Presenter Mishal Husain joins Today programme

Presenter Mishal Husain is to join the BBC Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme Today, Director-General Tony Hall has announced.

Husain will be a core member of the presenting team alongside John Humphrys, James Naughtie, Sarah Montague, Evan Davis and Justin Webb.

Lord Hall said having another women on the line-up was "extremely important".
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Husain, who currently presents Sunday's BBC News at Ten, said she was "delighted" to join the programme.

She will be the second female host alongside Montague, who joined in 2002.

"The programme has unparalleled influence across BBC News and on our national conversation and I am looking forward to being part of it," she said in a statement.

Previously the BBC's Washington correspondent, Husain was a key on-air figure at the BBC in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and throughout the war.

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Husain, who was one of the key faces of the BBC's Olympics coverage, is the main host of the BBC World News' 90-minute Impact programme.

Meanwhile, Naughtie, who has presented Today since 1994, will become a chief reporter in the BBC's coverage of the independence referendum in Scotland.

He will continue to present on the programme but will also host Good Morning Scotland and a series of debates from across Scotland.

Naughtie, who was born in Aberdeenshire, said he was excited to be "in the thick of it, on both sides of the border, from start to finish"
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