gen stoltenberg: good afternoon. vice president pence, welcome to nato headquarters. it is a great honor and a pleasure to have you here. and once after you took office. and a few days after your great speech in munich where you so clearly declared the strong commitment and the unwavering support of the united states to the transatlantic bond. and we welcome that. because we see the strong commitment of the united states to the transatlantic want, not only in words but also in deeds. these days the united states is deploying new forces, additional forces to europe which is of great importance to the security of europe and which demonstrates this strong transatlantic commitment of the united states. >> good after noon. sec. gen stoltenberg: good afternoon. vice president pence, welcome to nato headquarters. it is a great honor and a pleasure to have you here. and once after you took office. and a few days after your great speech in munich where you so clearly declared the strong commitment and the unwavering support of the united states to the transatlantic bond. and w

sec.gen stoltenberg: good afternoon. pens, welcome to nato headquarters. it is a great honor and a pleasure to have you here. and once after you took office. greatfew days after your speech in munich where you so clearly declared the strong commitment and the unwavering support of the united states to the transatlantic bond. and we welcome that. because we see the strong commitment of the united states to the transatlantic want, not only in words but also in deeds. these days the united states is deploying new forces, additional forces to europe which is of great importance to the security of europe and which demonstrates this strong transatlantic commitment of the united states. we are very grateful for this commitment. that just asssed the u.s. stood with europe, europe stood with the united states. we have to remember that the only time that the alliance has invoked our collective defense clause, article five, was after the attack on the united states. and this was more than just a gesture. several hundred thousand canadian and european troops have serv

stoltenberg: all allies have committed to stop cuts and start to increase. that includes germany, and has been expressed from germany that they are committed. the good thing is that germany has increased defense spending. there will be a significant increase in 2017 around 8%. germany as many allies have a long way to go, and some allies will meet the 2% or two.ithin a year romania declared last week they will meet the 2% target this year. left away and you and latvia will soon meet the 2% target within a year or two, so we are making progress. toin, i expect all allies keep the pledge they made together in 2014. let me saypence: again, the president and i are grateful for the secretary-general's focus on burden sharing and for our nato allies, germany or other countries, to meet the commitments that the treaty allies made to one another. it is a demonstration of president trump's leadership that before taking office he was speaking about the fact that the united states provides more than 70% of the costs of nato today, continuee committed to to do our part,

sec.gen stoltenberg: good afternoon. pens, welcome to nato headquarters. it is a great honor and a pleasure to have you here. and once after you took office. greatfew days after your speech in munich where you so clearly declared the strong commitment

gen stoltenberg: good afternoon. vice president pence, welcome to nato headquarters. it is a great honor and a pleasure to have you here. and once after you took office. and a few days after your great speech in munich where you so clearly declared the strong commitment and the unwavering support of the united states to the transatlantic bond. and we welcome that. because we see the strong commitment of the united states to the transatlantic want, not only in words but also in deeds. these days the united states is deploying new forces, additional forces to europe which is of great importance to the security of europe and which demonstrates this strong transatlantic commitment of the united states.

i especially appreciate the leadership of secretary-general stoltenberg and the clear alignment of our messages, as well as the messages delivered by so many of the unified alliance member nations and their ministers of defense. as i noted, nato is the fundamental bedrock for keeping the peace in defending the freedoms we enjoy. the minister of france, on "nato is a peerless alliance." it is a manifestation of our principles and shared values, and the u.s. commitment to article five and our mutual defense is rocksolid. in our meetings, we discussed the strategic situation facing the alliance. many allies, including the minister of germany, recognized 2014 as a watershed year that awakened allies to a new reality. my message to my fellow ministers was simple. nato arose out of strategic necessity, and nato must be evolve in response to the new strategic reality. our community of nations is under threat on multiple fronts, as the ark of insecurity builds on nato's periphery and beyond. we thoroughly discussed the increased threats facing our alliance, and unified by the threats to our de

jens stoltenberg says a ceasefire has been violated thousands of times in recent days — he calls the a long time. things have really hotted up in this town. we have seen several houses that have been hit. if you come through here, they are lucky because, in a way, the house was not hit but actually have a garden shed was. a rocket or mortar has come in and totally flattened it. but we have also discovered that sadly a woman was killed in the morning. we see evidence of that. translation: we think should came to visit us because her daughter lives here. we have nowhere else to go. we have come to this temporary camp and there is a sea of people here. hundreds queueing for help. translation: i have not seen my children and grandchildren in two years. i cannot sleep at night, i have to hide in the basement and i am scared there. you can see soldiers serving out hot stew for the people. it is a city in need. the people here are sadly accustomed to war. but the situation in the last three days has gotten much much worse. let's take you back to the university campus in berkely. a lot of tr

jens stoltenberg says a ceasefire has been violated thousands of times in recent days.ut 20,000 civilians in one town have a left without electricity or water. the ukrainian military has been fighting russian backed separatists for two and a half years now. things have really heated up in the town of avdiivka. we have come to this residential area and seen this in several houses that have been hit, you can see the impact there. if you come back here, this couple lives here. they are kind of lucky, really, because in a way, the house was not hit, but actually, the garden shed was. you can see that a rocket or a mortal something like that has come in and totally flattened it. —— mortar or something. we have also discovered, sadly, that a woman was killed in the morning. we have seen evidence of that and spoken to one of her relatives. translation: we think she came to visit us because her daughter lives here. we cannot understand why people are dying. we have nowhere else to go. we have come to this temporary camp in avdiivka, and there is a sea of people here. hundreds q

stoltenberg: i have heard the same thing, from secretaries mathis -- mathis and kelly. they have all conveyed the same message, that the united states is firmly committed to the trans-atlantic partnership and have an unwavering support for the nato alliance. and i welcome that very much, both very clear statements from all the leaders in the new administration, but also the fact that this is not only something we see in words, but we also see it in deeds. for the first time in many years we see an increase of u.s. military presence in europe and we are deploying new battle groups. the u.s. is deploying a new brigade and we see on the ground more u.s. presence in europe so this is a commitment in words but also in deeds. when it comes to the european union, i would like to underline the importance of the enhanced cooperation between nato and the european union. we have actually been able to bring that to a new level, implementing many different issues or measures, and we signed a joint declaration between president tusk, president juncker, and me in warsaw, and we are no

the secretary general of nato, jens stoltenberg, has urged russia to use its influence with rebels intern ukraine to end an upsurge of fighting there. he said the ceasefire in the area had been violated thousands of times in recent days, and the spike in violence was the most serious in a long time. about 20,000 civilians in the town of avdiivka have been left without electricity or water. police in the romanian capital, bucharest, have used tear gas against protesters in what's said to be the biggest anti—government rally since the fall of communism in 1989. reports say up to a quarter of a million people are demonstrating against an emergency decree that decriminalises some corruption offences. one of china's richest men who mysteriously went missing from his hotel in hong kong over the lunar new year weekend is now reported to have crossed into mainland china. the billionaire, xiao jian—hua's company claims he'd not been kidnapped. he is said to be assisting an investigation into the chinese stock market crash in 2015. this is quite an amazing story. doctors have been able to read

today, mike pence was in brussels to meet eu leaders and also the nato secretary—general, jens stoltenbergence was in brussels to meet eu leaders. the president of the united states and the american people expect our allies to keep their word and to do more in our common defence. and the president expects real progress by the end of 2017. as secretary of defense james mattis said here in belgium just a few short days ago, if you're a nation who meets the 2% target, we need your help, encouraging other nations to do likewise. if you have a plan to get there, as he said, our alliance needs you to accelerate. and if you don't yet have a plan — these are my words, not his — get one. vice president mike pence speaking in brussels today. let's bring in the republican strategist brian morgenstern in new york. thank you so much for giving us your time, starting with those demonstrations, i wonder what they we re demonstrations, i wonder what they were make of it in the white house, that people are protesting about the democratically elected us president? i don't think they'll make much of it, they

vice president mike pence and nato secretary general stoltenberg say each member should pay their fair share. >> the president put this issue front and center before the american them in his campaign for president. and frank lesion it struck a very res nant cord. so i don't know what the answer is or else, but i know that the patience of the american people will not endure forever. as secretary of defense james mattis said in belgium, if you are a nation that meets a 2% target we need your help encouraging other nations to do likewise. if you have a plan to get there, as he said, our alliance needs you to accelerate it. if you don't yet have a plan, these are my words, not his, get one. >> back with me, steven yates, former deputy assistant for security to dick cheney. and from moscow, joining us nick paton walsh. nick, just hearing different messages from the vice president, whether he was in munich there, or in brussels, easy there to assure our european allies who have had some jitters since election day back in november. how is his message resonating? >> i think really the notion t

speaking after talks at nato headquarters, its secretary general, jens stoltenberg, said the alliancey long way to go. and you know that the picture is mixed. some allies are starting to increase, some allies are still struggling with any increase of their defence budgets. only five allies meet our guideline of spending 2% of gdp on defence. so we discussed how we can sustain the positive momentum and speed up national efforts to meet our commitments. earlier, i asked our defence correspondent, jonathan marcus, why so many members of the transatlantic alliance fail to meet their defence spending pledges. it's a good question. i suppose because they believe, at the end of the day, the americans will ride in like the seventh cavalry and provide the wherewithal the alliance needs. this debate about birding sharing has been going on for over a decade. —— about burden sharing. countless americans have come to this building behind me to try to exhort their allies to spend more. this is a very different kind of administration. what general matters came here with today was a kind of tough lov

and this is where i think paul is right, that the secretary general of nato, secretary general stoltenberg, was constantly coming back to the point of how nato is and will continue to press on with meeting the gdp threshold obligations. so clearly that is now a strfro and center. barbara is right, it has been talked about in the past, but it's clearly front and center aamongst our nato allies and here domestically. one of the last points i would make is, you know, a nato alliance is only as good as its weakest members and only as strong as its weakest commitment. that was where i think some of the headlines are going to be made in europe, was this reference to the "or else." there has to be a greater commitment or greater sense of understanding that the u.s. is unwavering in its commitment to nato if we're going to address some of that skepticism our allies have. >> jeff zeleny, back to you at the white house, another question that was asked, a critical question, when it comes to, you know, american democracy, is what the german reporter asked, can you ensure, to the vice president, the fr

it looks like nato secretary-general stoltenberg's getting here as well. of german are many people here, a lot of police around, including a special unit. very interesting to await the arrival of u.s. vice president mike pence. guy: that is what i'm looking forward to pure great coverage. thank you very much indeed. matt and i will be on dab digital radio, coming up. ♪ mark: blair's brexit battle cry. minister triese to change the minds of those who voted to leave the e.u. and he speaks exclusively to rally runsce." the out. the largest winning streak for u.k.-u.s. equities in three years finally takes a breath. is this a pause or the start of a correction? and vice president pence seeks to reassure european leaders on his