18/03/2014 Newsround

Hi, Leah here with the world's biggest stories. Coming up.

A heroes welcome for Great Britain's returning paralympians.

And head over heels in love. First up. They're back! Britain's

most successful Winter Paralympics team in 30 years returned home last

night to an impressive welcome. Watch out for flashes in this one.

The team flew into Heathrow Airport and were welcomed home by

photographers, fans and family. There are now calls for greater

funding after they won six medals in total, including their first gold.

We went out there to do a task and a job, and we definitely did that. OK,

we had some bad days and some good days, but the good has definitely

overrode those bad days. It just shows what we were saying six or

seven years ago, that visually impaired skiing, we can be up there

and in the mix. We believed it and we got people to support us, and it

just shows that the support has been put into us, and the investment is

paying off. Next, Russia's President Vladimir

Putin is expected to invite Crimea to rejoin Russia today, after he

recognised the region as independent from Ukraine. It's after a vote on

Sunday where 96% of people voted that they also wanted Crimea to be

part of Russia again. But Europe and the US say the vote is against the

law and have imposed travel bans on important figures from Russia.

In exactly six months time people in Scotland will get the chance to make

a big decision on the future of their country. Everyone aged 16 and

over will vote on whether Scotland should stay part of the UK or become

an independent country. But what exactly makes a country a country?

Ricky's been finding out more. Scotland is a country of over five

million people, and just like England, Wales and Northern Ireland

it has a rich history and a lot of culture. But in six months time the

future of the country will be decided on something called a

referendum. On September 18, people here will be voting Yes or No to one

big question. Should Scotland be an independent country? If the answer

is Yes, these kids will become the first in 300 years to live in a

Scotland that isn't part of the UK. We asked these kids what they think

makes Scotland, well... Scotland. The culture, the heritage, the

history. William Morris. Robert Burns. The currency, the flower. The

Irn Bru, the flag. We have a national anthem as well, Flower of

Scotland. As a country, Scotland already has its own flag, football

team and its own parliament in Edinburgh, which makes decisions on

things like school, police and transport. But it doesn't have its

own army, and decisions on whether we go to war are made by the UK

Parliament. One big talking point is what would happen to this money if

Scotland became independent. Scotland, like everywhere in the UK,

uses the pound. The only difference is that Scotland prints its own

version of the banknotes, but it still is the same money. The man in

charge of the UK's money, George Osborne, says if Scotland became

independent they couldn't keep using the pound, but Scotland's First

Minister, Alex Salmond, who wants Scotland to be independent, thinks

things can stay the way they are now. So there are lots of things

that go into making a country and, as the vote nears, people will be

talking a lot more about what makes Scotland, Scotland.

Chelsea play Galatasaray in the second leg of their last 16

Champions League tie tonight. The Blues drew 1-1 in the first leg and

will want to avoid being the third English team to be knocked out at

this stage of the competition this year. Jose Mourhino is looking

forward to coming up against former striker Didier Drogba.

We all agree one of the most important players in the history of

our club. Is he the same player at 36 than he was at 26? I think nobody

is, but he is one of the best strikers in the world. To China and

an amazing flower festival. Tourists flocked to this festival, which

takes place every year and has a field full of flowers, including

tulips, roses and blossoms. Beautiful.

Finally, the seventh annual UK Wife Carrying Championships have been

taking place in Dorking. You don't have to be married to take part and

there's loads of techniques, including the piggy-back, and the

fireman's carry. Rich Blake Smith and his partner Anna won and will

now compete at the World Championships in Finland in July.

That's all from me, Ayshah's back here with all your top stories this

afternoon. Bye.