fifisfiflfifi metro and that stop headline push offski. 23 spies to be rejected, talking about a boycott of the world cup. the headline is theresa may, what she said, will make a difference? it sounds robust and they are trying to the impact in not any one single measure but a com plete any one single measure but a complete package of measures. the ejection of what they call undeclared agents. spies, i think! if they knew they were here, why not fling them out before? the royal family will be down about not going to the world cup. so the general package is supposed to provide the force here. but it is very difficult because what she needs to do is to looked off and make it look as if she is responding in a robust way. —— to look tough. but there is not much you can do. the russians have given her no scope for any meaningful action. she does not really have allies to go to to put

together any real package to get moscow's attention. so to some extent, i think it is bluster and from the reaction from the russians today, they kind of know that. that is the big issue, how much international support theresa may can get. she spoke to various leaders and they sound supportive, the question is whether it is more than words. we saw friends hedging its bets today. and the us were very strong that the security council tonight —— two. it is the last thing theresa may needs, she is stuck with brexit and imploding tory party and the west relations with russia since 1985. i think the key thing is how russia retaliates and what it does tomorrow. and as the metro picks up, the world cup, we will send a team and what happens to the fans who have bought tickets, now thinking about in three months' time, can we

be safe? about in three months' time, can we be safe ? what about in three months' time, can we be safe? what will happen in moscow? and they have to budget travel advice nearer the time. there was travel advice to date saying be aware of anti—british sentiment, three months before the tournament begins. the second page of the guardian. what you are talking about, russia threatens retaliation. presumably, they will expel our people from moscow, that would be expected. the fear is whether it goes further. one minister said today, this isjust the beginning, not the end. the uk is expecting some kind of retaliation. a big worry basing to be taking their time. there is no particular pressure. so the reaction today has been pretty much, as theresa may said, sarcasm and defiance. we saw them mocking her reaction to it so far. today at the united nations,

they have been prettyjocular to some extent about the way they have reacted. if the hope was she would get their attention, she does not seem to have done that in the wake she would have hoped. and the other hand, she does not have the option to do nothing. she has to react. a nerve agent used on british soil. she has to say and do something and a lot of mps talking about this magnitsky act that could get to people they have not got to before from russia. there is a limit, what can you do to change the way russia behaves? they have invaded ukraine and annexed crimea and they tried to assassinate, if you believe everything, the president of montenegro. there is a limit to what she can do. this is a good day for theresa may and what she does well, we have seen her in environments where she does not do well, but she has studied the evidence, she goes into the hand and —— house and commands the stage and delivers. how much will this change behaviour? she

is under threat with brexit, how does the world rally round to help? i agree to some extent, but i think have seen theresa may on the set piece occasions looking really impressive. it is the delivery. you have the sense there is a pattern of her having a good day and in the days that followed, everything either not coming to fruition or unravelling. the telegraph have a different angle. something we have heard from different conservative mps about bolstering defences, a lot saying spending 2% of gdp on defence is not enough and we have to do more when it comes to things like cyber attacks. gavin williamson the defence secretary making a big speech tomorrow where he will call for exactly that. this is about the country want to be in the future, do we spend more on defence or the nhs which marked the defence secretary with a big speech talking about more preparation for chemical warfare.

every soldier will be vax —— vaccinated against anthrax. gavin williamson again is speaking to the telegraph, the mainstay of the tory vote, suggesting more about his plans for the future! at a time of apparent crisis, you have the internal tory agony is playing out. gavin williamson making a speech as pa rt gavin williamson making a speech as part of his wider plan. the telegraph have merged this into their story about what is happening with russia. i guess it is the time to strike when this is happening.- ask for more money. this was on the grid, but interesting where it has gone. to be fair to gavin williamson, last month, he said, russia is a huge threat. cyber plots all the time. everybody said, what is he on? but look what has happened. it does add to the feeling

that as crises occur, what takes precedence is the internal machinations of the conservative party. the daily express, this is the headline, the case of nikolai glushkov, found dead in kingston, london, this week, so suggestion of foul play. but talking to people today, they say there is no evidence of that, but the counterterrorism police had been brought in to look at it which is quite significant. this goes to the idea of a hit list. we will get onto this with labour. the idea of the evidence. the nerve agent used as a calling card to say, if you mess with us, putin is saying, if you betray russia, you will come to a grisly end. now every death of a russian in england will be perhaps linked to a hit list. do you think people are getting alarmed? this is directed at certain people potentially, but the

public... they will get alarmed because these are not things they can deploy precisely. as we see with what happened in salisbury, other people were affected. not least the first police officer on the scene, said people are alarmed and they have a right to be so. the thing that worries me, things do seem to be spiralling out of control to some extent, in that if what we see is right, russia appears to almost be able to act with impunity. and we don't seem able on our own to do very much about that. i think that speaks to the fact we don't have any sort of international consensus on what to do about russia. it is difficult to deal with this on our own. we going to need allies and thatis own. we going to need allies and that is something we are struggling with. and in theory, there are two killers walking around britain with a bag of nerve agent. now, putin's

poppet. a pretty big row in the labour party today afterjeremy corbyn got up and did not specifically blame russia and a lot of labour mps unhappy. a huge story tomorrow. near griffiths the shadow defence secretary has come out in a scathing attack onjeremy corbyn and emily thornberry made it very clear she disagreed with the official stance. his quite important speech. and this is going to run. we have heard rumours of a resignation from the shadow cabinet and jeremy corbyn has said, this is a despicable act, but he did not condemn russia or blame russia. he says there is not enough evidence yet. and his chief of staff said, remember the wmd, it was never proven, how can we prove this? corbyn is a pacifist but it

will cause so many ruptures in labour. we need to talk about stephen hawking before we run out of time, who died today and people talk about him is possibly the most famous scientist since newton. it is incredible. he had this populism which not many scientists have. he is one of the national treasures, the national treasure‘s national treasure. he was so loved across the country by people who probably did not understand the first thing! —— we are amongst them. but he was much loved. on personal grounds, we know that when he was 21, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and was told he had to agree is, an extraordinary thing to get to this age. and there is his scientific expertise which are extraordinary. at the guardian, we would claim him in terms of the progressive things

he did, particularly his advocacy on behalf of the nhs. put that together, and you have someone that when they pass, you feel as a newspaper that you really want to pull out all the stops and to do them justice, and i think you'll find in all the papers tomorrow, they do that. just quickly, another story which caught our eye about the government saving the pennies after a bit ofa government saving the pennies after a bit of a storm caused mainly by you, steve, that they were going to scrap... the fact we can talk about one of the greatest scientist honoured and we get to a row about the pennies! this sums up the darker side, the black hole of government communications! one david treasury puts out a call for evidence of the future of money which suggests one and to be coins will be short for the world and then, we never said that! and the next day, downing street says, we listen the public, it it is not going to happen and they are targeting a £50 note

because it is a bigger problem with forgeries. i think there have because it is a bigger problem with forgeries. ithink there have been four budget u—turns. this went in less than 24 hours. we will finish with the cartoon. it says, the old wishing well. and then it says, no copper coins, contactless card payment only. so that is the end of pennies because nobody uses them any more. or not. do you like them? i don't think many people use them but it is another step in the erosion of money. one group is very happy, amusement arcade operators, they are over the moon. that's true. that's it for the papers tonight. don't forget, you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you, seven days a week, at bbc.co.uk/papers. and if you miss the programme any evening, you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. thank you very much. good night.

hello. thank you forjoining me. in the shorter term, it was one of those across parts of western britain through wednesday. wet and windy not just in britain through wednesday. wet and windy notjust in the new lynn area, chris you are close to this weather front delivering heavy rain. from northern ireland to wales and into the south—west. i suppose on that chart. the wind a real factor, the south—west. i suppose on that chart. the wind a realfactor, costs in excess of 60 mph through the isles of scilly. through the rest of the night, the rain pushes not out of northern ireland, but it will move into wales and southern england. underneath that cloud, up to9 england. underneath that cloud, up to 9 degrees. in clearer skies further east, up to 5 degrees. for

the commute and the school run, really quite wet weather across the higher ground of wales. and so to into lancashire and the peak district and it just into lancashire and the peak district and itjust keeps come —— reining in northern ireland. before it stops, eastern slopes of those hills could have seen around 50 millimetres of rain. through the day, what is left of the weather front goes toward the north and east. brighter skies behind but with showers getting into this relatively mild air towards the south—west, anywhere near that front, one of those days. six, seven, eight degrees, no better and a noticeable wind. we keep unsettled weather near that front going into the first part of friday. by this stage, the air is cool across the higher ground of northern britain and it will be wintry showers rather than watery. they will be watery and intense further south and it is still at this stage relatively mild with the

sunshine in the south. that is the last time i will say that because as we move towards the weekend, a big area of high pressure over scandinavia. tapping into colder air across the western side of russia. through scandinavia and through to the british isles during the weekend. cold and windy and there will be some snow as well. such that forget about ten, 11, 12, 13 if you saw it because especially in yeast, it is going to much colder. the headlines at 11pm: the white house shows support for britain, after theresa may announcs sanctions against russia. and the scientist stephen hawking, who achieved fame with his theories of the universe, has died aged 76. tens of thousands of students have walked out of classrooms across the us to call for tighter gun controls, a month after a shooting at a school in florida. and on newsnight, russia says its relations with britain are at a temperature of —23, but that it's not afraid of cold weather.

we'll ask if britain's measures will have an effect. and whetherjeremy corbyn judged it right, in his response to the prime minister.