hello, i'm philippa thomas, this is outside source. a former russian spy is found critically ill in southern england — exposed to an unknown substance. decontamination teams are deployed and major incident is declared at a hospital. italy's election proves to be a victory for anti—establishment candidates, the leader of the five star movement says he's now open to coalition talks. president trump says he's "not backing down" on his plan for swingeing taxes on foreign steel imports — saying america has been ripped off on trade. we lost $800 billion a year on trade. not going to happen, we are going to get it back. get in touch on all our stories at bbcos. salisbury hospital here in the uk declared a major

incident early monday — it's only in the last few hours we've got details as to what's happening. it appears to involved an unknown substance, a 33—year—old woman and this russian man, sergei skripal, he was involved in a high profile prisoner exchange back in 2010. here's the police in salisbury. the pair, who we believe are known to each other did not have any visible injuries and were taken to salisbury district hospital. they are being treated for suspected exposure to an unknown substance. the original incident happened outside a shopping mall in salisbury. from there, leila nathoo. far back in the distance behind where these officers are currently working there is a team of officers working there is a team of officers working in protective suits and

masks, looking to the contents of a bin. behind that there is a police tentin bin. behind that there is a police tent in place which covers a bench. it isa tent in place which covers a bench. it is a shopping precinct in the centre of salisbury. it was on a bench in this shopping precinct whether two were found yesterday afternoon. they were found unconscious, but we have spoken to eyewitness who said they appeared to be out of it, in their words. 0ne eyewitness said it looked like they we re eyewitness said it looked like they were on drugs or had been drinking heavily. police said the two are critically ill in hospital and they are investigating they have been exposed to an unknown substance. they are refusing to confirm as yet what that substance may be. but the bbc understands that one of the two people involved was the former russian spy, sergei skripal. he had been convicted in 2006 of working, of treason in russia. he was

ef treesen. in. russie. hewesw we? 7. we we it; to still 1: festillf going f‘fl t ” greetillf going 53 routine t people are still going to routine operations and appointments. the police are trying to understand how the couple fell unconscious and what happened to them. when you hear those words, a russian national, it does ring set an alarm bells because

it wouldn't be the first russian to have come to britain or £451? " ' ’ 7 it wouldn't be the first russian to have come to britain or“ to _ by the re; by the russian many he russian wefif‘gf to be his residents, we believe to be his house nearby, there was a police car stood outside it. although neighbours said they hadn't seen him for while. clearly, many neighbours said they hadn't seen him forwhile. clearly, many unanswered questions here about what exactly

has happened to him, what substance he had been exposed to to leave him and his 33—year—old companion in a critical condition in hospital. there is much more on that on the bbc online. italy is europe's third largest economy and in the world's top ten. but in political terms, it's rudderless. it looks like there'll be a hung parliament after its voters gave right—wing and populist parties a boost in sunday's election. with 99% of votes counted, results show the euro—sceptic, anti—establishment five star movement as the biggest single party with almost a third of the vote. here's its leader luigi di maio. translation: for the five star movement, this general election has been a triumph. we are the overall winners of the selection. so first

and foremost, a big thank you to be about 11 million italians who voted for us. they gave us the honour of giving us their vote. it is an honour to have such an endorsement as the first party of the country. despite five star's success, a coalition of the far—right looks set to win the most seats in the lower house of parliament. the league's leader matteo salvini would likely head up that coalition and has declared his party has the "right and duty" to govern. translation: i keep my word. i keep the commitments i make with the 6 million italians. this commitment is a centre—right coalition with which we have the right and the duty to rule and to govern in the next few years. our europe editor

katya adler tweets... you'll remember last year's french elections saw the far—right candidate marine le pen reach the presidential run off. she has treated happily about what has happened in italy. one other thing to show you quickly. the italian newspaper la repubblica has mapped the election results, and you can see how the vote split the country in half. the yellow in the south of the country is where five star won. the dark blue in the north is where the centre—right won. let's go back to karin in rome. if you look at the map of the way people voted in italy, you will see

the political divide and that is because of the economic divide. the north is so much more prosperous than the south. the south has lower productivity. the north has opted for the centre—right forza italia or northern league. the five star movement on its own is the single biggest party. whether the people who voted for change in terms of voting for the five star movement, actually get to see it get its hands on big power in government is a big question, because the centre—right coalition has come first as a block and it may be the one that is granted the mandate by the president to try to form a government. it is just short of the a0%, so it does have to enter into coalition talks. but it is a big question whether the

system will simply not allow the five star movement, as it is, to actually take power. and what about those who were in government? well the centre—left democratic party did worse than expected, leaving its leader, the former prime minister matteo renzi, with only one way — out. translation: it is obvious that after this i will leave my post of lead to the democratic party. i have already asked the chairman to call a national assembly to start the procedure. this will happen at the end of the stage of the new parliament are forming and the new government forming. we have an italianjournalist we have an italian journalist and she has more on matty arendse's

expected departure. he said that he wants to resign after the parliament has elected the president of the house of commons and the president of the senate. but he has not resigned yet, so this is a little bit crazy at the moment. the democratic party, we do not know what will happen. certainly, it will open upa what will happen. certainly, it will open up a competition to run the secretary back again. there was a line used in british politics where one politician taunted another and said, you were the future, once. i guess that could be said of matty arendse, and i wonder who is the future now? the future now is the five star movement and the northern league. the northern league was the past, but with mattiello salvini, is

the future again. there is no majority at all. the centre—right coalition is the first coalition and the five star movement is the first party but the parliament is divided into three major forces and the fourth is the centre left with the democratic party. it will be difficult to elect the president of the chamber of the house of commons and the president of the senate. but, i think the head of state, the president of the republic is waiting to see what happens in the parliament after these elections coming at the end of march. italian politics often involves coalitions and negotiation, but even by italian standards, is this mess? this is a

mess, also by italian standards. because we used to have the country divided into two and centre left. now it is centre—right, centre—left and the five star movement. the country itself is divided in two, between north who voted for the centre—right coalition and the south, which voted for the five star movement. it is ms, yes. president trump has hit out again at foreign steel producers that he feels dump their products on the american market. see for yourself how strongly he feels about this. people have to understand, our country on trade has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world, whether it is friend or enemy. everybody. china, russia...

people we think are wonderful, the european union. we cannot do business with them, they don't allow, they have trade barriers that are worse than tariffs. let's think about what he meant when he said trade wars are good because he might be getting one. let's look at what might be implicated here. the eu said it might slap heavy tariffs on levi jeans. and bourbon products and the eu was talking about a 25% import tax. we want to show you about where the us gets its steel from. canada's at the top. today itjoined fellow members of the world trade organisation, including the eu, mexico and australia, south korea and india, to warn against the us plans. even members of president trump's own party are urging a re—think. here's republican

senator mike lee... it is a "hugejob—killing tax hike on american consumers." and here's another republican senator lindsay graham explaining that the tariffs won't tackle the underlying problem — the glut of cheap steel on the market, that's largely produced by china. china is winning and we are losing with this tariff regime. you are letting china of the hot, punishing the american consumer and our allies. go after china, not the rest of the world. here's barbara plett—usher in washington, the formal announcement hasn't been made yet but the rhetoric coming out of the white house is pretty tough. it is actually us allies which would suffer the most, which is ironic, including mexico and canada. today,

president trump suggested they might get a carved out if they play nice with these applets to renegotiate the american free trade agreement, which is probably not going to soothe any tempers, but it might suggest it is still a progress. when mrtrump made suggest it is still a progress. when mr trump made the announcement last week, he took everyone by surprise. he went ahead and did it. according to reports, he was having a bad house at the white house and he got fed up saying he could not follow his instincts on tariffs, so he took matters into his own hands. people are hoping he will reverse it or mitigate it in some way. are hoping he will reverse it or mitigate it in some waylj are hoping he will reverse it or mitigate it in some way. i willjust bring upa mitigate it in some way. i willjust bring up a quote from paul ryan, who says we are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and we are urging the white house not to advance with this plan. but he is one of the president's top allies in congress? yes, there are many more people against this move than those

for it. the republican party is against it. it is a strong statement from paul ryan and members of the business community have been very worried about a possible trade war and the consequences for american industry and business, because of it. they are lobbying to try to get mrtrump to back it. they are lobbying to try to get mr trump to back down, saying this isa mr trump to back down, saying this is a really bad idea. from what paul ryan was saying coming he is prepared to go head—to—head with the president on this. we want to talk about one more story about president trump. he was making those trade comments in the white house alongside benjamin netanyahu. when mrtrump had alongside benjamin netanyahu. when mr trump had finished, this is what the israeli prime minister had to say. this is the first time we have met in washington, america's capital after you declared, mr president, jerusalem as israel's capital. this was an historic proclamation,

followed by your bold decision to move the embassy on our up and coming national independence day. why has this been such a very big deal? in its context it is good news for benjamin netanyahu because he is mired in bribery and corruption scandals at home. abysmally by mr trump to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel and saying the us will move it embassy there is popular. we expect benjamin netanyahu popular. we expect benjamin neta nyahu make a popular. we expect benjamin netanyahu make a big deal of it in his comments and he did. mr trump responded by saying he may go to israel for the opening of the embassy. but as we know, the palestinians are furious about this decision because they want east jerusalem as their capital and they feel mr jerusalem as their capital and they feeertrump jerusalem as their capital and they feel mr trump has jerusalem as their capital and they feeertrump has taken jerusalem as their capital and they feel mr trump has taken that option away from them. they are boycotting his peace efforts. mr trump said they wanted to come back to the table, but he provided no evidence for that and they haven't provided

any evidence either. we not expecting any roll—out of this long—awaited peace plan during this visit. stay with us on outside source — still to come: we will show you the future of the berg industry. it is not about the meet, but the machine doing the preparation. the prime minister has announced reforms to planning rules in england. labour called them "feeble. " but theresa may says home ownership "largely unaffordable" to those not backed by "the bank of mum and dad". i want to seek planning permission going to people who will build houses, not just sit going to people who will build houses, notjust sit on the land and watch its value rise. the councils are allocating sufficient lands for the home people need and a new planning rule book. developers building on large sites that aren't allocated in the plan. something thatis allocated in the plan. something that is not fair on residents who agree to a plan, only to see it

ignored. by ending abuse of the viability assessment process, we will make it much harderfor unscrupulous developers to dodge their obligation to build homes local people can afford. the government will make sure land is available for homes and make sure young people have the skills needed to build the homes are country needs. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is: a former russian spy is found critically ill in southern england, exposed to an unknown substance. decontamination teams are deployed and major incident is declared at a hospital. some of our other stories making news around the world... bbc arabic reports on the iraqi government ordering the seizure of assets that belonged to the late dictator saddam hussein. also targeted are his extended family and thousands of former officials. their assets will be confiscated

and sold, with all revenues going to the ministry of finance. bbc vietnamese reports that the united states has sent an aircraft carrier to the country for the first time, since the end of the vietnam war. the uss carl vinson is coming 53 years after us forces first arrived to fight communist forces. online a lot of people are watching this footage of brazil striker neymar — that's him on crutches. if you're a brazil supporter, it's not what you want to see 100 days before the world cup kicks off in russia. he'll be assessed by club doctors at paris saint—germain in the next couple of weeks. shale oil output in the us is set to surge over the next five years, moving the united states, once the world's top oil importer, closer to self sufficiency. that's according to the international energy agency. joe millerjoins me now from new york. this has been the story over the

last few years, the boom in shale? it has been an incredible story. one of the fundamental truths of the energy market and the political reality for decades in the past has a lwa ys reality for decades in the past has always been that the us imports its oil and the biggest oil producers at the opec cartel countries, mainly the opec cartel countries, mainly the middle east, including nigeria and what we have seen in the last few years, is this reversing. in 2014 when the oil price started to drop, there was talk about opec countries cutting their supply to boost the price. they did that and they got shot in the foot, because what happened was, us shale producers in new mexico and texas managed to cut costs and become even more competitive and now the international energy agency is saying 80% of the increased demand over the next couple of years will

be met by american shale. so that is cutting opec and the measures opec can take to affect the oil price, out of the picture. so they are extraordinary times. the change in the oil and energy industry always revert through politics. venezuela, which could ride high on its oilfor so which could ride high on its oilfor so long and prices have been slipping? absolutely, this is linked to politics and what we might soon see is politicians in the us begin to talk about this as a major win. it has been happening quietly in the background, but many before president trump, would have given their left hand to have energy self—sufficiency. depending what the market does, they will give it a little while to see if the price stabilises and how long this boom lasts. but towards the end of the year we expect the us to become the

world's largest oil producer and then we will hear us politicians and beyond talking about that and that will feed into a lot of diplomatic relations across the globe. good to hear from you. china has set its 2018 growth target at around 6.5%, a faster expansion than any western economy could dream of. but behind the strong figures there are concerns china's economy is too reliant on debt. here's celia hatton our asia pacific editor with her take on the story. the chinese economy is like one of those inkblot tests. you see what you want to see. if you want to go with what the chinese government is telling you, 6.5%, i am sure they will hit that target. the economy will hit that target. the economy will try to remain at a stable pace, growth will be a bit slower, but they will try to manage that. but if you are one of the economists who are worrying and want to question those numbers, there is a lot to question. the main thing that hasn't

been achieved is economic reform. the president pledged early on they would try to retract the government's role in the economy and let market forces take over. but he has committed more money to infrastructure spending. he has invested more government money in the economy and that is what economists have been saying all along that he has got to stop doing. burger—flipping — its hot, smelly and repetitive. so is this the perfect task for a machine? today, a burgerflipping robot debuts at the california—based chain caliburger. this is the robot that can replace one of life's basic unskilled jobs. it uses image recognition and heat sensing technology to know which burgers can billy macaroni flipping. they can handle 12 burgers i once. but there is little doubt what the eventual impact will be. there will

be changes in the way workers are hired. what does that mean a typical restau ra nt hired. what does that mean a typical restaurant in the future will have fewer human employees than it does now? back could be possible. it costs $6,000 and $12,000 a year to run. the first one can be found in pasadena near los angeles. run. the first one can be found in pasadena near los angelesm run. the first one can be found in pasadena near los angeles. it is not a nicejob. we train them pasadena near los angeles. it is not a nice job. we train them for a few weeks and then they leave. a nice job. we train them for a few weeks and then they leavem a nice job. we train them for a few weeks and then they leave. it still needs a bit of a helping hand, however and it made regular mistakes that no human ever would.“ however and it made regular mistakes that no human ever would. if i to anybody in behind the grill tomorrow and ask them to start cooking, would you forget to flip the burgers. this will get smarter, we're just getting started. the robot made this

burgers. i have had a few burgers in my time and that is very good. please stay with us. it is nowhere near as cold as it was last week a milder conditions have spread to most parts of the uk. still colder northern areas, particularly in scotland where we have had more snow falling today. wintry looking scene here in contrast that with something that looks more like spring and we had some sunshine at walton on thames in surrey. we have lost the beast from the east, the bitterly cold siberian winds and the air is coming from the south and that has been drawing in milderair south and that has been drawing in milder air across most of the uk. you can clearly see where it is still cold. low pressure dominating the weather at the moment. within that area of low pressure we have this weather system here and it is tracking its way northwards and it is that that has been producing the rain. the rain is heavy and moving

northwards into the colder air so we will get a bit of snow over the tops of the pennines, the cumbrian back into scotland over the hills. as it turns drier to the south with no wind, it will turn misty with low cloud. typical temperatures overnight, two or three degrees. the risk of some frost. the wettest weather over the north of the uk tomorrow morning. in scotland, sleet and snow over the hills. it should brighten up across northern england and northern ireland. in the middle it could be cloudy. a range of temperatures. still low pressure in charge as we head into the middle part of the week. nothing much is moving at all, the weather from bringing some showers. it keeps the wetter weather going. more towards the highlands

and islands and there will be some snow over the hills. further south across england and wales, a bit of a breeze picking up and that will break up the clouds some more and the chance of some sunshine. but that could be some sharp showers around. lighter winds. a disappointing temperature on wednesday. but there should be more sunshine around on thursday. but whether this is clinging to scotland. some of the showers could be heavy. versus outside source, these are the main stories here in the bbc newsroom live. a former russian spy is found critically ill in southern england — exposed to an unknown substance. decontamination teams have been deployed and major incident declared at a hospital. italy's election proves to be a victory for anti—establishment candidates — the leader of the five star movement says he's now open to coalition talks. president trump says he's "not backing down" on his plan for swingeing taxes on foreign steel imports, saying america has been ripped off on trade.

we lost $800 billion a year on trade. not going to happen. we have got to get it back. every day, outside source features bbc journalists working in over 30 languages. your questions are always welcome. #bbcos is the hashtag. welcome to outside source. salisbury hospital here in the uk declared a ‘major incident‘ early monday — it's only in the last few hours we've got details as to what's happening. it appears to involved an unknown substance, a 33 year—old woman and this russian man — sergei skripal — he was involved in a high profile prisoner exchange back in 2010. here's the police in salisbury.

the pair, who we believe are known to each other, did not have any visible injuries, and were taken to salisbury district hospital. they are currently being treated for suspected exposure to an unknown substance. joining me now in the studio is the uk investigations editor for buzzfeed news, heidi blake. this southern illness of mr skripal, does it suggest you that russian intelligence is involved or is it taking it too far —— sudden illness. certainly this apparent poisoning there is some other hallmarks of the russian state linked investigation we have investigated over at buzzfeed news over the last couple of years. know that the russians secret service uses a sophisticated array of poisons to eliminate enemies outside russian borders. we know that vladimir putin has passed

a law authorising the fsb, the su ccesso i’s a law authorising the fsb, the successors to the kgb, to go outside russia and terminate enemies of the kremlin. and sergei skripalfits pro much the standard description of the sort of person who is likely to be a target. he is a former try —— a former spy, seen as a traitor in russia, and vladimir putin is a former kgb man himself, so a spy who defects and betrays mother russia is highly vulnerable. and seen as the lowest of the low from the kremlin‘s point of view. when you hear the word former spy involved commute into the about alexander lydon janko. that is right, he was the most famous russian assassination in britain —— alexander livinenko. he died of polonium poisoning after two fsb assassins came over to

assassinate him, and a public enquiry found out it was a hit probably carried out on the orders of vladimir putin himself will stop we have completed 14 cases where evidence points to russia, and we know mi6 has evidence connected to a total of 14 deaths in britain with russia. you investigated it, people have looked at this but it has not been front—page news in the way that this is, almost immediately. that's right, and the difference is that the british police have come out and made a statement saying this is a major incident, and that they are treating this very seriously. now thatis treating this very seriously. now that is very different from the other 14 cases we have looked at. saint litvinenko, they have not been a russian suspected assassination that the blues have made any statement about at all, and in the 14 cases we have looked at those overwhelming evidence pointing at russia, that in all those cases the

police have publicly said they are not suspicious, despite what we know of existing evidence connecting back to russia. there has been a change in steptoe, the authorities have come out and confronted the russian link. what we can say is that the relationship between the uk and russia is it a pretty low ebright 110w. russia is it a pretty low ebright now. there is growing concern in british governance circles on both sides of the atlantic about the surgeons of russia, russian interference in western democracies, and increasingly bold moves by russian state actors in the west. we know from our intelligence sources there is mounting alarm about that, and this very public statement by the police is a marker of the degree of concern the british government is currently feeling about russian activities in the uk. coming back to where we are here and now, this man is critically ill in hospital in salisbury, and what is being looked at now is what is in his system. that's right, early indications are that it may be connected to the

drug, fentanyl, a very strong form of heroin, but it is very unclear at this point as to what the substance itself is. what we do know about the russian state is that the fsb has a factory outside moscow, where they develop poisons specifically in order to use in targeted assassinations nari ‘s, so the state has a vast array of poisons, some of which are undetectable, some of which are undetectable, some of which might trigger cardiac arrest oi’ which might trigger cardiac arrest or other apparently natural illnesses. so it is very early days, we don't know what this is yet, and of course it may be that this is not a poisoning, we don't know. that is all under investigation. enough alarm bells seemed to be ringing, heidi blake, thank you but talking to us. something we have been covering, their national elections arejust around covering, their national elections are just around the corner. one of vladimir putin's first moves on coming to power 18 years ago was to bring tv channels under state control. since then russia has been accused of taking the information war abroad — using trolls to manipulate public opinion on social media. in the first of her series ahead of russia's presidential elections, our correspondent sarah rainsford

reports from tomsk in siberia. this was viktor‘s life for over 20 years. here in siberia, he created a popular independent tv channel, but three years ago, tv2 was taken off air. officially, it was a license dispute, but viktor is sure it was political. the channel annoyed everyone in power locally. the team saw that as theirjob. but reining in the free press was one of vladimir putin's first moves as president. farfrom moscow, tv2 was one of the last survivors. translation: it's obvious we were no threat here in tomsk. but the authorities are constantly afraid. afraid of revolution or losing control, they want to control everything, but that's impossible. and they don't trust anyone. now russia's information war

has moved onto the internet, so we travel to one of the key battle grounds. from st petersburg, the kremlin‘s been accused of using the internet to manipulate opinion notjust at home but abroad. this place has become notorious as russia's troll factory. it's mostly empty now, up for rent, but a criminal indictment in the united states claims staff here were deployed as an online army to sow discord, and influence voters in america. ludmilla shows me the blog of one of the fake characters she helped to create. she leaked information from inside the troll factory that exposed how it worked. her focus was russian language content, and she tells me the trolls operated in shifts, ordered to produce up to 80 posts on social media every single day. translation: it's a huge machine. i'd see thousands of posts

appearing under every news story right before my eyes. if a troll spoke about america or ukraine, it had to be negative. if it was putin or russia's military, it was positive. bloggers got written instructions what to present and the conclusions that people should draw. and it seems the trolls are still operating. we've been told that the troll factory has moved here to this premises, so i'm just going to see if any of these people in the smoking shelter opposite actually work there and what they can tell me. this man tells me he's seen them here and he doesn't like what they do. inside, we met a representative of one firm named in the us indictment, but he wouldn't comment on camera about its work. back in siberia, viktor and his wife show me how easily the traditional media have been tamed. when there were mass protests

against closing tv2, state—run channels ignored them completely. information is being controlled now, even weaponised, and under vladimir putin, this couple see no chance of that changing. don't forget you can get much more detail on our top stories on our website. there's plenty of background on the former russian spy found poisoned in southern england. the irish prime minister has ruled out formal three—way talks between the uk, ireland and the eu over avoiding a hard border on the island of ireland. leo varadkar said such a debate would not be in ireland's interests and that ireland was stronger negotiating as part of the eu 27. let's just remind you of the issue at stake. once the uk leaves the eu, northern ireland, which is part of the uk, will be outside the eu's customs union.

but it's feared that a physical customs border could become a magnet for sectarian violence and all sides have vowed to avoid it. on that subject, the irish republican party sinn fein has been holding talks with the eu's chief brexit negotiator today. party president mary lou mcdonald, who you can see in the middle here, said they'd shared a meeting of minds and there could be no overall agreement on brexit unless the issue of the border was solved. meanwhile, the british prime minister has been updating parliament on the talks' progress following her speech on friday. we cannot escape the complexity of the task ahead. we must build a new and lasting relationship while preparing for every scenario. but with pragmatism, calm and patient discussion, i am confident... jeering i am confident we can set an example to the world. yes...

yes, there will be ups and downs over the months ahead. but we will not... jeering we will not be buffeted by demands to talk tough or threaten a walkout. and we will not give into the of despair, into the councils of despair, that they simply cannot be done. hear, hear! for this is in both the uk and eu's interests. but the leader of the opposition jeremy corbyn was dismissive. 20 months have passed since the referendum. a year has passed since the triggering of article 50. 20 wasted months, in which the arrogance of some of the cabinet who said it would be the easiest deal in history has turned into debilitating infighting. we've seen set—piece speech after set piece—speech. yet the prime minister still cannot bring clarity to these negotiations, and still cannot bring certainty to british businesses or workers. the prime minister's

speech on friday promised to unite the nation. yet it barely papered over the cracks in her own party. hear, hear! opponents of brexit have criticised the government's approach to brexit as trying to "have your cake and eat it" — a reference to wanting the eu's benefits without its obligations. but former conservative party leader iain duncan smith was unapologetic. bringing these decisions back to a british parliament in future to make all the shows and is about our arrangement is exactly about delivering on that, and when she gets into negotiations with their european counterparts about trade arrangements, could she remind them that cake exists to be eaten and cherries exist to be picked. so far in the programme we've talked italy's election,

russia's upcoming election. now we turn to sierra leone. the country goes to the polls this week — it's the first time since that devastating ebola outbreak that left nearly 4,000 people dead. and after ebola, there was a mudslide that took the lives of another 1,000 people. after 10 years at the helm — this man, president ernest bai koorooma — is standing down, as mandated by the constitution. but he leaves behind a feeble economy. from the capital, freetown, umaru fofana reports. it is more than 300 years since slaves were brought to freetown through the sport, but some traders feel economically enslaved. many of the traders here are women, often widows. they take goods on credit, sell them, pay back the suppliers, and take their small profits home. it isa

and take their small profits home. it is a hand to mouth existence. translation: i came here to find my living, my husband has died, leaving me with five children, so right now there was no one to help us out. i am all alone. that is why i came here, to eke out a living. the trade here, to eke out a living. the trade here in the rain under the scorching heat. their representative says successive presidents have promised reform and failed them. translation: probably because they used to bring slaves to this market area, that is why we still suffer from slavery to this day. the leaders have failed to help us. we are praying to god so that the candidate who will redeem us that the candidate who will redeem us from the slavery will emerge victorious. over the last ten years, the sierra leone government has banned hundreds of millions of dollars through tax concessions and waivers to attract big businesses, mainly mining companies. economists are small businesses have not been a priority. it is not merely a problem

for these, i mean it is a problem but it is symptomatic of the wider problem we face of poverty. as many women activists will tell you, women bear the brunt of it. so we must have policies that are proper, a deliberate choice made that resources will go to areas that will generatejobs for the resources will go to areas that will generate jobs for the poor. resources will go to areas that will generatejobs for the poor. as distinct from resources going to areas where the benefits are more likely to go to the rich. and lead. 16 candidates are running for president. the three frontrunners are an interesting mix. a former leader of a military junto. are an interesting mix. a former leader of a militaryjunto. a finance minister. and this former un executive also served in the military cabinet. the government has made strides in infrastructure, mainly thanks to donor funds, but the education system is in decline. poorly trained teachers and

overcrowded classrooms with too few basic materials. the ten years, the president has occupied this office. he says these elections are about protecting his legacy, a legacy which he says has brought about a massive infrastructural expansion. the opposition say they want an end to that period, a period which they say has brought about the erosion of the constitutional fabric and has entrenched corruption and poverty. supermarkets in south africa have been clearing a popular sausage from the shelves after it was blamed for a food poisoning outbreak behind 180 deaths. the government identified this cold meat — called polony — as the source of listeria poisoning. the department of health tweeted... these customers in johannesburg queued up at factories that produce polony today to demand a refund. the contamination is thought to have

come from an enterprise food factory in the northern city of polokwane. it's taken more than a year to identify the source of the outbreak. since january 2017, there have been 948 cases of listeria poisoning reported. the disease — known as listeriosis — causes fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. some 180 of those infected have died. the united nations and world health organization says it's the largest outbreak ever, worldwide. several countries, including botswana, mozambique, namibia, malawi and zambia have banned imports of south african processed meat following the crisis. dr lucia analic is from a food safety

consulting firm in pretoria. she explains that one of the reasons the disease has spread so far is because it can be tricky to identify. that is probably one of the reasons. that is probably one of the reasons. that is probably one of the reasons. that is not as difficult to diagnose if the patient presents with symptoms early enough to a medical doctor or a clinic, and the person taking care of the patient suspect listeriosis. some of the symptoms that cause listeriosis, however, are similarto that cause listeriosis, however, are similar to other illnesses, and that is one of the reasons why it is possibly a little difficult to diagnose it. once a blood test has been taken, and that has been sent away for testing, it exactly quite quick from there onwards. there are some more vulnerable groups than others, for example pregnant women, they can transmit the organism via their placenta to the unborn child.

the child can miscarry. they can be stillborn, or they are born with meningitis, which of course creates a lot of complications. elderly people over the age of 65, and people over the age of 65, and people with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable, typically people with hiv infections, undergoing cancer treatment, persons with diabetes, autoimmune diseases and so forth. thousands of delegates at china's national people's congress in beijing have applauded plans to abolish term limits for the country's president. the proposal would mean that this man, xijinping, can remain in power indefinitely. it will be put to a formal vote on the 11th of march. let's hear how one senior communist party official described it. translation: this is a major event in the political life of the party and the nation. it means persevering in the new era with comrades shoe

during thing as the core of the central party committee, and from the overall strategy of developing socialism with chinese characteristics. the annual national people's congress is largely a rubber—stamp parliament — endorsing decisions already made by the communist party. there are 3,000 delegates from all over the country. here's how some of them reacted. so will there be any sign of dissent over xi jinping's indefinite rule? let's hearfrom emily feng in beijing who covers chinese politics for the financial times. it will be very interesting to see the constitutional amendments coming up the constitutional amendments coming up this sunday. in previous times, there have been dissenting extensions, and i suspect that very

few people if at all will vote against it. that being said, there has been no open discussion and when i went to the great hall today for the ceremony for the two sessions, meetings, the responses from delegates was extremely measured. they were very, very cautious about repeating the same stock phrases they now are safe to say so the message about what kind of discussion and any kind of dissension about these constitutional limits is being kept under wraps, i would say more tightly than in previous sessions about other constitutional amendments. the 90th oscars has been run and won. the big winner — the shape of water. but hollywood's night of nights reflected what's been happening off—screen as much as what dazzled on—screen — including the way the me too movement is driving cultural change on sexual politics and inclusion. our arts editor will gompertz was there. the night began with host jimmy kimmel using his

opening monologue to round up some of the elephants in the room. black panther and wonder woman were massive hits, which is almost miraculous, because i remember a time when the major studios didn't believe a woman or a minority could open a superhero movie, and the reason i remember that time was because it was march of last year. thatjoke set the agenda for the evening. in the year of the 90th academy awards, it was time's up for a monocultural, male—dominated movie business. it's a new day in hollywood... ..said jennifer lawrence, before announcing that the winner of actress in a leading role was... frances mcdormand — three billboards outside ebbing, missouri. so i'm hyperventilating a little bit. if i fall over, pick me up, 'cos i've got some things to say. if i may be so honoured to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight. the actors... meryl, if you do it, everybody else will. come on. the film—makers. .. look around, everybody. look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need to finance.

the call for equality and tolerance was made time and again, and was perhaps best captured by guillermo del toro, whose film the shape of water, a story of misfits and outcasts, won best picture, and he best director. i am an immigrant like many, many of you. the greatest thing our art does and our industry does is to erase the lines in the sand. we should continue doing that when the world tells us to make them deeper. rogera deakins, blade runner... there were long—awaited wins for two british veterans. after 13 failed attempts, the cinematographer roger deakins finally converted a nomination into a golden statue for his work on blade runner 2049. and for his portrayal of winston churchill in the darkest hour, gary oldman won his first oscar. i say to my mother, thank you for your love and support. put the kettle on. i'm bringing oscar home. the silent child, a british film about a deaf four—year—old

played by maisie sly, won the short film category. i made a promise to our six—year—old lead actress that i'd sign this speech, but my hands are shaking a little bit, so i apologise. deafness is a silent disability. you can't see it and it's not life—threatening, so i want to say the biggest thank yous to the academy for allowing us to put this in front of a mainstream audience. congratulations to maisie. coming up on bbc news, the ten o'clock news, much more on this story, which has been breaking and developing in the last hour or so about the spy swap. the bbc‘s gordon corera broke the news that the man who fell ill in salisbury appears to be sergei skripal, a former russian intelligence officer. lots more still to come, thank you for being with us on outside source. hello there. it is obviously not as

cold as it was last week. we have seen milder air pushing northwards through motor parts of the country, and with some sunshine on monday, it felt much more like spring. but quite a contrast still across the uk. further north, particularly in scotland, still a very wintry scene. we had some more snow on monday and we have some more snow falling on tuesday, mainly over the hills. the wetter weather continues to push northwards, to bring that wintry mix across scotland. southern scotland becomes drier, northern ireland brighter, so too northern england. a little sunshine after a dull and misty start for england and wales could trigger one or two showers, 12 degrees in the south and three or four at best across northern scotla nd four at best across northern scotland so quite a contrast across the uk. essentially we have still got low pressure in charge, everything very slow moving. that weather system across a more north—western part of scotland continuing to bring a mixture of rain and snow to the highlands and islands. away from here, though, to

the south, some stronger winds across more southern parts of england and wales first that should help to break up the cloud a little bit more but there will also be quite a few showers, and some of these could be on the heavy side. temperatures 69 degrees, not great relief of this time of year, better thanit relief of this time of year, better than it was last week of course, but not great. those temperatures aren't going to change much on thursday. brain not far away, running through the english channel. that could move further north into southern counties, otherwise we have some showers, that wintry max till towards the far north—west of scotla nd towards the far north—west of scotland by this stage. low pressure will be a feature of our weather over the week ahead. that one sitting to the north—west of scotland, keeping that wintry mix going. another big one coming in from the atlantic, and that will be steering towards the uk. in between, though, a little ridge of high pressure, so more places will be dry on friday with more sunshine after a chilly start maybe a touch of frost again, if you wintry showers in northern scotland later in the day we see the weather system bringing the wet weather into the far south—west. temperatures could get

as high as ten or 11 in the south but it is in the south that we are going to find these active weather fronts, driven by that big area of low pressure. we will find some heavy rain developing for the start of the weekend, but of course those weather systems are bringing in some milder but they are moving northwards into much colder air that we will keep through the week ahead. so whilst we have got some heavy rain across more southern parts of the uk as it moves northwards, we may well find that rain turning to slow, particularly across the hills of northern england and the perhaps north wales and into northern ireland. at this stage, and will be dry throughout much of the day, however everything moving at the northwards means that we will get a mixture of rain and snow into scotla nd mixture of rain and snow into scotland overnight, and into sunday morning. and then the main driving area of low pressure drifts slowly across the uk, keeping the wet weather going. is that pulls away, so we draw down this more north to north—west airflow. never a particularly warm direction. there are more weather systems out in the

mid—atlantic, and if we look at the jet stream later on, then we will find the jet stream in roughly this sort of position, picking up areas of low pressure and stirring them towards the uk, but thatjet stream is still a long way south. essentially it means that in the outlook we will stay unsubtle. areas of low pressure, still wind and rain, still the risk of snow, mind you, because we never really get out of that colder air, with the jet strea m of that colder air, with the jet stream that far south, the milder air is more in the new continent. a former russian spy is critical in hospital after a suspected poisoning in salisbury. sergei skripal, convicted of spying on russia for the uk, has been living in britain for nearly eight years. police in protective clothing have sealed the area after the russian and a young woman were found unconscious on a bench. there was a couple, an older guy and a younger girl. she was sort of leant in on him, it looked like she had passed out, maybe. he was doing some strange hand movements, looking up to the sky. we'll bring you the latest as police

and doctors race to establish if this is another example of a russian being poisoned on uk soil. also tonight.... bradley wiggins tells the bbc he's not a drugs cheat after mps accuse him of taking medicine to boost his performance. this whole thing has just been, you know, a complete mess of innuendo and rumour and nothing has been substantiated and it is just... i am having to deal with the fallout of that now.