not encounter 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 happened but the

building the emergency services went into was next to the italian restau ra nt into was next to the italian restaurant that has been a place of interest certainly for the investigation so far. thank you. time for a look at the weather. here's stav da naos. good afternoon. still quite a wintry theme across the northern half of theme across the northern half of the uk today. and you can see further snowfall around in races. but further south any showers are rain and in the sunshine it will feel almost springlike. so for the rest of the afternoon a mixture of sunny spells and showers. many places staying dry altogether. the showers kent to fizzle out into this evening. a couple of wintry showers continuing towards scotland put up and cold with some ice to watch out for. across the south and west we have this feature, mainly rain but

also some cold air and that could give rise to some snowfall even down to lower levels for a time. so there could be a bit of disruption from this feature, nothing compared to what we had last week. but those white areas indicating the snow. it could give rise to a couple of centimetres of snow, enough to cause a bit of disruption through the morning rush. it should clear away later in the morning and in fact things brightening up quite nicely for most. some showers across the north and west and again wintry over the higher ground in scotland. further south up to 10 degrees. into friday, and i'm — again a decent day with a lot of sunshine around. more showers across scotland wintry over

the higher ground bust up and into the higher ground bust up and into the far south of the country we have an area of rain pushing into the southern counties in towards the south—west. that will arrive with some milder air. that will spread its way slowly north as we had into the weekend. the blue colour holding on across the northern half of the country so as the rain across the south moves north, likely to have some snow on its leading edge. but further south noticeably milder with some sunny spells. back to you. that's all from the bbc news at one — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. have a good afternoon. good afternoon, the latest sport for

you... the one day series between england and new zealand will be decided in the final match after the hosts won the fourth one dayer by five wickets with three balls to spare earlier this morning. england were on course for a big total but collapsed and posted a disappointing 334 for nine with new zealand knocking the runs off thanks to 181 from their star man ross taylor as tim hague reports. it's fair to say that england have turned a few heads in one—day cricket recently, a team transformed and that continues here at first of jonny bairstow and joe root both scored a superb centuries, hitting 29 boundaries and the roof along the way. but none of their colleagues did much more than throw—in gamage klavan last eight wickets fell for 68, old the habits die hard it seems. still a sizeable 336 was the new zealand target and with the first two man out for ducks, this

looked an england victory, but no one budgeted for ross taylor. playing of an injury, he struggled to run at times, he didn't need to. passing 100 then 150 and ending on 181, not out, in a man of the match performance, three were needed from the final over and they were scored with interest. the series now goes with interest. the series now goes with a decider and england will need to get their head right about one. —— for that one. australia batsman david warner has been cleared to play in friday's second test against south africa after accepting a misconduct charge. he's been fined 75 % of his match fee. warner was charged by the international cricket council after an incident in the first test. video pictures appeared to show warner having to be restrained by team—mates during an altercation with south africa's quinton de kock. edinburgh back blair kinghorn will make his first start in place

of injured winger tommy seymour when scotland face ireland in dublin in the six nations on saturday. kinghorn came on as a replacement during scotland's win over england and he's the only change as coach gregor townsend sticks with the players who've recorded back—to—back wins in the tournament. back row taulupe faletau return at number eight to captain wales against italy in cardiff on sunday. coach warren gatland has made ten changes to the side that lost the last match to ireland. scarlets flanker james davies will win his first cap. gareth anscombe is named at fly—half with northampton's george north selected on the right wing. sir bradley wiggins and former team sky doctor richard freeman need to "come forward and tell the truth" according to the team's ex—coach shane sutton. an mps‘ report says team sky "crossed an ethical line" by using drugs allowed under anti—doping rules to enhance performance instead of just for medical purposes. wiggins was named but has told the bbc he's done nothing wrong. sutton, who gave evidence to the digital, culture, media and sport select committee last year, says wiggins and dr freeman "need to explain it all to everybody." liverpool cantered into the champions league quarter finals

last night and it should be equally plain sailing for manchester city this eveing. pep guardiola's side have a 4—0 advantage over swiss team basel heading into their second leg at the etihad. city could still potentially win the treble of champions league, premier league and league cup. it's a lot tighter for tottenham ahead of their big match against juventus at wembley. spurs do have two away goals though after their draw in turin last month and they‘ re still unbeaten in the champions league this season. we need to think that we can win and we think in this way, and then what happens will be a consequence about our performance. if we are capable to perform in the way we normally do, tomorrow we will be closing to win and advancing to the next stage. more on all those stories on the bbc

sport website. we will have more in the next hour. you're watching bbc news. let's get more on the investigation into the suspected poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in salisbury. the home secretary amber rudd has said more is now known about the substance which is thought to have left sergei skripal and his daughter yulia critically ill in hospital. she added more information would be published by police later today. ijust chaired the emergency meeting of cobra this morning, about the terrible events that took place in salisbury. and our thoughts are with everybody affected, particularly the two people who are still in hospital. this is likely to be a lengthy and ongoing process. we need to make sure the police and other services have the space

to continue that investigation. we need to keep a cool head and make sure we collect all the evidence we can, and we need to make sure we respond not to rumour but to all the evidence they collect and then we need to decide what action to take. at this stage, where have investigators got to on what kind of substance this was and how it might have been administered? we know more about the substance and the police will make a further statement this afternoon in order to share some of that. we must let the police carry on their work, they will share what they can this afternoon, but i'm sure there will be more updates as the investigation continues. was or is sergei skripal a british citizen and at this stage, how much evidence is there but he might have been deliberately killed as some kind of state action perhaps by russia? attacked, sorry? there's a lot of information about sergei skripal in the public domain at the moment.

but i won't comment any further about that because i do believe the police need to get on with their investigation and finding out more about him will be part of it. and is he a british citizen? as i say, there is lot of evidence in the public about that. how concerned should the public be about their own safety in terms of the substance that was clearly around in salisbury on sunday? there will be more information published by the police this afternoon about the substance. but we've taken all the action necessary to ensure the public are safe. i'd like to reassure the public that we have the ability and wherewithal and knowledge to keep them completely safe. sergei skripal had, at least on the russian account, been working for the uk when he was in russia. he was convicted of that in russia and potentially had been a uk intelligence asset, what have you done to protect other russians in this country who might be possible targets? as i say, i want to make sure this investigation in response

to evidence not rumour but i can reassure the public and your viewers that all action will be taken to keep everybody safe. we know that there has been a lot of police activity in salisbury over this lunchtime and will keep you up—to—date throughout the afternoon with any developments on that. the european union has published its guidelines for an agreement on the future relationship between the eu and the united kingdom after britain leaves. donald tusk has insisted the eu "does not want to build a wall", but brexit means "we will be drifting apart". earlier the shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell called for more clarity from the uk government. i can't see where theresa may has

compromised. she set out a series of vague statements, we got no further on the northern ireland boardercross she set made -- she made the same statement as she did earlier. she has not let up any detail. we are 20 months on, this should have been settled months ago. we are expecting a speech from the chancellor philip hammond a little bit later on this afternoon. continuing coverage of that story as well of course. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first , the headlines on bbc news: the home secretary says more is now known about the substance used in the suspected poisoning of a russian spy. 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." saudi arabia's crown prince is starting a three—day visit to the uk — protests are planned against his country's role in the war in yemen. in the business news...

chancellor philip hammond will tell eu leaders it's in the "mutual interest" of the uk and the eu to include financial services in a free trade agreement. he's due to speak later today. earlier eu council president donald tusk repeated warnings about "cherry—picking". almost 1000 jobs are to go at new look after the high street retailer announced its company voluntary arrangement or cva. under the reorganisation, 60 stores will close, which is expected to result in 980 job losses. but the company says it will try to redeploy staff. investment bank goldman sachs has put more than a dozen staff on notice to move to frankfurt within weeks. that's according to sources who say the us bank has decided it can't wait any longer for clarity on how brexit will affect its business. uk house prices grew at their slowest rate in five years last month.

growth slumped to just 1.8% in the year to february, according to halifax, the country's largest lender. that's the slowest rate of increase since march 2013. the average price of a home fell by about £2,000 between november and february, while the firm said it expects price growth to remain low in the coming months. you might not have heard of ds smith but you may be familiar with their service — they are an international packaging business and the biggest packaging provider to amazon in europe. they released a trading update this morning saying trade is in line with expectations and the share price is up about 1%. we are joined by their ceo miles roberts. thanks forjoining us. the way consumers have changed how they shop for the huge rise in e—commerce, that must be providing a huge boost to your business? yes. it is a many

yea rs, to your business? yes. it is a many years, we've to your business? yes. it is a many yea rs, we've seen to your business? yes. it is a many years, we've seen a to your business? yes. it is a many years, we've seen a lot of consumers moving to e—commerce solutions, more about home shopping, but it's not just about that. we've seen how consumers are buying in many different retail channels as well. these will require different. packaging, our packaging is fully recycla ble, packaging, our packaging is fully recyclable, it's highly sustainable solution, and on the back of those as well, we've seen some strong growth. how do you do that cheese thatis growth. how do you do that cheese that is fully wave “— wave —— how do you get the fully recycla ble, wave —— how do you get the fully recyclable, zero ways? our packaging is fibre —based, made of paper. when you've used it, we collected, take it at our paper mills and take it back to outbox plant. that cycle ta kes back to outbox plant. that cycle takes about 1k days. we actually do that, we are one of your‘s largest

recycler of fibre and one model our and consumers appreciate. you operate in 37 countries, how do different countries and customers's priorities change when it comes to recycling? we have a variety of different rules and regulations. as a company, we are keen where ever we work, to promote the recycling of fibre because the user. but the regulations change, for countries outside of europe like japan you can have up to 17 bins in your household to segregate your waist. in the uk typically we only use one. we mix all the recycling together. we see a variety of regulations. what we press for is to try and get a commonality, asking consumers who have the problem of all the packaging and material at their

homes, to start to segregate it. we work with governments across europe to promote their great segregation at the household. thank you for your time. in other news... problems for the uk's casual dining sector continue as results from the restaurant group show a 3% fall in like for like sales. the owner of chains such frankie and benny's and chiquito saw adjusted pre—tax profit fall from £77.1 million to £56.7 million. blackberry has filed a lawsuit in the us accusing facebook of copying features from blackberry messenger in a violation of its patent rights. blackberry says facebook used the features and technology in its whatsapp and instagram apps. facebook says it will fight the claims. coca—cola is planning to produce an alcoholic drink for the first time in the its 125—year history. but you'll have to go to japan to sample the alcopop—style product. coke wants to cash in on the countries growing taste for canned drinks containing a local spirit called shochu. that sea of how the markets of got

on. “— that sea of how the markets of got on. —— let's see. the ftse is up. restaurant group, although we said that like—for—like sales are down, it's actually much better than expected, traders expected a like—for—like sales to be lower, so it's up. rolls—royce, not the car company but the engineering group. they had a loss last year, but a profit this year. i'll be back later this afternoon. theresa may has defended britain's links to saudi arabia. it's afterjeremy corbyn accused the government of colluding with war crimes in yemen by selling arms to the saudis. that was discussed in pmqs. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster for us now. thanks. before every pmqs we try to

guess whatjeremy corbyn is going to go on, invariably i get it wrong but my colleagues were spot—on suggesting he'd go on saudi arabia. why? it's an issue mr corbyn has been very vocal about, where other politicians perhaps have them there so. politicians perhaps have them there so. mr corbyn did indeed tackle mrs may over the visit by the crown prince, suggesting britain was complicit in war crimes for supplying arms to saudi arabia, which were then used in yemen. that lesson. despite much talk of reform, there has been a sharp increase in the arrest and detention and dissidents, torture of prisoners is,, human rights are sentenced to lengthy prison terms for unfair trials and executions are widespread as amnesty international confirmed. as she makes her arms sales pitch, will she also call on the crown prince to halt the shocking abuse of human

rights in saudi arabia? mrs may replied by pointing to the fa ct mrs may replied by pointing to the fact britain is the third biggest donor when it comes to humanitarian aid. to yemen. i welcome, i am forward to welcoming crown prince mohammad bin salman from saudi arabia, to this. labour backbenchers and sedentary positions are shouting shame. can i say to them that the link we have with saudi arabia is historic, it is an important one, and it has saved the lives of potentially hundreds of people in this country. before all the argy—bargy in saudi arabia, there was an interesting moment that man's blaming when jeremy corbyn reminded them telling her theresa may that tomorrow is international william state

—— international women's's day and he was accused of man's blaming. —— mansplaining. tim lawson, do you thinkjeremy corbyn has a point that we has been too close to saudi arabia and to willing to sell arms? he made he should have made critical point about iran who are currently spraying missiles and to saudi arabia. this is a hugely complex situation, it is right we need to tackle the saudis on how they conduct this war, i have been to yemen, it is a huge humanitarian crisis going on, we need the conflict to stop but we need more, people complaining about the crown prince coming here, whose prospects are reforming that part of the world are reforming that part of the world are quite inspiring, we need to talk to him and work out ways we can all get round the table and stop this conflict is happening. just coming

up conflict is happening. just coming up with all these things about human having to talk to them and human rights, let's talk to them. jeremy corbyn has long supported ending arms sales to saudi arabia, do you think is right? i don't, saudi arabia is our ally against the rebels trying to use the democratically elected government in yemen. we have concerns about the way they prosecuted the war, they have themselves been on the receiving end of over 90 long—range missiles being fired on their own territory. this is about territorial protection for our ally, and i do think, i do have concerns about mistakes in the arms blockade that has prevented food and medicine getting but i have concerns about the rebels, said of his militia are told soldiers robbed of their childhood and murdered. told soldiers robbed of their childhood and murdered! told soldiers robbed of their childhood and murdered. a lot of the thinking behind the visit seems to

be the crown prince is a game changer, that suddenly saudi arabia will become a less restrictive country, it will adopt reforms is he a game changer? i'm not sure he is. it's not that difficult to say, let's allow humanitarian aid in, given 75% of people in yemen are in need of humanitarian aid. i think he could unilaterally take decisions that would allow the aid to happen more easily. the snp has been consistent in our views about arms sales to saudi arabia, consistently clear they should not continue to happen, especially in the context of what's happening in yemen. what you say to many thousands of people in the arms industry whose jobs are probably depending on those sales? and somebody that does not like the idea of conflict emily. if you are involved —— generally. if you're emboldening this is conflict like in yemen, so many innocent people's lives are delivered by the conflict —— involved in the conflict. we shouldn't sell bonds

and other weapons to countries that will use them where civilians might be affected. mansplaining. did jeremy corbyn come a cropper on the mansplaining front? it was too shaven theresa may. it was a and fun moment but let's look at what the prime minister has done the women's, we have statistics talking about women and children being put into working poverty, reforms to the social security system, it has left many people in wakefield many women, less well off. and the warren who have had their two years or more of their pension stolen. this conservative government for the previous conservative government, have been no funds to william women and germany mention that. and your colleagues said the new breed of tory woman were advancing

feminism in parliament?” breed of tory woman were advancing feminism in parliament? i agree, we have the equality committee and the select committees are, have a lot of women colleagues telling them, i chair the environmental audit committee, with so worst in the first female chair of the liaison committee, and we will see some interesting changes in the backbench powerhouse. where do you stand on mansplaining? are we entering the land of the po—faced about this? mansplaining? are we entering the land of the po—faced about this7m you've ever been a woman sitting in a meeting with, you will be ignored and a man will make the same point and a man will make the same point and a man will make the same point and a formal say "good point well made!" that is the experience of so many women out there. for us to be calling out mansplaining is the right thing to do. the patronising us we right thing to do. the patronising us we face, particularly if you're a young woman, in these situations, is really difficult for us to deal with. like the need to movement, if we can listen to women' voices, we will be in a better place. it's

about a year since the chancellor called me hysterical during treasury questions asking about chemical regulation. i think the idea of a man calling another woman mp these daysis man calling another woman mp these days is actually unthinkable. i think the culture change we have seen think the culture change we have seenin think the culture change we have seen in the last year ‘s 20 welcome. you have to excuse time is tight and in the interesting dilemma the mansplaining i went asked your views. i be studio: i'm saying nothing either! laughs more from norman later on in the afternoon. let's look at the weather prospects. let's look at what's going on across the country. we have contrasting weather across northern others a lot of snow, this example shows a wintry scene with blue sky. most of

the blue sky will be further south, we have glorious wealth of sunshine, a few showers around but it will feel quite springlike, tempered his reaching highs of around 11 degrees. sunny spells are likely to continue as we head on into the end of the afternoon, becoming more widespread. a few showers across northern and western parts of scotland, continuing through the night, over the hill, it will turn cold, ice will be a risk. across the south—west, this feature moving into wales, the midlands will produce outbreaks of rain, but also some hillsborough and maybe snow down to the lower levels, there could be a little bit of disruption during the early hours of thursday morning, across wales, the midlands, northern england as well. i will be capped to show you this feature moving in. most of the site will be central to northern wales, lower levels, 7a northern wales, lower levels, 7a northern england and lincolnshire and the humber. further south you will be mostly rain. the whole

picture moves tomorrow morning, by the latter part before lunchtime it should have cleared away and conditions will improve greatly with lots of sunshine around. a few showers across north and west scotland, may be some further south but a lot of dry weather, and a touch pool at and today, damages or 6009 or 10 degrees, close to 11—12 in the south. lots of sunshine in england mouse, showers across scotland, snow on the high ground, and later in the day the feature moves in the south of the feature moves in the south of the country, this is an area of low pressure and a more organised area of rain arise across southern counties on friday and into the weekend. the low pressure will bring much milder air across england and wales, slowly moving its way northwards, you see the blue holding across the north. the rain pushes its way northwards, we could see some snow. primarily high ground but

maybe lower levels, further south turning much milder and there will be some sunny spells around, maybe a few showers to as the weekend wears on, but you'll notice the milder air. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2pm. what was used to poison the russian spy and his daugher? we'll find out more while afternoon live is on air — as ministers move to reassure local people. i want to make sure that this investigation responds to evidence, not to rumour, and i want to reassure your viewers and the public that all action is going to be taken to keep everybody safe. as police continue to search various properties — reports that a woman has been escorted by officers into an ambulance and driven away. the eu says a free trade agreement will have to be put into place after brexit — frictionless trade, they say, is impossible. a pick and mix approach for a non member state is out of the question. we are not going to sacrifice these principles, it's simply not in our interest.