this is bbc news. i'm nicholas owen. the headlines. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has called off a visit to moscow, saying the chemical weapons attack in syria changed the situation ‘fundamentally‘. two people have died and 33 others were rescued after a fire at a care home in hertfordshire. swedish police say a man arrested in stockholm after yesterday's fatal lorry attack is almost certainly the driver. and — coming up in 10 minutes — political leaders and commentators from the baltics, america and russia will be exploring what the new era of putin and trump could look like in global questions. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the foreign secretary,

borisjohnson, has pulled out of a planned visit to moscow next week in the wake of the chemical weapons attack in syria earlier this week. in a statement, mrjohnson said he deplored russia's continued defence of the assad regime. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins reports. this was president trump's message to the syrian government and its russian backers yesterday, delivered with force. the united states and her allies reject syrian denials they used a chemical weapon against civilians, including children. now britain has followed up with a diplomatic rebuke. borisjohnson has called off talks in moscow on monday and issued a written statement instead. the planned visit by borisjohnson would be the first by any

british foreign secretary for five years, a long gap reflecting the difficult relationship between britain and russia which already existed. but the events of the past week in syria have now provoked an even deeper crisis. russia's response came from a tweet from the embassy in london, accusing boris johnson of theatrics for lack of argument, and inviting people to listen instead to what they call russia's soft power. a link leads to this excerpt of tchaikovsky's patriotic 1812 overture celebrating past russian victory. instead of seeing the russians on monday, borisjohnson will be in italy, talking to america's secretary of state rex tillerson and other allies including germany. translation: the attack by the united states is understandable, given the extent of the war crime, the suffering of the innocent people and the blockade

the un security council. and that message will be reinforced when mr tillerson, not borisjohnson, goes to moscow next week for what will be a very tough encounter between russia and the united states. two people have died in a fire at a care home in hertfordshire. firefighters were called to the newgrange care home in cheshunt early this morning. a number of people were taken to hospital. our correspondent andy moore has more details. firefighters were called here at 5.50am this morning and they were confronted by a fierce blaze, raging in the roof space from end to end of this fairly modern, substantial building. there are 35 residents here, they are elderly and infirm. many of them are wheelchair users. firefighters had to manhandle many of those residents onto their shoulders and then down on ladders. the residents were brought out into the street here,

some of them in chairs, they were in their nightclothes and they were covered in blankets and clothing, anything to keep them warm. residents say it was a fantastic response by the emergency services. a big fire incident close to my house. the rescue team are near. it's been challenging this morning, trying to do the rescue work. they have managed to recue about ten people. a lot more, i think, in there. the fire has got up to four buildings, as you can see from the video. that is just at the back of my building, at the back of my residence. i'm taking this picture from my house. as i said, the emergency services were here very quickly. a lot of firefighters, using brute force, essentially, to rescue the residents from the home and bring them to safety.

it was a very challenging operation. let's hearfrom darryl keen, the chief fire officer for hertfordshire. the first crews that arrived were faced with a very severe fire, that was primarily contained in the roof space, but spreading very rapidly. of course, this being a residential care home, there were over 30 people, some of which were unable to escape themselves. we ended up carrying out a number of rescues, over 30, to remove people, both with crews wearing breathing apparatus and via ladders. as you know, 33 were successfully rescued, and unfortunately two residents died as a result of the fire. there is a thorough investigation going on. in fact, even while the fire was still burning, we'd pulled together a team to start the investigation, as you would expect. fire investigation officers from hertfordshire fire

and rescue service are working very closely with hertfordshire constabulary and obviously we will be here until we identify the cause of the fire. so, 35 residents were living here. about 30 of them have been found now alternative accommodation. two sadly died. three were taken to hospital with minor burns and the effects of breathing in smoke. one of them has been moved to a community hospital. the condition of the other two isn't known at the moment. swedish police say a man arrested in stockholm after yesterday's fatal lorry attack is almost certainly the driver — a 39—year—old man from uzbekistan. four people were killed and 15 injured when the lorry crashed into the front of a department store. police have also confirmed that a "suspicious device" was found inside the truck. our correpondent dan johnson reports. in stockholm there's been calm, there's been stillness and there's been sadness too. this evening people are still coming here to lay flowers, to reflect and to think about exactly what happened here yesterday. they know that the deeper impacts of this attack will take time to sink in, but today there's been progress in the police investigation for people to absorb too.

investigators have confirmed that their main suspect, the man they think was at the wheel of that truck, is the 39—year—old from uzbekistan. we've been told he's got connections to a housing estate, to a poor neighbourhood on the northside of stockholm. people there have described how the police were investigating there last night, searching a property into the early hours of the morning. they say that other people were taken away from there for questioning. investigators haven't ruled out the possibility that other people could have been involved in this attack. there are sensitive questions raised by what happened here yesterday. issues around whether this country's open, embracing approach to immigrants can be maintained when there are so many questions about security here. for the moment, people's thoughts are with those who lost their lives and the injured too — nine who were seriously injured and are still being treated. tonight we hear there is further progress in the investigation, with armed police searching other properties to the south

of stockholm. a strike by rail workers disrupted travel to the grand national on one of the biggest days of industrial action in the current wave of disputes over staffing and driver—only trains. members of the rmt at merseyrail, arriva trains north and southern walked out for 2h hours, with further stoppages not being ruled out. picket lines were mounted outside stations and union members were said to be solidly supporting the action. merseyrail said it transported around 12,000 people to aintree for the grand national, compared with 18,000 last year. a plymouth teenager has been telling the bbc how he stumbled across a missing man who'd been down a hole in the woods for more than a week. izaak egglington watts had shouted into the hole expecting to hear an echo, but got the fright of his life when a man answered back. john ayres has more. it was meant to be a pleasant walk

in slimbridge woods for isaac and one of his friends but what happens next to both by surprise. this is the home that me and my friend find when we were walking in the woods. i leaned in and shouted hello, to hear the echo. and that is when i got the response. the moment was captured on a mobile phone. are you all right? do you need some help?” a mobile phone. are you all right? do you need some help? i was terrified to begin with, it is pitch black with nothing in there, to hear that coming back. hold on! emily? call an ambulance or something. the man in the hole was james thompson, 51. he was last seen on cctv in

plymouth one month earlier. when he was found he was close to death. taking this to the natural conclusion, you have saved his life. how do you feel? i am very happy it has come to this conclusion. it must meana has come to this conclusion. it must mean a lot of relief to his family and him. i am mean a lot of relief to his family and him. lam glad he is in the right hands, usa. it is not james thompson was sleeping rough, suffered an injury and crawled into the hole for shelter. he was in a very poor state when he was fine. the whole has been closed for safety. now on bbc news, global questions brings together political leaders and commentators from the us, russia and the baltic states to ask how the relationship between donald trump and vladimir putin will develop. will it create a new world order that brings more threats than opportunities? the programme was recorded last week in the latvian capital, riga. riga, the capital of latvia. a baltic metropolis with a spectacular old town and one