either work in either zizzi's restaurant or the mill pub should clean the clothes they wore. police say the detective sergeant nick bailey is still in a serious condition but this talking, and they pay tribute to his bravery. the chancellor says their‘s cause for economic optimism ahead of his spring statement on shoes day. also in the next hour: china's congress a pproves in the next hour: china's congress approves the removal of term limits for its leader. the move effectively allows president xijin ping to remain in powerfor life. and in half an hour: does the answer to curing cancer lie in artificial intelligence? click investigates at 3:30pm. good afternoon and welcome to bbc

news. up to 500 people in salisbury who went to the same pub and restau ra nt who went to the same pub and restaurant as a poisoned former russian spy and his daughter are being advised to wash their clothes and clean any possessions they handled as they were there. england's chief medical officer, dame sally davies, stressed the risk from the nerve agent was extremely low. the advice was aimed at those who visited the zizzi restaurant and the mill pub in salisbury, as the investigation into the poisoning of surrogate skripal and his daughter continues. the pair remain critically ill in hospital.” continues. the pair remain critically ill in hospital. i want to reassure the general public —— sergei skripal. rigorous scientific analysis has been an ongoing and continues, but we have now learnt that 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 was i am confident that this has not harm the health of anyone who was in those places. however, some people are that prolonged exposure to these su bsta nces that prolonged 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, that people who work in either zizzi's restaurant or the mill pub from 1:30pm sunday until evening on monday should clean the clothes they wore and the possessions they handled while there. the relevant closing times when 9pm for zizzi and 11pm on monday for the mill pub. this means wash clothing you have not already, ideally in the washing machine. any items which cannot be washed and would normally be dry cleaned should

be double bag in plastic until further information is available. white purple —— wipe down personal items with baby wipes and dispose of them in plastic bags in the bin. wash hard items such as jaziri and spectacles which cannot go in the washing machine with warm water and detergent. more information is now on the website of public health england and will be made available at key sites in salisbury. i want to reiterate that this is precautionary advice aimed at only those people who were at the venues at these times, which i believe to be less than 500 people. meanwhile, let me repeat that the risk to the general public remains low, and i am confident that none of these customers will have suffered harm. thank you. that was dame sally davies there. meanwhile, the police officer who try to help sergei skripal and his daughter after the

nerve gas attack remains in hospital. detective sergeant nick bailey fell seriously ill after he responded to the emergency. the wiltshire chief constable has been giving this update on his condition. i don't think anything could have prepared me for my force for the news of a member of our staff, a police officer, who has been admitted to hospital, notjust to the ward but then transferred to the intensive care unit. that personal aspect has sent shock waves through my force. a huge level of concern and anxiety. what i have been touched with this week is the high level of outpouring of support we have seen level of outpouring of support we have seen across level of outpouring of support we have seen across the country from members of our staff, from the public, from police officers up and down the country, but also across the world, wishing to pay their respects, their regards, to nick and his family. so, despite such

tragedy, it's been a genuine honour to have had the privilege to have gone to hospital on two occasions this week, one of those with the home secretary, to speak to nick and to thank the staff for providing the world —class to thank the staff for providing the world—class medical intervention they are providing to nick and his family. and it was a great honour. you will hear about his condition as we go through today, but he's talking, engaging, though still in a serious condition. of course, he is stable. that is the wiltshire chief co nsta ble. stable. that is the wiltshire chief constable. i've been speaking to alastair hay, a professor of environmental toxicology at the university of leeds. he explained the process of determining which nerve agent was used on sergei skripal and his daughter. with environmental samples, you can

look at the chemicals that were in the mixture to make the nerve agent. you can look for any chemical reaction so the nerve agent may not have been 100% pure. it is the mixture of degradation material as to the clue —— gives a clue as to the manufacturer and likely place it was made. in terms of who has stocks of agents, there is a chemical weapons convention that 192 can countries have signed, and that has been responsible for the destruction of over 97% of the world's declared chemical weapons stockpiles, but many countries are allowed to have small stocks of chemical agents which are intensively investigated and audited by an international inspector but these countries have

some of the stocks, and you the uk has them —— the uk has them at porton down. in terms of what happens to nerve agents when they are out in the environment, there are out in the environment, there are two factors that determine their rate of disappearance. one is that the agent is volatile. imagine a glass of brandy or whisky. if it is ina glass, glass of brandy or whisky. if it is in a glass, the heat from the palm of your hand in able due to smell it. and what you are smelling is a vapour. the same thing happens with a nerve agent, and the hotter the environment, the more rapidly it will vaporise. the other factor in the environment that is outside is the environment that is outside is the presence of water. water will degrade these agents, which is why you have to get your environmental samples as rapidly as possible. these agents will disappear over time through a variety of factors. when they vaporise, usually the

concentration will be very small. this is basically describing this risk of transferor this is basically describing this risk of tra nsferor and this is basically describing this risk of transferor and is. are you happy with the advice that has been given? i think the advice given is a real belt and braces approach also you can imagine the dilemma for the government: they have found these traces, and people will say, i was in that pub or restaurant, what about me? the evidence is that they are likely if they were ever exposed, to very tiny amounts. if they were going to have physical symptoms, they would almost certainly have had them now. the government is trying to prevent repeated contact with these agents, because they have a cumulative effect, and that cumulative effect may bring on symptoms. i think the risk is really, really tiny. the government isjust risk is really, really tiny. the government is just saying, let's be safe and adopt a precautionary

approach. 0k, catherine is in salisbury with us, with news, catherine, of some new developments. take us through that, please. just in the last few minutes, the bbc has learned more about the nerve agent found in that italian restaurant where the skripals dined last sunday afternoon. sources have told us that the trace of that nerve agent was found on and around the table wave... where sergei skripal and his daughter sat. they sat at a table away from other diners, and the bbc understands that that particular table used by the father and daughter has been removed to a safe location and destroyed along with other items. we have heard about several items being taken from different locations around salisbury

by we believe a specialist decontamination unit. we understand that the table has been destroyed. scientists are advising the police operation —— scientist advising the police operation estimate that this could take weeks in terms of a full precautionary investigation, and the decontamination of that premises. there has been a lot of focus on zizzi's in the last 48 hours. yesterday, we found out that that trace of the nerve agent had been found there, and that wasn't certain before, but we realise that. we have been told today that some traces have been found in the mill pub as well, which is where the father and daughter went at some point last sunday too. as a result of that, around 400—500 people in salisbury have been advised to take the precaution of washing their clothes and washing their possessions if they were in either of those locations between sunday lunchtime and monday evening. they say there

is minimal risk, but they believe that if any of this nerve agent actually was on a piece of clothing, say, and you were to be exposed to it like the regularly, if you had not watched it, there could be some risk. that is what public health england said at a press conference earlier today. that breaking news that we understand that a table used by the skripals at zizzi's restaurant has been taken away and destroyed. there are many lines of investigation going on in salisbury at the moment. just behind where i am now. this is the part where the benches that they were found on last sunday afternoon collapsed. —— on last sunday afternoon, collapse. several incident units have been set up. earlier, we saw some protective gear being taken out. sutent gas

masks being moved around. we know there is activity going on. we still know that the cemetery on london road, that is still barricaded off, and there is a forensic tent over the grave of mr skripal‘s wife and son. that is still being searched, so son. that is still being searched, so investigative line still being undertaken here this afternoon. catherine, thank you. to stay with us on catherine, thank you. to stay with us on bbc news, because as those lines develop, and there was a lot going on, we will keep you up—to—date with events taking place in salisbury. we stay there for now, where there had been calls for politicians to stop making appearances on the kremlin — sponsored tv station in russia today. labour's shadow chancellor john mcdonnell has been a guest on the channel in the past bust up but

he confirmed this morning on the andrew marr showed that he would not appear again. there are issues raised that we are concerned about not just about russia's raised that we are concerned about notjust about russia's rollback raised that we are concerned about not just about russia's rollback the international scene overall, and i think that is right, because what we are seeing from russia $:/endfeed today goes beyond objective journalism, citing that is right. your deputy was on russia today only yesterday. will you encourage collea g u es yesterday. will you encourage colleagues to follow that the? yesterday. will you encourage colleagues to follow that the ?|j colleagues to follow that the?” have been looking overnight at changes in coverage on russian television in particular, and i think we have to step back now. we have treated it like every other television station and we have tried to be fair, making sure that we are fair, as we are with any country's television stations. as long as they have journalistic standards that are

objective, that's fine, but it looks like they have gone beyond that line. the chancellor, philip hammond, has rejected calls to announce the end of austerity. speaking two days before he delivers his spring statement, mr hammond said the government would still need to continue paying down the debt, but that there was "light at the end of the tunnel". labour has the accused the government of holding back growth. our political correspondent, jonathan blake reports. morning, chancellor! is that a spring in the chancellor's step? philip hammond looked reasonably cheerful this morning as he arrived to deliver his message that the economy could be turning a corner. after a gloomy few years of relatively low growth, a hint things could be looking brighter. there is light at the end of the tunnel because what we are about to see is debt starting to fall, after it has been growing for 17 continuous years. that is 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.

that debt the chancellor talked about is too high for his liking, but forecasts show the amount the uk owes could have peaked and might fall in the coming years. no cause for celebration according to labour who say other factors tell a different story. 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 are below what they were in 2007, 2008, below the banking crisis. this week a report warned many councils in england were at breaking point after cuts in central government funding — one example of the effect that strict limits on spending can have. we will not see the chancellor's red box this week. the budget has been moved to the autumn. his spring statement to parliament on tuesday will be just an update on the economy. and a reminder that whilst his political opponents say people have suffered under austerity for too long, there will be no spending spree any time soon.

jonathan blake, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: sources tell bb -- the headlines on bbc news: sources tell bb —— the the headlines on bbc news: sources tell bb -- the bbc that the headlines on bbc news: sources tell bb —— the bbc that traces of the nerve agent used to poison sergei skripal and his daughter were found on a table in the restaurant where they take last sunday and that table has been removed. police say that the sick police officer, detective sergeant nick bailey is in a serious condition. the chancellor says there is cause for economic optimism ahead of his bring statement on tuesday. it was an old firm classic as ten man celtic came from behind twice to beat rangers 3—2 at ibrox. it's all the leaders move nine points clear of second placed rangers in the scottish premiership. after three premier league defeat in

a row, arsenal are heading for victory against watford at home, leading 3—0. they will still be ten points off the top. there have been two more british medals at the winter paralympics. a quick update from theirfinal winter paralympics. a quick update from their final match in the six nations this weekend china's people's congress has voted to approve a constitutional amendment abolishing to 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. our correspondent in beijing stephen mcdonnell provided more details earlier: this has been nothing short of

history in the making. from today, the way that china is government has com pletely the way that china is government has completely changed. we had a system here under the previous leader of collective leadership. different factions had to be managed and the like. but now, following this overwhelming vote, there is no questioning the power of xi jin ping. he can stay on beyond his second term as president of china, and the fact they've gone to this trouble to have the vote, that shows that that is what he intends to do. of 2964 ballot papers, to have only two people vote against and three abstain, it's almost embarrassingly overwhelming. if the vote is real, you know, you would have to wonder if you are one of those two people, would you be worried that someone mightfind

would you be worried that someone might find out who you are? because xijin ping has punished around 1.5 million members of the communist party in his anti—corruption crackdown, and the feeling was, he could not afford to give up power because he's made so many enemies. either way, now that this result has come in, anyone who's wondering whether he will stay on beyond now, i think there is definitely no question about that, and this move to shift from a limit of two terms, this is something that was brought in in the 19805 to stop another chairman mao coming along. that has now been thrown out, and you had better get used to seeing xi jin ping around, because we will see him, well, possibly for decades more to come. 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. ofwat said today it understood how distressing it had been for people to be left without a vital public service. the review will examine: 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. southern water is giving households cut for more than a day £75. new evidence has emerged about an attempt by the construction firm carillion, to get an emergency government bailout of 10 million pounds — days before it collapsed. mp5 say carillion paid out 6.4 million pounds to professional advisers on the same day it sought financial aid. the firm was wound—up with debts of almost1 billion pounds. jon lansman, the founder of the left wing campaign group, momentum, has pulled out of the race to become the next general secretary of the labour party. in a statement, mr lansman said that he'd "decided to step back" having achieved his aim of opening up the contest. 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 kim jong—unthat 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, exclamation point! 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 wants 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. the time is 24 minutes past three. let's look at some other stories making the news here on the bbc news channel. a charity co—founded by bono has apologised following allegations of bullying, harassment and abuse of staff in south africa. the one organisation has admitted "an institutional failure" and promised to reform its systems. one of the allegations involves

a female worker being demoted after refusing to "become intimate" with a foreign government official. the police watchdog has launched an investigation following the death of a man in custody. the 35—year—old, who was thought to be experiencing a mental health crisis, was detained in lewisham in south—east london on friday before being taken to hospital where he later died. a police investigation has been launched after anti—muslim letters were sent to a number of people in several cities. the letters were delivered to addresses in bradford, leicester, london, cardiff and sheffield. they contained suggestions of a series of violent acts to be taken against muslims and mosques. counter—terrorism police say they're investigating a possible hate crime. people living near a volcano injapan have been urged to wear hard—hats as its eruptions

get more violent. mount shinmodake is ejecting rocks and smoke several kilometres into the air. it's the volcano's fourth eruption this century. andrew plant reports. night—time in south—western japan. high above these houses, the red glow of one of the country's most active volcanoes. this is mount shinmoedake — awake again after seven years. in 2011, locals were evacuated. it's now being watched very closely. smoke is rising more than 3,000 metres into the air. high winds blowing ash across the towns nearby. these schoolchildren now wearing protective hard hats, with authorities warning of the risk of flying rocks up to four kilometres around the volcano. deep in the south of japan, it's part of a long volcanic range, in a country with more than 100 active volcanoes.

in 1967, it was made famous on the big screen, in the james bond film ‘you only live twice', as the location of the secret rocket base for the mysterious villains of the spectre organisation. the volcano has been spitting smoke and lava since the beginning of march, and with ground tremors and more than ten eruptions every day, experts are watching to see just how violent this volcano will become. andrew plant, bbc news.

islands, - temperatures chmfimfifmwfl for some 7 . , chmfimfifmwfl for some of . , chmfimfifmwfl for some of us . , chmfimfifmwfl 424g some of us will! chmfimfifmwfl 424g some of us will be! chmfimfifmwfl 424g some of us will be a little for some of us will be a little lower by tomorrow, so more of us sticking with highs in single figures. —— dry and sunny for the central belt of scotland. this is bbc news, our latest headlines. sources tell the bbc

the trace of the nerve agent used to poison sergei and yulia scripal was found on and around the table where they ate in salisbury last sunday afternoon.