this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top story — britain gives moscow a midnight deadline to supply answers about the nerve agent attack on a former russian spy. the bbc gains access to a draft un report, which claims some asian companies are violating sanctions against north korea. oskar groening, the former nazi ss officer dubbed the ‘bookkeeper of auschwitz‘, dies at the age of 96. president trump blocks a planned takeover of us chipmaker qualcomm by singapore—based rival broadcom on the grounds of national security. we will be live in singapore for more on that un report that alleges north korea is alleged to be evading north korea is alleged to be evading north korea is alleged to be evading north korea sanctions by using asian companies. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think. just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. the clock is ticking for moscow over the poisoning of a former russian spy in the uk. the deadline set by britain for answers is midnight uk time. it's calling on the russian government to fully respond to evidence of its involvement in a nerve gas attack on sergei skripal and his daughter. the us secretary of state, rex tillerson, has also weighed in, saying he agrees with the uk's assessment that russia was likely

to be responsible. caroline davies has the latest. a supermarket car park shut down to search for a lethal chemical. hundreds of police are still at work in salisbury, trying to find out who poisoned a former russian spy. sergei skripal and his daughter yulia are still critically ill in hospital. they were attacked with a rare nerve “— hospital. they were attacked with a rare nerve —— nerve agent and we now know it is a type only made by russia. yesterday, the prime minister gave an ultimatum to the kremlin, ex— lane how this happened or there will be consequences. either this or the director of the russian state against our country or the russian government lost control of its potentially catastrophic leak damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others. the russian ambassador has until

midnight tonight to return with an ounce. russia has denied being involved. president putin brushed off questions about the attack. translation: we are busy with agriculture here, to create good conditions for people ‘s lives. and you talk to me about some tragedies. first, work out what actually happened there and then we will talk about it. if there is no credible response, the uk government has said it will take action against russia what happened here, but how far they can go will depend on whether they can go will depend on whether they can get the backing other countries. this diplomatic stand—off between russia and the uk could yet turn into a crisis. joining me now is our north america correspondent david willis. tell us more about the reaction from the united states, both on the part of rex tillerson and the white house. interesting that the us state

department has gone further than the white house in basically agreeing with the uk assessment that russia was probably to blame for this poison attack and calling for the perpetrators to be punished. rex tillerson in a statement refers to russia as a source of instability in the world and talking to reporters on the flight from africa, the secretary of state went further than that. he said the trump administration had spent the last year basically trying to find common cause with russia on a variety of different issues to no avail, he said, instead what they have seen with a pivot has he called on russia's part to be more aggressive. secretary of state's response in sharp contrast to that of president trump, whose spokeswoman sarah saunders today declined to pin the blame for this attack on russia, and of course president trump has repeatedly urged what he sees as the need for closer ties with vladimir

putin. even of course failed to implement sanctions that have overwhelmingly been agreed by congress on russia in response to its meddling in the 2016 presidential election. the question now, really, is will president trump that america's closest ally, the united kingdom, in combating this russian aggression? traditionally of course, two countries would stand shoulder to shoulder. we will have two see what happens to the special relationship right now. in the meantime, more conclusions have been drawn about whether russia interfered with the election in 2016. what is the latest on that? this is a report, a draft report by the house intelligence committee, republicans i should say on the house intelligence committee. the committee is one of four congressional committees that have been looking into allegations of collusion between the trump campaign and russia in a pretty 16 election.

republicans on the intelligence committee which has been divided pretty sharply along part of the sole investigation have come out with their conclusion that there was no collusion on the part of the trump campaign team, that is hotly disputed by the democrats who are likely to condemn the whole thing later today as a whitewash. thank you very much indeed. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. the united states is calling again for a 30—day ceasefire in eastern ghouta in syria. the us ambassador to the united nations, nikki haley, has warned that washington may be compelled to act unless the syrian government halts its 3—week—long offensive to retake the rebel enclave on the outskirts of damascus. the slovakian interior minister robert kalinak has resigned, plunging the country into a deeper political crisis and sparking calls for fresh elections. the murdered journalist, jan kuciak, had been investigating alleged tax fraud by a property developer

from whom mr kalinak bought stock. mr kalinak and the developer have both denied wrongdoing. police in austin, texas have warned people not to open suspicious items delivered to their homes after two package bomb explosions killed a 17—year—old boy and injured two other people on monday. earlier this month, a 39—year—old african american man was killed in a similar explosion. police say the attacks may be linked and are investigating racial hatred as a possible motive. the venezuelan 0pposition coalition has urged the united nations not to send observers to the presidential poll that will be held next month. the opposition says the electoral process is illegitimate and that un presence would validate the poll. president nicolas maduro is widely expected to be re—elected to a new 6—year term. president trump has blocked a takeover bid of the computer chip

maker qualcomm by a foreign company. he's cited national security concerns about the bid which was initiated in november by its rival singapore—based broadcom. nina trentmann from the wall street journal joins me now. this is a big bids, isn't it? we have got here, trump bock —— blocks $140 billion qualcomm bid. have got here, trump bock —— blocks $140 billion qualcomm bidm have got here, trump bock —— blocks $140 billion qualcomm bid. it would have been the biggest deal in that sector ever up, have been the biggest deal in that sector ever up, so have been the biggest deal in that sector ever up, so it would have been quite a big deal. i think interesting is president trump has decided to lock the deal even though the investigation on foreign investments in the usjust the investigation on foreign investments in the us just ordered a week ago, so this investigation

hasn't been closed, which highlights the high political concerns that we re the high political concerns that were thereabout the deal. other real political terms about this, or is this just protectionism on the part of the white house? that is the question many are asking. in the end, you do have this political question, but you also have competition fears and you have the fear that broadcom that it based in singapore that are about to move its headquarters to sing up —— the us could open the door to another chinese equipment maker in its race for technology in the us. there is a bit of concern around that. it is also a political move and comes on the back of a leased to make more deals that the trump administration has blocked, and a couple of others that were in the early stages that fell apart because of national security concerns. that is something which also plays into the whole thing. it is quite interesting. national security concern seems to

bea national security concern seems to be a useful term. it is a bit of a catchall. when you look at the steel ta riffs catchall. when you look at the steel tariffs going along at the moment. yes, it is a relatively wide term and there is a long —— lot could be lumped into it. potential chinese acquirers, it is one of their favourite words. thank you very much. nina will return. she would dig deeper in some other stories in the media today. let's now talk about a story that has come to our attention the bbc. a leaked draft of a united nations report claims two singaporean companies have violated sanctions against north korea. if the claims are proven, this raises questions aboutjust how common this is in the rest of asia. the final report, which has been submitted to the un security council, is expected to be published later this week. singapore's ministry of foreign affairs has told the bbc it is aware of these cases, and has said that where there is credible information of offences committed under singapore law, the government has begun investigations. a draft copy of the report

has been seen by the bbc. here's more from karishma vaswani. this is a shop in pyongyang, selling branded watches, handbags and alcohol — items which are banned under un sanctions and singapore law too. tll l-ll -llj ll.l lll llll hereatthisbuildingl is that they received funds in singapore for doing business in north korea. both singaporean companies deny any wrongdoing. according to the un, in 1997, singapore's 0cn opened an account with north korea's daedong credit bank. it later changed the account's name to t specialist, it's claimed.

that account was allegedly used to transfer money for goods t specialist sold in north korea to its account in singapore. between 2011 to 2014, when sanctions had already kicked in, that account continued to transfer money into t specialist‘s singapore account, the draft report says. the companies deny any knowledge, both in relation to the goods being sold in north korea and to funds coming from that account, which the report alleges. the other main allegation in the report is that 0cn and t specialist have long—standing close ties, including ownership ties with a commercial bank, which has been on the us sanctions list since 2017. the companies have denied this. i would say that our clients do not have any financial relationship with these entities in dprk, north korea, and they also do not have any

interest or any financial interests or relationship with these commercial banks that you have named in the dprk. have your clients ever had any financial relationship or done business in north korea? well, they have done business with north korean entities previously before these un sanctions came in to force. but that was previously, and after the un sanctions have come into force, and i think they have reduced their involvement and these things take a bit of time, but these all form part of the investigations that are ongoing, so it would be very difficult for me to comment further on this. many of these transactions, according to the report, appear to have used singapore's financial system. the monetary authority of singapore told the bbc it's working closely with the un on these cases. in a statement, it specifically warned that banks need to be aware

of the increasing use of multi—jurisdictional front companies, shell companies, joint ventures and complex or opaque ownership structures. singapore has a reputation of being one of the most well regulated financial hubs in the world. so what's troubling is if this has indeed happened here, then how widespread a problem in this in the rest of asia, where the banking is not as transparent, —— where the banking sector is not as transparent, and has serious issues with corruption and a lack of oversight. karishma vaswani, bbc news, singapore. stay with us on the briefing. also on the programme, stepping in the footsteps of paul the octopus — we'll tell you about the wannabe psychic cat that will try to predict world cup results. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief.

this, the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 24 hours then, the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an 8—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really. i've never been married before. you're watching

the briefing from bbc news. 0ur headlines: britain gives moscow a midnight deadline to supply answers dubbed the "bookkeeper of auschwitz" has died at the age of 96. in 2015 0skar groening was sentenced to four years in jail as an accessory to 300,000

murders at the nazi death camp. his sentence was upheld in december — but he died before serving any time. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. a frail elderly man escorted into court. a man with so much blood on his hands. the trial of 0skar groening, a landmark moment for germany. likely to be the final time a perpetrator of the holocaust would face justice. the exact number of people who died in auschwitz is not known but it was at least a million. there's no evidence groening was directly responsible for any deaths but his job was to itemise valuables, money, but also mundane things like shoes and spectacles, taken from jews as they arrived at the camp. he spoke to the bbc in a documentary in 2005 and was asked if it was fair for him to have a family and children while so many jewish families and others were killed. translation: absolutely not.

everybody is looking out for themselves. so many people died in the war, not onlyjews, so many things happened, so many were shot, people burnt to death, so many were burnt. if i thought about all of that, i wouldn't be able to live one minute longer. in court, 0skar groening had confessed to what he called his moral guilt and he was one of the very few concentration camp guards who admitted the holocaust took place but due to ill—health and requests for clemency, he never served a single day of his sentence. here's our briefing on some of the key events happening later. another big brexit moment kicks off in just a couple of hours in strasbourg, where members of the european parliament will begin to debate the eu's guidelines on how the union should handle brexit. in the us — around 12 hours from now — president trump will take a helicopter tour near the border with mexico to look at eight prototypes of his border wall that have been constructed.

and this evening london hosts the european premiere of disney's new film a wrinkle in time — where the four main stars including oprah winfrey and reese witherspoon will hit the red carpet. it isa it is a big day in the economy today in the uk. philip hammond is unveiling this spring statement. that will be unveiled at midday today. it is a short statement which is unusual. usually he has a spring budget. but he announced he would not do that again and we just have a spring statement followed by an autumn budget. full coverage on the website. serena williams, playing in her first wta tournament since giving birth in september, has been knocked out of the indian wells tournament

by her older sister. venus williams won the match 6—3, 6—4 in the indian wells masters. this was the 29th time venus and serena have faced each other in their professional careers. their most recent meeting was the 2017 australian open which serena won before taking a 15—month break to have her baby daughter. now it's time to get the rest of the sport from the bbc sports centre. hello there. i am tulsen tollett. coming up in your tuesday sport briefing manchester united take on sevilla as both look for a champions league quarterfinal spot, roger federer moves through to the last 16 at indian wells and we take you up close and personal in the sport of kitesurfing. no wonder he's smiling. jose mourinho's manchester united are a team full of confidence after their 2—1 win over liverpool at the weekend. old trafford plays host to sevilla later with a champions league quarter final spot up for grabs. it will be united's first champions league knockout game in four years.

fans of both sides will be hoping for a more entertaining game — the first leg in spain finished 0—0. history isn't on sevilla's side — they've never won a champions league game in england. i think when you're in the last 16, it looks really, really far. but when they can get in the last eight, you start smelling semifinals, and i think when a team gets into the last eight, the billing is you are, of course, amongst the best. but anything can — can happen. simona halep will be breathing a sigh of relief as she prepares for herfourth round match at indian wells on tuesday. the world number one survived a scare against 19—year—old american caroline dolehide. the romanian lost the first set and was taken to a tie—break in the second and now faces china's qiang wang laterfor a place

in the quarterfinals. for the brooklyn nets the stats don't lie. they've lost 17 of their last 20 games — a run of form which leaves them 3rd from bottom in the eastern conference. next up on tuesday is the team at the top — the toronto raptors. d'angelo russell scored 26 points in the nets' defeat to the philadelphia 76ers, but it made little difference. head coach kenny atkinson said afterwards that is team was "dominated in every fashion". in case you missed it manchester city have restored their 16 point advantage at the top of the premier league after a 2—0 win over stoke city. david silva scored both the goals and it means that with eight games of their league campaign remaining pep guardiola's side are within touching distance of the title. so happy. it is the first time after 18 years that manchester city is able to wind against stoke city away

at home. that is how difficult it is. we are two or three games to be champion. defending champion roger federer is through to the last 16 of the indian wells masters in california after a straight sets win over serbia's filip krajonovic. the swiss raced through his third round encounter and will now face france's jeremy chardy for a place in the last eight as he chases a sixth title at this venue. after a massive pile—up on monday german sprinter marcel kittel kept out of trouble to claim his second stage win in this year's tirreno—adriatico event. stage 6 was marred by a spectacular crash after a lapse of concentration from fernando gaviria. kittel managed to steer clear and sprinted to victory 8 kilometres later. team sky's michal kviat—kovski is the man to catch going into tuesday's final stage. if you've ever wondered what it's like to fly then this next clip will give you a pretty good idea.

this was posted by a dutch professional. he is giving you a birds eye view of what it is like to harness the power mother nature. let all grey competitors, he makes it look so, so easy. and all the latest news is on our website. but from me, tulsen tollett, that is your sport for this morning. we will stay with sport for the moment. kind of. you might remember paul the octopus — he was the underwater nostradamus who successfully predicted all of germany's results in the 2010 world cup. this year's event takes place in russia — and the country has chosen a new animal soothsayer of its own. but this one won't be getting wet, as andrew plant explains. this dayjob is hunting mice at a russian museum. now this cat is very for the cameras after being picked as official prognosticator for the

russian world cup. achilles, who is com pletely russian world cup. achilles, who is completely deaf, lives at st petersburg's historic hermitage resume. he will now help pick from the teens they compete for football's of the prize. back in 2010, poor the octopus made headlines when he successfully predicted all seven winds for germany, after picking a box with the country's flag on it. achilles will have a 50— 50 choice. two boxes of catfood. whichever he eats first will be the favourite, for achilles at least, to wind the game. —— wind. stay with me on bbc news, i'll be back with the business briefing.

good morning. for many of us it was a gloomy start to our working week, wasn't it? in fact this weather watcher picture from les sums it up quite nicely, plenty of puddles lying on the gardens after yesterday's rain but it's clearing away as we speak. this little ridge of high pressure is building and with light winds temperatures are falling away in the far north of scotland. a chilly start on tuesday morning but we should have decent spells of sunshine and in fact it's probably going to be the best of the dry days through this week. the best sunshine the further west you are, northern ireland, scotland, wales and south—west england, but eventually we will see that cloud breaking up, perhaps the exception of north sea facing coasts. temperatures will respond with the sunshine, highs around 7—11. with the light winds and sunshine, it will feel much better. however, low pressure will sit out to the west, not only for wednesday but the rest of the working week in actualfact. spiralling around that low is a series of frontal systems. the good news is it's driving in a south—westerly wind so milder air spills across the country, the bad news is circulating around that my will be weather fronts

bringing rain at times. not for all of us. perhaps on wednesday it will be in the south—west, eventually into ireland and also wales and south—west scotland but central and eastern areas will see decent spells of sunshine and temperatures will respond. 14 degrees with the sun will feel very pleasant indeed. similar story as we go into thursday, another set of fronts moved through. chiefly to northern ireland, wales, the midlands, eventually into south—east england perhaps by the middle of the afternoon but a good slice of england, across scotland, will stay largely fine and dry and again, feeling pleasantly warm. so it's going to almost feel like spring i suspect when we get some sunshine. highs likely of 14 or 15 degrees. but don't get used to it. as we move into the weekend, guess what, it's all change. the winds will change direction and temperatures are going to fall away really quite sharply. it's almost a similar pattern, not quite, but the high pressure returns from scandinavia, the winds swinging round that high

pressure, so a colder source, an easterly direction, and that could bring some wintry showers in off the north sea. chiefly to the east, sheltered west should be fine, but it's going to be cold and windy as we get into the weekend. this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the big dealmaker blocks a huge takeover planned in the tech industry. president trump cites national security concerns. but is itjust protectionism? and a leaked un report alleges that north korea is believed to be evading international sanctions by using asian companies. we will be live in singapore for the latest on that story very soon. and on the markets: a mixed picture is emerging after

some losses on wall street.