zelenskyy is ready to negotiate. >> grain is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible. >> well, some very positive comments on ukraine from donald trump. and today it's the turn of the uk defence secretary to reassure the americans that we are serious about our own defence. >> talking of defence, it's the ve day countdown. britain will mark the 80th anniversary of ve day with four days of celebrations that begin on may the 5th. >> jd vance is wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. they may be six times bigger, but we did our bit. so on this one jd is wrong. >> nigel farage is joining mps in condemning american president jd vance after he appeared to disregard the british armed forces claims that vance denies. >> a stat in a day. does it keep the doctor away? that's how the nhs is being told to treat overfifties, but unlike other

outlets, we'll tell you where that recommendation has come from so you can make up your own mind. >> and we have an unmanageable court backlog. how will justice secretary shabana mahmood get 73,000 trials through the courtroom? we'll let you know in just a minute. >> and our parents are to blame for fat children. yes, we do call them fat children on this station, as we are warned that one third of kids will be obese by 2050. >> and seagulls. splat. people in a lancashire village are forced to take cover on bindi over fears that they could be hit by bird droppings. amazing pictures we're looking at here. and if we're looking a little bleary eyed this morning because we had a bit of a late night last night. we'll tell you all about it in just a minute. big

quiz. everyone was there. bbc, itv, channel 4, all those inferior news outlets. we'll tell you how we got on in just a minute. get in touch with us, gbnews.c0m/y0ursay. minute. get in touch with us, gbnews.com/yoursay. first, though, here's sofia with the news. >> bev and andrew. thank you. good morning. your headlines. at 9.32, president donald trump has given an address to congress overnight saying he's just getting started. >> america is back. >> america is back. >> he went on to confirm that the ukrainian president is willing to sign a deal with the us on minerals. >> earlier today, i received an important letter from president zelenskyy of ukraine. the letter reads ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. nobody wants peace more than the ukrainians, he said. my team and i stand ready to work. under president trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. i appreciate that he

sent this letter, just got it a little while ago. simultaneously, we've had serious discussions with russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. >> it comes as defence secretary john healey will travel to washington this week in an effort to bridge the transatlantic gap on ukraine's peace plan. meanwhile, the mailonline are reporting that the united states has banned britain from sharing intelligence from washington with ukraine. it's also reported the president is planning to relinquish leadership of nato, instead urging britain and france to take more responsibility for several billion pounds in spending cuts, including from the welfare budget, are expected in the chancellor's spring statement later this month. the treasury will put the proposed cuts to the government's official forecaster today, amid concerns that rachel reeves financial buffer has been wiped out. it's understood sources say the world

has changed since the chancellor's budget last october, when the obr indicated she had £9.9 billion available to spend. in other news, a manhunt is underway after a teenage boy was shot dead in broad daylight in south london in what police called an enormously shocking incident. the 16 year old was found with gunshot wounds in clapham yesterday but couldn't be saved. no arrests have yet been made as police race to identify him and contact his family. officers are combing cctv and speaking to witnesses. with the crime scene still in place, the met police says they'll be working around the clock to catch those responsible. and pope francis rested well last night and remained stable after suffering two episodes of acute respiratory failure earlier this week. doctors were forced to intervene to clear mucus from his lungs. it's the third setback since he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. the pontiff will miss today's lent

celebrations. those are the latest gb news headlines. more in half an hour. >> for the very latest gb news direct to smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com/poll. >> chris billam—smith james matthewson. >> welcome to britain's newsroom with bev and andrew here until midday. now, we're a little bit tired this morning. we were at an event last night at the guildhall in london. >> fabulous venue. >> fabulous venue. >> fabulous venue. really >> fabulous venue. really fun evening. gb news had a table, we had camilla tominey. she was head girl. she really was very bossy with a pen, very bossy. tom harwood was there. we had jeff and dan and nick from the back. team martin daubney was there and me and andrew making our way through the wine. so this is the room. this is the gallery, the art gallery at the guildhall. and so you've got all those people there. how many

tables were there? i think there's about 42 tables, about 40 tables. and so you can see there there's the stage gary lineker was hosting in the middle. and as you pan around look where they sat. gb news pan around to the side. and we were right at the back of the room. >> watching the tradesmen's entrance. >> you couldn't get further away. that table you could see at the front there was at that time was reserves and last minutes, and they'd put gb news right at the back. now listen, maybe it's accidental. >> yeah, we are mind. >> yeah, we are mind. >> we don't mind. maybe it wasn't deliberate. maybe it was the organisers. and gary lineker being on stage didn't want gb news right at the front. but we had a really, really great evening. we had a really good time. there was more than £350,000 raised for action for children, which is fantastic. we're happy to play a part in that. >> and there was newsnight. >> and there was newsnight. >> this morning, loose women. >> this morning, loose women. >> yeah, yeah. >> yeah, yeah. >> and. >> and. >> bloomberg i think were they there. maybe they weren't. >> yeah they were bloomberg were they. in fact we tied with bloomberg. they were one of the

people we tied with. yeah. and so there was rounds of quizzes hosted by gary lineker. i think you past gary lineker at one point, didn't you. on the stairs. >> i heard a word hissed. >> i heard a word hissed. >> he hissed at you past jeremy vine on the stairs as well, which is always nice. it's always nice to rub up on your old adversaries, isn't it? smile nicely. kill them with kindness. and we came, i think we think we came fifth in the end of the odd tables. >> exactly. so we were very pleased with that. >> so we did very well. tom harwood was just excellent on all sorts. we were. >> just a few points from being in the top three. >> yeah, we were a couple of things let us down and lbc radio 1, obviously they were delighted. you know, if you're not very popular with the public then you have to win certain things don't you. whereas we like the love of you at home more than we like trophies. so we had a great time anyway. we did. >> now moving on. britain's going to mark the 80th anniversary of ve day this year with four days of concerts, services and processions. >> commemorations are going to begin on may the 5th, which is, of course, the bank holiday at the cenotaph, which will be draped in union flags for the

first time since it was unveiled by king george the fourth in 1920. >> king george v in 1920. oh dean >> king george v in 1920. oh dear. who writes these? >> who wrote that? >> who wrote that? >> honestly? because the culture secretary, lisa nandy, says this year's anniversary offers important opportunities for communities to come together. >> philippa rawlinson is the director of remembrance at the royal british legion and she joins us now. good morning philippa. so this occasion we do this extremely well in this country. but extra pressure this yeah country. but extra pressure this year. what a fantastic celebration that we're going to have to have. >> absolutely. the 80th anniversary of the d—day and v—j day in august. they mark marks 80 years since the end of second world war and at the royal british legion. we're really keen to put our precious second world war veterans at the heart of all the commemorations to mark that momentous event. and, you know, as commemorations up and down the country will be happening, royal british legion members will be out there creating commemorations with veterans at home. and we're asking veterans to 1539 00:08:58,960