the parents who made claims that a bbc presenter paid their teenager for explicit photos stand by their allegations — despite a lawyerfor the now 20—year—old saying the claims are "rubbish". the trial over the will of late singer aretha franklin, begins today, after her sons dispute if a handwritten begins today, after her sons�* dispute if a handwritten will found under the sofa is valid. hello. we begin in lithuania where nato leaders are meeting in vilnius this morning and the heads of state won't need reminding why the alliance exists and why it is still relevant with the threat from russia, demonstrated in its devastating

invasion of ukraine close at hand. in a few hours�* time, president biden will meet with ukraine's vlodomyr zelenesky as the summit gets underway. let's begin our coverage with lewis vaughanjones on the geography of this summit. russia annexed crimea in 2014 and, last year, launched a full—scale invasion of ukraine. 0n full—scale invasion of ukraine. on top of that, ties have been steadily growing between russia and its key ally, belarus. in response, nato members on what allies call its eastern flank have become increasingly concerned. among them is lithuania, host of this summit. it's only a three—hour drive from vilnius to the belarus capital, minsk. russia is also close — and the russian territory of kaliningrad, which has great strategic importance to moscow — it hosts part of the russian navy. there are eight nato members making up the eastern flank of the alliance. they stretch from the

baltic to the black sea. lithuania, bulgaria, hungary, romania, slovakia, poland, latvia, and estonia. all of these countries have seen a significantly increased nato presence. nato�*s deterrent strength lies in its collective nature — article 5 of its founding treaty says an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all. there are a billion people being protected by this agreement, with 31 member countries — most recently finland, which formally joined recently finland, which formallyjoined this year, and sweden, not yet a member but hoping its accession will be ratified soon. well, that is the road map, as it were, to this summit, with events to the east in ukraine and in russia at the forefront of everyone�*s mind. nato's 31 members will be represented today with ukraine — not a member, but pushing tojoin. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera reports on what ukraine hopes to gain from the summit.

gunfire ukrainian forces training at a location we've been asked not to disclose. soon, these men — part of an artillery battalion — will be heading to the front lines, taking part in a war that shows no sign of ending. ukraine certainly has the man—power and the will to fight. but what it says it needs from its allies — especially at this nato summit — are the weapons and the ammunition to continue to take that fight to the russians. their commander acknowledges that, at the moment, they still do not have enough. translation: do not have enough. tuna/mom- do not have enough. translation: , , ., ., translation: this is not a secret. the _ translation: this is not a secret. the amount - translation: this is not a secret. the amount of- secret. the amount of ammunition that the enemy uses daily is at least five times higher than the amount of ammunition that we use. there are such cases that we are forced to economise and not respond to the economy. {jut forced to economise and not respond to the economy. out on the front lines, _ respond to the economy. out on the front lines, the _ respond to the economy. out on the front lines, the fighting - the front lines, the fighting has been intense, with ukraine depending on western weapons — which sometimes, they say, have been slow to arrive. just last

week, cluster bombs — controversial in some quarters — were promised, to try and help break through tough russian defences. but ukraine is hoping and expecting to have more weapons announced at the nato summit. the real question is whether there'll be a clear path for membership of nato. for members, an attack on one is considered an attack on all. jens stoltenberg. be is considered an attack on all. jens stoltenberg.— jens stoltenberg. be careful. we need yom _ jens stoltenberg. be careful. we need you. ukraine, - jens stoltenberg. be careful. we need you. ukraine, as i jens stoltenberg. be careful. we need you. ukraine, as its president— we need you. ukraine, as its president remarked - we need you. ukraine, as its president remarked in - we need you. ukraine, as its president remarked in april, | president remarked in april, says it needs nato membership for its protection. that won't happen in the middle of an ongoing war, but ukraine wants more than vague promises. at the offices of president zelensky, i sat down with one of his closest advisers to hear what was wanted. translation: ., ., , translation: nato must say unequivocally — translation: nato must say unequivocally that _ translation: nato must say unequivocally that there - translation: nato must say unequivocally that there are l translation: nato must say| unequivocally that there are no more preconditions for membership — ukraine will be a membership — ukraine will be a member of nato after the war, a timetable will be announced, and we will agree on the amount

of weapons that ukraine needs. the nato alliance was created to confront moscow in the cold war — but now it is ukraine fighting off russia, and wondering just how much support it will get — and for how long. ukraine's hopes for nato membership may still be some way off but, for sweden, it is very soon likely to be a reality. last night, swedish membership of the alliance was backed by turkey — which for months had been threatening to veto it. we heard lewis vaughanjones a moment ago, he's in vilnius for us. it seems this nato summit here in vilnius will be getting underway after a very significant concrete achievement. jens stoltenberg, the head of nato, announcing that turkey had agreed sweden could start the process to membership. now, why is that so significant? well, within nato, each and every member country

completing sweden's accession to nato is an historic step that benefits the security of all nato allies at this critical time. all nato allies at this criticaltime. it all nato allies at this critical time. it makes us all stronger and safer. each and every member country effectively has a veto against anyone else joining. turkey had some reservations that it made public and, at the beginning of the day, the two sides seemed a long way apart. president erdogan, starting to talk about things like opening a doorfor turkey to eu membership before sweden then is allowed to open the door into a nato membership. eu and nato, of course, completely separate organisations. that was the start of the day but, at end of the day, jens stoltenberg making that announcement — and there has been some significant reaction from several politicians who are here. joe biden, welcoming it. the german foreign minister saying it's good news from vilnius. and, of course, the swedish government saying it's a good day for sweden.

so that seems to be one issue of membership well and truly settled. there is a little detail, though. just because recep tayyip erdogan has agreed that sweden can now become a member, it is actually the parliament in turkey the needs to approve that, so a little side detail. the needs to approve that. live now to vilnius where we can speak tojim townsend — who is the former deputy assistant secretary of defence — now at the think tank rusiq. these summits are a test of unity in the alliance, how's it looking? this one is critical, many would argue. how is it looking from your perspective?- from your perspective? well, since the _ from your perspective? well, since the announcement - since the announcement yesterday about sweden coming into nato, there's some excitement here. that was greeted with great applause. the swedish delegation, when they arrived at their hotel, they arrived at their hotel, the lobby, went up in applause

and shouts, and it's a great thing. so it's a good start. there's a lot of work going on now to finalise the communique and to describe in that communique the relationship between nato and ukraine, short of membership. in between nato and ukraine, short of membership.— of membership. in terms of sweden being _ of membership. in terms of sweden being given - of membership. in terms of sweden being given the - of membership. in terms of. sweden being given the green light tojoin — turkey sweden being given the green light to join — turkey was critical in that, it was originally opposed — can you talk us through the change of mind on the part of recep tayyip erdogan?— mind on the part of recep tayyip erdogan? well, it's hard to seak tayyip erdogan? well, it's hard to speak for — tayyip erdogan? well, it's hard to speak for him, _ tayyip erdogan? well, it's hard to speak for him, but _ tayyip erdogan? well, it's hard to speak for him, but i'll- tayyip erdogan? well, it's hard to speak for him, but i'll tell i to speak for him, but i'll tell you from my perspective, there were some things that the turks wanted out of this agreement as well. there has been issues with the united states and well. there has been issues with the united states and with sweden, particularly, on counter—terrorism. what it took was joe biden counter—terrorism. what it took wasjoe biden and the swedish prime minister, the secretary—general — it took senior—level attention to erdogan to listen to erdogan and to try to get him to at least halfway towards an agreement. and i think we were able to do that with the us talking about future foreign

military sales — f—16s, etc — to turkey, as well as sweden doing things in terms of its laws and how it deals with counter—terrorism, particularly the type that turkey is facing. so what it was — erdogan got his day in court, erdogan was able to move the ball in terms of issues important to him, and that led to this agreement last night. that led to this agreement last ni . ht. �* , that led to this agreement last niuht. v . ~ that led to this agreement last niuht. �*, ., ~ ., night. let's talk, though, about the _ night. let's talk, though, about the disagreement i night. let's talk, though, i about the disagreement that remains about ukraine's ambitions, its desire tojoin nato. how will that be resolved over the next few days? you talked about the fact that they're trying to finalise and agree on the communique? that's riuht. so agree on the communique? that's right. so there's _ agree on the communique? that's right. so there's a _ agree on the communique? that's right. so there's a couple - agree on the communique? that's right. so there's a couple of- right. so there's a couple of pieces to this approach with ukraine. there seems to be consensus on the whole that having ukraine given membership today wouldn't work out well because it would pretty much put us in line towards going to warb with russia because of article 5 in the agreement. but

we needed to lay out a path for ukraine on how they will eventually get nato membership. and that's what they're going to have to talk about now. and there are some things that nato will announce, there are some things that nato willannounce, including making will announce, including making ukraine willannounce, including making ukraine part of a nato—ukraine council, which gives them a louder voice at nato. but most importantly, though, is a matter of military assistance going to ukraine at a higher level, both in terms of quantity and technology. the idea is that they need to have a technological edge over the russians in the future so that there is no doubt that russia will never be able to conquer ukraine with their military forces. so allies today and tomorrow will talk about — what does that assistance look like, and who's going to provide what? , ., , ., ~ what? 0k. jim townsend, thank ou so what? 0k. jim townsend, thank you so much _ what? ok. jim townsend, thank you so much for— what? 0k. jim townsend, thank you so much for your _ what? 0k. jim townsend, thank you so much for your analysis. l in 20 minutes' time, we'll have more on the nato summit. 0ne in 20 minutes' time, we'll have more on the nato summit. one of the commitments made some 20 years ago among nato members

was the amount of spending that would be put towards defence — a controversial point. more on that later. the parents of a young person at the heart of allegations against a bbc presenter are standing by their account, according the sun newspaper — after a lawyer representing the individual said their claims were "rubbish". the newspaper first reported that the unnamed presenter had allegedly paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos last week. 0ur correspondent charlotte gallagher has the latest. after days of damaging headlines, allegations and rumours, this story of a bbc presenter allegedly paying thousands for sexually explicit images is still dominating front pages. now, a statement on behalf of the young person at the centre of this — they've called the allegations by their mother "rubbish". their lawyer

says, "nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the bbc personality," adding, "the young person sent a denial to the sun on friday evening via whatsapp, but the sun proceeded to publish what they call an inappropriate article." in an interview splashed on the paper's front page this morning, the young person's parents say they stand by their account, claiming the presenter has got into their loved one's head. they also accuse the bbc of lying and claim they spent an hour telling the corporation about the allegations in may. this appears to contradict a previous statement which said the family say no—one from the corporation rang them for a proper interview after the initial complaint. there is still so much we don't know. bbc news has not seen the evidence the sun newspaper says it has. is this about an abuse of power and trust? a scandal

at the bbc? a scandal in tabloid journalism? at the bbc? a scandal in tabloidjournalism? 0r at the bbc? a scandal in tabloid journalism? 0r none of these? it was almost two months between the first complaint and the presenter�*s suspension. many have questions over why that took such a long time. fin that took such a long time. on the face of _ that took such a long time. on the face of it, you would that took such a long time. (m the face of it, you would think that there were enough red flags in that information without knowing exactly what it was on the 19th of may to have escalated this up the chain of command to prevent the situation that we're in now. yesterday, the bbc met with the metropolitan police. officers are now making inquiries as to whether there is evidence of a criminal offence, but say there is no investigation at this time. �* , . . time. until it's clearer, until we have _ time. until it's clearer, until we have a — time. until it's clearer, until we have a greater _ time. until it's clearer, until| we have a greater knowledge from possibly the police, the bbc itself, the alleged victim or the victim's mother in this case, it's very hard to know

exactly what we're criticising the bbc for.— the bbc for. today, the bbc director-general, _ the bbc for. today, the bbc director-general, tim - the bbc for. today, the bbc. director-general, tim davey, the bbc for. today, the bbc- director-general, tim davey, is director—general, tim davey, is due to speak to journalists about the bbc�*s annual report. but the event is likely to be dominated by this developing crisis. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. our legal correspondent dominic cashiani has been looking into the letter from the young person's lawyer as well as the sun's latest article. it is important development in the story is as the sun's later story, i will take you to these in turn. the law of privacy is there to effectively protect reputations and careers and futures from undue harm and because there are many things in our private lives which are simply nobody else's business, they are private to us. and if you analyse this letter what the law firm saying on behalf of the client and this is not a modest high—street firm they are a decent sized firm in

central london, they are saying there is a repeated breach of privacy here in this reporting even though the individual has not been named has the presenter. the young person denies involvement in unlawful or inappropriate activity, they are effectively saying if you carry on doing this and a you were to name our client, this is the subtext you might end up in court, that is what the warning comes down to although there is no warning as such in there is no warning as such in the letter. if you take that as a starting point it is interesting to look at what the sun has said tonight, one line and that that sticks out to me, and that that sticks out to me, and the story" the stepfather saying saying i told the bbc i had gone to the abc desperation but they could not do anything because they said it was not illegal. we are not quite sure what that relates to. from the perspective of this young person and thinking about this. legal terms but nothing has been done which is wrong, what is the case in for this person

to be named for the presenter to be named for the presenter to be named for the presenter to be named? that is why there is so much at stake here. going to the scotland yard statement, telling they are assessing the information but had has not yet crossed a criminal threshold for them, the take away from that as we are not the only ones who are exactly sure about what's going on. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. we have been growing strawberries on this farm for 45 years in this year is one of the lowest yields you've seen. in a good year, you would expect to go like that and have tons of ripe fruit but as you can see here we are still way behind with these ones waiting to ripen up. pat wilson's farm should be heaving with people filling the plastic punnets but not this year. when you've got customers coming and you've got more demand than have supply, that's really frustrating.

the extreme weather, the really cold, wet spring, which the established strawberries didn't get growing until late april into early may. realising the crop was failing, pat planted 30,000 strawberry plants in may. they're slowly beginning to ripen but even that may not be enough to salvage much from this season. there weren't very many to pick but she enjoyed picking them whether they were green or small or big or whatever. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. health leaders in england have warned that the bitter row over pay between unions and the government risks "breaking the fundamental relationship between the nhs and its staff". nhs providers, which represents hospital trusts, has called for last—minute talks to prevent planned walkouts byjunior doctors, consultants and radiographers in the coming weeks. 0ur news correspondent vincent mcaviney has more.

four months. nhs unions have led staff across the service on strikes. nurses, junior doctors radiographers and midwives have felt the need to put out over pay and conditions. with the health system already struggling with pandemic backlogs, more than 100 chief executives and shares of nhs trust have now issued a warning over their deep concerns over the lasting legacy of the strikes. , , ., strikes. every time we see a strike, it _ strikes. every time we see a strike, it makes _ strikes. every time we see a strike, it makes it _ strikes. every time we see a strike, it makes it more - strike, it makes it more difficult, to recoverfrom and we are seeing, of course an ongoing impact on patients and the services they receive and also an ongoing act on staff themselves who are affected by themselves who are affected by the industrial action. in the industrialaction. in england some —— consultants the most senior and specialist as are set to strike for the first time over two days next week. in the wake ofjunior doctors

staging the largest ever walk out in the history of the nhs this week. nhs providers which represents trust has called for limited our talks to end the disruption. limited our talks to end the disruption-— disruption. these are absolutely _ disruption. these are absolutely critical, i disruption. these are i absolutely critical, that we see the government coming to the table and having a conversation with the unions, and the unions coming to table as well. because, otherwise what we are going to see is a significant undermining of the level of care that patients will receive up and down the country. will receive up and down the count . ., . ., ., will receive up and down the count . ., .,, .., country. conciliation service a said it stands _ country. conciliation service a said it stands ready _ country. conciliation service a said it stands ready to - country. conciliation service a said it stands ready to help i country. conciliation service a said it stands ready to help inj said it stands ready to help in the dispute between dot is and the dispute between dot is and the government, the department of health and social care spokesperson said... —— doctors. with nhs staff in scotland having successfully negotiated acceptable pay rises, unions in

england who have enjoyed broad public support thus far, are determined to win the same from the government here. vincent mcaviney, bbc news. migrants attempting to cross the mediterranean have told the bbc that nothing could stop them from trying to reach europe. recorded crossings in the central mediterranean in the first five months of 2023 are more than double the same period last year, according to eu border agency fro ntex. the bbc�*s alice cuddy witnessed the rescue of one boat in distress after it set off from libya. this is what it looks like to have gambled your life and one. most of these 86 migrants are under the age of 18. their lives ahead of them. but they said nothing could stop them from trying to cross the mediterranean stop. for migrant

rescue charity sos mediterranean it is a fast operation. the libyan coastguard are heading to the scene. the crew are worried they will stop the rescue and take the boys back to libya. but the vessel stops in the distance. the rescue can proceed. and all 86 boys are bought aboard the rescue ship. some are suffering from dehydration. 0thers waste no time celebrating. most are from the gambia, and many left home years ago in search of opportunities in europe. the young migrants we spoke to asked to remain anonymous as they share traumatic details of their germany —— journeys. i lost my father so we only left with my mother. the only reason

as to leave the country.— as to leave the country. many bo s as to leave the country. many boys say _ as to leave the country. many boys say they _ as to leave the country. many boys say they have _ as to leave the country. many| boys say they have attempted the crossing multiple times. seven times i have been trying to cross the mediterranean. mi to cross the mediterranean. all ofthe to cross the mediterranean. all of the teenagers told us they had friends who died trying to get to europe. this 17—year—old was on a boat who sank. the boys settle into life on board. this 18—year—old says it is a world away from the journey he took with smugglers across the sahara.

the boys are now focused on a life in italy. as the teenagers disembark, it is unclear whether what europe will offer them will be worth the life or death risk they talk. —— they talk. alice cuddy, bbc news. the trial over the will of late singer aretha franklin, begins today. when she died in 2018 at age 76, the absence of a will meant her assets — including homes, cars and jewellery — were to be equally split among her four sons. but months later, hand—written wills were found in a cabinet and under a sofa cushion at her home in the us state of michigan. now, her sons dispute which is the real will and a jury will decide which of the two documents should be counted. rethink franklin was known to be intensely private about her finances she said to have resisted preparing a formal well despite years of ill health. a couple of months after her funeral handwritten documents were found at her home in suburban detroit. 0ne

home in suburban detroit. one of them dating back to 2010, was found in a locked cabinet, another from 2014, that was found in a spiral note stuffed beneath questions on the sofa. they both recommend that the income from her music be divided equally amongst 24 sons, where they differ however is in the allocation of assets such as her homes, her cars, her wardrobe and so on. it may not surprise you to hear that the individual siblings tend to favour the document that most favours them. aretha franklin's third son, teddy believes that the 2010 document the earlier document as the real will and testament of his mother. perhaps because it names him as co—executor of the estate. both of these documents have scribblings all over them, notations, crossings out and so on, in the absence of a

typewritten, formal well, now rests with the jury to decide, how the assets of the former queen of soul are to be divided. thejury is queen of soul are to be divided. the jury is expected to hear evidence from a handwriting expert and from aretha franklin's niece, who discovered both of these handwritten documents. the deliberations are expected to go on for the next couple of days. go on for the next couple of da s. . , . days. david willis there. we will be back _ days. david willis there. we will be back in _ days. david willis there. we will be back in just - days. david willis there. we will be back in just a - days. david willis there. we l will be back injust a moment with the top business stories. in particular we will be looking at the members of nato and their commitment to defence spending. i will see you in just a moment. hello, there. there's no real change in our weather patterns coming our way any time soon, and that means it stays unsettled. loads more showers in the forecast, as we'll see in a moment. for monday, we have some heavy downpours come through,

starting off across parts of northern ireland, before spreading to scotland, and as they worked through threave, brought 15 millimetres of rain in a space ofjust an hour, really torrential rain. that's a bit more than half an inch of rain injustan hour. now, those heavy bursts of rain are working northeastwards at the moment. the rain will ease as we head towards dawn, but at the same time, we'll see some heavy rain pop up across the midlands, running into lincolnshire and east anglia, as well. still quite warm and humid across eastern areas of england as we start the day, tuesday, but in the west, a relatively fresh feel to the day, with temperatures around 13 or 14 degrees. now, tuesday morning, we'll see that band of rain start off across east anglia, south—east england, taking a while to clear out of the way, but once it's gone, it's essentially a day of sunshine and showers. i think some of the showers could merge together to give some longer spells of rain for western scotland, and perhaps through the central lowlands, and also some fairly lengthy downpours coming across wales and running into the midlands, too. temperatures a little bit below average for the time of year, but in the sun, it won't feel too bad. now, wimbledon, i can't rule out an odd passing shower, but there'll be large stretches of the day that are dry, with some sunshine

coming through. taking a look at the jet stream pattern across a good chunk of the northern hemisphere, we've got this pattern at the moment. this is an 0mega block. now, the uk finds itself underneath a trough. that's where low pressures form, and the thing with these blocks is theyjust don't move very far. it's going to be like this, really, throughout the rest of this week, into the weekend and even into next week, and what that does for us is, even as we lose one area of low pressure, later in the week another one pops up, as if by magic, and works back across the country, and we've got that kind of repeating pattern, the weather kind of like a broken record at the moment. wednesday, yes, it's a day of sunshine and showers, probably a cooler feel to the weather across scotland and northern ireland, where we'll start to get more of a northwesterly breeze. so temperatures just coming down here a few degrees in the south and east, 21, maybe fewer showers here for wednesday, but, really, looking at the rest of the week, into the weekend, and even into the early stage of next week, the showers will continue to pack in. there will be quite a lot of dry weather, even on these showery days, the showers

perhaps lasting an hour or two, but still some heavy downpours to come.

live from london, live from london, this is bbc news. this is bbc news. boosting defence spending — boosting defence spending — as nato leaders gather in vilnius, talks on investing more in defence are high on the agenda. meta's new app, threads, hits 100 million sign—ups in less than five days —

should its rival, twitter, be worried?