the home secretary says more is now known about the substance used in the suspected poisoning of a russian spy. —— former russian spy. sergei skripal and his daughter remain critically ill, after collapsing in salisbury. as ministers move to reassure local people. i want to make sure that this investigation response to evidence, not to rumour, but i can reassure the public that all action will be taken to keep everybody safe. we'll have the latest on the continuing investigation. also this lunchtime... the president of the eu says a free trade agreement will have to be put into place after brexit — and says the uk's position will have "negative economic consequences." a pick and mix approach for a nonmember state is out of the question. we are not going to sacrifice these principles. it is simply not in our interest. saudi's crown prince arrives in the uk on a three—day visit for talks with ministers and lunch

with the queen — but protests are expected. a clamp—down on the extra fees charged by secondary ticket websites — they must now be upfront about the full price of all purchases. and why pine martens could be the key to the recovery of the endangered red squirrel population in the uk. and coming up in the sport on bbc news... it's all to play for in the final one—day international, after new zealand beat england by five wickets to level the series in dunedin. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the home secretary, amber rudd, has said more is now known about the substance involved in the suspected poisoning

of a former russian spy and his daughter. the home secretary says the police will reveal more details later today, and insists the investigation must respond to evidence, not rumour. sergei skripal and his daughter yulia remain critically ill in hospital in salisbury in wiltshire, after collapsing on sunday. richard galpin reports. with the former russian intelligence officer sergei skripal and his daughter yulia still fighting for their lives in hospital, counterterrorism police are now running the investigation. and they want any witnesses to come forward with information. for example, at the restaurant where the skripals eight not long before they collapsed on a bench in the city centre. today, another sign of how seriously this incident is being treated. good morning. you attending

cobra? senior ministers and intelligence officials holding a meeting at the government's emergency response committee called cobra. and afterwards, the home secretary announced they had been progress in the investigation into what had made to the skripals so ill last sunday. we do know more about the substance and the police will be making a further substance this afternoon in order to share some of that. we must let the police carry on their work. they will share what they come this afternoon and i'm sure there will be more updates as the investigation continues. scientists at the government's research laboratories at porton down near salisbury have been examining samples to try to work out exactly what substance was involved but despite suspicions, —— suspicions that russia might be behind what has happened, there are warnings against jumping to conclusions. we need to bearin jumping to conclusions. we need to bear in mind that the police need to look at all avenues, it is notjust a case of deciding that this is a

russian state incident. this could be someone else and it is quite possible that someone else has done this so it is really important that we keep an open mind as police officers. in moscow there is growing anger at the way the british media has been reporting the incident. translation: these people have been used by the foreign media for an anti—russian campaign. it is a traditional campaign. the tradition is to make things up. we can only see it as a provocation. meanwhile, several key locations in salisbury remain cordoned off by the police. it has now been revealed that an ambulance station outside the city has also been sealed off. there are reports of a fire engine being used to hose down the ambulance which took the skripals to hospital. richard galpin, bbc news. in a moment we'll get the latest from our correspondent sarah rainsford in moscow, but first let's speak to leila nathoo in salisbury. brings us right up to date with this

police investigation. we know that scientists at the uk's military research facility have been analysing that substance that surrogate and yulia skripal were exposed to and we heard from the home secretary, amber rudd after she chaired that high level emergency committee this morning that now do know more about it and we are expecting an update from police later this afternoon. we know it is counterterror police who are now leading this inquiry. they are appealing for anyone who was in salisbury city centre on sunday afternoon from 1:30pm, when they believe sergei skripal and yulia and the city centre. they are appealing for anyone who was around at that time to come forward with any they have. in the last 15 minutes there has been a flurry of activity near arrest that has been cordoned off, just behind me, and that has now been renewed. there is police and

ambulances coming to the scene. we don't yet know what that means but we are expecting to hear more from the police later this afternoon and, as the home secretary said, it is likely to be a lengthy investigation. thanks for now. let's get the latest from moscow. we heard about the anger from moscow in richard's report did not tell us more about what is being said where you are. that is the strongest reaction we have had so far from moscow, coming from the foreign ministry, the spokesperson there, who has described the accusations and half accusations coming from the uk as utterly groundless. she has taught about baseless accusations and says this incident is being exploited as part of what she sees as a deliberate campaign to damage relations between the west more broadly and russia are. she was very critical of the western media, saying that this is being whipped up and is an anti—russian campaign, and just speculation, and she was

talking about the need for an open investigation into what happened and for russia to be involved with that. she said russia was willing and open to cooperation, in fact very keen to co—operate with any inquiry. another interesting point from here in russia is how the media here has been covering what is going on and the extraordinary thing is that there has been almost no mention in there has been almost no mention in the very powerful, influential state—run media here. the three key tv channels have not mentioned a word and the only discussion in some newspapers has been to suggest that this is some kind of anti—russian campaign being conducted in the uk and there is no basis for the accusations whatsoever. sarah, thank you. sarah raynsford and leila nathoo. in the past hour, the president of the eu, donald tusk, has been giving more details about ties with britain after brexit. he says a free trade arrangement is the only workable option — and that there could be an arrangement resembling the one that brussels has with canada. adam fleming is in luxembourg.

tell us more about what donald tusk has been outlining. well, donald tusk is the man who chairs the summits of eu leaders and there is going to be one of those in a couple of weeks, where they will sign off on their blueprint for the next phase of brexit talks, which is all about negotiating the shape of the future relationship with the uk after brexit and the message from donald tusk here today was that with the current uk redlines, the best he could offer would be a partnership on security, defence, aviation and on security, defence, aviation and on trade the best would be a free trade agreement. he explained what that meant like this. our agreement will not make trade between the uk and the eu frictioness or smoother. —— frictionless. it will make it more complicated and costly for all of us. this is the essence of brexit. a pick and mix approach for a

nonmember state is out of the question. we are not going to sacrifice these principles. that is simply not in our interest. to brexit watchers, lots of this will not come as a surprise because it is the sort of thing the eu has been saying for weeks and weeks when they have looked at what the british want but i thought it was interesting when i spoke to donald tusk at news conference, when i asked him, does this come anything close to what the prime minister asked for in her mansion house speech on friday? he gave an incredibly long pause, which suggests he knows that it isn't. i think what will probably be shopping for some people is seeing it written down in text form saying, this is what is going to happen, and reading the warning circulating in the document by the eu today that this will have serious economic consequences for britain. but if you read the small print, there was a section of the document that says that other options are on the table if the uk is willing to reconsider its redlines. that is the eu saying

to the uk, if you are prepared to make some big compromises, we are prepared to make some big compromises too. let's get reaction to all of that. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is following everything at westminster. that is fascinating about the redlines. it is because while at first glance this looks like a bucket of cold water being poured over mrs may, with the eu rejecting, rebirthing or ignoring all the sort of emollient language and compromises offered by mrs may last week suggesting that we could stay in some eu agencies, we would be happy to pay and observe eu standards, we would stick by some eu rules and there would be no race to the bottom. that has all been rejected and at first glance, you say that looks like a blow to the solar plexus for mrs may. talking to downing street folk, they say that this is only a draft text, it is early days, we hope the eu will respond more imaginatively and creatively, and they‘ re respond more imaginatively and creatively, and they're great hope is that eu leaders in individual

european capitals will be much more receptive to the sort of hand of friendship being reached out by mrs may and will be much more willing to doa may and will be much more willing to do a deal. why? self—interest, because they do an awful lot of trade with britain and they do not wa nt to trade with britain and they do not want to lose that. britain is also a huge contributor in terms of european security and, crucially, ha rd european security and, crucially, hard cash. we have offered up to £39 billion but we are not handing over the money unless we get that deal. one other thing that may comfort number ten from this response is that one consequence of mrs may's speech was to begin to bind the tory party together. i wonder if this very tough language from the eu will further solidify tory support behind mrs may, if they think the eu is trying to push her around. norman, thank you. we'll hear more about what the government wants for the uk financial sector after brexit when the chancellor gives a speech in london this afternoon.

our economics editor kamal ahmed is here. an important part of the economy, of course. absolutely, so a big issue for us these brexit negotiations will be financial services. they employ over 2 million people across the uk, not just employ over 2 million people across the uk, notjust in london, and we have a trade surplus with the eu with about £20 billion a year so, for us, it is a very important part of the brexit negotiation. philip hammond this afternoon is likely to say that any free—trade deal should include a good deal on financial services, maintaining access between the eu and britain. so far, the european commission has been pretty negative on this idea. michel barnier, the chief brexit negotiator for the commission, has said there has never been a free—trade deal including financial services done by the eu with a third country, which is what we will be. butternut donald tusk press conference we have just

seen tusk press conference we have just seen that norman was talking about, he did say that a free—trade deal would look at all areas, including services. so there could be a slight opening for a negotiation. this is a negotiation. philip hammond will set out one stall, close alignment, the european union are going to say that that will be really difficult. somewhere in the middle, i am sure, there will be a way of organising it so there will be a way of organising it so that the deal me, yes, be more difficult in terms of the relationship between the eu and britain, but it won't be a complete brick wall between the two sites. britain, but it won't be a complete brick wall between the two sites] ahmed, thank you very much. saudi arabia's crown prince, mohammed bin salman, is having lunch with the queen at the start of a three—day visit to the uk, during which he's also scheduled to have dinner with the prince of wales, and talks with the prime minister about trade and security. but campaigners are planning protests — highlighting saudi arabia's human rights record, and its role in the war in yemen. here's our security correspondent frank gardner. touching down in britain last night,

saudi tv showed brown crisper hammered bilson man being greeted by borisjohnson hammered bilson man being greeted by boris johnson and others. hammered bilson man being greeted by borisjohnson and others. —— crown prince mohammed bin salman. a lavish public relations campaign has alerted londoners to his visit. but so alerted londoners to his visit. but so too has this, anti—war protesters say the prince has blood on his hands for saudi led air strikes in yemen. they want the government to stop defence sales to saudi arabia. defence and security contracts dominate trade with the uk. they are worth billions of pounds and employ thousands of britons but in neighbouring yemen, saudi led air strikes on who the rebels have been blamed for mounting civilian casualties, which prompted a question in parliament this morning over whether with a poor human rights record, saudi arabia is a suitable ally. as she makes her arms

sales pitch, will see also call the crown prince to stop the shocking abuse of human rights in saudi arabia? the link that we have with saudi arabia is historic, it is an important want it i will be raising concerns about human rights with the crown prince when i meet him. back home, the crown prince is rapidly modernising his country. he has lifted the ban on women driving from june. cinemas public entertainment are being reintroduced and a new mega city built. he is also aiming to diversify the economy away from oil, which means attracting british investment. and with brexit looming, the government here is looking to boost its with it biggest trading partner. the crown prince is no democratic top slot at 200 prominent saudis in this hotel last year, accusing them of corruption. his critics say beheadings have increased since he rose to power and his ethics are worrying some foreign

investors. the crown prince is a man ina hurry, investors. the crown prince is a man in a hurry, as he sits down for lunch with the queen today, and his message is that a new modern saudi arabia is open for business. but this relationship will always be a controversial one. frank gardner, bbc news. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins is at buckingham palace. and the crown prince is now bear. he is, he's having lunch now with the queen and it is a mark of the seriousness which the government applies to this visit and this relationship that he is having lunch with the queen and dinner later on with the queen and dinner later on with the heiress to the throne, prince charles and prince william put up an indication of the fact that this is everything short of a state visit. the tories may have been cleared this is a controversial visit, strongly opposed to many. she and the government take the view they think it is vital that the uk maintains its long—standing lectureship with saudi arabia in

spite of all the criticism. so for insta nce we spite of all the criticism. so for instance we can expect the crown prince to receive a detailed briefing on security from senior officials on the national security council, but the uk said saudi arabia through its security cooperation with uk helps to keep us safe. i think we can expect some new trade deals unveiled by the crown prince is in london. the uk says it wa nts to prince is in london. the uk says it wants to broaden trade but would like to see diversification away from the huge emphasis on arms sales which is so controversial. so i think you may see deals perhaps selling some educational and health care services to saudi arabia, perhaps a private school opening shortly in the kingdom. but it remains a difficult and controversial path that the government is steering. thank you. our top story this lunchtime. the home secretary says more is now known about the substance used in the suspected poisoning of a russian spy and his daughter, in salisbury. coming up.

how a police officer seriously injured in the westminster bridge attack will finally be heading home — thanks to an army of volunteers. coming up in sport. we build up to a huge champions league night at wembley for tottenham, with last year's finalists juventus standing in their way of a place in the quarterfinals. a teenager has gone on trial accused of planting a bomb on a london underground train last september. 30 people were hurt in the incident during rush hour at parsons green station. 18—year—old ahmed hassan, from sunbury in surrey, denies attempted murder and causing an explosion likely to endanger life. our home affairs correspondent june kelly is following the trial at the old bailey. i'm sure people notjust in london

but around the country will remember a major security alert on the cheap in london last september. today the old bailey was told a tragedy was only averted because the device involved failed to fully go off. an autumn morning in the rush—hour and there an emergency on an underground train in west london. today the old bailey heard how last september an improvised explosive device partially detonated on a district line train. it had just pulled into parsons green station. this partial explosion created a large fireball in the carriage. there were around 93 passengers in the carriage, the court was told, some were caught by the flames and sustained significant burns. today the teenager on trial for the attack was brought to court to face charges of attempted murder and causing an explosion likely to endanger life. 18—year—old ahmed hassan, an asylum seeker from iraq, is pleading not guilty.

at the time of his arrest he had been living with foster parents. opening the case, the prosecutor alison morgan said of the passengers, many ran in fear and panic. they were fortunate. had the device fully detonated it is inevitable that serious injury and significant damage would have been caused within the carriage. those in close proximity to the device may well have been killed. the jury heard that ahmed hassan had left the device in a bucket. it was said to be loaded with shrapnel to cause maximum harm and carnage. and he had used the explosive dhcp. the device was fitted with a timer. ahmed hassan had got off the train one station before. he was arrested 2a hours later. well ahmed hassan was actually arrested in dover. thejury have

been shown the effect of the fireball in the carriage as part of the prosecution case. president trump's top economic advisor, gary cohn, has resigned — in the latest high profile departure from the white house team. mr cohn — a democrat — was a key architect of the administration's huge package of tax cuts. the former wall st banker is rumoured to have been unhappy that mr trump could trigger a trade war by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. it's the latest in a series of high—profile departures from president trump's team. the country's four main secondary ticketing agencies have been banned from using some price strategies which the advertising standards authority says are misleading. it means stubhub, get me in, viagogo and seatwave must be clear from the outset about the total price of any ticket they sell — or face prosecution. nina warhurst reports. the rolling stones are coming to town and i'm keen to be there.

the secondary ticketing site viagogo is reselling a ticket for £141. but when i go to pay, this happens. she gasps. £47 vat and booking fee. so a ticket that we thought was costing us £141 is now almost 200 quid. these nasty surprises are common. claire used viagogo to buy four ed sheerin tickets. she thought it was costing less than £300, but that was for one ticket and after fees were added, more than £1400 left her account. i rang my daughter crying and i said, you know, and thought i had done something... i think the awful feeling is that i felt i'd done something wrong. then i realised i hadn't, actually, that this whole practice was very deceptive. we contacted viagogo for a response but didn't get a reply. and today new guidelines come

into play which could see secondary sellers prosecuted if they mislead consumers. we are saying that they've got to be much more clear and upfront about the prices that we are paying when we buy tickets through their sites. and in a nutshell we are saying the price that we see when we first input how many tickets we want should be the price that we pay at the end. but some artists say that still leaves space for expensive exploitation of fans. so what would they like to see? if you can't make a show, you can sell it through the secondary site for the same price and you get your money back and then someone can buy it for face value plus whatever the administration was. so if they can actually still see their favourite artist without sacrificing a family holiday, for example. if you've already forked out fees to see mick and the gang, you can appeal them and next time they are on tour, the ticket price you see should be what you get.

nina warhurst, bbc news. nearly a year ago, the life of police constable kris aves changed forever, when he was injured in the terrorist attack on westminster bridge. he was left paralysed and no longer able to live at home with his family. but a call for help from the diy sos team was met with the biggest response for volunteers in the show‘s history. daniela relph has the story. thursday, the 23rd of march. the morning after the westminster bridge attack. five people died and 40 people were injured, some of them suffering what has been described as catastrophic injuries... one of those with catastrophic injuries was metropolitan police constable kris aves. critically injured as he walked across the bridge. for much of the past year he's been in stoke mandeville hospital. he dislocated his vertebrae, damaged his spinal cord and is now in a wheelchair. but what he wanted more

than anything was to get home to his partner and two young children. it makes me sad when i think forward. to go swimming, i don't know how i'm going to be in a pool having a fun session with them. i won't be able to stand up and kick a football with them. and i kind ofjust feel... you know, it'sjust been taken away from me. and it's not fair. the kids just ask a lot of questions about stuff and about why did daddy get hit, was he not looking when he crossed the road? and things like that. and it's quite hard to answer them. at the end of last year the diy sos team stepped in. this is diy sos! they took the family's north london home and transformed it. they asked for volunteers to help. the programme had never had such an enormous response. sometimes we look at the police and the people who go out,

emergency services, and do what they do for us. but we forget, behind every person there is a family. they are notjust uniforms, there are people in uniforms and their families are affected too. and obviously what happened to kris had a massive effect on the family. we had exclusive access to the build and the team's work. doorways were widened allowing access for kris's wheelchair. in the kitchen surfaces were lowered and space made to cook. a lift was built. the first of its kind in a family home, so kris can move between floors. in the garden, a complete redesign. all to ensure there is space to play with his son and daughter. this entire project has been about creating a family home. a place where everyone could be involved. and live properly, together again. the whole build took nine days to complete. and depended totally on the generosity of others. every day there was just ten, 20 people. do you want a hand? do you need a tiler?

do you need a decorator? and notjust builders. cake. we get lots of cake delivered. crucial! cake is crucial! yeah, that's how the site works. cake and tea. tonight the programme will reveal what kris aves made of his new home. and the impact on one family whose life was so changed by events of almost a year ago. daniella relph, bbc news, north london. and you can see the full programme tonight — that's diy sos, on bbc one at 8pm, and available shortly afterwards on the iplayer. for decades red squirrels have been in decline across the uk, as the non—native grey species has spread. now it appears the pine marten may be key to the recovery of the red population. scientists at the university of aberdeen have carried out an in—depth study of the relationship between the three species.

our science correspondent victoria gill explains. it is an idyllic woodland site but a glimpse of ecological warfare. red squirrels have been losing a battle with the larger invasive grey squirrels for a century but a new character has joined squirrels for a century but a new character hasjoined in squirrels for a century but a new character has joined in the fray. scientists from the university of aberdeen used feeding boxes to gather forensic evidence of how the three species coexist in scottish forest. feeding boxes like this are idealfor forest. feeding boxes like this are ideal for gathering evidence about how the three species are interacting. the red squirrels are using them and the grey squirrels and also the pine martens. leading evidence behind for scientists to gather. every time an animal visits the feeding box it leaves behind a hairsample. the feeding box it leaves behind a hair sample. this evidence along

with images from remote cameras has revealed that pine martens are giving the red squirrels and unexpected boost. where activities high amongst pine martens you have a lot of red squirrels coming back into areas where they had not been in some time. so the higher the activity of pine martens the more likely you are to see red squirrels and the less likely to see grey squirrels. so they are retracting from areas that they had been in previously as the pine martens moved in. these nocturnal tree climbing predators are gradually returning to scottish bars after being hunted as pets and for their fur almost to extinction. scientists think that pine martens are able to catch and eat the grey squirrel is more easily than the red squirrels. grey squirrels spend more time on the ground and in north america where they evolved they did not encounter a hunter quite so adept at climbing trees. this newly discovered relationship between native species scientists say will be crucial to

the woodland recovery of the red squirrels. nowjust the woodland recovery of the red squirrels. now just an the woodland recovery of the red squirrels. nowjust an update on the main story. the suspected poisoning of the former russian spy — and his daughter. leila nathoo has the latest. well you can see behind me the italian restaurant that has been sealed off since monday. within the last 30 minutes we had a major emergency service presence here. you can see police and ambulances are now here and we had fire engines and more ambulances that came to the building next to the italian restau ra nt. building next to the italian restaurant. there was a big presence, an instant response unit and one woman was accompanied into and one woman was accompanied into an ambulance from that doping. we do not know as yet whether this is connect to what