more than 200 witnesses have been identified as part of the inquiry, identified as part of the inquiry into the attempted murder of a former russian spy and his daughter. forensic teams have sealed off more sites in salisbury, as the home secretary says investigators are being given all the resources they need. this is a painstaking, detailed investigation and the police need to be given the space and the time to get on with it. tonight the bbc understands traces of the nerve agent have been found in the local restaurant where the victims had been eating last sunday. also on the programme... how to end the teacher recruitment crisis in england's schools. the government says — cut their work load. more than 1,000 people are thought to have died since syrian government forces stepped up their attack on rebel—held eastern ghouta. and ireland seal the six nations championship with victory over scotland in dublin. good evening.

police have identified more than 200 witnesses, and are examining around 240 pieces of evidence, in the investigation into the attempted murder of a former russian spy and his daughter. sergei and yulia skripal are still in hospital in a critical condition. the bbc understands that traces of the nerve agent used in the attack have been found in the pizzeria where they were eating last sunday afternoon. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani has the latest. is this the key location in the hunt for whoever attacked the pair? the

localised trace was found but there is no suggestion anyone else who was there last sunday is in danger. usual piece of evidence in a huge operation. this was the scene as chemical warfare specialists arrived earlier today, a vehicle designed to save lives now posing a grave risk to the public. detectives called on the military to help make it safe. this is the second major military operation in salisbury in the last 24 operation in salisbury in the last 2a hours. last night we saw them ta ke 2a hours. last night we saw them take away a police car from the hospital and today is now taking away ambulances which were potentially contaminated last sunday. everyone in this city is watching and waiting to see when this emergency will end and the nation is watching and waiting to find out who is behind this crime. ministers are being breached. today was the second meeting in a week of

the emergency committee. this investigation is focused on making sure that we keep people safe as a priority, that's what the cobra beating was about. and also making sure that we collect all the evidence so that when it comes to attribution we will be absolutely clear where it should lead. the main cemetery is one of five sites under investigation. it has been closed to the public as officers examined the graves of mr skripal‘s wife and sun. today there was no change in the condition of him and his daughter — still critical and still in intensive care. richard police seized released a statement on behalf of of detective sergeant nick bailey. he said he and his family are hugely grateful for all of the m essa 9 es are hugely grateful for all of the m essa g es of are hugely grateful for all of the messages of support. he says he was merely doing thejob messages of support. he says he was merely doing the job he loves. salisbury is a proud city. it is trying to get on with normal life. shoppers are out in the market. 0fficials shoppers are out in the market. officials are drawing up a plan to help businesses affected by the

police operation. with more barriers going up tonight at the park bench where the emergency began it may be weeks yet before it is all over. a lot of continued police activity in salisbury, dominic — is it clear that progress is being made?” that progress is being made? i think there is progress in the investigation but i think it is going to be slow and methodical and really, really quite delicate, baby steps. but also with a real determination from the police, from this large team of more than 250 officers supported by 180 military, to get the truth. what i think is interesting tonight is that we understand that traces of the nerve agent were found in this restaurant here in the centre of salisbury, and this narrows down the potential window for the detectives. the pair we re window for the detectives. the pair were in salisbury for about three hours last sunday afternoon and we know that after they had food in

zizzi it appears that they also had traces of nerve agent on them, which suggests they were already contaminated before they went off and did other things in the city. that is going to be key for the police, because at the heart of this is how they work out how this was administered and if they can work that out, it will lead them to who did it. dominic casciani, live in salisbury, thank you. the education secretary says he wants to resolve a recruitment crisis in england's schools by cutting the work load of teachers. 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". here's elaine dunkley. this is passmores academy in essex, and like so many schools, it's struggling to recruit teachers. classrooms around the country are now relying on agency supply teachers to cover permanent vacancies. we even offer housing, that is one

of our school houses so you can come and live chill cheaply while you pay off your student loan. classrooms around the country are now relying on agency supply teachers to cover permanent vacancies. the government keeps missing targets about recruitment into the profession. we've got 4,000 less teachers than we need, and especially in the shortage subjects, key subjects in the curriculum, english, maths, science, all those sorts of things. the issue isn't just about recruiting new staff, but stopping existing teachers from leaving the profession. over the next five years in england, the pupil numbers are expected to increase, along with pressures and demands on teachers. jake rusby left the profession after three years. i would work 65—, 70—hour weeks, with planning, marking, the assessments you're doing. the actual teaching part probably took up the least time of everything! so that was one major factor, but for me, i got out of the education system thinking and feeling that the whole thing needed to be turned on its head. today, at a conference for headteachers, the government promised to address these issues.

that there was little talk of extra funding. 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 gcses and a—levels. stability in schools was the message. the government accepting it needed to work harder to relieve pressures in the classroom. but headteachers say extra funding is the missing part of the formula. elaine dunkley, bbc news. the nephew of the actress liz hurley has been stabbed repeatedly in south london on the street by a group of men. miles hurley remains in hospital but police say his condition is not life—threatening. talks have been taking place in brussels between european union and us trade representatives, over president trump's plans to impose higher tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

the eu described the discussions as frank, but said it wasn't clear whether europe would be exempt from the proposals. further talks are planned next week. monitoring groups in syria say more than a thousand people have been killed, since government forces stepped up their bombardment of eastern ghouta three weeks ago. soldiers loyal to president assad are reported to have made significant advances, and are believed to have cut off the biggest town in the area, douma, and isolated another. this report from our middle east correspondent martin patience. this is where the un calls hell on earth. today and injured man is scrambled to safety. but warplanes are overhead. there's no escape. the syrian army has now reportedly surrounded the main town of douma. syrian jets are pounding the

besieged enclave. there are rebel fighters, some extremist, but hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped inside. the united nations calls these as strikes collective punishment of. syria and its backer, russia, are not listening. the syrian army is advancing. eastern ghouta is the last major opposition stronghold host of the capital. this commander seems confident of victory. the terrorists, as he calls them, are on the run. but civilians are caught. they have nowhere to run. an aid convoy reached them yesterday delivering food supplies. but international organisations say it's nowhere near enough. the battle for eastern ghouta appears to be entering the final stage. but the

end could be more bloody than what has come before. martin patience, bbc news, lebanon. the usjustice department has moved to tighten restrictions on guns, with plans to ban so—called bump stocks, the devices used to turn semi—automatic rifles into fully automatic weapons. bump stocks were used last year in las vegas when 58 people were killed by a gunman at a concert. there's been growing pressure on president trump to tighten gun laws, after last month's florida school shooting, in which 17 people died. with news of ireland winning the six nations championship and all of today's sport, here's 0lly foster at the bbc sport centre. ireland champions for the third time in five years after beating scotland. england meanwhile lost to france in paris. it means the irish have clinched the six nations title with a game to spare. from dublin,

joe wilson reports. this afternoon we didn't know how it would stop. 0nly where it would start. aviva stadium, dublin. scotland waiting. this way. scotland's style, fast and loose. when it fails it can hand tries to the opposition. jacob stockdale for ireland. few players have ever made a try scoring starts toa have ever made a try scoring starts to a career like stockdale. this was his sixth of the tournament this year. his sixth of the tournament this yea r. early his sixth of the tournament this year. early in the second half, a scotla nd year. early in the second half, a scotland move finally worked, completed in the corner by the youngster blair kinghorn. sean cronin got ireland's fourth try, not only ensuring victory but also a bonus point. ireland had done all they could possibly do here in dublin. now, england had to match that performance in paris to keep their title hopes alive. england needed four tries but they were defending desperately. high tackle

from anthony watson, sin—bin for him and france got a penalty try. things we re and france got a penalty try. things were not going to plan — understatement. a try came but what england produced in the 74th minute was what they had needed in the first. not enough. france won and so did ireland. saturday night in dublin came with the knowledge that ireland could not be caught and the belief that they can beat england next saturday. now, would that be st patrick's day? we're going to win it! come on, st patrick's day! quite a night in dublin this evening. match of the day follows the news, as does sportsday if you want the results, here they come... —— as does sportscene. west ham lost to burnley but pitch invasions and crowd disturbances overshadowed the match. the football association has

strongly condemned the incidence of. manchester united beat liverpool 2-1. manchester united beat liverpool 2—1. manchester city's lead is down to 13 points that they play on monday night. there were wins for hamilton and kilmarnock in the scottish premiership. leaders celtic play rangers tomorrow. great britain secured a medal on the opening day of competition at the winter paralympics in south korea. teenager millie knight celebrated silver with her guide in the visually impaired downhill skiing. kate gray reports. the opening run of these paralympics fell in the hand of british debutant menna fitzpatrick and her guidejen kehoe. in the spotlight did not last long. the unpredictability of the downhill was too much and they crashed out on the first bend. luckily, no harm done. 0ver crashed out on the first bend. luckily, no harm done. over to the reigning world champions, millie knight, who only has 5% vision, and

her guide brett wild. they have had their own experience of crashing on their own experience of crashing on the pyeongchang 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 the games. we are just so excited to have a paralympic medal under our belts, and it is also our best result of the season. you have got a busy programme, the super—g tomorrow. yes we are back up tomorrow. yes we are back up tomorrow at four o'clock in the morning to go again. so we will be leaving the celebrating until the last evening. the british action wasn't just confined last evening. the british action wasn'tjust confined to the snow. as we moved into the afternoon there was a fiercely contested match on theice was a fiercely contested match on the ice unfolding with the wheelchair curling team. up against world champions norway it was not easy. just over an hour of play and it all came down to the final stone. norway had to score two points to ta ke norway had to score two points to take it to a deciding end. it's not

good enough! britain's curling campaign came off to a winning start. don't forget, much more on the bbc sport website on the winter paralympics from the bbc sport website on the winter pa ralympics from pyeongchang the bbc sport website on the winter paralympics from pyeongchang and also details of england cricketers‘ one—day series win against new zealand. that‘s the sport. that‘s it. you can see more on all of today‘s stories on the bbc news channel. that includes the papers with the latest on the investigation into the salisbury nerve gas attack. but from me and the rest of the team, have a very good night. hello. this is bbc news. let‘s return to our top story. the bbc understands that officers investigating the poisoning of a

investigating the poisoning of daughter in salisbury have found traces of a nerve agent at the pizza restau ra nt traces of a nerve agent at the pizza restaurant where they died. speaking earlier the home secretary said the police investigation had identified more than 200 witnesses. two victims remain in hospital and they‘re critical but stable. detective sergeant nick bailey, who was also a victims, also affected, is also seriously ill but i am pleased to say that he is engaging with his family and he‘s talking. this is a serious, substantial investigation. there are over 250 counter—terrorism police from eight out of our 11 counter—terrorism 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. but i want to stress that they are proceeding with speed,

with professionalism and we are putting in enormous resources to ensure that they have all the support that they need to do so. the police have said that if anybody else thinks they have additional information, they would welcome them coming forward. is all so substantial amounts of cctv 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 it. this investigation is focused on making sure that we keep people safe asa making sure that we keep people safe as a priority, that‘s what the cobra beating was about. and also making sure that we collect see the evidence, so when it comes to attribution, we will be absolutely clear where it should lead. that was the home secretary, amber rudd, speaking earlier. the mp for bradford west, naz shah, has spoken out about a spate of hate mail targeting people in her constituency and other parts of the country. the mp says the letters titled punish a muslim have caused distress to those

who have received them, and the wider community as a whole. from on this i‘m joined by our correspondent simonjones. tell us what we know so far. i've spoken this evening to an organisation which aims to prevent violence against muslims, and they say in the past 48 hours they have received reports from 15 different people who say they have received this letter. i say it is notjustin britt food, the area the mp highlighted, but they say letters have also been received in london, leicester and cardiff. and they say that over the past 48 hours, those who received them say they have been very distressed by reading these letters a nd very distressed by reading these letters and they say in some cases people have been almost scared to leave their homes. we know the police are taking this seriously and west yorkshire police have said they are aware of what they are calling malicious communications which have been received in their area and in

other parts of the country, and the chief constables has said on twitter that it chief constables has said on twitter thatitis chief constables has said on twitter that it is important that people stand together and don‘t let this divide people. what are they saying, if you receive one of these letters 01’ if you receive one of these letters or if you have had one? the advice is to contact the police on 101, or if you feel an imminent threat, even dial 999. what we are hearing as well as to try not to handle the latter too much because the police will be keen to check any forensics to find out who is behind this. that‘s the message from naz shah, who has raised it on her facebook page this evening. she says police have assured her it is being treated with the utmost severity and they say it is counter—terrorism police who are leading the investigation into this. very quickly, do we know who is receiving them, is it only those from the muslim faith?” who is receiving them, is it only those from the muslim faith? i am told by the organisation who support

muslims that it appears to be almost random, but people with muslim sounding names, they say, it is not high—profile figures like the mp but it seems they are targeting people in the community they believe to be muslim. almost random people. the nephew of the actress liz hurley has been stabbed repeatedly in the street in south london by a group of men. myles hurley, a 21—year—old model, was one of two men injured in the knife attack on thursday. remains in hospital. police say his condition is not life threatening. the us department ofjustice has taken the first step towards banning a device which enables why. fire rapidly, like machine guns. it comes as the end begins a challenge against the state of florida, who have brought in new legislation to raise the age that people are

allowed to buy rifles. chris buckler has more. standing side by side with the families of some of those killed inside a school, florida‘s governor signed new laws, legislation designed to try to prevent such shootings by restricting access to guns. the common—sense things as a father, as a grandfather, as a governor, is we need to have law enforcement in our schools, we need to harden our schools. we need more mental health counselling, we need to make sure people that are going to do harm... think about it — we know these people are talking. the legislation is named after the marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland. last month, 17 people, both staff and students, were shot dead here, as others fled from classrooms in search of safety. former pupil nikolas cruz is accused of carrying out the killings with an assault rifle he had bought when he was just 18. the new law raises the age at which somebody can buy a firearm in florida from 18 to 21 and imposes a three—day

waiting period for all sales. it allows some staff to be armed, subject to training and school district approval, but it doesn‘t ban the type of semiautomatic weapons that were used in the parkland shooting. in florida, grief has been coupled with anger, and the pupils who lost friends and teachers have led a campaign for tighter laws. chanting: what do we want? gun control! when do we want it? now! notjust in this state but across america. there are some signs that president trump is listening, but many americans believe in their right to bear arms, and the gun lobby has huge political sway in the us. we are done with your agenda to undermine voters‘ will and individual liberty in america. alongside their adverts arguing that their members‘ voices are not being heard, the national rifle association is now bringing legal

action to try to overturn the new legislation in florida. the nra claims that raising the age at which someone can buy a gun breaches both the second and 14th amendments of the us constitution. it‘s an argument that may end up being fought out in florida‘s courts, but it‘s only one part of a wider debate, and before the end of the month students will march in washington to demand new countrywide restrictions on gun sales. the campaigners say they no longer want just sympathy — they want change. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. speaking to me earlier from washington, chris gave us more details of the nature of the new legislation. we should just explain exactly what hump stocks are. basically they can be used to modify

semiautomatic weapons, essentially increasing the rate at which bullets can be fired and turning them effectively into fully automatic machine guns. and they were used to horrendous effect, of course, in las vegas last october when a gunman used them to kill 58 people and injure hundreds close to the las vegas strip. at that stage there was a lot of concern about bump stocks and their use of. and president trump himself has said that he wants to do something to try to ensure that bump stocks can‘t be sold in future. and what we‘re seeing here from the department ofjustice is an attempt to do that by changing existing legislation by widening what a machine gun is defined as, basically two bump stocks into that same category, effectively making them illegal for same category, effectively making them illegalfor sale. but as same category, effectively making them illegal for sale. but as you say i think we are in the position where first of all this has to go through a lot of hoops before it is made law. and there is that chance of legal challenge. let‘s have a look at the weather.

the rain has been spilling northwards although it has been turning much milder. we did see some late sunshine across wales and the southern half of england as the weather system continued to spread northwards, associated with this area of low pressure. as we head through the course of the night, that rain will be gradually clearing away from the northern side of scotland, further snow on the higher ground as well, pushing into the northern ireland is, further south it isa northern ireland is, further south it is a dry storage if —— into the northern isles. it is going to be more chilly night to come. may be a touch of frost. 0n more chilly night to come. may be a touch of frost. on sunday morning don‘t be surprised if you wake up to some mist and fog. it could be stubborn to clear away in some places. but it should be on the whole a dry day. rain slowly

clearing from the far north of scotland, becoming confined to the northern isles. parts of wales, central and southern england, scattered showers will develop, some of them heavy or thundery. a little bit of sunshine in between. a slightly cooler day but milder in scotland. heading into monday, low pressure is always close by, particularly in england and wales. it looks like it could be fairly unsettled with fairly strong winds as well. whereas for scotland and northern ireland actually a drier story. probably northern ireland getting the best of the sunshine. a little bit of rain getting into western scotland but for england and wales, rather oh,. some fairly heavy showers are possible towards the south—east. and quite breezy as well. on tuesday we have a ridge of high pressure building in, so, a

fine day after a fairly cool start. but still cooler than what we have seen this weekend. it is a window of fine weather and tuesday. 0n wednesday it looks like the low pressure will take influence again. gradually things turning cooler towards the end of the week. hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. we‘ll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment, first the headlines. the bbc has learned that police have found traces of the nerve agent that was used to attack sergei and yulia scripal at the zizzi restaurant where they ate. the home secretary said the investigation has identified more than 200 witnesses. 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 collecting all the evidence so when it comes to attribution we will be absolutely