europe over ukraine. i'll and europe over ukraine. i'll also be speaking to the architect of the doge dividend. that's a plan to pay a tax rebate to american citizens based on savings made by elon musk's department. meanwhile, a sudanese migrant has dodged deportation after a judge has overruled the home office's claim that he wasn't a child, in spite of its claims that he had a receding hairline. plus, in light of the most horrific violent crimes we've seen over the past year or so, i'll be joined by a former bbc journalist who has made it his mission to answer the question why do people kill? that state of the nation? it starts right now. i'm also joined by my panel contributing editor, novara media, michael walker, and

assistant editor of the daily telegraph, poppy coburn. as even telegraph, poppy coburn. as ever, let me know your views of gbnews.com/yoursay. but now it's time for the news with that great man, sam francis. >> very good afternoon. very good evening rather to you. and the top story from the newsroom . the top story from the newsroom. just after 8:00. the uk and norway have signed a landmark declaration to forge a major new agreement and step up defences against growing russian threats. the defence secretary has been in norway today amid warnings that russia has long developed the ability to sabotage critical underwater systems and could use it in a future conflict. both nafions it in a future conflict. both nations are tightening intelligence sharing, ramping up military training and deploying cutting edge surveillance to detect potential attacks beneath the sea. well, speaking earlier at a joint press conference, john healey also vowed to step up further support for ukraine

and said we must keep them in the fight. >> our job is to stand with the ukrainians, support the ukrainians, support the ukrainians, support them ukrainians, support them in ukrainians, support the m in their fight and if they choose to talk, support them in the negotiations as well. and i'm a defence minister and i don't want to see us jeopardising the peace by forgetting the war. >> meanwhile, reform uk leader nigel farage has hit back at former president donald. current president donald trump defending the ukrainian president, saying he's not a dictator. trump had previously used the term to describe volodymyr zelenskyy, urging him to negotiate quickly with russia or risk losing his country. while speaking on gb news earlier, mr farage said you should always take everything donald trump says seriously but not always literally. >> let's be clear zelenskyy is not a dictator. but but it's only right and proper that ukrainians have a timeline for elections. i mean, after all, i recently said that i thought

keir starmer was behaving like a dictator because we cancelled the vote. he's cancelled the vote of 5.5 million people in local elections on may the 1st this year. so no, he's not a dictator. but there needs to be a timeline so that the ukrainian people can vote on a peace deal. >> well, let's just turn away from news regarding the ukraine and turning to breaking news from the middle east. there is a suspected report of a terror attack in israel, where two empty buses have exploded in a parking lot in the south of tel aviv. the israeli capital. these are the latest pictures just into us , from social media, into us, from social media, showing the scene of the charred remains of those two buses, flames tearing through the vehicles tonight, with firefighters racing to contain that blaze. reports suggest no one has been hurt, but local media saying police are now investigating the cause of the blazes, with the city's mayor also warning that searches and security precautions are

underway. a possible manhunt also underway, according to local reports. as you can see there, dramatic scenes of that blaze on those two buses. authorities at this stage in israel saying it's unclear what has triggered those two blasts. we'll keep across any details and bring it to you. in other news, the number of suspended sentences for knife possession here in england and in wales has hit a ten year high with nearly 3900 convictions leading to suspended terms just last year. it comes as ministers have unveiled new anti knife crime measures, including forcing retailers to report bulk sales and tougher sentences for selling illegal blades. the rise in suspended sentences also coincides with a record high crown court backlog, which has nearly doubled in just five years. that's the news on gb news. i'll be back with you for a full roundup of all the top stories at 9:00. now, though, back to state of the nation. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning

the qr code , or go to the qr code, or go to gbnews.com/advent. >> james matthewson. >> james matthewson. >> welcome back to state of the nafion >> welcome back to state of the nation with me christopher hope. now, here was vice president jody vance's criticism of europe today. >> i'm not even blaming the europeans. i'm actually saying you follow the lead of joe biden into censorship and mass migration. follow the lead of donald j. trump, and that's free speech, borders and sovereignty. that came after what appears to be a widening rift between the us and europe on the russia ukraine negotiations, he was reform uk nigel farage, appearing to disagree with his good friend donald trump on gb news earlier today. >> you should always take

everything donald trump says seriously. you shouldn't always take things that donald trump says absolutely, literally. zelenskyy is not a dictator. but but it's only right and proper that ukrainians have a timeline for elections. >> well, gb news understands that sir keir starmer is now offering to host a downing street summit for european leaders to discuss the european response to donald trump's attempts to end the war in ukraine. i'm joined now live from cpac by fox and newsmax, commentator and advisor to various us senators and former political consultant to boris johnson, thomas corbett, dylan thomas, thanks for joining us tonight. great to see you. >> yes. good to be here. thanks for having me. >> is nigel farage right? we shouldn't really take donald trump literally when he describes zelenskyy, who's elected as a dictator. >> well, i think if you went

around this conference, for example, and asked most of the people here, they would agree with the president that zelenskyy is a dictator because it is a fundamental belief of the american people that elections should be held irregularly every four years here. you know, they held elections here during the civil war, during the first world war, dunng war, during the first world war, during the second world war. they always hold elections. and the fact that zelenskyy is not willing to have elections does not play well with the american people here. so i think you would find a lot of the people actually do agree with the president that they're not too happy with zelenskyy. >> come off it, thomas corbett. dylan, he's got a quarter of his country under the control of russia. how can he have fair elections, given that? and let's not think let's not not forget about winston churchill delaying elections during the second world war. he's doing exactly what he meant to do. if you're fighting, frankly, for your existence as a country, he's trying to deal with the threat from without before dealing with the democracy within. >> well, you may think that, but the american people do not agree

with that. they don't believe in that. and the fact is, do the ukrainian people not have a say? do they just have to stay in an endless war because they don't get a vote? the american people here believe that regardless of the situation, they should be having elections. so the president is speaking on behalf of the majority of americans that voted for him. and throughout the campaign, from day one, he has said he will end the war in ukraine. and that is what he's doing. he is going out there trying to be the president of peace, as they are saying. and for some reason, the uk and europe are standing in his way. the deal is going to be done regardless of what the uk and europe think. >> thomas corbett did a what cost will peace be done? i mean, donald trump appears to be giving away most of the negotiating hand to vladimir putin already. or is there a secret plan to somehow stitch up the russian leader? >> i mean, what do they expect to do this, this idea that keir is going to send british troops, do they really think they're going to push back the russians and get that land back? the war is over. no one is moving. the borders are not changing now.

it's basically been done for the last two years. and the fact that it's still going is just the death of hundreds of thousands of men unnecessarily. president trump is going to end this war. and the fact that the british government is standing in the way is really quite confusing, in the way is reall