good evening. these are our headlines this is our... the leaders of france, germany and the united states have backed to may's decision to confront moscow over the poisoning of a former spy. the prime minister has visited salisbury. we hold russia responsible for this brazen act that has taken place on the streets of what is a remarkable city. the russian government has denied any involvement and says it will expel british diplomats. tests on a door in grenfell tower found it was only fire resistant for half the time it was meant to be. calls to dismantle northamptonshire cou nty calls to dismantle northamptonshire county council after it fails to deal with a huge deficit. ina deal with a huge deficit. in a moment it will be time for

sportsday but first a look at what is coming up this evening on bbc news. beyond 100 days has more on the fallout between britain and russia. more on the sentencing of a man found guilty of stabbing to a woman to death outside a supermarket in yorkshire, and as thousands of people take part in bbc sports report, we ask how young people can spot the difference between real and fa ke spot the difference between real and fake news. some breaking news coming in from fake news. some breaking news coming infrom miami, fake news. some breaking news coming in from miami, where it is reported that a bridge at the university of florida has collapsed. emergency services are on the scene and we will bring you more on that as soon as we get it. emergency services are 110w as we get it. emergency services are now at the scene and when we get more from miami we will bring that

to you. now it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday. coming up on the programme: they call it st patrick's thursday — and irish eyes were smiling at cheltenham, but fell short of an historic green sweep. gareth southgate reveals his squad for england's upcoming friendlies — and with four uncapped players hoping to make it beyond the furst hurdle. and as the six nations finish line approaches eddiejones rings the changes as he looks to avoid defeat against ireland. good evening and welcome to the programme. we begin at cheltenham on a very aptly named st patrick's thursday, as irish trainers claimed six of the seven races. let's get more now from our reporter

lizzie greenwood hughes, who's at the festival for us this evening. it wasn't quite the green sweep but a historic day nonetheless. it wasn't quite the green sweep but a historic day nonethelessm it wasn't quite the green sweep but a historic day nonetheless. it was very close, you would have been pleased with that. the racing has finished but the place is still a bus, partly because there is a search going on for future stars of cheltenham, a couple have gone for well over £100,000. ijoined bya jockey who was part of the bbc team here. six out of seven wins for the irish and willie mullins is now the all—time leading trainer of the festival and his most notable win was in the stayers hurdle. the horse

had raced at punchestown but not since then, and are wonderful training performance to get the horse in tiptop shape, paul townsend road this one and it was a good performance and he is now on 61, nicky henderson 16. this is for the best long distance hurdlers in the world. the trainerjenny 0 keith train that one, had cancer and recovered but his jockey went to prison. the horse is only a six—year—old, just got tapped for a little bit of toe late in the race but i'm sure he will be back next year. willie mullins has now overtaken nicky henderson and i asked him earlier if he thinks about records and how he feels about overtaking nicky henderson. when you start training year

ambition is to maybe get one win at cheltenham, you don't dream of being the leading trainer so it comes as a huge surprise, but delighted at the same time. the other big race is the ryanair chase, same time. the other big race is the rya nair chase, worth more same time. the other big race is the ryanair chase, worth more money than the stayers hurdle is, that went to an irish trained horse, but no fairy tale. michael o'leary sponsored the race, he had never won the race before so he was over the moon but he had a hard race last time at ascot and maybe still had heavy legs and he pulled up halfway around, so is lifted to a horseshoe won the race is lifted to a horseshoe won the ra ce la st is lifted to a horseshoe won the race last year but got nabbed at the last. they said they would take the

horse cue card home and have a look at it, the important thing was that he was safe and sound and would be 0k. he's coming here for the seventh year, he won eight years ago, 12 years old now, pulled up in one piece, it didn't happen for him to date but i'm sure people will wish him well. now tomorrow's gold cup, you want it 20 years ago, why is it so you want it 20 years ago, why is it so special and what does it feel like to win that? it's like the olympics when all the irish horses travel over, they don't take each other on very often but this is like the olympics for them, the english versus the irish, the willie mullins

battalion, he has four in there so he has had a fantastic shot none so farand so has he has had a fantastic shot none so far and so has gordon elliott, who has a couple in there. who will win? i will go on the side of are duke, presenting percy won a couple of races the other day. we have jessica harrington and robbie power on board, i think they can do it again. you can find out how these horses get on tomorrow at 3:30pm, live on bbc radio. burnley goalkeeper nick pope is one of four uncapped players in gareth southgate's england squad to face the netherlands and italy. pope's team—mate james tarkowski, plus swansea defender alfie mawson and bournemouth midfielder lewis cook, are also included. arsenal's jack wilshere and danny welbeck are also called up. with just three months until the world cup in russia,

southgate insisted his players are not being distracted by the political tensions between london and moscow. here's our reporter ade adedoyin. 0ver over the last week there have been calls for england to boycott the world cup in light of the former russian spy being poisoned in salisbury. the football association said their plans remains the same. gareth southgate said today he will leave it to the fa to make any decisions but he conceded that there are decisions but he conceded that there a re protocols to decisions but he conceded that there are protocols to make sure players are protocols to make sure players are comfortable with playing in russia. i think it is out of my control and the likes of robert and the senior management team at the fa are able to have those conversations. we are desperate to go to wait world cup and that is

where my remit ends. england have a number of problem areas on the pitch, with harry kane injured although he is expected to be fit for the world cup, then there is no established goalkeeper. joe hart has w011 established goalkeeper. joe hart has won the number one jersey for a number of years and gareth southgate said that position is still up for grabs. an three goalkeepers have huge experience, at an international level and senior level, so we need to find out a bit more about nick because if we lose one of our more senior goalkeepers, we don't want to bring a new player in at the end of the season and his form justifies coming into that mix. just three

months before england begin their campaign and issues both on and off the pitch to be sorted out. southgate believes it will all play out and isn't concerned about the tournament being overshadowed by issues surrounding security in russia. arsenal midfielder aaron ramsey was a notable absentee as ryan giggs named his first squad as wales manager. ramsey is expected to play for arsenal in the second leg of their europa league tie with ac milan later this evening, but giggs accepted the international break was "a good time" to have minor surgery. we have been in discussion with arsenal over the last couple of weeks and aaron has a small procedure, it's the ideal time during that break to get sucked in. he will be in the squad tonight for the game against ac milan but it's a good time to get this done and it is a blow because he is a quality

player but it's the best thing to do for the future and four iron. —— and for the future and four iron. —— and for iron. also coming up in the programme: disappointment for great britain's wheelchair curling team at the winter paralympics. they miss out on the semi—finals and any chance of a medal. and could the ice skating double act of nick buckland and penny coomes be set for a dramatic career change? tiger woods has continued his comeback today at the arnold palmer invitational. woods has been in fine form and this putt on the seventh was one of a number of highlights from his four under par 68. it leaves him joint second behind the overall leaderjimmy walker. but it's been a while since we've seen a smile like that from the former world number one. england have made sweeping changes for saturday's crunch six nations meeting with already

crowned champions ireland. in a week when eddiejones has apologised for offensive comments about wales and ireland, england's head coach has had to make some tough calls on the field as england look to avoid their third consecutive defeat in this tournament. here's our rugby union reporter chrisjones. eddiejones was eddie jones was feeling the eddiejones was feeling the heat even before the events of the last 24 even before the events of the last 2a hours, the feat against scotland and france have left england in a hole and jones has wielded the axe. joe launchbury drop, george ford dropped from 0wen farrell steering the ship from number 10. a bold selection but one thatjones feels is necessary. we need to play a certain way against ireland, they have had a great run and we feel we need to bring a team on the field

that can play a certain look way and that can play a certain look way and thatis that can play a certain look way and that is why we have selected. four ireland, just a third grand slam in their history, that is what is at sta ke for their history, that is what is at stake for them but a massive game for england as well. you feel they just have to win to salvage this six nations championship. not much change for ireland, though — just one in fact, with iain henderson being brought back into their squad. the ulster lock replaces devin toner while peter 0'mahony, rob kearney and cian healy have shaken off injuries to take their places in the squad. warren gatland has brought dan biggar back at fly—half for wales as they aim for a second—placed finish in this year's championship. he takes over from gareth anscombe, who drops to the bench. over to pyeongchang now, where there's been disappointment for britain's wheelchair curling team at the winter paralympics. their medal hopes are over after missing out on a place in the semi—finals after defeat to china. 0ur reporter kate grey is there for us. it may be snowing now but the

weather earlier today was pretty miserable, which reflects the mood in the gb wheelchair curling camp. they have had tough matches, first against the host nation career in what was at tight game, a must win match for both teams. the pressure was on aileen nelson to get this one but korea came out with a victory and moved on to the final play—offs against canada and china, with the fourth play—off positions still to be decided. great britain needed no way to lose against slovakia beau britton worker stand any chance and it was another nail—biting match that went to an extra end and they even had to bring out a measuring

device to see whose stone was nearest the centre, but norway took that fourth play—off position, great britain are out of the tournament and will not win a medal here. a huge disappointment but britain had another match to play against china, one of the top teams in the round robin standings, and they faced another defeat. great britain leave these games without a medal, a shame as it was going to play a big part in the medals target set for them but for these games and it will put pressure on paralympics gb to step up pressure on paralympics gb to step up and find medals elsewhere. great britain have announced their squad for the 2019 special olympics in abu dhabi. the event takes place every four years and enables around 7000 athletes with learning disabilities from around the world to compete against each other. one of the 129 athletes from great britain is cyclist kiera byland, who admits she'll need to prepare for a totally different atmosphere. i'm excited but i'm also nervous because it's new people

with new riding techniques and it takes me longer to adjust to different riding techniques. but i'm sure it'll be ok. yes because you have learning disabilities and that's what these games are for. how has cycling helped you? it's helped me to have confident because at school i didn't have many friends, i had low confidence, i was quite a shy person but cycling has given me the friendships, the confidence and the ability to be resilient. so school was difficult? it was. you have a wider role with sogb going into schools and promoting the game. tell us about that. i go into primary schools or secondary schools and speak about my experiences and it's trying to say to those children who say, you're like me, that

it's ok to have dreams, you can get them, that's ok. now for the ice skating double act of nick buckland and penny coomes even participating in the winter olympics last month was in itself an achievement. a career—threatening knee injury for coomes nearly put an end to their dreams of competing. they did eventually make it to south korea, but told my colleague hugh woozencroft earlier that their performance was tinged with disappointment. i in vincent what my 0lympic moment would be and i wanted that podium finish and i wanted that for ourselves and great britain and it was disappointing to get there and achieved a 11th place and i feel like our performances were strong, but out of our control. we came out of the olympics with something different, we realised how much we ended up inspiring people with a story to get to the games, we've got

so story to get to the games, we've got so many story to get to the games, we've got so many messages story to get to the games, we've got so many messages and it was inspiring to know we have played a pa rt inspiring to know we have played a part in other people's lives. people would be amazed you can go to win olympic games and still suffer pain. i can't walk down the stairs very well but i can go on the ice, so a lot of maintenance to do before i feel fully fit again. if you are to go to the next games, funding will be crucially important, is that essential for you guys to do to the next games? 100%. we are so essential for you guys to do to the next games? 10096. we are so lucky in receiving uk sport funding and it was crucial to get a penny back on theice was crucial to get a penny back on the ice after her injury. we were worried but uk sport said what do you need to achieve your goals? it's difficult for this country to

compete with those traditional winter sports nations. uk sport are brilliant because they treat sport like a business and you have to take risks and sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don't. what's next? i wa nt to ta ke sometimes they don't. what's next? i want to take time and rehabilitate my knee but we would both like to get onto strictly come dancing because we are a couple, we have a lwa ys because we are a couple, we have always done everything together so i would like to see what it would be like if we weren't together, we were head to head? something for all the competitive couples out there. we may struggle to remember the moves from week to week. now, if you've been watching the news channel over the course of the day you may well have noticed that it is bbc school report day. hundreds of schools across the uk are taking part, with a number of youngsters also getting the chance to make

a television report. out of the many that have been made today, this story made for bbc spotlight particularly caught our eye. i'm brian. i'm matt. i'm adrian. i'm maggie and i have been playing men's cricket for a number of seasons. the problem facing girls in rural devon is that there are not many teams to join to play cricket with. one solution is that they play with men sides. it's about participation. it's a great idea, it's brilliant you can play on an equal footing. my team—mates are very supportive and a lwa ys team—mates are very supportive and always have been but not everyone is so always have been but not everyone is so enamoured by the idea of women playing in eight men's team. i've been to see my friend, the manager of totte n ha m been to see my friend, the manager of tottenham ladies cricket club. when i was a child they