this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm: almost 200 military personnel, trained in chemical warfare, i;- 53555 ei—i’ziif : 155, ' 3:15; {5354} fi—jir‘: is; j; 55151; 5:25 —5’;35ii-153 5.415; §e£f,zjfifji 5:54:56? “if if ,, f f ' 291-2,er 29,542“ v'm hear—ye ,2£“‘g;/— ——— — —— —— ~ britain seeks an exemption from america's tough new tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. also in the next hour: a former hospital consultant in north lanarkshire has been convicted of possessing firearms with intent to endanger life. dr martin watt, seen here talking to bbc panorama, was found to have a huge cache of weapons and a list of people he was thinking of killing. and a new study says bones

discovered on a pacific island back in the ‘aos are "likely" to be those of famed pilot amelia earhart. good evening and welcome to bbc news. military personnel specialising in chemical warfare have been deployed to salisbury. about 180 members of the armed forces have been brought in to support police investigating the poisoning of the former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia. several locations have been cordonned off, including a local cemetery where mr skripal‘s son is buried. tom symonds reports from salisbury. the night, five days after

unprotected police officers, paramedics and passers—by came into close contact with a chemical weapon, the military arrived at salisbury hospital. the mission, to recover evidence. at the hospital, they were taking away a car. they are also expected to secure sergei skripal‘s car, and there are ambulances which may have traces of the nerve agent used in the attempt on his life. the military will go in the area, probably in protective equipment. they have detection equipment that will allow them to properly, safely do a detailed survey of the areas and if there is any contamination they can safely remove that and have it destroyed. tonight, there was renewed police activity at the grave of sergei skripal‘s son, alexander, who died last year. it has been suggested his body may be exhumed. the home secretary was the first senior government representative to visit salisbury this morning. ministers have stressed the importance of getting

to the bottom of the alleged plot before pointing fingers. give us time, amber rudd said. she met and praised those who have helped victims and decontaminated the area, including firefighters. i am in awe of their sympathetic approach and professionalism as they engage with these people. and now as they reflect, they are concerned sometimes for themselves and their families but they have all said to me that they would not have done anything differently. and then to the hospital continuing to provide the highest level of care to the victims. detective sergeant nick bailey, exposed to nerve agent during the incident, is making good progress. his friends await news. always really easy to speak to, to get hold of, always delivers. and he delivers it effectively and efficiently. he always has a sense of humouraround him. he does it easily and nothing is ever too much trouble for him. sergei skripal remains in critical condition,

his daughter, yulia, the same, but responding better to treatment. the investigation has become part of life in central salisbury. everybody is scared a little bit. hopefully everything is all right in the next couple of days. your t—shirt says it all. calm is exactly how people have remained. do you feel concerned? no, otherwise i wouldn't be here and i certainly would not bring my son. some worry that salisbury will become known for this shocking event, but life will move on. it will always be there but the town, the city, there is so much love here, i don't think that would happen. for now, at least, central salisbury remains the scene of a crime reverberating around the world. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani has

spent the evening close to the hospital in salisbury. there's been a flurry of activity in the last couple of hours at the hospital on the outskirts of town. we arrived just before night felt to see to military lorries, giant military pick—ups, and the first thing they did was to carefully remove a police car and take it away. that is believed to have been one of the vehicles which may have been involved in the initial emergency response so been involved in the initial emergency response so could have been contaminated or it has had somebody in it who was at risk. these military personnel, 180 drawn from a range of regiments, all trained in chemical warfare and decontamination and their key role is to persist the police, the

counterterrorism detectives in this exercise. we don't know whether the things they are removing will amount to evidence which the police will look at later, keeping their cards close to their chest. earlier there was another interesting development ata was another interesting development at a graveyard on the outskirts the city where sergei skripal‘s wife, who died some years ago, and his sun who died some years ago, and his sun who died some years ago, and his sun who died a year ago, lay buried. a police forensic stant was put up in the graveyard, officers arrived in protective gear and took brightens away, possibly flowers, from the graveside, taking them away for analysis, so over the course of this evening and into the weekend there will be a flurry of this activity, every now and then they will pop up

in the city and get on with a piece of work. this investigation has a long way to go. and we have had an update from downing street saint amber rudd is to chaira downing street saint amber rudd is to chair a meeting of the government's emergency cobra committee to be updated on developments in the salisbury nerve agent ——. that is a meeting which brings together ministers and officials for an update and the home secretary, amber rudd, will chair the meeting. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered our guestsjoining me tonight are historian in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are historian and daily telegraph writer, tim stanley and daily mirror columnist susie boniface. president trump has announced he'll hold talks with north korea's kimjong—un. the surprise decision comes after months of growing tension, in which the two men have traded insults. south korean officials — who have brokered the talks — and then out from the west wing came

a delegation from south korea, to make one of the most stunning diplomatic statements in decades, after delivering to donald trump a message from kim jong—un. he expressed his eagerness to meet president trump as soon as possible. president trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet kim jong—un by may. to achieve permanent denuclearisation. prior to arriving in washington, they held a meeting in pyongyang, with kim jong—un offering a warm hand of friendship, rather than rattling his usual sabre. and on state tv, the schmaltzy

soundtrack doubled as diplomatic mood music as the north korean leader offered to abandon his nuclear arsenal in return for security guarantees from the united states. then came the sentimental farewell, kim jong—un sending them off not just with a wave but an invitation to mrtrump, the most improbable overture. donald trump gave his response on twitter. the white house claims his tough talk has worked. they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime. washington has been in a whirlwind, taken by surprise. shortly before the shock announcement, america's chief

diplomat ruled out direct talks with pyongyang. in terms of direct talks with the united states and us negotiations, we are a long way from negotiations. this gamble offers pyongyang a propaganda coup without much diplomatic groundwork and without a guarantee of success. but president trump's predecessors have failed to halt north korea's nuclear programme, so perhaps it is worth this dramatic new gesture. two combustible leaders dealing with potentially the world's most combustible problem. diplomacy like a las vegas title fight, the international summit of the century. well, we can speak now to john everard, the british ambassador to north korea from 2006 — 2008. he was also on the un security councils‘ panel of experts on north korea

from 2011 - 2012. how much of a surprise was this to you given the exchange of insults between the two men in recent months? i wasn't surprised that kim jong—un invited donald trump to the summit because we knew the south koreans were going to washington with a message so i had a hunch but i think everybody has been surprised that donald trump had said yes almost immediately and has said by me, which doesn't leave much time to prepare a summit and unprepared summits can go wrong. it would be the first time an american president has met a north korean president. what are the risks for north korea, why would they do this now? assuming the summit goes ahead, both leaders

have to make it work and come out looking good so both their necks are on the line. north korea wants the us to abandon what it calls its hostile policy which probably means withdrawal of us forces from south korea, an end tojoint military exercises and possibly even a withdrawal of the us nuclear umbrella from south korea, which is a big ask. donald trump umbrella from south korea, which is a big ito. donald trump abandon its between its korea tilt-fer? w - "wm-la. 94, gash/£5. ear“ f e j jg iizé'fihgfzéwa w i‘h " a.“ 11,1133 9." i'fi "va." a" fi ' i g e between e—éii— iii , liiif. if. if between north , liiif. if. if between north south i 3193 1’— if te§