if this this is bbc news broadcasting in the uk and around the globe. i'm joanna gosling. our top stories: britain is proposing to double the number of soldiers it's deployed in eastern europe, as nato weighs up options to increase pressure on russia. imean i mean here about the increased rhetoric and movements on the ground. —— i am in kyiv. the row in the uk over a rise in national insurance to fund health and social care — borisjohnson and the chancellor say it will go ahead

despite strong opposition. people in northern ireland prepare to mark the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday, when british soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march. in the uk, two people die — including a nine—year—old boy — after being hit by falling trees during storm malik. and in the us, a fierce snowstorm hits the northeast of the us — bringing high winds and flooding in some areas. hello and welcome to bbc news. britain is considering sending hundreds more troops to bolster the defences of nato allies in eastern europe amid the build—up of russian forces on ukraine's border. the prime minister, borisjohnson says he's ordered the armed forces to prepare to deploy across europe next week. russia has massed. around 100,000 troops, as well as tanks, artillery and missiles — near ukraine's border, but denies it plans to invade the former soviet republic. 0ur defence correspondent, jonathan beale reports.

britain already has more than 800 troops in estonia as part of nato�*s response to reassure allies after russia's invasion of crimea in 2014. now borisjohnson says he is considering doubling that number in the baltic state and sending more military hardware, including long—range artillery rockets, to bolster the defences on nato�*s eastern flank. rafjets based in cyprus could fly nato air policing missions over bulgaria and romania. tensions have already been rising in the black sea, where last summer, hms defender was harassed by russian ships and aircraft. the royal navy could send warships to patrol these waters and the eastern mediterranean, though details have still to be worked out and approved by nato allies. borisjohnson, seen here visiting the british battle group in estonia, says increasing the uk's military presence will send a clear message to moscow.

more is being asked of britain's smaller armed forces. but his focus is notjust on deterrence, but diplomacy, too. this week, he will talk to president putin and visit eastern europe, while the defence secretary, ben wallace, will also be travelling the region to rally support. jonathan beale, bbc news. speaking on the bbc�*s sunday morning politics, nato's secretary general jens stoltenberg told the bbc he has no plans to send nato troops to ukraine. we have no plans to deploy nato combat troops to ukraine. nato allies have trainers there. we help them from nato with building capacity, modernisng their defences,

including their cyber defences. nato allies also provide equipment defensive weapons like the uk has now provided, for instance, anti—tank weapons. so we do a lot of stuff to help ukraine strengthen its ability capability to to defend itself. but again, ukraine is not a nato ally, so the 100% security guarantees that an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance that applies for nato allies, not for a close and highly valued partner. we can cross live to kyiv and our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. welcome to the ukrainian capital where ukrainians know all too well what we just heard from the secretary general of nato. as the president put it last week if there is an escalating war here in ukraine it is the ukrainian armed forces in all the many volunteers signing up that will have to do battle with the russian forces. but ukraine welcomes every offer, every measure of

support offered by nato allies, including a signal they say will be shown when borisjohnson visits this region and the military support presidentjoe biden announced, the fourth technical batch of military support in recent weeks arrived here in ukraine. russia says it has no plans to invade ukraine but we see troops massing along the border and ukraine says it is preparing for the worst while saying it is not certain russia will invade. if they do, what is the balance of forces? we are joined by an associate fellow at the russian erasure programme at chatham house. —— eurasia. what impact would

a doubling of nato support make to the ukrainian forces? it a doubling of nato support make to the ukrainian forces?— a doubling of nato support make to the ukrainian forces? it would make an enormous— the ukrainian forces? it would make an enormous difference. _ the ukrainian forces? it would make an enormous difference. we - the ukrainian forces? it would make an enormous difference. we know. the ukrainian forces? it would make i an enormous difference. we know from previous examples when russia basically invaded the russian territory, ukrainians were pretty defenceless, the did not have anti—tank weapons and now this is exactly what the uk has been sending. so where ukraine has weaknesses like when it comes to tanks the uk stepping in. so it makes a big difference. but also the british military advisers and trainers have been in ukraine so it is a very different story from what we had eight years ago when the conflict in eastern ukraine started. i know it is a very speculative business but when you see the

russian troop formations, when you see their heavy weaponry massed along the border, would you say russia is preparing for some kind of incursion? yes russia is preparing for some kind of incursion? , ., ., , incursion? yes and no. it is difficult _ incursion? yes and no. it is difficult to _ incursion? yes and no. it is difficult to tell _ incursion? yes and no. it is difficult to tell because - incursion? yes and no. it is difficult to tell because of l incursion? yes and no. it is l difficult to tell because of the very opaque decision making structures in the kremlin. we note that russia absolutely prefer to use the threat of invasion as psychological persuasion persuading ukraine by a military use of force to deliver on political demands from russia. now this is a game changer because the mass of trips around ukraine, not only around russia but the black sea and belarus says that russia does not only use kovac measures but is an aggressor. so

from that point of view it is a double—edged sword. 0n the one hand russia can exert pressure on ukraine and the west and on the other hand that can be no doubt whatsoever that russia is involved and this party in this conflict rather than as a mediator, the way the kremlin has preferred to present russia for eight years now.— preferred to present russia for eight years now. situation watched closel in eight years now. situation watched closely in many — eight years now. situation watched closely in many capitals, _ eight years now. situation watched closely in many capitals, above - eight years now. situation watched closely in many capitals, above all| closely in many capitals, above all here in the ukrainian capital, kyiv. thank you very much forjoining us with your assessment from chatham house. the world will be watching ukraine on this week with the expected visit borisjohnson to this region but also a un security council meeting on monday to focus on russia's moves in this region and the concern that an invasion of some kind of an incursion could be imminent.

borisjohnson and the uk's chancellor, rishi sunak, have pledged to push ahead with a rise to national insurance — a tax rise — in april, despite growing conservative backbench pressure to delay or abandon it. in a joint article in the sunday times, they say every penny raised will go towards boosting the national health service and social care. the pledge comes amid pressure on the prime minister over reported parties held at downing street during england's lockdown. i'm joined now by our uk political correspondent ione wells. after a lot of speculation, confirmation that tax rates will go ahead. there was some talk over the last couple of weeks the prime minister was starting to feel a bit nervous about this tax rise with a number of cost of living issues going on with energy bills also set to go up in april. he was facing a backlash from some conservative mps with some calling on him to other fees this tax rise orjust scrap it and rethink the whole tax rise completely. as a result, this

article today i think states quite clearly he is going ahead with it, is this the chancellor as well. he has not decided to go ahead, i am sorry, he has decided to go ahead with this tax rise in april which i think sense a clear message to some tory backbenchers calling on him to stop it he is pretty confident he can carry on with that politically. what political reaction has there been to that decision? there's been a bit of a mixed reaction. we offer had the senior tory backbencher robert halfon saying he doesn't think this is the right time to do it when energy bills and inflation are putting pressure is on the cost of living. in terms of the opposition, the shadow levelling up secretary lisa nandy has also been telling the bbc she doesn't think this is the right time to go ahead with the tax rise and a labour government would not do it.

you can't possibly hit people with more taxes at the moment. it is simply not possible for people to survive. the stories i'm hearing from people across the country about the sacrifices they will have to make an enormous. but what is worse is the government wants what they call kings cross style regeneration you need central london sale wages. i might if you were in government which should appeal this national insurance rise? we hope the government will not go ahead with it. we would not bring a tent in the first place. if there was a labour government today, there would not be a rise in national insurance and people would not face the prospect of seeing their income squeezed even more. —— we would not bring it in in the first place. more. -- we would not bring it in in the first place-— the first place. lisa nandy has said the first place. lisa nandy has said the labour the first place. lisa nandy has said the labour party — the first place. lisa nandy has said the labour party would _ the first place. lisa nandy has said the labour party would not - the first place. lisa nandy has said the labour party would not bring . the first place. lisa nandy has said the labour party would not bring itj the labour party would not bring it on and she says it's ironic that on the day michael gove is announcing

plans to level up and address inequality is that this is not the right time to raise taxes and people should be able to spend more withering incomes to bounce back from covid. the foreign secretary liz truss said it is the intention of the government to cut tax rises before the next election but stressed this is about trying to deal after an unprecedented period of public spending to deal with coronavirus. one of the strongest winter storms in years is continuing to batter the east coast of the united states. more than 60 cm of snow fell on parts of new york state,

as well as in massachusetts, where high winds have caused more than 100,000 power outages. several states have declared emergencies and residents across the eastern seaboard have been told to avoid unnecessary travel. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. a blanket of snow covers times square in new york city, the streets largely deserted as most people hunker down at home. this has been a colossal storm — a �*bomb cyclone' as it is known — a combination of heavy snow and strong winds approaching the strength of a hurricane. this winter wonderland in the heart of new york city is fun for some, but heading out for a selfie moment is not advised by the authorities. the blizzard conditions can be extremely dangerous. the snowscapes in new york are repeated across great swathes of the eastern united states. boston airport in massachusetts is under a thick layer. across the region, around 6,000 weekend flights have been cancelled. in many neighbourhoods, snowploughs and salt spreaders have been working for hours to try to clear the roads. many homes are without power.

you get the prevailing north—east winds — it really impacts the coastal areas. they get that strong wind that comes off the ocean so in addition to having to deal with borderline historic amounts of snow, you get the winds thatjust push all of that water onshore. along the coast, battered by strong winds, flood warnings have been issued as the storm moves northwards. with frigid, potentially life—threatening temperatures overnight, officials are urging people to stay indoors until the storm passes. this is what is the dangerousness we are talking about — we're expecting temperatures in the single digits tonight, into tomorrow morning, and this is when frostbite kicks in — look at how serious that can be — so, we're trying to remind everybody take this very seriously. the worst of the snowfall is almost over but the dangers posed by the extreme conditions will linger, with a huge clean—up operation likely

to last several days. peter bowes, bbc news. events are being held in londonderry to mark the fiftieth anniversary of bloody sunday — the day soldiers from the parachute regiment shot dead 13 civilians at a civil rights demonstration. the killings in 1972 were one of the defining incidents during the conflict in northern ireland. 12 years ago, the british government apologised for the shootings after a public inquiry found the victims had posed no threat. denis murray covered the events that became known as the troubles troubles for the bbc for many years and hejoins us now. 0ur feelings raw because of what happened since and getting to the bottom of what happened 50 years ago? it was such a shock at the time and for a variety of reasons. one

was these were the people who were there to protect life were taking life. it was soldiers firing on a civil rights march. the reputation of britain around the world was done terrible damage and i think it continues to do so and i think it was a terrible shock to the british public because that did not happen here, it happened elsewhere. it was a sort of thing that happened in czechoslovakia and in poland when risings were put down by the soviet state. it was a terrible shock to everybody. many years after the event i met a former parachute regiment officerfrom event i met a former parachute regiment officer from northern ireland who had been in the regiment at the time and was not in service that day and he said it was a plot.

—— blot. and then the original inquiry into bloody sunday was frankly shown to be a bunch of lies when the sample report came out, —— saville. at the time the british army insisted there was a gun battle which they were not an older dad had been carrying nail bombs are weapons which see this monstrously had not —— demonstrably had not. the saville report is a great thing and just telling the truth, and i think the hillsborough families will see the same because that brought the truth and in that case as well the

families were blamed. but in terms of anyone being prosecuted i doubt that will happen now. 50 years on, with the saville inquiry having and covered the truth and david cameron apologised on behalf of the government in london, where do emotions sit today? still very raw. ironically, this is not well known in britain but the bloody sunday we are talking about kim 52 years after the first bloody sunday where british forces again fired on protesters in dublin and 1a people were killed that day in croke park. . there is a unique atmosphere to

derry and there always has been and i think the city has bounced back very well. but if you had said on bloody sunday and the immediate aftermath that we would be talking about the concept of sinn fein sharing power with unionists at stormont, it would have been unthinkable and a lot of things are a lot better. this is an odd thing to say but one of the legacies of bloody sunday is there was never another bloody sunday. whether the british army land from it or not, they changed tactics in the way they approach things. when i started on the belfast telegraph in 1975 there were seven battalions in belfast alone just a few year after that there were seven companies. the british army learn from it. i have

seen young soldiers in situations, one in particular in the late 19905, where i thought there is no getting out of this, 5omebody�*5 going to reach for a gun and a minute and it did not happen. it may not have —— it might have happened had bloody sunday not occurred. it 5u5tained sunday not occurred. it sustained the ira for many years and up till bloody sunday they had 5tyled themselves as fighting for a united ireland and after bloody sunday the people who joined it, ireland and after bloody sunday the people whojoined it, and ireland and after bloody sunday the people who joined it, and there was no shortage of them, the phrase you would often hear the news is fighting back. which meant that there ira stopped fighting for a united ireland and carried out what they called operations and it really took to the late 19805 and early 19905 for the republican leadership

to say this is not getting us anywhere and you have the situation over there may well be our sinn fein minister in northern ireland in a few months�* time. south korea and japan have reported another north korean ballistic missile launch — the seventh missile test in the space of a month. pyongyang has not tested its long—range intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons for nearly five years, but has instead launched an array of sophisticated shorter range projectiles, including hypersonic and cruise missiles. the country's leader, kimjong un, called on the military to develop its technology and capabilities, ignoring us calls for talks on denuclearisation. japan has strongly protested against the launch.

translation: the series of actions by north korea, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles, threaten the peace and security of japan, the region and the international community. such intense ballistic missile launches are in violation of security council resolutions. and japan has made a strong protest to north korea. a nine—year—old boy in staffordshire and a 60—year—old woman in aberdeen have died after being hit by falling trees during storm malik. power lines have also been affected with thousands of homes in scotland and england without electricity. a second storm — storm corrie — is expected to bring further high winds to scotland this afternoon. the israeli president, isaac herzog, is in the united arab emirates on the first visit there by an israeli head of state. mr herzog said that it wasn't every day that one had the privilege of making history. the israeli prime minister naftali bennett visited the uae last month in a bid to further strenghen ties after the two countries normalised relations in 2020.

it's being hailed as the world's most advanced humanoid robot — but don't worry, ameca hasn't taken over just yet, despite using the hyper—realistic facial expressions and arm movements. the company behind the robot says machines like ameca could be become commonplace within the next ten years. kevin hay has more. an industrial estate in falmouth, an ordinary—looking building with a far from ordinary reception area, but it's upstairs in the research and development department where things get really interesting. this is ameca. the thing that makes ameca unique is its facial expressions. it can give us happy, sad, surprised. and now it's getting bored with me. i can take a hint.

so how does it work? for this demonstration ameca is being controlled by morgan rowe, who's the director of operations for engineered arts. we've got the camera on the system here. that camera is actually looking at my face and we can see what my face is doing and i can smile and the robot smiles. move my head, and the robot moves its head, so the robot's mimicking everything i'm doing, i can effectively talk and listen via the robot from anywhere in the world. but as well as being controlled like a puppet. artificial intelligence means that ameca can react to its surroundings. if i get far too close then it will back away. the company has spent £2 million developing aeica, and it employs 22 people here in cornwall. this is not cgi. this is something that we can touch. it's something real right now, and it's in cornwall. from supermarket checkouts to self—driving cars, the age of automation is here.

machines like ameca are meant to give it a human face. in the future you'll see these more and more in service robot—oriented tasks, so it could be giving you information. it could be checking you in for your flight or a hotel, or it could be giving you a ticket in theatre. a recent government report concluded that jobs lost to new technologies should be cancelled out by the number of differentjobs created by new technologies. but surely ameca couldn't do something like end a tv news report? ameca, bbc spotlight, falmouth. oh, you're a one—take wonder. after a week—long drive across canada, a convoy of trucks has arrived in ottawa to protest against vaccine mandates and covid—19 measures. the movement was sparked by new rules for truckers crossing the us—canada border, implemented byjustin trudeau's liberal government earlier this month. us media say that one of the biggest stars in world sport,

the american football quarterback tom brady, is expected to announce his retirement after 22 seasons. the seven—time winner of the superbowl, who is considered by many to be the best quarterback in the history of the game. tom brady won six superbowls with the new england patriots before joining tampa bay and winning a seventh in his first season there. the lifting of covid—19 restrictions has so far relied on high levels of vaccination. most people have now had three jabs against coronavirus, but there are still those who haven't yet had their first — due to a fear of needles. special sessions are being held in vaccination centres in lincolnshire to help people overcome their phobia. anne—marie tasker has more. covid jabs are something we are used to seeing on the tv, and that most have experienced first—hand. but for one woman from skegness, even the thought of getting this close to a needle makes her faint. jenny smith has had a phobia of injections since she was at school, and was almost sick when she tried to book an appointment

for a covid vaccination. i do really want it, i am not an antivaxxer at all. a lot of people will not understand it, they will just say, "turn away, don't look, it is just a few seconds." those people don't understand. when my other half actually went for his first jab, i literally sat out in the car park in the car, and i really, really felt faint because i knew what he was going to do. why am i reacting like that? it is not even my injection, not my vaccine. how did you feel when your partner and your mum and dad went for their injections? i kind of started feeling jealous. i was really happy for them but just secretly thinking, why is that not me, why can ijust not be as brave as them and just do it? last year we saw adam twice spend over three hours trying to overcome his fear of needles to get a jab. so for those people with a phobia,

the vaccination centres in boston and lincolnshire showground are hosting special walk—in sessions next week. a lot of it is around trust, working through people's anxieties, so it depends. each individual that comes through the door is very unique. nationally i know about one in ten people is estimated to have a fear of needles. jenny has had three months of therapy for her phobia. her homework is forcing herself to look at images of needles and building up from there. i was really bad, i could literally not even say the word "needle". now i feel stupid for that, but he would even teach me literally, to write the word "needle". the next step, i would guess, from what i have been told, is actually holding a needle in my hand. i want to get to that point i can have that vaccine, and join the club. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. hello.

while many people are still picking up the pieces from storm malik, the weather's set to cause more disruption later today as storm corrie moves in from the northwest. before it arrives much of the uk seeing quite a dry, quiet sort of day, some sunshine holding on all day towards the south and the east, but cloud and rain moving in from the northwest, heading particularly windy for northern ireland and western scotland later on. and the rain will be preceded by some snowfall over the higher ground, too. here is storm corrie — quite an active, potent area of low pressure moving across scotland. lots of isobars on the map. so particularly windy spell of weather for the northern half of the uk. we've got a yellow warning for 50 to 60 mile per hour gusts, but across the north of scotland, an amber wind warning so particularly windy spell of weather for the northern half of the uk. we've got a yellow warning for 50 to 60 mile per hour gusts, but across the north of scotland, an amber wind warning

from the met office gusts could reach 80 or possibly even 90 miles per hour — enough to cause some significant disruption sunday night, particularly and into monday morning. the main area of strong winds and rain slowly clears to the east during monday morning, still further blustery showers around, too. bye for now. this is bbc news. the headlines: britain is proposing to double the number of soldiers it's deployed in eastern europe, as nato weighs up options to increase pressure on russia. the row in the uk over a rise in national insurance to fund health and social care — borisjohnson and the chancellor say it will go ahead despite strong opposition. events are being held in northern ireland to mark the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday — when british soldiers opened fire on a peaceful civil rights march. a nine—year—old boy

in staffordshire and a 60—year—old woman in aberdeen have died after being hit by falling