a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: it's confirmed — a toxic nerve agent was used to poison a former russian spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal — and a police officer — are still critically ill. police are now treating the attack as attempted murder, but they're not giving any more details of the substance used. president trump pushes ahead with his metal tariff‘s plan — but there could be exemptions for canada and mexico. more than three million people cast their vote, and now counting begins in sierra leone for a new president and parliament. it's now clear, according to british police, that a chemical weapon, a nerve agent, was used in a southern english city at the weekend to poison a former russian spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal were found unconscious in salisbury on sunday afternoon — they are still

critically ill and so is a police officer who was the first at the scene. police are now treating the attack as attempted murder. this from our home affairs correspondent tom symonds. sergei skripal is a man with a shadowy past. relatives say he feared it would catch up with him, that he would be targeted. but he was using his own name, living a normal life, popping into a corner shop last month for milk and bacon. tonight, he and his daughter remain gravely ill, and this evening, britain's most senior counter—terrorism officer revealed why. in summary, this is being treated as a major incident involved attempting murder by the administration of a nerve agent. as you know, these two people remain critically ill in hospital. sadly, in addition, a police officer who was one of the first to attend the scene and respond to the incident is now also in a serious condition in hospital. it wasn'tjust police officers

and ambulance teams who came into contact with the victims. so did people who just tried to help. could they have been affected? as your chief medical officer, my message to the public is that this event poses a low risk to us, the public, on the evidence that we have. now the focus is on the nearly three hours between sergei and yulia arriving in this area and being taken ill. key locations remain cordoned off, including the zizzi restaurant, where they had lunch around 2pm. an eyewitness who saw them there, and wanted to remain anonymous, told me something appeared to be wrong. what was your view of them? voiceover: initially, i thought he had mental problems. it was out of the blue. there was no one around him. he started screaming at the top of his voice. he didn't look right.

he looked like he was going to lose his cool. he and other eyewitnesses say that yulia skripal had dark hair, as she appeared in this picture. but police have already seized this cctv footage from just before lipm, a man with a blonde—haired woman entering the shopping area. detectives will need to sort through a mass of eyewitness reports and cctv to establish the truth. the government was briefed on the inquiry today. we need to keep a cool head and make sure that we collect all the evidence we can, and we need to make sure that we respond, not to rumour, but to all the evidence that they collect. and then, we will need to decide what action to take. but life in salisbury is now dominated by the response to the suspected poisoning. when a woman was taken ill at an office this lunchtime, this was the emergency services‘ reaction. and this evening, teams in protective suits and respirators were at a nearby ambulance station. someone has used a chemical weapon among the sunday shoppers of this peaceful city. no—one is taking any chances. tom symonds, bbc news, salisbury.

well as you've been hearing, counter terrorism officers are not revealing much more at the moment about the substance they've identified — except that it is a ‘nerve agent'. here's our security correspondent gordon corera. tests have been going on here at porton down, the ministry of defence‘s biological and chemical research establishment. its specialists have been analysing samples brought from salisbury. the tests established that a nerve agent had been used to specifically target two of the victims. so what is a nerve agent? nerve agents were first created in the 1930s for warfare. they are manufactured rather than naturally occurring. they are fast acting and, unless quickly treated, often deadly. and they work by crippling the nervous system. essentially many of the muscles go into spasm, so imagine that you were just having to hold your breath, and just hold it, keep holding it, keep holding it. and this is one of the effects, and this is why people struggle to breathe.

but you also get massive secretion of fluid in the lungs, and people are trying to breathe through that. and the fluid in the lungs is a surfactant, so it's a slightly soapy consistency. so when people are breathing through it you often see them sort of foaming at the mouth. it's not the only time we've seen a nerve agent used to target individuals. a year ago at kuala lumpur airport, two women smeared a nerve agent called vx on the face of the north korean leader's half brother. he was soon dead. that's one method of delivery. a nerve agent can also be inhaled or ingested, but it's not easy to make. nerve agents require not an insignificant financial, logistical and technical back—up to actually be manufactured. and so that would lead to a more likelihood of a state manufacturing it. the police have been careful not to reveal precisely which nerve

agent was used in salisbury. tests can often trace such agents to a specific country or even laboratory of origin. in washington, white house officials are now suggesting some countries could be excluded from president trump's planned tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. but still mr trump is expected to approve them, formally, before the end of this week. he says he wants to pressure china into reducing its trade imbalance with the us by a billion dollars. there are concerns about a global trade war and more than a hundred lawmakers from the president's own party have written to him, expressing their alarm. let's get more now from our correspondent chris buckler in washington. this was a campaign promised by donald trump. i guess he is unlikely to back down. but these proposals could be watered down? yes, it must

be set as well that whenever —— when donald trump announced these tariffs, we did not have the details of it, last week. and that is partly because they did not have the detail of it. there were still being worked out in the white house. we know there are competing visions inside there are competing visions inside the white house. one of the most outspoken against these protectionist policies was of course the economic adviser gary cohn, who is leading the white house. but there are others who are still there who believe this could potentially damage the american economy by pushing costs up. these tariffs will ultimately have to be paid by businesses, and this is a concern amongst republican leaders as well. so they are talking to donald trump, trying to change its mind on this. asa trying to change its mind on this. as a result, we are seeing a shift in the white house, a softening of language, particular in terms of the exemptions for canada, mexico, and potentially others. and paul ryan has come out against it. the european union has announced a long

list of imports that could be targeted in retaliation. yes, and they are focused on some american products. but it could go further than bourbon, blue jeans, products. but it could go further than bourbon, bluejeans, and motorcycles. it could be more. they wa nt to motorcycles. it could be more. they want to avoid this tip for trapped trade war. and he talks about republicans inside congress that are deeply concerned. —— tit—for—tat. —— you have taught. a letter came out from 100 members of congress. they write to say that they expressed deep concern over broad tariffs on aluminium and steel imports, because ta riffs aluminium and steel imports, because tariffs are taxes that make us businesses less competitors and us consumers poorer. they are speaking out in an open letter against donald trump, because they want to try to change this policy before it comes into effect. certainly, also, we are seeing canada and mexico doing what they can over the last few days to train change that. they will fill this has been a step forward. the potentially they will get

exemptions. all of these policies are, incidentally, the basis of the economy, but national security. this is donald trump's argument in this. he is bringing forward on the argument that these supplies and industries that will be needed by america should they need to defend themselves. a lot of countries are saying that ultimately we are allies. we therefore need this kind of tariffs? i did not mean to drop due there. the thank you very a much indeed. -- do we therefore need this kind of tariffs. four people have been seriously hurt in two knife attacks in the austrian capital vienna. police say it is not clear what the motives were — or if there's any connection between the two assaults. an afghan man has been arrested. bethany bell reports from vienna. a police spokesman told the bbc that a man attacked a family of three, a mother, father, and their grown—up daughter. the victims, all austrian citizens, were taken to hospital with life—threatening injuries. the

attacker fled the scene in vienna's second district, near the famous prater park, and close to an area that houses much of the end of‘s jewish community. later, another man from chechnya was stuxnet prater park. police arrested an afghan citizen in connection with the second attack. —— stabbed near. translation: we know at 7.45 there was a stabbing at the bar behind me. an unknown man attacked a family. all three were happily injury. shortly after, another attack happened. here, a person was also attacked with a knife, and has critical injuries. the police spokesman says it was not clear if the suspect was involved in the first incident as well. he wouldn't comment on possible motives. bethany bell, bbc news, vienna. counting has begun in sierra leone where voters are choosing a new president and parliament.

the current president ernest bai koroma is standing down, after serving two terms. there are 16 candidates to replace him — many promising to tackle endemic corruption and poverty. lebo diseko reports. the votes have been cast, ballot boxes sealed, and counting is underweight in sierra leone's general election. there was some tension as polls closed, with reports of a scuffle between police and the opposition candidatejulius maada bio, overcame of vote rigging. but reviews have been fairly positive. there have been 60 observers around the country. what they are seeing is also encouraging. this is not to say we don't expect a bump ortwo this is not to say we don't expect a bump or two here and there along the way, but thus far, things are doing well. the country is still

struggling after the devastating bowler crisis and rebuilding the health system is just one of the key election issues. the economy is another, after the collapse in the price of iron ore, a key export. but expectation is high. healthcare, education, social services... clean water. these are operating.“ education, social services... clean water. these are operating. if god chooses a next leader, i expect so much from him. results are expected within a week. and if none of the 16 candidates gets 55% of the vote or more, the top two will go to a run—off in march. level wins, there isa run—off in march. level wins, there is a long road ahead to get this country back on its feet. lebo diseko, bbc news. —— whoever wins. much more to come on bbc news, including those: —— this: holding talks on trade and security —

crown prince mohamed bin salman is in downing street amid protests by the opposition labour party about saudi involvement in the war in yemen. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours then the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much do you think? i don't know really.

i've never been married before. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: a nerve agent was used to try to murder a former russian spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal remain critically ill in a uk hospital. the white house says some countries could be excluded from president trump's planned tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including canada and mexico. a grenade killed a man in sri lanka's central district of kandy on wednesday, after a fourth day of clashes between the majority buddhist community and muslims living in the area. more troops have been deployed to try to end the violence. there have been clashes since sunday when a buddhist man died in kandy after an altercation with a group of muslims. david campanale has more.

sri lankan commandos patrol the streets of kandy‘s outline districts. all police leave has been cancelled but they have not been able to stop arson or sporadical religiously motivated assaults. arson or sporadic religiously motivated assaults. through wednesday, police used teargas to disperse buddhist rioters in the city who had been attacking mosques and muslim—owned businesses. the continued presence of mobs on the street is in defiance of security measures, including a curfew. these were imposed after a buddhist youth died at the weekend during an altercation with a group of muslims. government ministers have been to see the violence for themselves, including this shop which had been set alight. a spokesman said the authorities were trying to get the situation under control. the army has been deployed in the tens of thousands in the areas but even one or two people can insight some incident. tension has been on the rise

in buddhist majority sri lanka since 2012, said to have been fueled by hardline buddhists. they accuse muslims of forcing people to convert to islam and vandalising buddhist archaeological sites but the muslim community denies this. the authorities have put curbs on internet access to end the spread of hate speech and misinformation aimed at inciting more violence. under the state of emergency, the authorities are able to arrest and detain suspects for long periods. and deploy forces where needed. a local curfew imposed in kandy is due to end at 4pm local time thursday afternoon. david campanale, bbc news. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: an outspoken archbishop

of el salvador, who was shot dead in 1980 as he celebrated mass, is to be made a saint, according to the vatican. archbishop oscar romero denounced repression and social injustice in his country as it descended into civil war. no one was ever convicted for his killing. coca—cola is to make an alcoholic drink. the 125—year—old american company says it wants to cash in, on a growing trend in japan for a fizzy, flavoured drink mixed with a local spirit. and state media in china has encouraged men and women to settle for someone who is "more or less ok" when choosing who to marry. the appeal, which was made in a newspaper editorial, urged people to be less fussy when it comes to picking a spouse. it follows concerns about the low birth rate in the country. the us holocaust memorial museum has withdrawn its top award to myanmar leader aung san suu kyi because of her failure to stop military attacks on her country's minority rohingya muslims. aid agencies say the stream of rohingya crossing the border shows no sign of stopping.

hundreds have arrived in bangladesh in the past few days. nearly 700,000 rohingya refugees are already there. the bbc‘s anbarasan ethirajan reports from the border town of teknaf. these are the new arrivals from myanmar‘s rakhine state. these men, women and children, they took the risky sea journey overnight to reach the shores of bangladesh. these people, they say that they do not have any livelihood and they also are lacking food in their villages. they feel intimidated by the presence of so many rakhine villages around their own village and that's why had to take this riskyjourney. it also shows that, even though the level of violence has come down in rakhine state, people are still fleeing. for example, here, about 200 people came over last night and we have been speaking to officials who say there has been a regular flow of 80—90 people coming every day and this is adding to this huge population of rohingya refugees here in this country.

nearly 700,000 people have fled rakhine state and the latest round of violence, which started in august and they have been housed in various camps across cox's bazar district here. and the worry for the government and the aid agencies, they cannot estimate how many people are there, what supplies they can bring in and, with more new arrivals, this adds to the pressure of aid agencies and the government. anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, teknaf. the trial for the murder of the swedish journalist, kim wall, who's dismembered body was found on a beach and off the coast of denmark last year, starts later on thursday. she was last seen embarking on a trip off the copenhagen coast in a homemade submarine built by danish inventor peter madsen in august 2017. mr madsen, a submarine enthusiast and rocket builder, is charged with her murder. maddy savage has the details from copenhagen. denmark, one of the world ‘s safest

countries has been shocked by the killing of a swedish reporter. the suspect‘s trial is taking place here in copenhagen. it was a warm summers evening when the journalist kim wall ordered a submarine built by kim wall, danish inventor based in the city. she never came home. a day later peter madsen was rescued, saying the submarine had sunk. he claimed he dropped kim wall of safely. police did not believe in. they worked around the clock searching for the missing journalist. ten days later, a cyclist discovered the remains of her torso. in october dive is found other parts of the body weighed down with metal. peter madsen then admitted kim wall died in his

submarine but his story continued to change. he has admitted cutting up her body but denies killing her. peter madsen has been kept in custody here in the danish capital ahead of the trial. he faces charges including murder, dismembering a body and sexual relations of a particularly dangerous nature. if found guilty he is likely to get a life sentence or sent to a mental hospital. maddy savage reporting there from copenhagen. crown prince mohammed bin—salman of saudi arabia has started a 3—day visit to britain, by having lunch with the queen, and holding talks with the prime minister in downing street, mainly about trade and security. but the visit is not appropriate, according to human rights campaigners, who point to saudi arabia's role in the conflict in yemen, where the un says there's a humanitarian crisis. our security correspondent frank gardner has more details. a downing street welcome for the man who is shaking up saudi arabia with radical reforms.

crown prince mohammed bin salman and his delegation have come to britain looking for new deals and new partnerships. this meeting concluded with an agreed target of £65 billion of future trade deals, spread across education, healthcare, energy and defence. today, the crown prince was given an audience and lunch with the queen. tonight he is dining with prince charles and prince william. the lunch that crown prince mohammed bin salman had with the queen is a mark ofjust how highly the government values its relations with saudi arabia. he's not a head of state and four years ago almost no—one had heard of him. not everyone in britain though welcomes this visit. a small, but noisy demonstration outside downing street, protesting saudi arabia's air strikes on yemen and its poor human rights record. britain is a major supplier of arms to saudi arabia, contracts are worth billions of pounds and employ thousands of britons.

in neighbouring yemen, saudi—led air strikes on houthi rebels are blamed for the majority of civilian casualties. in parliament today a question over whether saudi arabia is a suitable ally. there has been a sharp increase in the arrest and detention of dissidents, torture of prisoners is common, human rights defenders routinely sentenced to lengthy prison terms. but the government places huge value on saudi co—operation in counter terrorism. the link we have with saudi arabia is historic it, it is a an important one and it has saved the lives of potentially hundreds of people in this country. crown prince mohammed is pushing a sweeping economic and social reform programme, reintroducing cinemas and public entertainment. he's also given saudi women much more freedom to enjoy public life.

from june they can drive. we spoke to a prominent women's rights campaigner. when it comes to human rights i think there's no reform yet. i think everything is going to happen because people nowadays are like, you know, 70% of the population are youth, youngsters, and they all want change. the saudi crown prince is no democrat. he locked up citizens in this hotel until they handed over their assets. young saudis admire him. if he can deliver on his economic promises, with britain's help, he will go down in history as the man who modernised saudi arabia. frank gardner, bbc news. a reminder of our top story: it's now clear, according to british police, that a chemical weapon, a nerve agent, was used in a southern english city at the weekend to poison a former russian spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal were found unconscious in salisbury on sunday afternoon, they are still critically

ill and so is a police officer who was the first at the scene. let's leave you with these incredible pictures from a volcano, mount shinmoedake, in southern japan. a series of powerful eruptions has created a huge plume, which is now 3,000 metres high — that's the highest recorded since april in 2011. authorities are warning people not to approach the area. the volcano, which featured in the 1967 james bond film, you only live twice, has been grumbling since thursday. japan, with scores of active volcanoes, sits on the so—called pacific ring of fire, where a large proportion of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded. much more for you any time on the bbc website. thank you for watching. hello. temperatures are on the up this weekend as it turns milder

but we are not there yet and snow is still part of our forecast for the first part of thursday. here's a look at the recent satellite picture. this area of cloud pushing in from the south—west, bringing in some rain, sleet and some snow to parts of england and wales as thursday begins. a fairly messy looking picture, by no means everyone seeing snow. you're more inclined in the higher ground of wales, midlands, into parts of northern england but, in heavier bursts, even to lower levels, you could see a bit of snow. maybe a few centimetres, a brief, light covering out of this. here is how things look during the first few hours of the morning. behind the area of rain, sleet and snow, further wintry showers coming into parts of wales. but in parts of northern england and the midlands, as thursday begins, we could see some snow falling to relatively low levels. it is a good idea to just check the situation before heading out, to make sure you do not going to encounter too many problems. bbc local radio station, of course, a good source of information. this latest weather system begins to pull its moisture away, eastwards, from england and wales as we go into the afternoon. for scotland and northern ireland,

a mainly dry but frosty icy start to the day. some good sunny spells to come as it stays mainly dry. but in towards the western isles, far north—west of mainland scotland, northern isles there will be some showers around. following our weather system for england and wales, one or two showers, wintry on hills but some good sunny spells to come here. most places though a chillier day, especially in the breeze, across southern parts, with temperatures in single figures. largely fine thursday night as we see a frost settling. the chance for a few icy patches. still some wintry showers, still some snow across parts of scotland, particularly into the hills. a lot of fine weather to come during friday but cloud increasing to southern england and south wales as we start to get some outbreaks of rain moving in through the afternoon and into the evening. so it turns wetter from the south. as we look at that big picture going into the weekend, there's this weather system here, still as it edges its way northwards, on it leading edge, there could be some snow, especially to higher ground. but this is a warm front, this the leading edge of milder air, warmerairand you can see that on the colours here, for saturday.

that gradually edges itsway further northwards that gradually edges its way further northwards as we go through the weekend. so we know the weekend, temperatures are heading up. not the whole story. it's going to be milder, yes, but there will be some rain at times and most of us will see some rain at some stage of the weekend, thankfully not all the time but here is an idea of what we might expect over the weekend, at least for the capital cities. and that gives you an idea of what many of us can expect. some rain at times, not all the time but temperatures are creeping up. that is your weekend forecast. this is bbc news. the headlines: british anti—terror police say a nerve agent was used to try to murder a former russian spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal have been critically ill in hospital since being found slumped unconscious on a bench on sunday. suspicion has fallen on russia, which has denied involvement. the white house are saying some countries could be excluded from

donald trump's plan to tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. the measures had led to concerns about the potential trade war. the president is expected to go ahead with approving them formally before the end of this week. counting is underway in sierra leone after more than three million people voted for a new president and parliament. president ernest bai koroma is standing down after serving two five—year terms. a run—off vote will take place if no presidential candidate wins 55% of the ballot. now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament.