exit polls put md in second place. on the eve of the third anniversary of russia's he's willing to give up his presidency in exchange for peace. if his countryjoined nato. pope francis remains in a "critical" condition, but "has not presented any further respiratory of productivity that elon musk would be pleased with. ihisisasevenzday , he's written to all federal

employees asking them to send what have you done? what have you done for me lately? would you pass the test? i think you would. oh, what have i done? well, in the nicest possible way. five things. well, not five. 0h, not five. 0k. and i wrote a piece for the front page of the website yesterday. and you hosted a tv show. so that's three. yeah. that'll do. is that enough? so we'll talk a little bit about the white house. sunday when we get under way with newscast. newscast, newscast from the bbc. hello. it's laura in the studio. it's patty in the studio. and it'sjoe pike in the studio. how very nice to have us with you. you did.

you're telling how lucky you are, joe, to be appearing on this newscast. what kind of period are we in? visits to the us in decades? i think it probably is. bless you. a month of chaos. you spoke about elon musk's email over the weekend. including the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. about political retribution.

and there is always that imbalance, isn't like, it's the reddest of red letter days. and journalists, including people like myself, get kind but there is always this kind of it's another diary item for an american president. and the us has special relationships with lots and lots and lots and lots of countries. on thursday, macron on monday will be going with what will be a pretty similar message. into a bad peace deal. press and also in broadcast media saying there has to be a voice for ukraine. but of course, still not being explicit on what the uk is willing to offer up itself.

yes. of the sunday journalism on the television, on the radio and in the papers and online, the prime minister has written a piece in the sun on sunday saying, you've got to put then one of the other papers says it's likely they will dangle a state visit. we've discussed this, so this would be his second state visit to the uk then. also david lammy, the foreign secretary, i don't know in detail. paddy. ah. well, i think another huge package of sanctions against russia, and i think it'll all be formalised tomorrow. going to support ukraine, we're still going to keep hammering russia. but on this big, big question of whether they're

will reach its 2.5% target. but there's a bit of a sense in westminster that than that on defence." joe, what do you think? that lord mandelson, peter mandelson, the new ambassador in dc, has been counselling keir starmer to get and there are two reasons why that is very important. these sorts of people argue for the uk and for keir starmer. one, you don't even get through the door with donald trump, spending, even though he wants far more than 2.5%, let's be honest. we've been hearing about endlessly in recent months, nato secretary general and labour defence secretary. and how can you put together a review and really understand

where the uk should be spending money in defence in this sort of new, far more, drone based, ai based defence space? procurement and millions billions has been wasted in previous projects. and also, i think in this, the labour government is still hung up on the idea of when they're going to meet before donald trump stood up and sort of upended the assumption of the last many decades, that america would always be around as a sort of, you know, europe's bodyguard ready to step in and support. let's have a listen to what bridget phillipson said on the tv. 2.5% is ambitious, and the last time that was achieved, - pathway towards it.

but you will forgive me. to give you that information, but others will confirm - here and also the additional £3 billion a year we - are putting towards defence spending. i it was only a few months ago we had a uk general election as a number one issue. the conservatives were going to be thrown out after 14 years they were. rising up very quickly. and it is... yes, things have changed dramatically in the last ten which is still available for your ears wherever you get your audio products. but the government can't make a case that somehow they've been blindsided and they cannot have been taken by surprise by the fact that defence

spending suddenly seems more money needs to be spent, and also that politicians like keir starmer himself have sat for months saying things like we're in a new era of danger. the threats are increasing. do you remember grant shapps? in a pre—war world. what it shows me as i think back to my life as a student that's how long ago it was. which one? is that.. who can forget the prussian war of 18? it shows quite how much we have been dominated by the united states of america so as peace. and as a student, we used to have an argument. that's what's actually happened. newscasters are having

their ears bent about this subject because of, you know, who. of society we are in europe. we didn't have this conversation ourselves. the germans didn't start this conversation. the french didn't start this conversation. so i think it's worth being honest. wants us to have it. and i'll tell you what's also interesting is that today, deliberate talking point, a message that donald trump was right. to lift the phone. to vladimir putin. she really mean to say that? so i asked her again, and this is what she said. the right approach. to be a central part of that. joe, what do you think

is going on here? and now here we have our government, perhaps. and interestingly, the shadow defence secretary said the same thing on your on your programme today as well. it also echoes what keir starmer wrote in this article in the sun on sunday today, talking about it being time for action. in the sun on sunday. when missiles hit.

really trying to shape public perceptions, to be, donald trump was at cpac, certainly seeming to try and do something very different in changing us perceptions away from ukraine, being critical about the amount of money, house, some of those figures were a little bit questionable. yeah. that it is extraordinary to think that the uk government position has become that it's ok to call vladimir putin. is that what is that? that's what she said. she said it twice. affairs is not her home department and i'm not i just think it was very obvious there was a deliberate decision in government to say

that donald trump has that the uk and the us and other countries position, apart from macron, did have a call with putin and i don't.. but it is a shift for the uk to say it's the right thing to have some form of diplomatic relations with russia by lifting the phone, because ten days ago everybody lifted the phone to him. even though the position of bridget phillipson today and of keir starmer in the paper seems to still be that ukraine must have a voice. difference in position is about sovereignty. awkward in that it's different from the us position to nato membership for ukraine, even though that's been ruled out week and a half ago by.

let's have a listen to the president. people are being killed, i mostly young men, mostly russian and ukrainian men at levels you've _ thousands of people a week. thing is going to end. it's a horrible, - horrible thing to watch. ukraine. that's one of the great lessons of our history. the us is right that we have to do more for our defence how big the check is?

how to keep trump on board, how to appeal to donald trump which has been vital and has made a difference to the conflict, has made a difference to lives in ukraine. embarrassment of that meeting going badly and having to stand next to donald trump at a press conference on thursday in dc on behalf of the uk are working on. some sort of economic partnership in the tech space that feeds into, as avoiding tariffs would, economic growth, problems, those two things will also be on the table, even if all of us are only

thinking at this stage will he be side by side? or will he be there in the main action? it's an interesting moment for me, because all of our lives we've followed this man's career. and it was rumoured that the president was going to block his appointment. that was a story from just a few weeks ago. in washington dc.

had been like before. if you're talking about being high profile, was that he is in a way that some people think this is unfair, karen pierce wasn't as trustworthy in that space. so the intention before he was appointed was certainly that he would be someone who would be very, so he's been doing it for a long, long time. yeah, because i think the thing i'd be interested in the two of you opining on is there's a big split in britain about brexit, and we know that families are divided.

so macron goes on monday. he's representing the eu apart from anything else. so britain's got what brexiteers would say is a dividend. and we want to be treated differently, and we don't want i think all of those things are true, actually. approaches this diplomacy. now we are out of the european union. like the european union. so tick as far as that is concerned. what i think is also true is that the uk's relationship, slightly different with the.. ..than it is with the european union because of our history, many, many, many decades. so i think there was always a difference between the britons and the rest. britain and brussels relationship with

america, if you like. and also, that's the same when it comes to other countries in the eu. you know, the uk and france has always had, again, relationship with other eu countries. changed the calculation somewhat. but there were already differences in our relationships with america. well, joe agreed. is that fair? joe's been reduced to silence. bored into submission. we should point out as we limp through. that there's a day of so these plates shifting in the world, one of the big,

mighty democracies of the world and europe is having its election today. it's voting today. and it was our general election today. for goodness�* sake. and you can see how what a giant weekend this and it's on of the features as well, of having a new american president is all of the different and one of the interesting things the right wing the first european leader to meet him in person.

teeth the other day. it's not necessarily what you might have expected, given he spent the last few weeks saying europe's got yeah, i mean, you had a guest who addressed this style directly because, i mean, we're going to have to one day work out where newscasters are on this. do they want every second the repetition of what the us president has said the last second? i suspect not. or do they want something that will help us plot the next four years and what our life will be like? and work out how to filter it. so let's have a listen to your guest. who was it?

moment in time and this new style of diplomacy. and so everybody around the world is scratching i trump, and what do you need? you flatter, you try i to minimise any kind of disagreement. you try to turn yourl asks into something that brings him a win. another expert in the field of national security. is a winner and the other side is a loser. we also heard from peter ricketts on newscast on saturday. if you want to tell him his role in history is up a democracy in europe to vladimir putin? does he wants to be known as that for the

next half a century. something different? i thought that was all very interesting briefing, that's substance. absolutely. and we'll see what this week brings. and it's a huge challenge and a huge risk, but also and as some people might see it, slow down some of the rush promised to end a the war. he said time and time and time again, he wants to end the war. the point is not about ending the war. for the uk government, it's about ending the war there was a line, i think it was in the sunday times to washington.

and i thought, shouldn't we know? is he going or not? i was trying to get clarity on this a few days ago to you, laura, they say it's... we're not going to reply. it's because of the fact that he called him oh, no, idon't think that matters. offered him extra helpings of chicken when they all had it said it's all fine. but also, if you're. worried about people who said if you think donald trump and also look who he has as his secretary of state. marco rubio talked about the size of his hands donald trump, who have been given very senior positions, wouldn't necessarily think that, writes david lamb. well, it was said to me once that actually what he loves more than anything else is somebody who was rude about him once upon a time, who now says terribly nice things and will swear fealty.

so that's, you know, the repenting sinner. and significant that he's going off to do instead. i don't know what the mystery is there. of his team, then textjoe back and you can put newscasters out of their misery. the pm's team, matthew doyle, who's the director of i'm told, the finer details of the pm's visit. this is not some junior member of the event staff trying team working out what the way out of this hotel or that hotel is.

sure things go well. it's a very interesting to see. the joint congress in 1942, referencing his american mother. there preparing for this trip because there is a win and, you know, maybe it's a bunch of old nattering journalists this is... all you know, i've moved on from. it's the economy, stupid. well, if there's a win for a big political.

opportunity to be had. potential here for the uk to grab is massive. notjust avoiding tariffs, but potentially making making a genuine difference to keir starmer�*s reputation as a prime minister. in government, could he become an international figure of some american president, perhaps of all time, certainly of our modern times. there's so much on the table for the uk to take and do good because i'm afraid, fairly or not, it is about the politics of this, and it is about the sometimes people get

sniffy and say, well, politics should keep personalities out of politics. politicians are people, and they don't always behave to people's personalities, appealing to what will be a win before keir starmer, if he can actually pull it off. and this is the standard to which i think the prime minister of the united kingdom and the president of france can be judged. this show us what you've got. of france, who hated the bossing, being bossed around by nato in nato. and de gaulle said to lbj, get your troops out of france. buried under her soil? and treasure that's been spilt by america in the defence

how eloquent our prime minister is in relation to this because we know, i've already found the clip. about that, that period of the normandy landings. and that could be a moment. in the next few days. well, we'll see, won't we? it'll be very interesting. perhaps they might think, gosh, that's a good idea. let's start talking about the normandy landings, and courage and bravery.

with the monarchy. maybe that would be something that would be wise so we're coming to the end of our conversations. tell us how to get this judgment about how much is too much of you know who. goodbye. live from washington, this is bbc news. friedrich merz is set to become the next chancellor of germany — has won the election — while the far—right afd make historic gains.

iam sumi i am sumi somaskanda live in berlin where the now turns to where the question now turns to building a coalition government. buildtng’a'toafitjon government. merz buildtng’e'teetitien government. merz says boildtng’e'toetitjon government. merz says he will not work friedrieh mere eeye he wiltnet'vfer'e the .fri55rieh m55 55155 he wiltmét'vfer'e; the far right .fri55rieh m55 5535 he wiltmét'vfer'e; the far right the question with the far right on the question now moves forward to who he will he work with? volodymyr zelensky says he's willing to give condition in hospital, but hasn't had any respiratory to have secured a decisive victory in snap elections. christian democrats is poised to become germany's next but the far—right alternative for germany party, better known