this is bbc news. the headlines at 10: russia retaliates and expels 23 british diplomats from moscow, as the row over the nerve agent attack on a former russian spy deepens. the british ambassador was defiant. we will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies and oui’ to defend ourselves, our allies and our values against an attack of this sort, which is an attack not only on the united kingdom but upon the international system on which all countries, including russia, depend for their safety and security. police investigating the murder of a businessman in london have begun contacting other russian exiles in britain to discuss their personal safety. a man's been arrested on suspicion of murder after two women were shot dead at a house in st leonards in east sussex. the beast is back for a brief visit. forecasters say snow could cause problems in large parts of the uk this weekend. also in the next hour:

could it be an irish dream on st patrick's day at twickenham? they need to beat england this afternoon to achieve just their third ever grand slam. and in half an hour here on bbc news, the travel show meets the woman who lives all alone, in the smallest town in america. good morning and welcome to bbc news. russia has announced it will expel 23 british diplomats from moscow in retaliation for london's actions, following the nerve agent attack in salisbury on a former russian spy and his daughter. the announcement came after the uk ambassador was summoned to a meeting at the russian foreign ministry in moscow, they confirmed in a statement that 23 british diplomats from the embassy in moscow will be expelled.

permission for the proposed opening of the consulate in st petersburg will be withdrawn. and the british council in russia is to be closed. the statement ends with the warning that any further actions of an unfriendly nature towards russia will be met with retaliation. speaking outside the russian foreign ministry after his meeting, the uk ambassador to russia, dr laurie bristow made this statement. good morning, ladies and gentlemen. ijust had a meeting in the russian ministry of foreign affairs. this crisis has arisen as a result of an appalling act in the united kingdom, the attempted murder of two people using a chemical weapon developed in

russia, and not to cleared by russia to the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons, as russia is obliged to do. earlier this week, the prim minister set out in parliament a number of measures that we took and are taking to defend ourselves against this kind of attack. we gave russia the opportunity to explain how the material got to salisbury, and we asked russia to declare that material, that capability to the organisation for the provision of a chemical weapons. russia did neither, therefore we announced several steps. russia today have informed me of the steps that russia will be taking in response to that. as our prime minister made clear in parliament, we have no dispute with the russian people, a very large pa rt the russian people, a very large part of the work of my embassy here in russia has been to promote those links, those mutually productive links, those mutually productive

links, between russia and the united kingdom. but we have always done what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies and our values againstan ourselves, our allies and our values against an attack of this sort, which is an attack not only on the united kingdom but upon the international space system which all countries, including russia, depend for their safety and security. thank you. reporters showed let's speak to our correspondent richard galpin in moscow. as expected, a fairly tough response? apologies... as you can see, a problem with the wind to moscow. we will try to get richard back any moment's time. just expected, also worth seeing, expecting a response from the foreign office, a statement expected in the next few moments. we were told sometime after 10am. boris johnson, foreign secretary, has arrived at the foreign and commonwealth office this morning.

did not say anything this morning but interesting that he is in work today. let's try to rejoin our correspondent in moscow for us. i think you can hear us now. as expected, a fairly robust response from russia? yes, i think it is. certainly, obviously, the expulsion of 22 diplomats from the british embassy here is as expected. —— 23 diplomats. it is totally reciprocal. what russia has also done in terms of stopping the operation of the british consulate in st petersburg, which is russia's second city, a really important city, a big population, that seems to be really going further. the same obviously with stopping the operation of the british council in russia. that, ironically, ethics, primarily, with russians who, for example, the british council is useful for cultural exchange. they have been, i am not sure if they still do, providing language training, and the consulate providing visas for

russians who want to go to the uk. that will now be much more difficult for russians in st petersburg. they will have to travel to moscow, for example, to try to sort out their visas. but, it also diminishes britain's diplomatic representation in russia. it is pretty strong. however, i think we have to see now how it plays out between the two sides, whether this is it for now or whether there will be further escalation. 0k, escalation. ok, richard, we will leave it there. thank you very much. as you can hear at all, apologies for the poor sound quality is we will leave it there. let's speak now to the conservative mp, tom tugendhat, chair of the commons foreign affairs select committee. good morning. ‘s good morning ritual. give us your response, if you would, to the news that 23 british took the matter to be expelled. i think it is very sad because this is a punishment on the russian people conducted by the kremlin regime. what britain is doing by closing down the british

council is denying the russian people the ability to have cultural links, in many ways, with the outside world. he is also making it much harderfor the outside world. he is also making it much harder for the russian outside world. he is also making it much harderfor the russian people to access these of and be able to travel. let's be clear, the 22 diplomats are diplomats. none of them have been responsible for the attempted murder of people in russia, none have been responsible for the illegal import or manufacture, or indeed use, of chemical weapons in russia. none of them of project risk the lives of hundreds of russian systems, which sadly contrasts very starkly with those diplomats who have been expeued those diplomats who have been expelled from london, because they are part of a regime that has indeed just done that in salisbury at and a few years ago did so in london. what do you think the uk should do now? it has got to focus very clearly on the putin regime and its money. vladimir putin himself as a multi—billionaire, and has stolen from the russian people for many yea rs. from the russian people for many years. the best part of 20 years, he

and his autocracy have enriched themselves on the back of the russian people. this is disgraceful. forfar russian people. this is disgraceful. for far too russian people. this is disgraceful. forfar too long russian people. this is disgraceful. for far too long has the west blind eye to this. we have tolerated russian money living through russian, —— london, switzerland, the whole of europe and the united states. we have been far too tolera nt of states. we have been far too tolerant of their corruption of financial services institutions through their stolen money, and we must stop. you say that we have been far too tolerant and i wonder what you mean by wii. on the one hand, we have seen campaigners pushing very ha rd over have seen campaigners pushing very hard over the years for acts in this country, as we have seen in the states, but we have also had very real accusations being made that the reason nothing is being done is that the city of london swims along very happily on a sea of russian money and it has been expedient to turn a blind eye. let's be honest about that. the city of london has a trickle of russian monday in comparison —— money into virus and

what comes from elsewhere. russia is a broken economy. it has an economy about the size of belgium, despite the fact that the population many, many times the size of that, which demonstrates very clearly be failure of the putin regime over 20 years, and the fact that all of the petrodollars it has had it has stolen and exported rather than investing in roads, schools, hospitals and any number of other things. this is a classic despotic regime, dictatorship that turns against its own people, brutalises its own, murderousjournalists, and 110w its own, murderousjournalists, and now seeking to export the internal problems by doing a rise in nationalist rhetoric. this is not surprising at all. this is exactly how dictatorships behave around the world. actually, the amount of money thatis world. actually, the amount of money that is coming to london is peanuts. it is insignificant compared to the amount of monday that flows to the city every day. we need to be clear about this and say that this money is no good. it is corrupt, stolen and should be returned to the

russian people. when it comes to concrete action to target those oligarchs who are living in london about whom you have concerns, what would you like to see and how confident are you that it would really have any impact on the actions of the russian government? there is great irony that britain is somehow inviolable and although he is about to stuff the ballot for the election on sunday, the truth as he relies on a support network of oligarchs in exactly the same way as the czar relied on aristocrats. if they turn against him, he has nowhere to turn. we need to be very clear that these oligarchs, those who are close to the kremlin regime and have stolen have no place in london. they should get out now and ta ke london. they should get out now and take their families and be gone immediately. that sounds like an invitation, or are you saying that he would take steps to force them out? i am saying that we should make it absolutely clear that their wealth is not acceptable here, we should be using unexplained wealth orders to freeze the assets and seize their goods and should be

robust. but there are lawful and legal and honourable people who have come from russia, who have fled the brutality of the putin regime and you're living in exile, sadly, in london, and they are welcome here and have a place because the bond between our two people are very, very close. you only need to get postcards of sore neck of the second standing next to george v to realise that ourfamilies standing next to george v to realise that our families are very close. —— of these are standing next to george v. the links between scientists and research and cosmologists and i points to a depth of connection between the united kingdom and russia that is sadly being undermined by this cryptography of gangsters and kgb activists. thank you very much for your time. meanwhile, police investigating the murder of a russian man in london say they have begun contacting other russian exiles in britain to discuss their safety. forensics teams have continued working at the home of 68—year nikolai glushkov, who was found dead on monday. but police say at this stage, it is not being connected to the poisoning of former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter in salisbury.

john mcmanus reports. 68—year—old nikolai glushkov, found dead at his home on this unassuming road in southwest london on monday. but mr glushkov‘s life was anything but ordinary. a post mortem has revealed he was murdered, killed by compression to the neck. unusually, counterterrorism police are leading the investigation because of mr glushkov‘s past. in the ‘90s he was the director of russian airline aeroflot, but sought political asylum in the uk and was still being pursued by russia. he was friends with russian businessmen boris berezovsky who was found hanged in 2013. an open verdict was recorded but mr glushkov believed he had been murdered. the deaths of many russians who died in the uk in what may suspicious circumstances are being re—examined.

some observers believe it is time to join the dots. mr glushkov‘s death fits into a wider pattern of the last 12 years of russian opponents dropping dead across europe. the consequences for the kremlin of this were limited forfar too long. the uk response has recently been much stronger, but there's still an awful lot we could do. the former pr executive lord bell, a friend of mr glushkov, has told the bbc he suspects he was killed after being deemed a traitor by the russian state. police say that at present there is no link between the murder in london and the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter in salisbury. but some russian exiles are being contacted about their safety. our correspondent tom burridge is in salisbury.

i gather an invitation to international chemical weapons experts forthcoming? downing street wrote last night to the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons. that is an international body based in the hague. russia and britain are both signatories to the all bzw, so the invitation is for its officials to come over here to the uk, to go to porton down, were the ministry of defence has its own research facility, where its scientists have determined that the nerve agent used on sergei skripal and yulia, found on sergei skripal and yulia, found on that page behind me any critical condition, worthy of yellow and white is, nearly two weeks ago. the idea is that officials will come to porton down, will verify, carry out their own tests, to verify what the nerve agent that was used on the family was. i have been speaking to a formal official that he'll bzw,

and an expert in chemical weapons. so, it is likely that a team will come over to porton down. theoretically, they could do the analysis at the laboratories there. i suspect it is more likely that they above example the way back to they above example the way back to the hague. there is a laboratory in the hague. there is a laboratory in the hague. there is a laboratory in the hague and they could do the analysis there. they may well split the simple and send it away to what they call designated laboratories, laboratories around the world approved by the opcw and capable of doing the analysis on the sample. in terms of the police investigation, we are still getting very, very little official information, given the sensitive and classified information on what has been going on here. late yesterday, the car of sergei skripal, red bmw, that was towed away from the car park just adjacent to hear that was towed away from the car parkjust adjacent to hear in the hours after he and his daughter fell critically ill, that car was moved from the car pound on the end of salisbury, where it had been taken,

by military personnel. we know that the car of sergei skripal has been a focus, and remain the focus, of the police's investigation into how they came into contact, sergei skripal and yulia, with this nerve agent, none of this group of novichok, which as we have been saying now, we suspect international officials will be coming to the uk to verify exactly what that nerve agent was. 0k, exactly what that nerve agent was. ok, thank you very much indeed. the headlines on bbc news: britain's ambassador is summoned to the foreign ministry as russia announce they will expel 23 british diplomats amid tensions over the nerve agent attack in salisbury. a man's been arrested on suspicion of murder after two women were shot dead at a house in st leonards in east sussex. forecasters say snow could cause problems in large parts of the uk this weekend. an amber weather warning is due to come into force this afternoon. sport now, and for a full

round—up from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn akers. it has been snowing, actually, in london and at twickenham. as they reach the climax of this year's six nations championship, three matches today in the six nations, and a huge afternoon ahead at twickenham. ireland have already taken the title and are looking to complete the grand slam with victory over england, who have yet to lose at twickenham and eddie jones. we have got a fantastic triple bill, but all of the attention will be here at twickenham for england against ireland, ireland won the championship last week, when they beat scotland, and then england failed against the french. ireland are the only side left so cute when the grand slam if they beat the english. they have only won it twice

before. the last time back in 2009. they have just got stronger and stronger as this tournament has progressed. england seem to have gone backwards. they could lose three matches in a row, and that has not happened for a novel long time. they would just love to scupper ireland's grand slam plans, because thatis ireland's grand slam plans, because that is what the irish did to the english in last year's championship. starting things off, it is in rome. italy against scotland. italy have already won the wooden spoon. scotla nd already won the wooden spoon. scotland could finished third. that is probably the best that they can hope for. rounding things off in cardiff, wales against france. if ireland win here, that will be a battle for second place. wendy to look forward to in this final round of the six nations championship, to see which is the best team in the northern hemisphere. —— plenty to look forward to. it is ireland. but can they also when the grand slam as well? england's women ended their six nations with victory over ireland but they finished runners up to france. england won by 33 points to 11 at the ricoh arena, danielle waterman becoming

the nation's leading try—scorer with 47 now to her name. france took the title — and the grand slam — with victory over wales. paralympicsgb are still short of their medal target of seven after the penultimate day of the winter games in pyeongchang. scott meenagh finished 14th in the cross country event and james whitley was tenth in the slalom. britain have won five medals so far, all in the visually impaired alpine skiing, and the three british pairs will race again tomorrow. to football, and jose mourinho gave a12 to football, and jose mourinho gave a 12 minute answer to a question at his press conference yesterday. ahead of manchester united's fa cup quarterfinal against brighton this evening. he spoke with passion following united's defeat to sophia in the champions league in midweek. they have a team with a great deal

of experience at the highest level, playing every week against real madrid, valencia, barcelona, against the best players. you see seville have players that play direct in my team. in seville, there are many players that would clear my team. so, defence... defends, they read what people write. they listen to what people write. they listen to what people write. they listen to what people say. and the people that write and say and people have a lot of ideas, and i used to call people with a lot of ideas or idealists or idiots. if you want to watch that fell, it is on our website. rangers can move closer to celtic at the top of the scottish premiership today, with a win at home to kamara neck. celtic are nine points clear of so they are away to motherwell tomorrow. it was a frustrating evening

for hibernian as they missed the chance to go third in the scottish premiership. hibs went ahead in the second minute, had their keeper sent off not long after, and held out until the final stages when chris kane equalised for stjohnstone. venus williams has been knocked out in the semi—finals at indian wells by the 20—year—old russian daria kasatkina and what's remarkable is that kasatkina has beaten four grand slam champions on her way to the final — sloane stephens, caroline wosniacki, agelique kerber and now williams, all brushed aside. it was the champions of super league against the leaders of super league last night. and the champions, leeds rhinos, won, ending st helens unbeaten run since the start of the season. ash handley scored two of the rhinos' five tries. elsewhere salford beat hull fc. and it seems that the former england

cricket captain kevin pietersen might have finally retired his bat. he tweeted, "boots up, thank you" after playing for quetta gladiators in the pakistan super league. he'd already said he wouldn't travel with the side for the pakistan phase of the event, but does this mean his playing days are over altogether? we will see. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. forecasters say snow could cause problems in large parts of the uk this weekend. an amber weather warning is due to come into force this afternoon in north west england, yorkshire and the midlands and also london and parts of south east england. more than 100 flights have been cancelled at heathrow, mostly on short—haul routes. joining me now is bbc weather presenter helen willetts. thank you very much for coming in. you have got to work cut out,

because this amber warning and some quite nasty conditions. thank you for having us, it is important to get the weather message out. amber warning the two take affect mid afternoon onwards. we can set the scene by having a look at that behind me. we have got the warning, covering those areas that we talked about, part of england, a lot of eastern england, the midlands into this evening and overnight. also another one coming into force overnight for more generally southern parts of the uk. uncertainty, really, anyone for the night ahead. it is a developing situation. this is showers through the day today, tonight could be more organised big band of snow. that is giving us a real cause for concern at the moment. we talked a little bit in the introduction about particular area, but either particular places people should be particularly concerned i'm thinking about travel plans and preparations? absolutely. it has returned for a similar reason to two weeks ago. we have cold siberia and error. you

mentioned yourself it is windy outside. it is almost hail force, really gusty. —— siberian error. you can imagine that. we are seeing temperatures 10 degrees lower than yesterday and some central and eastern areas. adding that wind, it will feel better. the areas we are particularly because that is coming in from the east, that wind, blowing across parts of northern england, yorkshire, lincolnshire, mike weir crossed the eastern side of wealth, and the other area across the south east of england. that is where we think we will see the most nights of snow, but don't discount anywhere else because they are actually seen it elsewhere. this is the second warning, to cover part of southern england, south wales, for the system coming in tonight. that comes into effect at midnight, the others, mid—afternoon. it is notjust snow, either, a device. it will get compacted by the car is driving big over it and turning very ice. this is short and sharp? i really hope so. through the rest

of today, those showers packing and that more persistent snow coming into the south. it will feel quite cold, one or 2 degrees, and it will feel more like minus the six or seven. rather concerned about this lump of snow coming in and weather it could be winter wonderland we up tomorrow, but the easterly wind gets cut off and we pick up more of a northerly wind. i know you all to me that does not sound much better! particularly not for the east or north winter, but it cuts that cold feet, the cold continental air. it gets warned a little as it comes over the north sea, though not as many issues with snow, but we will still have, i think, overnight frost and raise concerns into next week, because it will be quite modest. look at that, feels like minus seven. i know, having seen 1a in london yesterday! people keep saying it is particularly because that is march, is it unusual? no, we have had snow injune in this country. nothing surprises any more! ) is

still within the realms of reason, it is just after that mild weather last week, for st patrick's day it is probably not what you want. thank you very much indeed, helen. the disruption is having an effect on travel this weekend. the independent‘s travel editor simon calderjoins me now. he is always the man to go to to bring full of the doom and gloom, firemen! let's start at heathrow, how is that looking? not much of a winter wonderland there. you assume over 100 flights cancelled. i have got to 100 meetings so far. vast majority on british airways, almost all our domestic and european flights. there isa domestic and european flights. there is a round trip later on to survival and onto new york which have also been cancelled. aer lingus, gaap portugal, klm, air france also affected, and lufthansa has cancelled a number of flights. if you're sitting in the departure lounge at heathrow and your flight

is only half an hour late, you're doing pretty well. delays are building during the day, mostly tied up, iunderstand, building during the day, mostly tied up, i understand, with de—icing problems. that is heathrow, what about other airports? london city is having great and exciting morning, after the passengers trying to use it. we have already seen a couple of diversions, one flight from edinburgh is in the event, and that return flight has been cancelled. long delays there as well. quite a concern, because there isa well. quite a concern, because there is a curfew at london city airport. it closes from lunchtime on saturday to lunchtime on sunday, so if you do not get out of docklands by then, you're not going to. gatwick airport, again, here now if you're in the departure lounge. your flight is probably about half an hour late, that seems to be average. thing is getting out ok but the report says that later on we could expect problems and therefore you are urged to check with your airline before setting off for the airport and if you do allow extra time. service

routes could be disrupted as well. people heading to the trains might also be thinking either going to have any trouble? yes, and infact, helen have any trouble? yes, and in fact, helen referred to this 02 weeks ago. that is still having serious problems on hull trains between the and london. they have cancelled services this weekend. not all but some. the snow and ice got into the electrics and caused all sorts of problems. we have got a full entry on the line between salisbury and southampton. —— a fallen tree. across the pennines, we are beginning to see some problems between stalybridge and huddersfield. those are tied up at the moment with signalling, which may be to do with the wintry weather, but, as we were hearing, as the weekend develops, things could get trickier. given that, people getting a bit twitchy about travel plans for tomorrow, give us a sense of that. people getting disrupted today, have they got any hope of going a bit later? i think most people will get away. at the moment, i reckon about 15,000

01’ at the moment, i reckon about 15,000 or 60,000 passengers have been affected. most were actually told yesterday what would happen and if you're booked travel tomorrow and are, particularly, on a british airways and short—haul flight from heathrow, do not be too surprised if you get a text or a mild later saying you are booked on a different flight. saying you are booked on a different flight. likely to see more proactive cancellations at heathrow, but ba has said anybody flying in and out of london city, gatwick and heathrow this weekend who does not want to ta ke this weekend who does not want to take a chance, even if yourflight is still showing as going, you can reboot for monday, tuesday or wednesday. as always, with these difficult times, hope for the best but be prepared for delay and destruction. news you can use, we like that. always a great help, thank you very much. police have launched a murder investigation after two women were shot and killed at a house in east sussex. officers were called to an address in st leonards on sea last night. two other women — including

one who is pregnant — were led to safety by officers. a man has been arrested. our correspondent then does this update. it is this road behind me that was put on lockdown last night. drivers we re put on lockdown last night. drivers were turned away, residents told to stay away entirely. the road, instead, was filmed with armed police officers, with the flashing blue lights from emergency vehicles, and the noise of the police helicopters buzzing overhead. it was just after 7:30pm that the received reports of shots being fired and what followed was a two hour manhunt. it was not untiljust before 10pm that they announced that they had arrested somebody on suspicion of murder, and that 35—year—old man remains in police custody this morning. as far as the victims, we know a 53—year—old woman and a 32—year—old woman have died. there were two other women in the property at the time.