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mark rutter, the nato secretary general, has said that 3% of gdp should be a kind of minimum baselinest 2%. now, there are still countries that are not even paying 2%. britain is agonising over whether to raise it from 2.3 to 2.5, and won't commit to a time where most countries who live closer to russia like the baltic nations, poland, estonia, etc., they are spending well in excess of 3%. and they're saying, actually, we need to spend even more if we are going to face up to the challenge of a rebuilt, resurgent russian army once the ukraine war is over. meanwhile, the business secretaryjonathan reynolds has told the bbc, the uk government recognises the need to increase defence spending in the wake of the comments from the us defence secretary pete hegseth. earlier this week, mr hegseth told nato members to bolster military spending by �*considerably more than three percent�*. currently the uk only spends two point 3% of national income on defence. for more on this, our political correspondent harry farleyjoined me in the studio earlier. i've just been talking about about ukraine and

similarly, deborah rutter has been a great leader of the kennedy center for 11 years.now, it turns out that both of them had already announced they would be moving on. but in a way that allowed for a smooth transition. so, i don't know the current leadership. i was on the board call where mr. grenell was appointed. i look forward to meeting him. i hope that the organization, like they book out a couple of years in advance, so canceling shows is bad for the arts community. it's bad for our reputation in the arts community, locally and around the world. but it's also bad for business. and like i said, people, you know, it's a local institution but it is america's arts center. people come from around the country to see shows. so, i don't know how we benefit at all from canceling shows and affecting economic development. so, when you say you want to have a beautiful capital, you can't also undercut the ways that we have a beautiful capital. so, we have to support the arts. people probably don't realize this about d.c., but we have the second-highest number of theater seats

the board also voted to fire the institution's president, deborah rutter.ad initially planned to leave at the end of the year. former acting director of, will now be the interim president. president trump has decided the center's hosting dry performances as a reason for wanting to reshape its programming. the trump administration is scrapping a bite and policy that aims to regulate name, image, and likeness payments the college athletes under title ix rules. the guidance required universities treat those funds the same as athletic scholarships and that would have meant paying out the money proportionately to male and female athletes. a trump official called that guidance overly burdensome. more winter weather hit the central u.s. today from oklahoma to the great lakes. further east, they are digging out from a separate storm that cut its way from kentucky to the nation's capital. clouds were out in virginia today as much of the mid-atlantic was blanketed in white. at one point, nearly 200,000 customers were without power there. meantime in california, they

the first was to get rid of the current director, deborah rutter, who by all accounts has done a really good job as director of the kennedy center. she was set to retire in august. anyway, but basically to fire her and then to replace her with ric grenell. and the president called in in the middle in the midst of the voting on that and spoke for about four or 4.5 minutes, and you showed a little you played a little excerpt of that. >> so for people who aren't in washington, i mean, the kennedy center is obviously it's probably best known for the kennedy center honors, as the program is broadcast around christmas time, usually honors big hollywood actors and musicians. well, president trump then and the new board now choose which artists are to be honored at the program. >> i mean, there is a there is a board of directors and they will supervise and they will be in charge of it. and, you know, a lot of the people that the president has appointed to the board are political appointees, such as his new chief of staff, susie wiles, his aide, dan scavino. um, the second lady usha vance. et ce

. >> with me now is the former president of the kennedy center for the performing arts, deborah rutter she was scheduled to leave this coming august. but two nights ago, the new trump led kennedy center fired her and put longtime trump confidant rick grenell in charge. so thank you. and i'm sorry that we're seeing each other again under these conditions. you've worked in the arts industry for the past 47 years. what does it feel like to be part of this political craziness.? >> for 47 years. >> i've loved working alongside. artists and colleagues. >> who support artists. >> um. creating experiences in theaters and concert halls. um. it's sad disheartening. to have it end so abruptly. >> um. trump shared his new vision for the kennedy center in this post on truth social reading. quote, just last year, the kennedy center featured drag shows specifically targeting our youth. this will stop for the kennedy center. the best is yet to come. uh, npr says that performances at the center have included drag brunches in the center's rooftop restaurant, a lip sync drag salute to divas at its free m

. >> and shout out to deborah rutter because she was really good at incorporating local voices. being. >> the most. interesting man in the entire world. all right, stick around. >> there is more ahead. >> and coming up on. >> velshi, it's a brand. new edition of the. >> velshi banned book club. >> today, ali is going to be joined by author gillian flynn to discuss her bestseller, gone girl. that's coming. >> up at 10 a.m. eastern right here on msnbc. do not go anywhere. >> we will. keep you. >> and, doug. >> you'll be back. emus can't. >> help people customize. >> and save hundreds on. >> car insurance with. >> liberty mutual. >> you're just a. flightless bird. >> no. >> he's a dreamer, frank. >> okay. >> and, doug. >> well. i'll be. >> that bird really did it. >> only pay. >> only pay. >> f for more than a decade farxiga has been trusted again and again, and again. ♪far-xi-ga♪ ♪far-xi-ga♪ ask your doctor about farxiga. go to join aarp. org to join today for just $15 for your first year with automatic renewal. and your second membership is free and get instant access to discount

also german chancellor schulz, donald tusk, the polish pm, italy's giorgia meloni nato boss mark ruttere eu commission president ursula von der leyen. so talk about what to do next, how to deal with the fact that it seems very clear that the us is basically forging ahead with making having talks about ukraine and about europe without involving either. now we know things are moving very, very fast. and today us negotiators have arrived in saudi arabia to talk to russia and europe, not ianed talk to russia and europe, not invited to those discussions, ukraine not invited to those discussions. and in the last few minutes, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy has said that the ukraine would not take part in those that ukraine didn't know anything about it, and has also gone on to send a very clear message saying that they won't recognise any agreement about us without us. europe two very clear that ukraine has to be involved with discussions about its future and so must europe. but at the moment it doesn't really feel like america is listening. now sir keir starmer will be arriving here.