jerusalem. well, we have the israeli military saying that it's conducting this thorough and transparent investigation. it's also reviewing proceedings and saying that it's looking at setting up a joint situation room, where you would have the israeli military working with international organisations to co—ordinate the distribution of aid on the ground. i mean, there is still continuing diplomatic fallout from all of this and we have been hearing that the us presidentjoe biden is expected to speak for the first time since the killing of these aid workers. he is supposed to speak to the israeli prime minister, binyamin netanyahu.

he has previously said he's outraged and heartbroken by what happened. but what he hasn't shown yet is any willingness really to use any of the us leverage against israel when it comes to its dissatisfaction over the conduct of the war, particularly when it comes to us military assistance that is given. we had overnight comments that were made by the us secretary of defence, lloyd austin, talking to his israeli counterpart, we are told that he was demanding concrete steps to improve the co—ordination with different foreign aid groups, said that this was all going to complicate efforts to flood gaza with aid, which was the commitment that they have had from the israelis. and also made a connection here between american concerns about the idea of a ground offensive by israel, a full—scale ground offensive in rafah in the very south of the gaza strip. because the us concerns

about that have really been on humanitarian grounds, because of the numbers of displaced people there. interestingly we also heard some comments from an israeli diplomatic correspondent about rishi sunak�*s conversation with the israeli prime minister, particularly related to the death of the three britons who were killed in this israeli air strike in gaza. and he was saying, the correspondent said, if there was no change in the situation regarding humanitarian aid getting into gaza, then the uk might have to declare israel in violation of international humanitarian law. that is something that would have real consequences. downing street has not wanted to go beyond its initial kind of read out of that conversation between the two prime ministers, hasn't directly commented on what we have heard here in israel. here in the uk, three former supreme courtjustices have joined more than 600 legal experts in calling for the government to end

weapons sales to israel. one of those former justices is lord sumption. talking to the bbc — he explained why he decided to sign the letter. i was sent a copy of it. i thought that it was a persuasive and moderately expressed letter, which makes some very important points that the uk government seems to be losing sight of. the most important point is that article 1 of the genocide convention requires states to do what they can to prevent genocide. now, it has not yet been determined whether what the israelis are doing is genocide. the icj, the international court of justice, is considering that issue, but they have already ruled that there is a plausible case that that is what is going on in gaza. and it seems to me that if you have a duty, as we do, in international law, to prevent genocide, and there is a plausible case that that is what is happening you should

do what you can to obstruct it. let's speak to our political correspondent, hannah miller, who's at westminster what has the response from the uk prime minister and from the main opposition party been? late prime minister and from the main opposition party been?— prime minister and from the main opposition party been? we have not had any direct— opposition party been? we have not had any direct response _ opposition party been? we have not had any direct response to - opposition party been? we have not had any direct response to that - had any direct response to that letter from 600 had any direct response to that letterfrom 600 prominent lawyers and academics. but there is a growing weight of voices behind this call for the uk to suspend sales. there is a handful of conservative mps now saying that the deaths of uk aid workers must be a line in the sand, that is a call from paul bristow, the peterborough mp. adding to that there is the former foreign office minister sir alan duncan, who 0ffice minister sir alan duncan, who has said that it can no longer be justified that we send arms over to

israel. he previously had responsibility for looking at who gets export licences and where arms can go. i would say though that there are conservative mps who believe that the uk must stand by israel, including the former home secretary suella braverman, who visited israel this week and lord frost, the former brexit negotiator. he said israel must not be allowed, but it must be enabled to win this war. because it is in our national interest to do so. in that sense there is no at kind of united view in the conservative party, but there is added weight behind the calls for the uk to suspend arms seams. labour's position is to ask for the government to publish its legal advice on the issue. they say that if that legal advice shows that israel hasn't been meeting its

international obligations, then arms sales should be suspended. that is a more nuanced view than taken by the snp and the liberal democrats who have been calling for arms sales to be suspended. have been calling for arms sales to be supended-— let's speak tojohn deverell, a former brigadier with the british army and former director of defence diplomacy at the ministry of defence. thank you forjoining us. we heard there that the deaths of the uk aid workers represented for some a line in the sand. what was the specific turning point for you, where you believed it was no longer 0k turning point for you, where you believed it was no longer ok for the uk to supply weapons to israel? thanks for having me on. going back in time, ifortwo thanks for having me on. going back in time, i for two years was the senior british officers working in the palestinian territories and i got to know the israeli defence forces. i was around at the time of an incursion into the gaza. i have

seen this close up in the past. for me, the turning point was a long time ago. the cause about which people have been hearing for the last five or ten minutes on your programme have come late in the day. because it was clear to me looking at the scale of the casualties on the civilian side that from a military point of view, as a former military point of view, as a former military operational planner and who knows the idf, adequate care has not been taken as of a long time ago to minimise civilian casualties. you were among _ minimise civilian casualties. you were among those _ minimise civilian casualties. you were among those saying that the uk should stop sending arms to israel, a cross party group of mps said they should stop selling arms. which authority makes a judgment on this and can enforce it?— and can enforce it? well, of course there are a — and can enforce it? well, of course there are a number _ and can enforce it? well, of course there are a number of _ and can enforce it? well, of course there are a number of reasons - and can enforce it? well, of course there are a number of reasons that we have been hearing in the last ten

minutes as we why we should be stopping arms exports. it is a british government decision, but it is obliged by our own law and international laws, no to provide licences if there is a risk that the weapons will be used in violation of international humanitarian law. as far as i understand it, lord cameron a month ago said the foreign office would look if that was being breachped. we still have to learn about the results. there fs a leak saying they would decided that it was in danger of being breached and our government potentially is out of order legal. we have form going back to 2017, the british government found itself in court and lost a case and was ordered by the judge to cease weapons exports to saudi

arabia, because the royal saudi afforce was using british aircraft to bomb over yemen without taking due care and consideration about civilian casualties. so we have been there before. can i foresee we will be here again if we don't stop exporting weapons.— be here again if we don't stop exporting weapons. what would the consequences _ exporting weapons. what would the consequences be _ exporting weapons. what would the consequences be for _ exporting weapons. what would the consequences be for the _ exporting weapons. what would the consequences be for the uk - exporting weapons. what would the consequences be for the uk if - exporting weapons. what would the consequences be for the uk if that i consequences be for the uk if that was found to be the case? i4541431111 consequences be for the uk if that was found to be the case?- was found to be the case? well i would say _ was found to be the case? well i would say a _ was found to be the case? well i would say a lot _ was found to be the case? well i would say a lot of _ was found to be the case? well i l would say a lot of embarrassment. was found to be the case? well i . would say a lot of embarrassment. i would say a lot of embarrassment. i would say a lot of embarrassment. i would say that, as i say, that we will be ordered by a judge to stop exporting if we don't pre—empt that by stopping that before then. i think also what i would like to see from a military point of view that we would do ourselves, not only the better co—ordination, but accountability and now it is a system where we expect the soldiers and the chain of command to be held to account. not only for the possibility that direct targeting

took place on purpose in order to hit the humanitarian convoy yesterday, but there is ownership, and lack of care. i would like to see proper accountability as well. that is what we would do. i set out a model process for our government that went to no 10 and the chief of defence staff after the saudi example i gave you, setting out what we ourselves would do in the british military to ensure that we minimise civilian casualties and those are the things that our government should be ensuring that in this case the israelis carry out and any other country to whom we might export weapons in order to avoid being in breach of law. weapons in order to avoid being in breach of law-— around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

let's turn to taiwan now — and rescue efforts are underway after a magnitude seven—point—four earthquake there. at least nine people were killed, more than 1,000 others injured in the strongest quake to hit taiwan in 25 years. now, more than 600 people are understood to be trapped in collapsed tunnels along the coastline. around 30 buildings are reported to have collapsed altogether. 0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil reports. 0n taiwan's east coast, the rescue operation continues in the most challenging of circumstances. teams are searching for those still trapped. but so much is in the way. the huge destruction and the dozens of tremors that followed. translation: i'm afraid _ of aftershocks and i don't know how bad the shaking will be. and then the house is already a mess. how do you get in? there's no way to get in. in hualien, the worst hit city, some people spent the night outdoors as the aftershocks continued.

this is the moment the earthquake hit, as residents were getting ready to start their day. translation: the earthquake woke me up and we just stayed around _ here across from the night market. it's terrible. this earthquake is huge. homes and businesses buckled, leaving whole floors underground. this partially collapsed building, now left tilted and unstable, threatens more damage with the continuing tremors. but in taiwan's rugged, mountainous east coast, it was the landslides that unleashed the most terror. the earthquake caused hundreds of them, bringing huge rocks tumbling down valleys, destroying roads and railway lines, and blocking access to the area. this beautiful landscape turned into a scene of horror. and for those still trapped in collapsed tunnels and roads, that horror is not over yet. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, tokyo. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield hayes is in is hualien — a city close to the

epicentre. heret here t search and reduce operation has ended. even is account for. nine people are dead. they're securing the buildings and beginning the cleanup. it has been remarkable how quickly the city is getting back to business. but outside the city there is a huge search and rescue operation going on in the mountain. the authorities say 42 people are missing. but the number of people trapped has leapt from around 100 to now they're saying over 646 people confirmed as trapped. probably that is because they have been able to contact people as the cell phone network came back to life and they're trapped in hotels and in villages up in the mountains. that is a huge leap in the number trapped and a huge issue to try and get to them and make sure they're 0k. let’s

them and make sure they're 0k. let's sa with them and make sure they're 0k. let's say with those — them and make sure they're 0k. let's say with those live _ them and make sure they're 0k. let's say with those live pictures from taiwan close to the epicentre. you can see the, what the impact has been on the buildings and we know that there are more than 600 people stranded and rescuers trying to work on finding them. we heard earlier from people there saying that actually the conditions are hampering rescue efforts with ran fall there. and also some of the buildings has been designed in away to try and withstand the worst of the impact. but some are still stuck in tunnels, some people. but they were rescued by helicopters from that area. but 34 are still missing. the number trapped or stranded rose

from 100 to 6636789 663. let's turn to the us. a new yorkjudge has denied donald trump's bid to delay his forthcoming trial over alleged hush money paid to a porn star — it's the first ever criminal trial of a former us president. in 2016 a lawyer for mr trump, michael cohen, said he'd paid $130,000to stormy daniels to stop her from revealing an affair with with him 10 years previously. mr trump wanted a delay until the supreme court reviews his claim of presidential immunity in another criminal case. 0ur washington reporter will vernon sent this update. this decision by the new yorkjudge relate to the so—called hush money case where, donald trump is accused of falsifying business accounts in relation to a payments to an

actress. he is accused basically of trying to hide this payment allegedly. now, mrtrump argued trying to hide this payment allegedly. now, mr trump argued that this case should be delayed while the us supreme court considers a separate legal question over whether mr trump enjoys immunity from prosecution over acts that he took in office. that stems from a separate case, which is the washington federal crimes case where mr trump is accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. today the judge in overturn the 2020 election results. today thejudge in new overturn the 2020 election results. today the judge in new york as we expected denied that request to postpone that trial once again. so, that now clears the way, removes the final obstacle, to the start of the first criminal prosecution of a former president. now, it could be the only case to go to trial before the only case to go to trial before the november election. mr trump's legal strategy across all four of

his criminal cases and there are four, 88 criminal charges across four, 88 criminal charges across four cases, his tactic has been to dismiss, delay and distract. star; dismiss, delay and distract. stay with us on _ dismiss, delay and distract. stay with us on bbc— dismiss, delay and distract. stay with us on bbc news. the weather does remain unsettled. we will see further spells of rain and some sunny interval, some hill snow in scotland. but this weekend is going to turn warmer and also windier. we could have the warmest day of the year so far somewhere in the south—east during the course of saturday. low pressure that has

brought the rain pulling away, but more rain is coming through the south—west this afternoon. in between variable amounts of cloud and a few showers. so the rain continuing to push away. showers developing behind it. the rain arriving with brisker winds in the south west. in northern ireland and northern england some brighter weather. milder as we push further south with highs of 16. tonight the rain continues to advance north and east and as it bumps into the cold air in scotland it will turn to snow down to about 100 metres in the highlands. windy in the west. and we have another band of rain moving across wales. very mild in the south for the time of year. but cold in the north. as we head through tomorrow, the first band of rain

clears eastern england and the other end pushes north across scotland with its hill snow and more rain comes into northern ireland and pushes north and east across scotland. furthersouth pushes north and east across scotland. further south feeling mild in the sunshine. a few showers around. but that milder air pushing further north during the day. as we head into saturday, the rain moves north and it is going to be a windy day with sunshine and showers from the west. a risk of gales. but windy wherever you are. but very mild across the board. temperatures will be higher, we could hit 21 celsius. as we head into sunday, it is going to be a day of sunshine and showers, longer spells of rain at times and there could be gales in north—west scotland. but still a windy day. temperatures down a little bit but still high for the time of year. we have 10 in lerwick to 17 in norwich.

this is bbc news, the headlines... nato foreign ministers celebrate the 75th anniversary of their alliance at a meeting in brussels — with chief jens stoltenberg urging the united states to stick with europe. the world central kitchen charity is calling for an independent investigation into the israeli strikes that killed seven members of its team in gaza.

the race to rescue hundreds of people still missing or trapped in taiwan. a magnitude 7.4 earthquake killed at least 9 people and injured more than a thousand. a major medical trial begins — to find out if blood tests can be used to spot the early signs of dementia. and airline passengers leaving the uk may need to remove liquids and laptops from baggage for another year after delays for new security scanners. let's stay with that story. the installation of new security scanners in airports has been delayed by up to a year. it means that passengers will still need to remove liquids and laptops out of hand luggage this summer, and potentially for another 12 months. 0ur transport correspondent katy austin explains. this is what the