this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines: up to 500 salisbury pub—goers and diners are told to take precautions after traces of nerve agents are found by england's chief medical officer. asa as a belt and braces approach, the people who were either in zizzi restau ra nt people who were either in zizzi restaurant or the mill pub from 1:30pm last sunday on till the evening closing on monday, should clea n evening closing on monday, should clean the clothes they wore and the possessions they handled while there. sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical condition, a week after they were taken ill. the chancellor says there is cause for economic optimism ahead of his spring statement. there is light at the end of the tunnel because what we are about to see is debt starting to fall, but we are still in the tunnel at the moment. also, china has approved the removal

of time limits for its leader. the move effectively allows president xi to remain in powerfor life. and is donald trump really a trade warrior and peacemaker? are somebody in russia responsible for the poisoning ofa russia responsible for the poisoning of a double agent in salisbury. that is on dateline london. good morning and welcome to bbc news. hundreds of pub—goers and diners in salisbury have been told to wash their possessions, after traces of nerve agent traces were found in a restaurant and pub in the city. the advice is aimed at those who visited the zizzi restaurant and the mill pub in salisbury as the investigation into the poisoning of sergei and yulia skripal continues.

the pairare ill sergei and yulia skripal continues. the pair are ill in hospital. the government's chief medical officer frankland has been responding to concerns from the public. i want to reassure the general public the risks to assault from this incident in salisbury has not changed, and remains low based on the evidence we have as i said on wednesday. rigorous scientific analysis has been ongoing and continues. but we have now learned there has been some trace contamination by the nerve agent in both the mill pub and zizzi restau ra nt both the mill pub and zizzi restaurant in salisbury. i am confident that this has not harmed the health of anyone who was in the mill pub ora the health of anyone who was in the mill pub or a zizzi restaurant. however, some people are concerned that prolonged long—term exposure to these substances may, over weeks and particularly months, give rise to health problems. i am therefore advising, as a belt and braces approach, the people who were in either zizzi restaurant or the mill

pub from either zizzi restaurant or the mill pubfrom 1:30pm either zizzi restaurant or the mill pub from 1:30pm last sunday, until evening closing on monday, should clean the clothes they wore and the possessions they handled while there. the relevant closing times on monday were 9pm for azizi and 11pm for the mill pub on monday. this means wash clothing you haven't already. ideally in the washing machine. any items which cannot be washed and would normally be dry cleaned should be double bagged in plastic until further information is available. personal items such as phones, handbags and other electronic items with baby wipes and dispose of them in plastic bags in the bin. what's hard items such as jewellery and spectacles with warm water and detergent. —— wash hard items. more information is now on the website public health england and will be made available at quayside in salisbury. i want to

reiterate that this is precautionary advice aimed at only those people who were at the venues between these times, which i believe to be less than 500 people. meanwhile, let me repeat that the risk to us, the general public, remains low. and i am confident that none of these customers are am confident that none of these customers a re staff am confident that none of these customers are staff will have suffered harm. thank you. the chief medical officer for england. alexander litvinenko died in london in 2006 after he was poisoned with polonium inside a restau ra nt. poisoned with polonium inside a restaurant. an enquiry concluded he was probably killed by the kremlin. his widow has been telling the bbc‘s andrew marr programme why people should not jump to andrew marr programme why people should notjump to conclusions about russia's involvement in the attack on sergei skripal and his daughter. it was a very difficult moment when i received this news, because i believed it's never, ever happened again after the public inquiry provided all evidence of the death of my husband. but unfortunately, it did happen. and now i'm reading every day news from salisbury day news

from salisbury and try to understand what actually happened and who might be behind of this crime. of course, russia has a very bad reputation now. and everything that's happened in the world — doping in sport, or involvement in an election — immediately, russia in the front of all minds. but in this case, i would like to be very serious and take all the evidence and maybe some time to provide the truth. and was it exactly russia, or any other country, behind of this crime? for us, it was almost ten years to provide this whole fact and evidence. and it was all proof. and i want the same case to be made in the same way. it would be not politically motivated. and only after proper investigation, we could say exactly who behind of this crime. marina litvinenko. in our merseyside

studios the former uk ambassador to russia, sir tony brenton. studios the former uk ambassador to russia, sirtony brenton. let's studios the former uk ambassador to russia, sir tony brenton. let's deal with those issues around the litvinenko murder. you were ambassador at the time? yes, i was. marina litvinenko is absolutely right. with regard to the murder of her husband we took our time to make sure we had as solid a dossier as possible on who was responsible and how they had done it, before we took action against the russians. this is important because you do not want to shoot at halve clock. and secondly if you won support from western allies and friends, you need to present convincing evidence. we did that and then we went to russia and imposed the sanctions we did. there has been a lot of discussion as to whether this attack a week ago is similar or a close, whether this attack a week ago is similarora close, in whether this attack a week ago is similar or a close, in what respect do you see it as similar and in what respect do you see it as different?

there are very clear similarities. there are very clear similarities. the poison used in both cases was very rare, almost certainly only obtainable by a state. in both cases the person attack was a former member of the russian intelligence agencies. it is quite difficult. if you start asking who might be involved, russia leaps to the top of the list. the big differences alexander litvinenko was still active and critical of russia in some hurtful raise —— ways. as far as we can see, sergei skripal was released following a prisoner swap. i think guarantees free safety were probably given at that time. he has beenin probably given at that time. he has been in the uk for eight years. it is hard to understand why the russians, it was the russians, would act against him now. we saw tweets yesterday from the russian embassy linking or at least coating on the same breath, lines about this attack

and the deaths of exiles who were in some way critical of our enemies of the kremlin. do you think there is a sense that there is a kind of cavalier attitude coming from moscow and from its embassy here? russian rhetoric can get a bit over the top soi rhetoric can get a bit over the top so i would not take it entirely seriously. but the worry is that we the uk are very much at the forefront at the moment in criticising rising —— russian policy. the americans have problems of their own. the french and the germans, for example, have a much quieter policy with regard to russia. we are out there. the russians know it. they don't like the line we are taking. it is only too easy to imagine that the word has been given quietly to the russian authorities that if you can find ways of making life uncomfortable for brits, go ahead and do it. the newspapers today are discovering splits and cabinet discussions at least about how to

handle this, if indeed it is proven to everyone's satisfaction that there is russian state involvement. what would your view of that be? on the assumption that we do establish beyond reasonable doubt it was the russians, we obviously have to react. we can't have eyed rages like this been committed. there are a couple of inroads. one is against dirty russian money rushing around inside the british system. we have the unexplained acids order, which means we can confiscate assets. we're about to discuss an act which would allow us to exclude human rights violators, which includes russians. over and above that i think we need to focus in on the activities and the people of the russian intelligence agencies. we need to make it much harderfor them to come to the uk and to operate relatively freely here. we need to throw out a significant number of their operatives who we know are

already present in the russian embassy in london. there will be a price to be paid. it means that my collea g u es price to be paid. it means that my colleagues in moscow, friends, some of them will be expelled as well. there will be russian retaliation. it seems to me it's elementary that if this sort of thing is going on in british streets, you get rid of the people as far as you can who are doing it. one last question about what the british public should understand from this. it is extraordinary to all of us to see that acquired and provincial streets of salisbury, the military that we have seen in recent days. the scenes are extraordinary it creates a whole new understanding for some people of the threat that russia poses in our everyday lives. what do you think people should read at this point? let me make one particular point and a general point. the particular point is that the authorities are ultra—cautious about the spread of contamination. i suspect, ultra—cautious about the spread of contamination. isuspect, as ultra—cautious about the spread of

contamination. i suspect, as we already heard, the personal danger to the citizens of salisbury or anywhere else is rather low. the wider point is that what all of this demonstrated how bad our relations, western relations with russia, have now become. we will not solve that problem by our response to this outrage and other outrages. we can solve this problem in the longer term by standing firm and deterring the russians from doing this sort of thing. but also, and more significantly, by beginning to rebuild some sort of relationship with russia which means they themselves see costs in damaging that relationship. that is the part of the peace that we are not yet working on. sir tony brenton, thank you. the chancellor, philip hammond, is arguing that there is light there at the end of the tunnel for the economy as he prepares for his spring statement this week. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, has criticised his approach, saying the conservatives can not deliver the change the country needs. earlier i spoke tojonathan blake, who explained that austerity

measures have been part of the conservative government response for some years. on the theresa may and david cameron, the spending is to be controlled and the country as a debt problem. the aim has been, on the thomond park, to reduce the deficit and get it down to zero. that is the gap between the amount the government has coming in and the dispense. those plans have been loosened necessarily recently of brexit. but the chancellor, philip hammond, today signalling that there is, in his words, light at the end of the tunnel. he is known for being cautious. he does not have the nickname spreadsheet phil for nothing. but he is suggesting that after yea rs of nothing. but he is suggesting that after years of austerity and strict limits on spending, things may be able to change in the future. he says we are at a turning point. here is what he said earlier. there is light at the end of the tunnel, because what we're about to see is debt starting to fall, after it's been growing for 17 continuous years. that's a very important moment for us. but we are still in

the tunnel at the moment. we have to get debt down. we've got all sorts of other things we want to do. we've taken a balanced approach over the last couple of fiscal events, using flexibility that we had to continue paying down debt, but also to provide additional support our public services, to invest in britain's future and to reduce taxes for families and small businesses who are feeling the pressure. a cautiously optimistic message. labour, as you might expect, take quite a different view. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, was setting out labour's plans this morning to spend more on public services, take various industries back into public ownership. and as he put it this morning, the government has got it wrong. last year, we had the lowest economic growth in the g—7 countries, so we shouldn't be celebrating that. austerity — this isn't me saying it, the head of the obr has said it —

austerity is holding growth back. and wages now, wages are below what they were in 2007—2008, below the banking crisis. so this isn't a matter for celebration. and do you know, in terms of the deficit, we were promised by the conservatives that they would wipe the deficit out completely three years ago. but i think what he's done — very cleverly, to be honest, and very cunningly — he's shifted the deficit onto the shoulders of nhs managers, onto the shoulders of headteachers and onto the shoulders of local government leaders. two very different views on the economic outlook for the uk. staying with the spring statement, measures to it caught the use of plastics are being introduced. the chancellor has called for evidence as to how the government can build on its plastic bag charge. its target is to

eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2042. a quick look at the headlines. up 2042. a quick look at the headlines. up to 500 salisbury pub goers and diners are told to take precautions by england's chief medical officer, after traces of a nerve agent are found. sergei and yulia skripal remain ina found. sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical condition in hospital, a week after they were taken ill. and ahead of the spring statement, the chancellor philip hammond says there is cause for economic optimism. sport now. here is richard. thank you. sir trevor brooking says he fears west ham will be relegated if the current aggressive atmosphere at the club continues. his comments come after several pitch invasions during their 3-0 several pitch invasions during their 3—0 defeat to burnley yesterday. he has also told the bbc thatjoint

chairman david sullivan was hit by a coin. west ham have lost an enquiry into the incident. the game was stopped a number of times due to members of the crowd invading the pitch. at one point captain mark noble decided to intervene. it was one of a number of incidents that happened. burnley were not distracted by the turmoil and went on to win comfortably by 3—0. the west ham protest continued after the game and the club and the fa say they will investigate. anyone who has got that aggressive frustration, don't come to the five home games that are left because we need everyone all together to try to get this result, particularly in the five home games. the next five home games look pretty bleak, because there is no way the team will be able to play and get the points to stay up. that atmosphere must never come back in the last five games.

note the winter paralympics in pyeongchang. pa ralympics note the winter paralympics in pyeongchang. paralympics have won couple of medals overnight. millie knight and brett wild claimed their second medal. menna fitzpatrick and jen kehoe finished in the bronze medal position. kate gray reports. it has been another brilliant day for paralympic gb. two medals to add to the silver they won yesterday. it was the honour of the silver medal, millie knight and her guide brett wild, that were first down the super g course this morning, confidently taking on those bents. a very tricky course but it didn't seem to faze them and they crossed the line ultimately with the fastest time because they were the first down the slope. they ended with the silver. the real story had to be menna fitzpatrick and her guide, jen kehoe. they crashed out of the downhill yesterday. they really had to refocus themselves for their favourite event. they are already world champions in this event and

they were hoping to put their best performance out there. it has been a tough 24 hours. they have been speaking to psychologists. they admitted was a real anxious wait. the first half of today's run was about building that confidence. by about building that confidence. by about half way down you got into it and she started skiing really well. we are super pleased. we have still got three more races. yeah. it is a massive dream come true for both of us. massive dream come true for both of us. i'm so glad we have done it together. a day off for the alpine skiers tomorrow. it is a nonstop scheduled for the wheelchair curling team. after a brilliant performance yesterday against world champions norway, they were open to carry that good form into their match today against switzerland. but it wasn't meant to be. it ended up 7—4 to switzerland. they have another chance to go again. they play finland. another tough match. they will hope to find their winning form

once again. fingers crossed. tiger woods will go into the final round in florida with a chance of wrapping up is first winter four a chance of wrapping up is first winterfour and a a chance of wrapping up is first winter four and a half years. a chance of wrapping up is first winterfour and a half years. the former world number one is just winterfour and a half years. the former world number one isjust one shot of the lead at the valspar championship. he has suffered from serious back problems in recent yea rs. serious back problems in recent years. he is currently 380th in the world. the 14 time major winner starting to show signs he is on way back. i am excited. starting to show signs he is on way back. iam excited. ifeel good. i feel like i am playing a little bit better, little bit cleaner. i made a bogey at the last hole at the sandwich yesterday. other than that it has been a pretty clean last couple of days. it has been really good. i have been really consistent. i have moved myself up the board. i know it is packed. at least i got a shot. serena williams will play her sister, venus, in the third round at indian wells as she continues her comeback after the birth of her first child. serena, who said she nearly died following the birth of her daughter,

won in straight sets. she plays winners for the first time since the australian open final last year. it will be there 29th competitive match, with serena having won 17. it will be fun. she is one of the best players in the world last year. for me to have to go up against that, it will be good to see where i am on my level. we will see. i'm not putting too much onus on it. that is all your sport for now. i will have more in the next hour. thank you. china's people's congress has voted to approve a constitutional amendment, abolishing two—term limits for the country's president. the move will allow xi jinping to stay in office beyond the end of his second term in 2023, and possibly rule indefinitely. among the nearly 3000 delegates, just two voted against the change and three abstained. earlier, i spoke to our correspondent in beijing, steven mcdonnell. the result was emphatic, and the way

that china is to be governed will be different from today. we all expected g jean ping different from today. we all expected gjean ping to be successful. —— xi jinping. expected gjean ping to be successful. —— xijinping. but to have only two people stand up and say no and three abstained, his absolutely overwhelming, almost embarrassingly so. people should also get used to seeing xi jinping as china's leader. there is no way they would have gone to the trouble of changing this constitution unless he definitely intended to stay on as china's present beyond the second term. he could have hung on to power as the head of the central military commission are as chairman of the commonest party. body obviously once that title as well as president of

china. that is why the vote has happened. a lot of our viewers may be asking themselves, so what? is one chinese commonest boss changeable with another? what is different about xi jinping? what difference does it make if he rules forever? it is a very good question. the obvious response to that is, should any leader have that much power? it doesn't matter how good you are. this was china's checks and bala nces you are. this was china's checks and balances type system. we all thought every ten years there would be a new leader. that way one person cannot mass that much power around them. that is why in the 1980s they basin in the first place, to stop another chairman mao coming along. well now we have xijinping, who chairman mao coming along. well now we have xi jinping, who was already so powerful. 1.5 million communist party members have been punished in his anti—corru ption crackdown. party members have been punished in his anti—corruption crackdown. there was the belief he could not actually

afford to stand down as leader because he has made so many enemies in the party. certainly after this vote today, there is no question it will be so difficult for anybody to challenge him. in the old system you had collective leadership. there was some discussion and a politburo standing at committee level. that is all gone. he is a powerful leader who will probably be around for decades to come. i know there has been a lot of censorship of negative comment about this in the media and in social media. what will happen to those two people who voted against, oi’ those two people who voted against, or those who abstained ? those two people who voted against, or those who abstained? and what will happen to those people who say on social media they do not want a president for life? we are told that the vote is a secret one and you have to hope for their sake that nobody finds out who they are. of course, some cynics would suggest that maybe it was a 100% vote

anyway. they just that maybe it was a 100% vote anyway. theyjust did all the numbers to suggest it wasn't absolutely 100% because that would seem to ridiculous. as for the comment from the general public, anything in social media, you can't talk about it. there is no possibility. anything that is said along those lines, even the mildest commentary, is being censored. there is no debate in the press. you would expect there to be panel discussions on television in any the country. should i will be able to stay on forever? we have seen none of that. the chinese press has kind of downplayed this. they are making a bed that there are a few constitutional changes going on. nothing to see here. everybody move along. there has been —— there hasn't been a debate about this rally. ordinary people will not be able to express their views either. the water regulator is to investigate why thousands

of homes in england and wales suffered shortages or a total loss of supply after the recent cold weather. ofwat says its review will determine whether companies had proper contingency plans in place. simonjones reports. emergency water handouts on the streets. tens of thousands of customers, particularly in south—east england and parts of wales, forced to endure days of inconvenience as the taps run dry. they are simply meant to get the water fixed. i think this is absolutely appalling. it is shocking that there is such poor communication — well, zero communication. as pipes burst in the thaw which followed the cold spell, the water company said they were facing an unprecedented situation. the government ordered a review into what went on. ofwat said today it understood how distressing it had been for people to be left without a vital public service. the review will examine whether the water companies had planned

properly, how they communicated with customers and whether the communication offered is adequate. southern water, for example, is giving households who were cut off for more than a day l75 — condemned as "derisory" by some of those affected. ofwat wants to hear from businesses, households and local authorities. it wants proof that lessons will be learnt. otherwise, it says, it may be forced to act. president trump has told crowds at an election rally in the state of pennsylvania that he believes north korea wants to make peace. he said, of a proposed meeting with the north korean leader kimjong—un, that it could lead to the "greatest dealfor the world". from washington, chris buckler reports. # and i'm proud to be an american where at least i know i'm free #. president trump went to pittsburgh to campaign ahead of an election for a single seat in congress, but the packed—out rally looked and sounded much more like the start of a presidential campaign. he even unveiled the slogan

for his 2020 run for the white house. but our new slogan when we start running in — can you believe it — two years from now, is going to be keep america great! but another country was very clearly on donald trump's mind. he has now accepted the invitation to meet the north korean leader kimjong—un, and while in recent days it has appeared that the white house has been dampening down some of the expectations for that encounter, the president seemed to talk up the potential of some kind of peace deal. hey, who knows? if it happens, if it doesn't happen. i may leave fast or we may sit down and make the greatest deal for the world and for all of these countries, including, frankly, north korea — and that's what i hope happens. this was a speech intended for his core base. trump raised the possibility of the death penalty for drug dealers and talked tough on trade,

describing tariffs as his baby, and he again threatened to tax cars imported from the eu. open up the barriers and get rid of your tariffs and if you don't do that, we're going to tax mercedes—benz, we're going to tax bmw. the president's words will again raise concern and potentially even anger overseas, but these are the people he want to hear them. donald trump is the master of the art of the deal, so we can look at it from a variety of perspectives — this is getting the conversation going. for years, the united states has been dumped on. buy a hat, get a free button. these supporters may have a new slogan but with his protectionist policies, this was a president determined to show that he is not changing. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. this is bbc news. coming up, was

someone in russia responsible for the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter in salisbury? and is donald trump really a trade warrior and a peacemaker? that is in data in london. —— dateline london. first, the weather. hello there. early morning mist and fog has lifted. sunday will basically be a day of sunny spells and scattered showers. we have weather fronts topping and tailing the country. the remnants of yesterday's rain was sifting through the far north of scotland. a better day for scotland generally, northern ireland and northern ireland. sunny spells and scattered showers for most of england and wales. be sure is turning to more organised ring by the end of the day, winds increasing in the south—west. this area of low pressure will drift its way steadily northwards as we go through sunday evening. it will bring a spell of wet and slightly breezy weather conditions across england and wales.

clearer skies to the north mean a chilly start a monday morning. it looks as if we see a north— south divide from under, with outbreaks of rain likely across england and wales. tuesday looks like the best day of the week as high pressure builds. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. up to 500 salisbury pub—goers and diners are told to take precautions by england's chief medical officer, after traces of nerve agents are found. the people who are in the pub for 1:30pm last sunday until evening closing on monday