the home secretary says the attempted murder of a former russian spy using nerve gas is an outrageous crime. amber rudd told parliament sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical condition in hospital, and the police officer who went to their aid is in a serious condition. the use of a nerve agent on uk soil is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. we'll have the latest on the counter—terrorism investigation into where the nerve agent came from. also this lunchtime... a passenger tells a court how her hair caught fire when a bomb went off on a london underground train last september. domestic abusers could be electronically tagged or banned from drinking alcohol, in a new crackdown proposed by the government. longer waits in a&e and fewer non—urgent operations — new figures make grim reading for the nhs. and, going for gold — britain is hoping for a record medal

haul at the winter paralympics. and coming up in the sport on bbc news... eddiejones makes three changes for england's six nations clash with france this weekend. captain dylan hartley misses out through injury. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the home secretary has described the attempted murder of a former russian spy and his daughter as an outrageous crime. speaking in the house of commons, amber rudd said the use of a nerve agent on uk soil was a brazen and wreckless act. she also said it was highly likely that the police officer taken ill at the scene in salisbury was exposed

to the same nerve agent as sergei and yulia skripal. counter terrorism officers are trying to identify the source of the toxin. richard galpin reports. much of the investigation now is focusing on who carried out the attempted murder here in salisbury last sunday. in which the russian double agent sergei skripal and his daughter yulia ingested deadly nerve agent. but at the local hospital, it is now clear the policeman who was also contaminated after rushing to help them when they collapsed is recovering. the police are working closely... in parliament this morning the government promised a robust response once it is clear who was behind the attack. the use of a nerve agent on uk soil is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted

murder in the most cruel and public way. people are right to want to know who to hold to account. but if we are to be rigorous in this investigation, we must avoid speculation and allow the police to carry on their investigation. the horrifying effects of a nerve agents have been seen in several parts of the world in recent years, even though their use is banned. hundreds suffocated to death in this sarin gas attack in the rebel held areas of syria in 2013. last year another nerve agent, vx, was used by the korean regime. generally it is only governments which develop and store nerve agents. making nerve agents is not the sort of stuff you can knock up not the sort of stuff you can knock up in your back shed, it needs a sophisticated laboratory, highly

trained and experienced scientists that only we really find in state—run institutions. that only we really find in state-run institutions. so for those investigating the attack in salisbury, the range of likely culprits has narrowed significantly, with russia probably now the prime suspect. the british authorities will be looking for substantive proof of a link between the use of this agent and the russians in particular. it's not only governments who use this sort of thing, sarin was used in the tokyo metro a few years ago, nevertheless the high probability is it is the russians. there is much still to be uncovered in the investigation, but for the family... sergei skripal‘s brother died in russia and the family believe the deaths are suspicious. our home affairs correspondent leila nathoo is outside sergei skripal‘s house in salisbury.

iamat i am at sergei skripal‘s house and there has been a flurry of activity in the last hour or so, the most activity we have seen to days. we had a number of ambulances turning up had a number of ambulances turning up here, and an incident response team. police have set up a large tent here, there are also tends in the driveway and back garden too so it looks like there will be a lengthy operation here. as far as salisbury city centre goes, there is a police tent near the bench where sergei skripal and his daughter was found, zizzi restaurant is cordoned off, so a number of sites of interest here. wiltshire police is saying the officer who was hospitalised after being one of the first on the scene j s as £1 £7 ziii his:

is said are: , , lunch m the“; 51?! 934522295 {a $55. “5:2"??— 59299 99! 9349.99.99 {a 999. 19—99 how 534934 99! 934539999 4“ this. 19—349 how was it 534934 99! 934539999 4“ 999. 19—349 how was it ingested, 493934 99! 934539999 4“ 999 99—349 how was it ingested, was !‘393! 99! 934539999 !* !l3’9 99—349 how was it ingested, was it agent? how was it ingested, was it airborne? who was administered by? and how did it get into salisbury city centre the country? 0ur science editor david shukman is here. in terms of the substance, what are investigators looking for, david? there is a huge amount we don't know but the phrase nerve agent covers a lot of possibilities. it points to the fact this was manufactured probably in some state institution. these are not something you can cook

up these are not something you can cook up in the kitchen. injapan some people succeeded but it took a long time and it is hazardous. we also know nerve agents attacks the nervous system by definition, that is what they do, and the symptoms eyewitnesses describe match that, namely convulsions, difficulty breathing, frothing at the mouth, all pointing to the use of these nerve agents. i think beyond that, we are into a phase where there is detective work into trying to find out where the substance came from. there is a rather weird branch of science that does this, looking for what they called markers in the chemical, little clues that might indicate where the substance was made. there are clues that can be found that point to a particular government or a particular source. whether they can do that this time, i don't know. 0k, whether they can do that this time, i don't know. ok, for now thank you. 0ur chief political correspondent

vicki young is in westminster. we heard strong words from the home secretary, will we have more than words at any point? that was certainly what mps were calling for. it was striking the difference in tone from amber rudd today to that of borisjohnson a few days ago when he spoke directly about russia saying they were a malign and disruptive force. amber rudd being more careful with her language, she was keen to say that if there was evidence and proof russia was behind this, then the uk would be ready to act. when pushed on this, she said in other cases the uk has been outspoken in its criticism of russia and will go further if we need to do so, which begs the question what exactly might she be thinking about? where were outspoken words from a conservative mp who said what was going on here was a brazen act of war by russia, he said it was

humiliating our country. there are many people who agree with that but it is much more likely we will see an extension of sanctions, of stopping visas for some people come into this country, freezing of assets. the likelihood of cutting off diplomatic ties though, i don't think that will happen. thank you. the rest of the day's news now. a commuter has been describing to a court how her hair caught fire when a bomb went off on a london underground train last september. ahmed hassan, who's 18, denies attempted murder and causing an explosion likely to endanger life, at parsons green station. june kelly is at the old bailey. some very dramatic and distressing evidence here at the old bailey this morning as passengers who were on that train last september describe what happened. the first witness we heard from gave her evidence from behind a screen and she is remaining anonymous. she was badly burned, she

suffered burns to herface, hands and legs, and she said that during her evidence that her coat was burning and her tights actually melted. she broke down in tears during her evidence and had to pause at one point. she said she had seen the defendants a short time before on the train and seen this bag he had with him which she thought looked odd. the prosecution say that in that bag was born with a bucket. another witness called amy colville described how her hair caught fire. she said, there was a loud, cracking bang, then a wall of glass came past me, and flames were passing over her. another witness was very upset, she sobbed throughout her evidence. she said her hair was coming out in chunks and her face was burning. another witness said his face was burned and he lost his eyebrows and

eyelashes. throughout all of this evidence the defendant sat in the dock with his eyes closed and his head down. thank you. two 17—year—old boys have died and seven people have been injured in an accident involving three cars near thirsk in north yorkshire. police say the vehicles collided on the a61 shortly before 9.30pm last night. five adults and two children were taken to hospital. police have appealed for anyone who saw what happened to contact them. two 18—year—old men have been arrested, after a student at nottingham trent university said she was subjected to racist abuse through the door of her room. rufaro chisango said people chanted "we hate the blacks" and she posted a video of what happened on social media. suspected domestic abusers could be electronically tagged or banned from drinking alcohol, under new government proposals for england and wales. draft legislation has been put out for public consultation, as lucinda adam reports. euleen hope suffered a decade of

abuse at the hands of her ex—partner, emotional but also physical. she ended up in hospital more than a dozen times. she says she used to grow her fringe long to cover her black eyes. some people say to me, why didn't you get out sooner? if you leave a relationship, do you want to be looking over your shoulder? that person could be still after you because he already told me, he will say when it is over. then he threatened me and told me he would organise for someone to throw acid in my face. in 2015 the man was eventually jailed for grievous bodily harm and assault after her sister called the police. today the prime minister and home secretary metjust a few of prime minister and home secretary met just a few of the prime minister and home secretary metjust a few of the 2 million people, mostly women, who suffer domestic abuse each year. what we are proposing today is a really

ambitious sea change in people's approach to domestic abuse, really bringing it out from where it has been hidden. this is notjust about the really nasty attacks that take place but it's about building on the work we have already done on coercive control and introducing new forms of abuse to be considered by thejudges. forms of abuse to be considered by the judges. among the proposals, broadening the legal definition of domestic abuse to include physical, psychological, sexual and emotional but also economic abuse. tougher sentences the cases involving children, and protection orders that could see abuses electronically tagged or banned from drinking alcohol. we are pleased to see the spotlight on financial and economic abuse, this can be anything from having your wages taken away from you by your partner to committing benefit fraud in your name. the consultation period for the proposed new laws will last 12 weeks. more people in england had non—urgent operations postponed

by the nhs injanuary compared to the same period last year. waiting time performance in a&e departments has also hit its lowest level since targets were introduced. 0ur health correspondent adina campbell is with me. talk us through the figures. we all know that the winter period puts more pressure on the nhs but it is now clear just puts more pressure on the nhs but it is now clearjust how much of an impact it has had on routine operations so if we take a look at the number of routine operations which had to be postponed injanuary this year, that was down by 23,000 compared to the same period last year. why is this happening? there are number of reasons, we've got to ta ke are number of reasons, we've got to take into account the cold weather but also things like flu and norovirus as as the ongoing pressures such as social care with some older patients stock in beds in hospital rather than getting the right kind of care at home. we've also had figures through for a&e

performance in england as well and thatis performance in england as well and that is at its lowest level for 1h yea rs. that is at its lowest level for 1h years. the target is 95% of patients being seen in a&e within four hours but in february this year that was down by 85%, the lowest on record. we have seen the pictures of patients being left in corridors waiting to be seen and the pressures on ambulance services as well so this combined with an ageing population, staff shortages, as well as our own lifestyle choices with things like our diet and smoking, all of this puts the nhs under incredible pressure. our top story this lunchtime: the home secretary says the attempted murder of a former russian spy and his daughter using a nerve agent is an outrageous crime. and still to come: why the recent freezing weather means drivers will have to contend with even more potholes. coming up in sport:

"i thought i was in trouble." snowboarder 0wen pick says "it's amazing" after being named as paralympics gb flagbearer for the opening ceremony in south korea on friday. brexit is distracting the government from making changes needed to help boost the economy — that's a warning from business leaders, as they gather at the annual british chambers of commerce conference. the group's chairman says the government can do more than one thing at once, and has called for stronger leadership. nina warhurst has been visiting companies in staffordshire, where voters overwhelmingly backed brexit. staffordshire is home to a million people, for the manufacturers, the service industries and the trades men and women, the brexit count down is on. a drop in the pound has brought a big boost for export sales in hixon. two thirds of electrics they build and the metal they shape go abroad. but that could change. this piece of machinery puts

all the safety edges on and the folds very consistently very quickly. do they stay mainly in the uk? yes, absolutely. talk of tariffs means they're building their british client—base and mass production for the eurozone will be made in romania. fewer borders means more predictable profits. those changes, are they as a result of brexit directly? no, i wouldn't say directly. we have been sort of doing this anyway. what this has allowed us to do with the uncertainty of brexit is focus our mind a bit more in transferring goods. so brexit has made you think in a different way would you say? absolutely. staffordshire is a county with a rich industrial heritage and you look to the future and the chamber of commerce says they can grow the local economy here by 50% over the next three years. but some businesses say it is impossible to make any predictions until they know the exact terms of the brexit deals. we head south to weeping cross, a community which relies

heavily on this business. here they say a fluctuating pound and not knowing the final deal makes importing uncertain. it can mean that patients go without medication. you would say that has happened, because of brexit someone has gone without their medication? i can't necessarily link it to brexit, but it does have a link to currency fluctuations. and do you worry that because of that ambiguity, we will see a time where you can't be certain with patients about the supply of medication? very much so. 0ne county, 33,000 businesses — staffordshire is edging closer to seeing how their past decision will impact their financial future. nina warhurst, bbc news. john lewis staff will see their bonus cut for the fifth consecutive year, after the retail chain revealed a fall in profits. thejohn lewis partnership — which is owned byjohn lewis and waitrose employees — announced that this year's bonus will be 5% of annual salary, down from 6% last year, with 85,000 staff sharing a pot worth £74 million.

the public spending watchdog has warned that many councils in england face becoming financially unsustainable because of the increasing demands of social care. the national audit office calculates that the money local authorities receive from central government has been cut by nearly 50% since 2010. alison holt reports. it is lunch time at think day centre in surrey. here, people with brain injuries and other conditions can socialise and take part in activities. many have their care paid for by the county down till. —— council. we like its legs. the legs are brilliant. the report says local authorities now spend more than half of their budgets on providing social care. sue, who has multiple sclerosis, describes the centre as a

lifeline. i come here only twice a week. i would come more if there was the funding for it. but apart from that, it is amazing. councils like surrey have duty to support people who are older and disabled as well as providing children's services. across the board, demand is increasing. but the national audit 0ffice report says 2010 the money english councils have got from central government has been cut by nearly 50%. services like bin collections and roads and libraries have had funding reduced by nearly a third over the same time. and with councils using their savings to balance the books, one in ten will have exhausted their reserves within three years. we are calling for a plan for the long—term financial sustainability of sector. what we

want local government to do and fund them for that or make funding available. alongside that social ca re available. alongside that social care needs a funding solution as well. in surrey, one of wealthiest parts of country, as well as raising council tax and making more cuts to services like bins and roads, the local authority is dipping into its reserves again. you see what the snow has done. the council leaderer knows they have to change. it has been difficult to make sure we could come in this year with a budget with the minimum tax level increases that we had to do. we had have to use 24 million of our reserves and 15 million of our reserves and 15 million of our capital receipts to help. the government said a new council funding settlement has been approved to help keep services running and that will mean a real terms increase in the money they get. the recent cold weather will lead

to an increase in potholes, according to motoring experts. the rac say pressures on council spending means roads across the country were already plagued by potholes and that freezing water in road cracks has accentuated the problem. charlotte gallagher reports. the severe weather over the past week has been causing misery for drivers. and the bad news is the elements are now causing even more problems. the rac is warning the freezing weather is leading to more potholes on your roads. some campaigners have had enough and are taking matters into their own hands. in 0xfordshire some residents are planting flowers in potholes to raise awareness. we have had a lot of people doing it. loads of comments on facebook. and there has been a couple that have been filled

in. badly but they have been filled in. the cold weather makes potholes even worse. because water gets into the cracks on the road, freezes and then expands, further weakening the road surface. the department for transport says knows people are concerned about it giving councils just under £300 million to fix potholes. and the rise in potholes is bad for drivers' wallets too with bills runs to hundreds of pounds. tyres, broken wheels, in some cases broken wish bones, parts on cars that have been forced back because of the impact and in some cases it is written cars off. the rac warns the problem isn't going away. a bad impact, but we feel it will get worse and we may see more potholes

in spring than daffodils. the local government said councils are fixing a pothole every 19 seconds. the cold snap will make thatjob even harder. after team gb's most successful winter olympics ever, attention now turns to paralympians as the games get underway in pyeongchang. the british team will be led at tomorrow's opening ceremony by theirflagbearer, the snowboarder 0wen pick — who lost his leg while serving with the army in afghanistan. kate grey has been speaking to him. soldier turned snowboarder, 0wen pick is familiar with the prestige of carrying his country's flag. after losing his leg in afghanistan, he has been on quite a journey to now lead his country at a paralympic games. i didn't expect it, it was very much a surprise to me. and, yeah, it does mean a lot, obviously the flag and victory‘s super—important us to. so it is nice to be given the opportunity to carry it out here.

0wen is one of three snowboarders who will be representing britain at the paralympics for the first time ever. and for the ipc president, andrew parsons, it will be his first games in charge. one of his biggest challenges has been dealing with the russian doping scandal. so the situation has changed, has progressed, we are now in the situation where we can say with a degree of confidence that those who are competing here are as clean as any athlete. so it is difficult, but you know taking it seriously in a very consistent way, open with dialogue, it makes a little less difficult. and the weather is another thing to overcome. during the olympics, it was high speed winds and freezing temperatures. now it's the unusually snowy conditions which could prove disruptive. we are not worried. of course we have plans b and c, so we have different scenarios. we have a lot of snow today and probably this evening, so we had to see how this affects the opening ceremony for example, which is in an outdoor stadium.

in the last few days some training has been cancelled as a result of snow. regardless of the conditions, the british team believe they're the prepared ever been ahead of a winter paralympics, with 17 athletes set to compete across five sports. all hoping to turn the years of planning and preparation into paralympic glory. it is just after 10am and the snow has eased off. in the last hour we have received news from the international paralympic have received news from the international pa ralympic committee that after long negotiations, the decision has been made that north korea and south korea will march separately at the opening ceremony. the ipc suggested was because it was north korea's first paralympics. the ipc respect the decision made by the

north and south korean delegations. thank you very much. enjoy the competition. one of paralympics gb's big hopes for the games is the wheelchair curling team. nikki fox went to the national curling centre in stirling to meet them. final day of training before heading to south korea. it's not the team's first winter paralympics — four of the five members won bronze in sochi four years ago. but it's all new for hugh, or shugg as his team—mates like to call him. he is making his paralympic debut. he was 24 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. when i got diagnosed with ms and you start losing your functions and your abilities, your confidence goes and i became more or less house—bound. getting into curling, confidence just grew and putting everything into it and just going for it. it's taken some adjustment for hugh to get this far. his first sport was rugby. i'd stepped back

before my diagnosis, i wasn't playing as much, but i always had it in my mind that i could go back. in my mind, i was like, i could be the greatest! mentally it is very much more demanding, you're constantly thinking and looking for different shots, different angles the whole time. can i have a go? how do you actually direct it? how do you get it in the right position? so ideally you're pointing your cue, the delivery stick, but also the head that's on this cue helps with rotation. we don't have the use of sweepers, once we let the stone go, there is nothing we can do to influence it. it's going off to the right. this is very difficult. this is so difficult. fire away. 0oh! although it is not an easy sport, it is one of people of any age and any disability to get into. the team hopes that its performance in pyeongchang will inspire others to take it up. sign me up now! curling is more about inclusion than exclusion.

all disabilities are able to play the sport. do you feel like ambassadors for the sport? definitely feel proud to be part of the british squad. for me, it's excitement and looking forward to getting out there. we have been watching the member and the women and that inspires us and we are just keen to get out there on the ice ourself. the team is aiming to win every game, but the initialfocus is the round robin stage, with the first match against norway on saturday. nicky fox, bbc news, stirling. prince harry and meghan markle have been visiting birmingham, to launch a project to mark international women's day, aimed at inspiring female students to take up careers in science, technology and engineering industries. the royal couple spoke to crowds outside the event — some of whom had waited for several hours to see them on the latest leg of their tour of the country, in advance of their wedding in may. now the weather forecast again. snow

again for some people? no it won't leave us. this is a weather watcher scene in yorkshire, which was badly hit with several centimetres of snow causing disruption. 0ther hit with several centimetres of snow causing disruption. other areas started the day milder with sunshine and a few rain showers. for the rest of today, it is an improving picture, certainly in the north—east of the country. the snow and the rain clearing off into the north sea a lot of sunshine for many places this afternoon. lighter winds in the south. but still gusty in east anglia for a while. temperatures up to 10 degrees. and there will be further showers in scotland, these falling as snow over the hills. further showers in western areas tonight and the odd heavy one.