this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at 5:00. specialist military personnel are moving a number in salisbury, as the investigation continues into the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter. home secretary amber rudd is chairing a meeting of the government's cobra committee. sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical condition in hospital. no more changes to exams, and a reduction in teachers‘ workload. the education secretary promises to make changes, as he attempts to resolve the school recruitment crisis. talks between the eu, japan and us on president trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium have broken up with no exemption agreed. president trump says a deal with north korea is "very much in the making" as he agrees to a meeting with leader kim jong un. also in the next hour... ireland moves a step closer to the

grand slam in the six nations title. four tries for the arlind side, but all the pressure on england in their match against france. —— ireland, four tries. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the home secretary, amber rudd, has been chairing a second meeting of the government's emergency committee, cobra, as the investigation into the poisoning of a former russian spy continues. these pictures are from an ambulance station in the suburb of harnham, which is about half a mile south of salisbury. soldiers, trained in chemical warfare are helping police deal with the impact of the nerve gas attack nearly a week ago. sergei and yulia skripal,remain in a serious condition in hospital.

in a moment we'll speak to our correspondent sarah corker in salisbury, but first to emma vardy in downing street where that cobra meeting is taking place. and that, is anything emerging yet? we understand that meeting has now concluded. we are expecting to hear a very shortly a statement from the home secretary amber rudd as to the outcome of that hobart meeting. but we understand that updates would have been given from police, from the intelligence services —— from that cobra meeting. also from the ministry of defence. all the agencies that have been involved in this very complex case of the past seven days. the questions will have been whether the investigation has uncovered anything new. and whether authorities are any closer to establishing who was behind this poisoning. there is also a major question of what response there may be from the uk government. security minister ben wallace told the bbc earlier today that there are a range of responses that the uk can take to whoever was behind this. and he said

earlier we will respond with the full force of uk resources if that is appropriate. but earlier today the security minister was stressing that the investigators must be able to establish evidence to understand who exactly was behind this. of course there has been a great suspicion over russia, russia continues to deny any involvement in this. but we do also know that scientists who've been examining the substance, this nerve agent that was involved in the poisoning, police say scientists have identified the agent that was used, but they are not making that public yet. so as not making that public yet. so as not to jeopardise that investigation. but as i say that cobra meeting, the second meeting has now concluded, we are awaiting a statement from the home secretary amber rudd to see whether that may move this case forward in any way. or answer move this case forward in any way. oranswerany of move this case forward in any way. or answer any of the many questions that have been surrounded and. emma, stay with us because as we can see on the screen now we have got some breaking news coming in, detective sergeant nick bailey who fell ill after attending to the poisonous spy

that the skripals, has released a statement and he said he doesn't consider himself a hero, he was merely doing hisjob. let's go down to salisbury and beat to our reporter sara corker, who is there at the ambulance station where all this activity has been going on. and asi this activity has been going on. and as i can see is still going on. yes, as i can see is still going on. yes, as you say it is this ambulance station that has really been the focus at the heart of this investigation today. the army have been on the ground here for the last couple of hours. about a mile and a half away from salisbury city centre. these really are quite extraordinary scenes. as you can see there. military recovery vehicles, moving ambulances for decontamination. ambulances are thought to have transported the victims of this chemical attack to hospital on sunday. and we know that 180 soldiers have been drafted in to help recover evidence, some with

specialist training in chemical warfare. and we saw them last night moving cars, but today you might be able to see in the picture now, soldiers in full protective suits, gas masks come, herbal gloves, quite an unnerving sight. some people have said it is quite alarming to see this on their doorstep. but the government is once again reiterating that there is no wider risk to public health. i have counted at least 20 soldiers on the ground here. looking around me now, there isa here. looking around me now, there is a large crowd that has been gathering. people living nearby, coming to see exactly what is going on. others i have spoken to have said they are all quite intrigued really. there is a lot of curiosity about this case, as you could expect. and as in the mentioned there, major questions remain unaware of this nerve agent came from. who administered it and why. and of course this operation is going to take some time. one police

officer that i spoke to said they are likely to be here for the next couple of hours. this is one of the ambulances that they are moving, but there is another one parked behind it, andi there is another one parked behind it, and i will then become their next task. we have just had the statement from the police officer who was involved in serious condition, is there any more on his health? or is there anything coming out still today on the health of the former russian spy and a starter? -- and his daughter. the authorities have been pretty tight—lipped on everything in relation to progress, we have not had any updates from the hospital today. nick bailey, we heard that he is in a serious but sta ble heard that he is in a serious but stable condition. in hospital at salisbury district hospital. and sergey and his daughter yulia are in critical condition and intensive care. speaking to people in

salisbury today, they obviously have a lot of sympathy for those three victims. they have been helping to try and raise some money, locally for them. and they have been keen to pass on their best wishes really, to eve ryo ne pass on their best wishes really, to everyone involved in this. thank you very much for that from salisbury. and also to the emma vardy and downing street. thank you both. just another line of breaking news on that story. counterterrorism police quoted by pa saying the counterterrorism police have identified over 200 witnesses, and they are looking at more than 240 pieces of evidence. this is coming from the home secretary amber rudd. we are expecting to get access to the statement from amber rudd very soon, in the next couple of minutes we will run it for you. meanwhile let's look at other news. the education secretary says he wants to resolve a recruitment crisis in england's schools by cutting the work load for teachers.

this morning, damian hinds told a conference of head teachers that the government would "strip away" pointless tasks so their staff can "focus on what actually matters". elaine dunkley reports. this is an academy in essex. like so many schools, it is struggling to recruit teachers. classrooms around the country are now relying on agencies to supply teachers to cover permanent vacancies. government keeps missing targets about recruitment into the profession. we've got 4000 less teachers that we need, and especially in the key subjects in the curriculum, english, math, science, also to things. the issue did isn'tjust about recruiting new staff, but stopping the existing teachers from leaving the existing teachers from leaving the profession. over the next five yea rs the profession. over the next five years in england the pupils are expected to increase along with pressures and demands on teachers. jane left the profession after three yea rs. jane left the profession after three years. i work 65-70 hour weeks. with

planning, marketing, the assessment you're doing. you're actually teaching part of it, putting the least time of everything. so that was one major factor. least time of everything. so that was one majorfactor. but least time of everything. so that was one major factor. but for me least time of everything. so that was one majorfactor. but for me i got up the education system thinking and feeling that the whole thing needed to be turned on its head for me. today at a conference for head teachers, the government promised to address these issues. for the rest of this parliament, there will be no new additional statutory tests or assessments for primary schools. no further changes to the national curriculum. and no more reform of gcsc is and a levels. stability in schools was the message. the government accepting it needed to work harder to relieve pressures in the classroom. that was elaine dunkley and now let's hear more on our top story. the home secretary amber rudd has been saying that counterterrorism police investigating the salisbury suspected nerve agent attack have identified over 200 which is, and

they are looking at more than 240 pieces of evidence. so let's go back to our political correspondent emma vardy while we wait for the home secretary. the cobra meeting has been taking place there. that is an update on quite a considerable amount of evidence that the police will have to look at. yes, that right. from the day that this attack took place last sunday to where we are now, 6—7 days later, of course the investigation has become a very large one with many cordons remaining in place around salisbury and meta remaining in place around salisbury and met a number of different government agencies now involved in what has been a very investigation because of course the novation involved and the possible repercussions of business to getting this type of very specific poisoning attack. we were told a few days ago that it was counterterror police who took over the investigation in salisbury. but this was never

declared a counterterror incident, but more that these police would have the specialist information required to carry out this type of investigation. and one of the key questions has been will the government be able to establish exactly who was behind it. and then how that might affect any response that the uk government makes to this. there has been lots of speculation over what sort of response there may be. the security minister ben wallace was saying this morning it could be that this leads to arrests or possibly on a much wider diplomatic scale, we may well see some sanctions with russia, if indeed it can be proved that there isa indeed it can be proved that there is a russian connection to this case. of course it has echoes of the death of alexander living and go backin death of alexander living and go back in 2006. another former russian agent who was poisoned with polonium back then. ambris tyrie found the murder was probably sanctioned by the russian president brad templeton. we heard this week that

the chair of the home affairs select committee has asked amber rudd to investigate a slew of other deaths would have been designated as suspicious, but where there are some suspicions that there could be russian involvement. of course this case goes much wider than simply establishing the possible attackers behind this whitening. it goes much wider on a diplomatic and political level with the uk's relations with russia, too. hold on for a moment there because we're just getting another line of breaking news from that cobra meeting. which is that the home secretary amber rudd said there were more than 250 counterterrorism police involved in the investigation. and that that investigation is proceeding with speed. and professionalism. we will have amber rudd in person. and a couple of minutes from now. but while we wait for that i am glad to go back to downing street. i suppose that issue over the scale of this

investigation and how far back and how white it has to go is really key at this point, emma. interestingly, you mentioned the alexander litvinenko case but in that case there was obviously a trail which led straight back to those individuals and let all the way back to russia. in one of the huge questions for the investigators in this place was whether there is a direct link to specific individuals who may have carried out the attack. yes, exactly. and that is something that the scientists are keen to be able to establish. because only a very select group of people within the uk or russia perhaps could ever get their hands on a nerve agents like this. could be able to administer it in the way that is necessary , administer it in the way that is necessary, and highly dangerous offence. on the one hand there was the public—health concerns about whether anybody else could be affected by this highly toxic substance. and then on the other hand there is that scientific detective work that is needed to ta ke waste detective work that is needed to take waste to try to trace back to

my perhaps even a specific laboratory into individuals who could have been involved. if you like this sort of chain of being able to use this nerve agent to carry out an attempt to murder. many different levels and layers to this type of investigation, and also as of agencies and expertise being brought in to try to get to the bottom of it. you've heard that amber rudd's, it's just reflecting how wide this investigation has gone. and the amount of resources that are being put into it. we have to start the home secretary, we are not going to get that tape of her for a few minutes yet, so we're going to be viewed at and go to a couple of other stories and they will come back to this story. the two sides have been tried to reach a deal following the two sides have been tried to reach a dealfollowing president trump's plans to impose tariffs.

britain said it will seek an incentive. our business correspondent reports. the meeting between the us trade rep is tentative and his eu counterparts have long been in the diary for saturday. but following the former imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminium by the us this week, the meeting took on some urgency. the eu is not one of the biggest steel exporters to america, but it does not want its producers to pay a 25% tariff either. to complicate matters, britain is quitting the eu next year but cannot get an exemption to the tariffs until then. but its international trade minister, liam fox, travels to washington next week to seek exactly that. we will, of course, be looking to see how we can maximise the uk's case for exemption under these particular circumstances, but we will want, over the next few days, to look at them in great detail. if europe gets a carve out from the american tariffs they will join an ever—growing list of nations

that will not be paying. the australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull, met donald trump on friday and removed his country from the list. canada and mexico have already been exempted. i was very pleased the president was able to confirm that he would not have to impose tariffs on australian steel and aluminium, and of course, now the legal paperwork, the proclamation process under the executive order, will take its course to put that direction into effect, so that was a very good and productive discussion with the president. america's other key allies, including japan and south korea, will also want to be spared. in the end it might only be russia and china paying the us tariffs. that, though, might be enough to start a trade war between two of the world's biggest exporters. joe lynam, bbc news. let's get the latest from our brussels reporter adam fleming. and, where do we stand this evening was mad all of these people trying

to muscle in and used their great relationship with the us to getting exemption. who has and who hasn't got one? well, it looks like canada and mexico and australia are still the people who are definitely getting an exception. the eu cannot be added to that list yet. the meeting between the eu trade commission and the us trade representative broke up a short while ago. the eu has issued a statement that effectively says there is no exception being granted yet. and there's still no clarity on how the exception process would even work. there is going to be more discussions between eu and the us next week you for actually get that clarity, or even a decision about whether europe to wash its hands off all of this because they are not going to be involved at all. what about printing? we saw liam fox in the report. but as we are part of the report. but as we are part of the eu, surely we get the same exception, are we saying he is going to press for an exemption outside eu umbrella? that is an interesting one because as a member of the eu, the

uk has subcontracted its entire trade policy effectively to brussels and the eu. that is eu law, that is what the treaties say. that could be slightly more complicated than that though because imagine liam fox goes to washington, dc, convinces them that there are certain steel products that should be exempted, what if those are steel products that are a big deal to the uk, but not made elsewhere in europe? i imagine that would draw a pretty angry response from brussels because their message to be 28 members of their message to be 28 members of the eu is that you are all in this together. of course that is just speculation because we don't know what liam fox is going to stagger to his friends of washington are their response might be. i imagine the uk at this point wants to stick with the crowd. it is worth remembering that the uk won't be able to have its own trade policy until it has left the eu, but notjust that, it probably won't be until after the end of a post brexit transition period and t2021, until it is. i should point out to some good news that i am being steered towards by

eu sources tonight. this meeting with the japanese and the us here in brussels have been in the diary from quite some time because they wanted to discuss other measures that they could work together when it comes to tackling problems in the global trade system. eu sources are saying they have agreed quite a lot of things which points to two things, number one, everyone can still get along and number two, perhaps us rhetoric is tougher than it actually behaves in practise. adam, thank you so much for that from brussels. and now we're going to go back to our top story because any minute now we get the home secretary amber rudd talking about the outcome of that second meeting of the government's emergency committee cobra. in the last few minutes obviously we have been talking about the 240 witnesses, the 250 counterterror police. and the other issues involved. as they try to investigate exactly what has gone on

and salisbury. let's go back to emma vardy, our political correspondent in downing street. emma, the cobra meeting is over. what do we know? well, that's right. we're waiting for a statement from amber rudd, just to tell us a bit more about the conclusion of meeting. and whether the briefing update that was given to the ministers and the ministerial departments that attended that meeting has been able to take this investigation, any significant steps forward. of course some of the key questions really are hanging over this case has been how close the authorities are or may be to establishing exactly who may be behind this poisoning, there has been of course huge speculation about the russian connections, but ministers have been very clear that there needs to be some concrete evidence, some concrete proof that will allow the government to actually formulate its response to this. which could come in the form of sanctions to russia or perhaps a

rest if this investigation gets to that point —— a rest. it is really key that we're going to hear from amber rudd hopefully in the next few minutes as to what was said in that cobra meeting today. so the update on this investigation was, just to remind you that that cobra meeting that would have been updates from police, from intelligence services, from counterterrorism police who are investigating this, also from the ministry of defence. they have been involved in this, too. and also from public—health england. really a range of agencies that have been working together on this unusual, very important case. we will leave you there. we are hoping for that statement any moment now. as you will know, the cobra committee, the emergency committee for the cabinet includes the prime minister obviously, but also the defence secretary gavin williamson, the foreign secretary boris johnson. secretary gavin williamson, the foreign secretary borisjohnson. i think we can go over now and hear more about the 240 pieces of evidence, the 200 witnesses and the 250 counterterrorism police. we are

having difficulty with that tape of the home secretary. we have been waiting for it for about the last hour or so. we did think we had it there, but we will of course bring it to you as and when we get it. we still have got emma vardy, which is a good second best. the thing i wa nted a good second best. the thing i wanted to ask you and things we do not have the time, is very complex relationship with russia that the uk has on many levels. and you can imagine after the alexander litvinenko case, there was an effort to contain anyway the damage to the relationship, but then multiple problems since then, and now we have a suggestion that i am going to interrupt myself and my long winding question because we're going back to the home secretary. following the dreadful up events that took place in salisbury last sunday, in order to get an update on the investigation going forward. the two victims remain in hospital and they

are critical, but table. detective sergeant bailey who is also a victim, also affected, it also seriously ill, but i am pleased to say that he is engaging with his family and he is talking. this is a serious, substantial investigation. there were over 250 counterterrorism police from eight out of our 11 counterterrorism units involved. there's over 200 witnesses involved. and there's over 240 pieces of evidence. so we need to give the police and all the investigative parts around them the space to get on with that. what i want to stress that they are proceeding with speed, with professionalism, and we are putting in in norma's resources to ensure that they have all the support that they need to do so.

week into the investigation now. are week into the investigation now. are we any clearer to knowing what nerve agent was used was? this investigation is focused on making sure that we keep people safe as a priority. that is what the cobra meeting was about. and also making sure that we collect all the evidence. so when it comes to attribution, we will be absolutely clear where it should lead. when can we expect to know the identity of a suspect or suspects? well, it is too early for that. because the investigation is so substantial. as i say, we have got over 250 people involved in this. and it is a really painstaking detailed investigation, as the police go through over 200 pieces of evidence, huge amounts of cctv, but they are absolutely committed to making sure that they do that in a completely professional way. i went to salisbury myself yesterday, and i met with all the emergency responders and the police

who were leading on this case. and i was reassured that they are doing exactly that will stop and i just like to pay testament to them if i make, because the first responders, the emergency services, have done such an extraordinary good work approaching this with the sort of professionalism we really want them to do. and also with no fall for their own safety. i am in all of their own safety. i am in all of their commitment. what next for the investigation? and we expect continued involvement of military personnel? well, the police have the powers to engage military personnel, and additional expertise when they need to do so. and we saw some of that taking place in salisbury yesterday with some of the evidence being removed so that the army can assist in some of those investigations. the key thing is that the government, is that we have made it clear that we will make sure that all the resources are put into this investigation to ensure that he can proceed at speed with all the resources necessary. can ijust ask,

the bit about the witnesses didn't come across necessarily, and it is right and important appeal for witnesses as well? i will do that again. can we go witnesses as well? i will do that again. (an we go over witnesses as well? i will do that again. can we go over the numbers there? it's approximately 240 witnesses have been identified, but we still want more to come forward. 0k, we still want more to come forward. ok, so if ijust asked the question again and how difficult of an investigation is this? this is a substantial investigation. we have over 240 witnesses who have come forward. and the police have said that if anybody else think they have any additional information, they would welcome them coming forward. there's also substantial amounts of for them to go through. this is a painstaking detailed investigation. and the police need to be given the space and the time to get on with that. what retaliatory measures might be expected from the government if a foreign state is found to be responsible for the attack? well, the purpose of cobra which met today is to look at the incident, the safety, to make sure

that this cross government working to draw. or that is taking place in salisbury. there will come a time for a response, but at the moment we are focused on the investigation itself. 0k will stop happy with that? so, we're pointedly home secretary with their lives the slightly uncertain questioning. but the point she was making were quite clear, expressing her enormous gratitude to the emergency services and their commitment. and to her details and terms of the 200 witnesses, the 240 pieces of evidence in the more than 250 counterterrorism police. giving the police space to get on with their job. keeping people safe. collecting all the evidence so that we can see where this should lead. a clear, firm intention to get to the bottom of who is behind that. but no details on that at this point. let's go back to emma vardy, who is in

downing street. emma. that's right. i don't think amber rudd prospects they met there really gave us many clues as to whether the investigation is moving forward. and any particularly significant way. whether we are any closer to establishing who was behind this poisoning. but i think that statement was really intended to reassure the public about the amount of effort that is being put into this. because, of course, this case has sort of grip the public attention. it is an incredible mystery. something which sounds like it is out of some sort of spy film, but has taken ways on the streets of salisbury. so it has led to many headlines. and that only goes to undermine white amber rudd is extremely keen to let the public know the kind of level of resources which are going into trying to get to the bottom of this. she called this an extremely substantial investigation, she called for the police to be given the space to be able to do the investigation. of course tracing back to be potential attempted murder, the person behind

this is very difficult. it is very much a piece of scientific objective work. so all sorts of expertise being brought into able to do that. behind the scenes we are no closer to really knowing whether the authorities, and the experts in this case have made any sort of breakthrough. but certainly the government and many agencies involved seem to be throwing everything they've got added. amber rudd was keen to make that very clear. and yet as we look at these pictures, emma, we're just looking at pictures from salisbury now of the military personnel in full hazmat suits, loading the ambulances on the back of a military vehicle. every day that goes past with this kind of image really creates pressure on the government to deal with it this question of whether russia is engaged in state terrorism in the uk. you were talking earlier about the questions from the opposition about other cases and whether this should be a wider focus on incidents where a violent,

u nfortu nate events on incidents where a violent, unfortunate events have happened to other russian citizens in our country. absolutely. those pictures of the forensics on the streets of salisbury and in those huge objective suits, you know, very unusual but it absolutely underlines just how dangerous this nerve agent is. a highly toxic substance which is. a highly toxic substance which is very dangerous. with the potential to kill people who come into very close contact with it. as we heard with the police sergeant nick bailey, who was first on the scene nick bailey, who was first on the scene to help out. he himself and became critically ill. we also heard amber rudd saying that he has now come is now making more of a recovery. so obviously there is great concerns from the public. and intrigue in this case. but also the wider question about the diplomatic relations with russia. of course there have been a number of tensions over the years between the uk and russia. deep suspicion over vladimir

putin and his possible connection with these types of crimes. but of course there was tension with russia for other reasons, too. connected to organised crime, questions over money laundering here in the city of london. and how complicit russian state officials may be in cases such as that. we have had legislation passed in parliament over the past year to make it more difficult for russian criminals to operate here in london. stronger powers to clamp down on any corrupt money being laundered, any corrupt the mutt russia money being monitored here in the uk. all that served to increased tension between the uk and the russian government. of course russia is completely denying any involvement in this case. we heard a russian state broadcaster, which was shown here in a bbc article over the last few days, the sort of disdain which was being pointed towards the uk because of these allegations. so

yes, of course and other very tense time between the uk and russia. once again because of this very mysterious case. emma, thanks so much for that. let's have a little on the weather. after saturday's occasional rain all of us tomorrow will see cloud and sunshine. a brighter picture tomorrow. this evening and tonight, we still have rain and hill snow in scotla nd we still have rain and hill snow in scotland edging its way northwards. many of us there will be turning drier into the night. temperatures dipping the maitlis guys are clear. a few fog patches. some poor visibility around. in the tomorrow, the northern and western isles of scotla nd the northern and western isles of scotland seen rain at times, much of scotland, northern ireland and northern england will have broken

cloud, sunny spells and a fine day. for the rest of england and wales, some showers from time to time. a freshening south—easterly wind as well. today, we have had a range of temperatures, but tomorrow closer together. our debate in scotland, a cooler the further south you are. —— milder in scotland. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: home secretary amber rudd has chaired a meeting of the government's cobra committee and says police have identified more than 200 witnesses in the investigation into the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter. this investigation is about protecting safety, what cobra was about, and collecting all evidence so we know where attribution will lead. no more changes to exams and a reduction in teachers‘

workload — the promise of the education secretary as he attempts to resolve the school recruitment crisis. "a deal with north korea is very much in the making." the words of president trump on twitter as he agrees to a meeting with leader kim jong—un, but his spokeswoman says the summit won't happen unless washington sees concrete actions by pyongyang. talks between the eu, japan and us on president trump's tariffs on steel and aluminium have broken up with no exemption agreed. the eu trade commissioner had called for the eu to be excluded from the tariffs. ireland have given their hopes of winning the six nations a huge boost with a bonus—point victory over scotland in dublin. joe schmidt's side could win the tournament this afternoon,

if england fail to match that score in france. let's go live to dublin and our reporter, john watson. so, john, ireland have done exactly what they needed to? they have indeed, absolutely. it is advantage ireland now following that impressive victory over scotland today, delivering that four try bonus point victory and stand on the cusp of the third six nations title in five years. for england under way in france, they must match that result in paris to keep their own six nations title hopes alive. all hugely impressive today. it is 11 test wins in a row for them. that is a new irish record. they can dare to dream ofa a new irish record. they can dare to dream of a first grand slam in nine

years. for scotland, the title hopes, they were still alive coming into this match today, but of course they must stop winning away from home and away from rome as well because to realise their own title ambitions they must winning on the road in this tournament, something they failed to do once again today. the host verge of another six nations championship, the visitors out to prove the performance against england becomes the rule rather the exception. ireland had been the most com plete tea m exception. ireland had been the most complete team in the tournament so farjacob stockdale the most useful acid. the surprise package at the start of the competition, you should not be surprised when he crosses the line. scotland's own six nations win was mathematically possible for such awards requires ruthlessness, what escapes hugh jones. efficiency awards requires ruthlessness, what escapes huthones. efficiency there was something ireland have an abundance. you needn't give stockdale another chance, just his sixth score championship. try number three went the way of the scrum—half conor murray, bundling of that extent the host's lead. scotland's

score meanwhile proved to be nothing more a consolation. then the crucial fourth, the bonus point secured, ireland had done their bit, over to you. so it is clear, for england, the order of the day in paris, they need tries, and four of them to secure that bonus point and take it to the last weekend. they have not managed to produce any, though in what has been a below par from england and at first. it is currently 9—9 england and at first. it is currently 9-9 at the moment. just two owen farrell penalties and a penalty from rangers well which have seen penalty from rangers well which have seen them drawn in france at the moment. eddiejones seen them drawn in france at the moment. eddie jones is seen them drawn in france at the moment. eddiejones is gone for an attacking side, one that can produce sides. —— tries. plenty of pace and that backline, but they have not been able to provide any impetus in that first half, so england struggling at the moment and, as things stand, they would surrender that six nations title the island

today, if the school remains the same. eddie jones when today, if the school remains the same. eddiejones when asked in the lead up to this match if he was worried about securing that bonus point, the opponents permutation, has said his side me to play well, but they are not doing that at the moment, and as things stand we will not be heading to the final weekend for a potential title showdown. it will be ireland who will battle the six nations title today. england with it all to do. to the day's football action, then, starting with the big game of the day in the premier league, where two goals from marcus rashford helped manchester united beat north west rivals liverpool. the result moves them 13 points behind manchester city at the top. patrick gearey was watching. from the age of industry to the age of the selfie, manchester and liverpool have quarrelled. the row started about trade. these days these teams rely on imports butjose mourinho opted for local produce.

marcus rashford of northern moor, look what it meant him to score! rashford as england's great hope that not started a league game for his club this year. you can consider this a chance taken, 2—0. after the break liverpool fought back and felt they should given a hand but the penalty. they got a bit of luck though. an own goal, a mix to set up a big finish. the pressure mounted. liverpool corner, 13 minutes and 96, the top scorer, reset. united know the top scorer, reset. united know the title is heading to manchester city this season but this was a day for the bid of manchester. city this season but this was a day for the bid of manchesterlj city this season but this was a day for the bid of manchester. i think we deserved the victory but, of course, i don't know because i do not have binoculars. but my feeling is that the referee was also very good. and i think it is a big game where nobody goes him disappointed

with the emotions, the quality, the level and the intensity. we were the dominant side. we had moments, good crosses, we came on the touchline. it is not easy. we had opportunities to shoot from distance, all that stuff. but we did not score. let's take a look at some of the rest of the rest of the day's results in the premier league, starting at the london stadium, where west ham were beaten by burnley by 3—0. the game, though, was marred by ugly scenes during the second half when a number of west ham fans took to the pitch to protest at the club's owners. the match was repeatedly stopped. the protests continued after the final whistle. that defeat leaves west ham just three points above the relegation zone. we wa nt we want the supporters behind us. since we have been here, they have been really good, but you cannot cross the line. the players are going to go down, we want them to

keep focus and, overall, a lot of them have done a really good job. but certainly in the way they behaved. we played, stayed calm, shifted the ball quickly, got into pockets and opened up better opportunities. that looked more like we we re la st opportunities. that looked more like we were last week ended tensed everton so i was pleased with that reaction that you cannot play like we did in the first half. but it is a game of a good two halves. it was enough to get a good one today. good win the firm burnley. —— win there. elsewhere, there was a good win for newcastle as they eased their relegation concerns. kennedy scored his first two goals for the club after arriving on loan from chelsea. matt richie added a third as they beat a poor southampton side 3—0. overall the spirit of the team was really poor. with our spirit and character, you can play bad, you can have a difficult day, it could be a really difficult game, but you have

to show this is how to play. west brom's big problems continue as they remain rooted to the bottom of the table. they were thrashed 4—1 at home by leicester city. the baggies had gone ahead early on, but goals from vardy, mahrez, iheanacho and iborra sees them sink further into trouble. cenk tosun scored for the second successive game to seal a third straight home win for everton. they beat brighton 2—0. the visitors finished with ten men at goodison park after anthony knockaert was sent off in the closing stages. swansea hung on for a hard—earned point at huddersfield despite having jordan ayew sent off after only 11 minutes. both sides drop a place in the table but stay above the relegation places. here's a full rundown of the premier league results, then. united stengthen their grip on second place with that win over liverpool. west brom sink deeper into trouble down at the bottom. in scotland, aberdeen closed the gap

on second—placed rangers but could only take a point in a 0—0 draw with partick thistle. elsewhere, stjohnstone were comfortable winners over dundee, hamilton beat motherwell 2—0 whilst kilmarnock defeated bottom side ross county by 3—2. great britain have their first medal of the winter paralympics in pyeongchang, and it's gone to the visually—imparied skier millie knight. it was only last year when she wondered she'd ever make the games at all. kate grey reports from south korea. the opening run of these paralympics fell in the hands of this british debutant and herb died. the moment in the spotlight did not last long though. the unpredictability of the downhill proving too much, and they crashed out on the first bend. luckily, no harm done. over to the reigning world champions. millie knight who only has 5% tuition and

her guide bret wilde had had their own experience of crashing on the slopes last year. but those demons we re slopes last year. but those demons were put to rest today as they negotiated the course and safely crossed the line to win silver, britain's first medal of these games. we are so excited to have a medal and our belts. it is the best result the season so we're peaking at the right time. you got a busy programme. we are back up tomorrow at 4am! to go again. so we believe in celebrating on the last evening. but british action was notjust confined to the snow. as we moved into the afternoon, a fiercely contested fight on the ice. against norway it was no easy task. over an hour plane came down to the final stone. norway had to score two points to take it to a deciding edge. not good enough! britain's

curling campaign off to a winning start. jonny bairstow hit another brilliant century as england beat new zealand by seven wickets in christchurch to win the one—day series 3—2. chris woakes and adil rashid were both excellent with the ball, taking three wickets apiece as the black caps were bowled out for 223. bairstow then put england in control, smashing his second century in four days, this one coming from just 58 balls. alex hales made an impressive 61 before ben stokes finished in style with england reaching the total of 224 for the loss of just three wickets. eoin morgan's side have now won six successive odi series as they start to look towards the world cup on home soil next year. short—term plans to learn as much as we can. home conditions. australia

will come with full flower power, but there is one eye on the world cup, so that will be another tough series that we can go close enough to. —— firepower. team sky's geraint thomas has lost the overall lead of the tirreno adriatico race in italy after problems on the fourth stage. the briton's hopes of keeping hold of the leader's blue jersey evaporated half a mile from the finish in sassotetto when the chain came off his bike. he managed to finish in 20th place but has slipped to fourth in the standings, 26 seconds off new leader italy's damiano caruso. there was better luck for britain on the paris—nice race with simon yates winning the seventh stage to take the overall lead ahead of tomorrow's final day. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport, and i'll have more for you in the next hour. sergeant hamish macbeth lives in the

sleepy place in the highlands. you might think there is not much drama but 33 books on he is investigating another murder. what do you think hamish macbeth‘s secret is? ithink... what fascinates people is he's totally unambitious. and what i try to do, you see, i think of myself more as an escape artist than a writer, is give someone something to take their mind off the troubles or a wet day or a journey. and it's based on a crofter that i still know up near buey, and he would say, "just fed the hens and i'm going to see my cousin in hong kong." and very laid—back. fascinating. yes, it is interesting. of course, he doesn't want to leave lochdubh, which is a lovely place, although terrible things keep happening. and he's terrified. inspector blair, who keeps interfering with him and his activities, is always

a threat on the horizon but all he wants to do is stay with his own folk in the village and that's a very reassuring thing to readers, isn't it? yes, it is. it observes the unity, keeping it all in a small place, and justice seen to be done. i admit it's rather old—fashioned because it can't be high—tech. the forensic lab's usually off playing shinty or drunk. but it's reassuring to know that it will all come all right in the end. i like stories with happy endings. you do, clearly. and there is also a great calm in the way that you write. there's no sense of hurry or frenzy, even when awful things are happening. there will be a moment of violence, we're not going to give away the plot because that would be a terrible thing to do, but there is a placid quality to the whole thing. that's really what you're aiming to do, isn't it? it is. comfort reading. when i had a hip operation in paris, i sent my sister up to whsmith on the rue de rivoli to buy as many agatha christies as she could put her hands on. because that is also... the between the wars detective

stories which i love, it portrays a world, a small world, where there is always a squire, and there's the strawberries and the tennis parties. it was a world of the very small privileged few. of course. but there's also something about these stories that will remind some people, i suppose, of something like the father brown stories, where nothing much seems to happen. it's a very gentle, unfolding of a story but it has a kind of... you know, simple elegance to it, just as a tale. thank you very much. people often think because it's very easy to read, it must be easy to write but i only do one draft, and i've a friend in paris who said, "you've got a very good literary background, "why don't you write something... "different?" he meant better, you know? i said but that's the best i can do.

you can't cheat the reader. it's the very best i can do. if it comes out frivolous... you have to check you don't use the same word twice, and you lay it on layers. a lot of people do confuse good writing, powerful writing, emotionally charged writing with complexity, you know, with invention, with changes in form. you're you can do it like that if you want but you can also do itjust by writing good, old, plain english. yes. also, an editor way back wondered why agatha raisin hadn't been published, for example, in this country. and i said they want the dark side, and i don't do dark. you know, i don't do torture. and anything with children being hurt, i run a mile. so, nobody gets electrodes and the ghoulies in my books, you know. maybe not, but they do get murdered. the title of this, death of an honest man, sort of gives it away.

somebody is killed in the village. it's always someone who deserves to be killed. there's nothing worse than people who tell it like it is. i speak as i find which means they don't care about your feelings. when people say he tells it like it is, they usually mean he tells it like it isn't. yes, exactly! that's the truth, isn't it? absolutely. you've got to get people to accept the absurd premise a bit like midsomer murders on television, where you have a village, and, indeed miss marple's village in christie, you mentioned, where every other day there is a murder. now, we know this doesn't happen. it just doesn't. it's fantasy. it's complete fantasy. there's been one murder in sutherland the past 100 years. i make up for it. yeah, you've certainly made up for it. now, what kind of guy is hamish macbeth? he is, as you say, unambitious. there he is, with his shock of ginger hair, he knows everybody in the village... oh, not ginger. red. right, red hair.

and he, obviously, knows everybody in the village. what keeps him going? he loves the laid—back life. he is lazy. he's unambitious. he's intuitive. a lot of the highlanders have sort of rudimentary telepathy. you have to be polite inside as well as out. well, people talk about having extra powers and, you know, all the rest of it, in the highlands, and stories about these things. do you believe there is something lurking about? instinctively they seem to know what you're thinking. it's rather unnerving. he has that quality and also just a general love of the land. geography shapes people, you see. they said would i ever move agatha raisin to the highlands? no. the other series, yes. it wouldn't fit in. it would be ridiculous. you obviously love the highlands. yes, my mother was highland. when we lived in

glasgow, she used... she believed in fairies. she used to put a dish of milk forfairies. in glasgow? in glasgow. and the hedgehog drank it but we didn't like to destroy her illusions. well, she knew it was an illusion, presumably butjust kept it going. oh, no! oh, no? no! no, there's nothing madder than some type of highlander! you're writing about a world that you don't want to see go, and you don't want to destroy, you don't want to... have to experience too much turbulence. you just want it to be described, understood and absorbed. yes. and a bit of kindness. a little bit of decency underneath, which is considered old fashioned, except alexander mccall smith has brought it back into fashion. i read one of his isabel dalhousies and i thought, this is... and then i got addicted to them.

yes, well, addiction seems to have happened to hamish macbeth. will he continue? will there be more? well, i'm contracted for two more. i'll try to retire. i said to my agent, i want fun. and i went on a hebridean cruise, you know, the very expensive one? what a waste of money. everyone was so nice. there was no one i wanted to kill. yeah. it would have been nicer if there'd been a murder, then you could have... not a murder, just someone obnoxious. i mean, the orient express was marvellous for obnoxiousness but there was no one there. they were just absolutely marvellous. waste of space, so i decided to go back to work. back, more writing? more writing. mc beaton, author of death of an honest man and 33 books featuring sergeant hamish macbeth, thank you very much. thank you very much indeed for asking me. it may turn milder for some of us

today but there has been a fair amount of rain around and cold enoughin amount of rain around and cold enough in scotland for rain and hail snow. here is the view from east anglia. quite a moment in the weather, some try a brighter moments around particularly in between these two weather fronts and to the west of this cold front. improving weather the day. a look through the rest of this evening and into the night, rain and hailsnow rest of this evening and into the night, rain and hail snow in scotland, eventually becomes confined to the far north, elsewhere dry it into this evening and tonight and, by the end of the night, a few showers fog in southern england. southernmost parts of scotland, northern ireland and england, close to freezing. a touch of frost, fog patches developing most at risk into the morrow morning, east wales, the midlands and the east anglia. don't

be surprised if you get a few scenes like this. poor visibility first thing, should not be a problem too long, and a quieter day for many of us. long, and a quieter day for many of us. we still have this weather front. but scotland, northern ireland, northern england, dry day, variable cloud, dry day and milder than today. for the rest of england and wales, close to low pressure. showers to be had for the freshening south—easterly wind. blogger spots of rain in south—west england. a big range of temperatures today, tomorrow closer together at 9—12dc. here is the big picture for monday. low close by. here, the amount of cloud around. bands of showers around this area of low pressure. blogger spots of rain. the day is shaping up to be cloudy and damp in england and wales, but try moments. cloud in scotland but dry weather to be found here, southern spells in

northern ireland. a week weather front edging in producing patchy rain. temperatures on monday lower for some of us, especially in scotla nd for some of us, especially in scotland and northern england. on tuesday, a rigid high pressure comes in which will keep this place is fine and dry on tuesday, low pressure beginning to have an influence from wednesday. we will keep you updated on that. that is how it is looking at the moment. this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at 6:00. specialist military personnel are moving a number of ambulances in salisbury, as the investigation continues into the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter. this investigation is focused on making sure that we keep people safe as a priority. that's what the cobra meeting was about. and also making sure that we collect all the evidence, so when it comes to attribution we will be absolutely clear where it should lead.

no more changes to exams, and a reduction in teachers‘ workload. the education secretary promises to make changes, as he attempts to resolve the school recruitment crisis. talks between the eu, japan and us on president trump‘s tariffs on steel and aluminium have broken up with no exemption agreed.