tonight at ten: moscow is set to ignore the midnight deadline to explain how a russian poison was used to attack a former spy. sergei skripal and his daughter were poisoned in salisbury over a week ago — the russians have denied any involvement in what happened. the police investigation in salisbury is being extended and scotland yard warns it will take many more weeks. the public are going to continue to see a great deal of police activity in and around the city, including potentially more cordons being erected. but don't be alarmed, it is necessary as part of this major investigation. as officers appeal for witnesses and identify the skripals‘ red bmw, the government's warnings to russia get a sharp response. we will make sure our response — as i indicated to the house last week — is commensurate but robust. russia is not a country to be spoken into in the language of ultimatums. i think it is high time the united

kingdom learned that. we'll be reporting from moscow and from salisbury, as the tensions deepen between britain and russia. also tonight: just over a year after his appointment, rex tillerson is sacked as us secretary of state. president trump says they had areas of disagreement. rex and i have been talking about this for a long time. we got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things. in his spring statement, the chancellor reveals forecasts for higher growth and lower inflation and debt and hints at possible spending rises in the future. and manchester united are out of the champions league after losing at old trafford tonight. and coming up on sportsday: the big race of the opening day of the cheltenham festival, the champions hurdle, was won by favourite buveur d'air, who nowjoins some of jump racing's greats. good evening.

there are two hours left to the deadline announced by theresa may for moscow probably made in russia was used to attack a former spy and his daughter. sergei skripal and his daughter yulia were taken ill over a week ago in salisbury. the kremlin said today it would not cooperate with any investigation until it was given a sample of the substance involved. as tensions deepened between london and moscow, scotland yard gave more details of the attack and appealed for more witnesses. our first report tonight is from our diplomatic correspondent, james landale it began as a brutal attack on the streets of salisbury, the poisoning of a former russian intelligence officer and his daughter. but it's become tonight a global diplomatic row, with britain in confrontation with moscow and looking for allies. the kremlin hasjust two

hours left to explain what role it played salisbury. to say how a nerve agent developed in russia ended up here. and if midnight passes without that explanation, the government is promising a robust and expensive response. this is a brazen attempt to murder innocent people on uk soil. policeman still in hospital, overwhelmingly likely or highly likely the russian state was involved, and the use of this nerve agent would represent the first use of nerve agents on the continent of europe since the second world war. as part of a huge diplomatic push, british officials told the chemical weapons watchdog in the netherlands that russia was implicated in the use of a nerve agent on british soil. the foreign secretary called his eu counterparts, securing expressions of support from france, germany, the european commission and nato.

this afternoon theresa may spoke to donald trump, who agreed with her that russian must provide unambiguous answers about how this weapon came to be used in britain. even before the call, the president acknowledged russia's involvement. theresa may is going to be speaking to me today. it sounds to me like they believe it was russia and i would certainly take that finding as fact. as soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn russia or whoever it may be. russia is already subject to sanctions because of its interventions in ukraine and crimea. ministers insist these damage russia's economy, but their impact on moscow's behaviour is doubtful. crucially, these are largely eu sanctions, the uk can't impose them on its own. so, what unilateral options is the government considering? well, some of russia's 58 diplomats in london could be expelled but that might provoke a tit—for—tat expulsion of british diplomats. wealthy russians in london

with links to the kremlin could face financial sanctions and travel bans, but who and how? there could be tougher laws to crack down on russian officials guilty of human rights abuses, and russian tv stations like rt could be targeted. the media regulator has already warned it could lose its licence. here at the foreign office, they are also investing a lot of effort and diplomacy in trying to bring international pressure to bear on russia, but the bar is high. russia has a veto at the un and some eu countries are reluctant to contemplate yet more sanctions. this evening the russian embassy said moscow would not respond to britain's ultimatum unless it was given samples of the nerve agent. as diplomats promised retaliation against any punitive action. russia is not a country to be spoken to in the language of ultimatums. i think it is high time the united kingdom learned that. tonight, the investigation continues in salisbury.

tomorrow the diplomatic war of words will be replaced by deeds, and outright confrontation. james landale, bbc news. russia has repeated its denial of any involvement in the nerve agent attack. the country's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, dismissed the accusation, while the russian embassy in london warned that the threat of sanctions by britain would be met with a response. our correspondent sarah rainsford reports from moscow. accused of a crime many miles from here, under pressure to explain a chemical attack that shocked britain. but today the kremlin has remained silent. the foreign minister, though, was in full defensive flow. sergey lavrov rejected britain's 2a hour ultimatum to respond to the claim that moscow used a nerve agent. russia should get ten days, he said, accusing britain of flouting the chemical

weapons convention. and when i asked about the actual charge the minister called that nonsense. translation: russia is not guilty. russia is ready to co—operate in accordance with the convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons if the uk finally decides to fulfil its obligations under international law within that document. russia's also demanding a sample of the substance used in the attack to conduct its own tests. the uk has identified it as novichok, which the bbc believes was once produced here in a secret soviet programme. reports in moscow say any stockpiles were destroyed long ago. so when the british ambassador was called to the foreign ministry, moscow says he came to hear its protest at a sordid attempt to discredit this country. i reiterated the points made by prime minister may that we expect by the end of today an account from the russian

state as to how this material came to be used in salisbury. russia has always insisted it had nothing to do with the poisoning salisbury and that position clearly has not changed even with the threat of sanctions. after all this is a country that's been living under international sanctions for some time, linked to its actions in ukraine. those actions have not weakened president putin politically at all. if anything, they have made him stronger. moscow then is in no mood for ultimatums and it will continue to insist on its innocence. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. scotland yard has given further details about the movements of sergei skripal and his daughter yulia in the hours before they became critically ill. counter—terrorism police say the investigation will take many weeks, but the prime focus is discovering exactly how the poison was administered. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has the latest from salisbury. this evening, with nerve agent

contamination still a huge concern, police were working at the pound where sergei skripal‘s car was found after being towed away from salisbury town centre. britain's most senior counter—terrorism detective warning today that the complex operation in the city will last many weeks. we are sifting and assessing all evidence available and we are exploring all investigative avenues, this includes extensive cctv footage from across the city and over 380 exhibits so far. detectives now believe yulia skripal arrived at heathrow airport from russia on the afternoon of saturday, 3rd march. the next day, the day of the attack, she and herfather sergei drove into salisbury in this red bmw. police are asking anyone who saw the car between 1.00pm and 1.45pm that sunday to come forward. at 1.40pm that afternoon they parked on the upper deck of the sainsbury‘s car park, from where they walked

past a small park to the mill pub. after a drink they headed to the zizzi restaurant, where they were between 2.20pm and 3.35pm. they then headed back to the park where, at ii.15pm, they were found desperately ill on a bench. today, police said detective sergeant nick bailey, who also became seriously ill after getting contaminated, was making good progress. the two people targeted in the attack, yulia and sergei skripal, are still in intensive care here in salisbury hospital, were staff are having to use special precautions because of the military grade nerve agent. they're both in a critical condition, but they are both still stable, which means they're not getting significantly worse. i understand that she is doing slightly better than he is. we still don't know if detectives have a specific suspect in this unique and challenging investigation, they said they wouldn't be making that public at this stage. daniel sandford,

bbc news, salisbury. in a moment the latest from our correspondents in moscow and in downing street, but first our security correspondent gordon corera is with me. a sense of how challenging this investigation is now? it has been a very challenging investigation, more challenging i'm told even than a counter terrorism investigation, because of the the forensics and the contamination. it was only on saturday night that they identified the nerve agent and hence the warnings to the public. and we got a sense of broadening line of inquiry for the police. there have been questions about deaths of russians in the last few years. today the home secretary said she had asked the police and mi5 to look at those

to see if there was suspicions. in the afternoon we learned the police we re the afternoon we learned the police were investigating what they called an unexplained death in new malden south of london. we understand that is nicholai glusha kov. south of london. we understand that is nicholai glushakov. he was a russian businessman and a friend of boris berezovsky, a critic of vladimir putin, in turn whose death is considered suspicious. there is no sign at the moment that this death is suspicion and it could be entirely natural causes, but you get the sense from the way the police are treating it, that they feel they have got to take it seriously, because of this changing context of what might be possible, but that challenging information in salisbury is certainly the main focus. thank you. our correspondent is in moscow. this deadline is approaching, we have had a sense of response in moscow. what is your reading of things there?

well, i think there is no sense that russia is planning to comply with that deadline. we have heard unless london hands over a sample of nerve agent it says was used, then russia will ignore this deadline. if there are any lights on there in the kremlin, it is not people worrying about that deadline. but what we have heard is if there are sanctions from the uk, then russia will respond to that. specifically on one thing, the foreign ministry said that if the pro—kremlin rt were to be closed in the uk, no british media would remain working in russia. now, beyond that, she was also on television here tonight reminding viewers of vladimir putin's recent speech when he revealed all the new nuclear weapons that russia has in itarsenal after that russia has in itarsenal after that it said no one should issue rush with ultimatums. thank you. now

live to downing street and our diplomatic correspondent. once this deadline has passed, what is your sense of what the next the 2a hours could bring? well, tomorrow, the prime minister will convene her national security council and be briefed on the investigation and the expected lack of russian response. she and her ministers will decide how robust they wish to be in their response to what they see as russia's involvement in the salisbury attack. those decisions have yet to be made. but we can detect i think some patterns. one, i think the government is determined to make sure this response is far more robust than the response given to the murder of alexander litvinenko more than a decade ago. second, i think tomorrow will be very much the first stage of what is going to be a staged response and the focus tomorrow will be on the uk domestic decisions, the action that britain can take. we are talking

expulsion of diplomats and bans on russians who have wealth here and then the question will be how russia responds. the russian embassy here in the uk hasjust said, look, if those calling for russian diplomats to be expelled don't care about british diplomats in moscow. thank you. some of the day's other news. in the biggest change yet for the trump administration, the president has sacked his secretary of state, rex tillerson, following a series of public disagreements. mr trump announced his decision on social media and told reporters that he and mr tillerson had a "different mindset" on some key issues, including the nuclear deal with iran. the director of the cia, mike pompeo, has been named as mr tillerson's replacement, as our north america editor, jon sopel, reports.

after a long trip to africa glad—handing and promoting the us, rex tillerson flew back to washington overnight. but unbeknown to him, the president had signed his death warrant, and it would be death by tweet. "mike pompeo, director of the cia, will become our new secretary of state. he'll do a fantasticjob. thank you to rex tillerson for his service." but tillerson isn't on twitter, so excruciatingly it fell to his chief of staff to inform him of his demise. there was no contact from the white house, only this afterwards from the president. i think rex will be much happier now, but i really appreciate his service. happier, he didn't seem it. in his farewell statement, he never mentioned donald trump by name, didn't thank him or wish him luck. instead, there were these pointed remarks on russia. much work remains to respond to the troubling behaviour and actions on the part of the russian government. russia must assess carefully as to how its actions are in the best interests

of the russian people, and of the world more broadly. i, rex wayne tillerson do solemnly swear... it was all so different when he was sworn in, then seen as one of the grown—ups of the administration. but his fate was probably sealed last october, when it was reported he called donald trump "a moron", an accusation he didn't exactly deny. i'm not going to deal with petty stuff like that. i mean, this is what i don't understand about washington. again, you know, i'm not from this place, but the places i come from, we don't deal with that kind of petty nonsense. then there was the public undermining of the secretary of state by the president, sending family to do work that would normally be done by america's chief diplomat, and public shaming on twitter, like this. there's not much love lost between donald trump and rex tillerson, they disagreed on policy and didn't much like each other personally.

mike pompeo will be much more to donald trump's taste and it's vital they do get on, given the importance of subjects like north korea. but will he be the man who says to the president — i think you're wrong, as rex tillerson did? tillerson was isolated trapessing around the world with little support in washington. in his previous life, the former ceo of of exxon was a corporate titan, but he's now political road kill. surely the place with the lowest life expectancy anywhere in the world,— being a member of the trump administration. another senior figure who didn't smell the coffee. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. the chancellor, philip hammond, has delivered his spring statement, insisting there's light at the end of the tunnel for the uk economy and hinted at possible increases in public spending later this year. the office for budget

responsibility‘s growth forecast for this year has been increased modestly by 0.1%t01.4%. and government borrowing will be lower this year than expected. the obr now forecasts it will be £45.2 billion, which could give the chancellor a potential £5 billion for extra spending. but the obr nonetheless downgraded its forecasts for 2021 and 2022 and labour accused the chancellor of "astounding complacency", given the pressures on public services. our political editor, laura kuenssberg, has the details. is there anybody out there? number eleven didn't want us to pay that much attention. no fuss, no frills. reporter: do you have good news today, chancellor? only the chancellor slipping off to work. the speaker: statement, the chancellor of the exchequer. but what was this, a cheery philip hammond rushing to his place? if there are any eeyores

in the chamber, they're over there. i, meanwhile, am at my most positively tigger—like today. not much has changed from the world outside. true, the economy will grow a little bit faster. the debt will start to fall, just. the day to day deficit, remember that, it's gone. but compared to other countries, the economy is sluggish and slow, only a hint of easing off months away. if, in the autumn, the public finances continue to reflect the improvements that today's report hints at then, in accordance with our balanced approach, i would have capacity to enable further increases in public spending. that might have delighted his side. the speaker: john mcdonnell. but labour accused him of not being in the real world. hasn't he listened to the doctors, the nurses, the teachers, the police officers, the carers and even his own councillors, they're telling him

they can't wait for the next budget. they're telling him to act now. but is he listening? this is the eighth year, the eighth year in a row when a conservative chancellor has said to the public that dealing with the accounts is more important than what they might feel they need. well, i hear what you're saying, laura, but the facts speak for themselves. i've put £11 billion — this is just what i've done, since i've been chancellor — £11 billion additionally into public spending in 2018/19 and have promised to put more into the national health service this year if we get a deal on pay. many of your colleagues now believe that the evidence is overwhelming for more money to go into the nhs in the longer term? well, the evidence is clearly there that our population is getting older. that technology is developing in a way that makes more and more interventions possible, and indeed desirable

in the health service, and that does represent a continuous upward pressure. is the cabinet at the moment discussing how to find more money for the health service, as some of your colleagues have told me? well, this is my responsibility to look at these things, but of course we look at all these issues. as we approach the budget in the autumn and then the spending review in 2019, of course we will look at all these pressures across the piece. not good enough for these opponents. this is a chancellor that's asleep at the wheel. he really had to show today he was prepared to take action. there was nothing in that statement that creates confidence. he has dispelled some of the gloom about the economy by giving statistics about employment, growth, output, debt etc. what the chancellor should have done, i think, is to be much more open and honest with the public and say there is no more public money for public services, which is very badly needed, and therefore we are going to have to have an increase in taxation to pay for it.

not admissions the government is ready to make. hard choices that will linger long after today. along with the brexit bill, revealed to be hanging around until 2064. spring has not yet really sprung. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. while philip hammond spoke of a "turning point" for the economy, the organisation for economic co—operation and development, the oecd, was less confident about the uk's prospects. our economics editor, kamal ahmed, is here to look at the figures. how would you characterise that verdict? certainly, huw, the rhetoric very positive. i think the figures rather more mixed. yes, there was slightly better news on there was slightly better news on the economy for this year. slightly better news on borrow, which might give the chancellor more head room on public spending. the office for budget responsibility said that inflation would be coming down, prices. that means that income squeeze that affected so many people

could come to an end. there is one big challenge in these figures. i.5% growth is the new normal for the growth is the new normalfor the uk. we used to have growth of 2% to 2.596. we used to have growth of 2% to 2.5%. the oecd, as you said, said that put us at the bottom of the g20 list of industrialised nations growth, behind america, behind germany, behind france. for every 0.i% germany, behind france. for every 0.1% of growth that you lose, that's lower tax revenues, lower government income and that's less room for manoeuvre for spending on health, and for defence and head education which is what philip hammond will wa nt to which is what philip hammond will want to do when it comes to the big event, the budget, in the autumn. kamal ahmed there, our economics editor. a brief look at some of the day's other news stories: the leader of telford and wrekin council in shropshire is calling on the home secretary to order an independent public inquiry into cases of child sexual exploitation in the town. it follows reports claiming that hundreds of girls may have been abused in the town since the early 1980s.

a teenager on trial for the attack at parsons green underground station in london has admitted leaving a device on a train but said he never intended to kill anyone. 18—year—old ahmed hussan said it became a ‘fantasy‘ for him when he was ‘very bored' over the school holidays. he denies attempted murder and causing an explosion likely to endanger life as our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. ahmed hassan has always admitted setting off on a september morning last year to plant a device on an underground train. today, it was his turn to explain to a jury why he did it. after listening to days of prosecution evidence against him, he was brought to court to mount his defence. in the witness box, he said he expected the device to burn, rather than explode. asked by his barrister, tim maloney 0c: the device partially detonated

on a train at parsons green train station. passengers were burned by the fireball. today, hassan said he hadn't looked at this footage when it was played in court. last summer, on his bedroom door, he made plain his boredom with his life. he told the jury it was partly boredom which drove him to build and plant the device. using the explosive tatp, he constructed it in the kitchen of his foster parents' home it in the kitchen of his foster parents' home and he said he'd packed it with shrapnel, because he wanted it to look serious. under cross—examination by the prosecutor,

alison morgan, hassan denied that he wanted to avenge his father's death in a coalition airstrike in their native iraq. she put it to him, "you believed that the fight against britain should be brought into this country." he replied, "no". hassan was aiming to leave the uk after the attack. today, he said he fantasised about being a fugitive chased across europe by police. in fact, he was arrested in dover. june kelly, bbc news at the old bailey. the gulf state of qatar will be introducing a sugar tax later this year, a move partly prompted by health surveys showing that 70% of qataris are overweight or obese — almost double the global average. the government is taking action to try to get people to lose weight, and it's also set to start screening adults for diabetes. our global health correspondent, tulip mazumdar, has been given rare access to the qatari health system and she sent this report. it's time for the weekend shop and families are stocking up, the jamals' are trying to make healthier choices. it's because, atjust 16 years old, jabor‘s poor diet, he tells me, led to him developing type 2 diabetes. translation: when i was a kid, i really loved sweets. we would just eat, go to bed, wake up the next day and eat more.

qatar has become one of the richest countries on earth thanks to the discovery of oil and gas here. with all that wealth though came a massive influx of international workers and western tastes. in a very short period of time, qataris have totally changed how they live, where they live and what they eat. they've gone from active, outdoor desert living to much more indoor sedentary lifestyles and many are now paying the price for adopting some of the worst of western excesses . qatar is now building more outdoor areas, like this one, it's introducing a sugar tax this year and improving food labelling. we declare it's an epidemic. everyone knows and there is a high political commitment to face this. we try to find the best approach to tackle this. one of those approaches is funding new research, salem is part of a study targeting younger people trying to reverse their type 2 diabetes.

translation: i used to eat very chaotically. for breakfast i'd eat sandwiches, for lunch i'd have a lot of meat and i'd have a heavy dinner. i started feeling pain in myjoints and my feet. left untreated, the disease can cause blindness and even foot amputations. almost one in five people suffer with the condition here, but through this strict diet and exercise programme patients are going into remission. we need to see the long—term outcomes, but it is possible medically to take younger people, get them fit, improve their life without any medication, without any surgery. all these mixture of medals... aldana is part of the women's national handball team and wants to help fight the obesity crisis. she says people need better education on living well. by increasing the awareness and doing programmes forfamilies. they're not aware how much is dangerous for the children. they've started to get this information about healthy lifestyle. unlike many other countries,

qatar certainly has the resources to deal with its obesity epidemic. the bigger challenge is ensuring its people have the will. tulip mazumdar, bbc news, doha. tonight's football news. manchester united have been knocked out of the champions league by sevilla. they lost the second leg at old trafford, 2—i. john watson watched the game. all your match day scarves and souvenirs! champions league nights are special nights. once commonplace under sir alex ferguson, manchester united's current crop hoping to emulate his achievements. a return to the knockout stage of europe's top club competition a start, jose mourinho hoping to mastermind a march to the quarter—finals with victory over sevilla.