this is bbc news. the headlines at 4.00pm. russia expels 23 british diplomats from moscow in the row over the nerve agent attack on a former spy. the prime minister insists russia must account for their actions. we will never tolerate a threat to the lives of british citizens on british soil either russian government. 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 from the east makes a brief return. amber weather warnings are in place for large parts of the uk. also in the next hour: ireland are on the brink of a bit of rugby history. a win against england at twickenham would secure what would be only their third ever grand slam.

they lead by m points to seven. and in half an hour dateline london takes a look at russia's presidential election, and considers what impact another six years of vladimir putin in the kremlin would have. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. russia says it will expel 23 british diplomats. the move is one of the measures in response to britain's decision to throw out the same number of russian officials following the nerve agent attack in salisbury. theresa may says russia's response doesn't change the facts of what happened. our moscow correspondent, sarah rainsford reports. moscow took its time to respond.

three days after london announced the expulsion of russian diplomats, britain's ambassador here was summoned to the foreign ministry. the meeting inside lasted just minutes, as officials handed over a list of names and informed britain of the additional measures russia was taking. the ambassador emerged to underline why relations with russia have plummeted to this new low. we will always do what is necessary 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 rules—based system on which all countries including russia depend for their safety and security. the russian sanctions were then made public. the decision to expel 23 british diplomats was expected after britain expelled 23 russians from the embassy in london. shutting down the british consulate in russia's second city of st petersburg, though, is an extra step. and the british council, which fosters cultural

and educational ties with the russian people, will now be forced to end all activity here. targeting the british council will affect russian citizens, though, not their government. it helps stage british cultural events here and promotes language learning. its work was restricted, though, a decade ago after the last crisis over the poisoning of alexander litvinenko. now sergei skripal, anotherformer russian spy, has been poisoned, this time by a nerve agent. theresa may has blamed russia directly. the attempted assassination of two people on british soil, for which there was no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable. it is russia that is in flagrant breach of international law

and the chemical weapons convention. the response by the foreign ministry here in moscow is robust and it does go beyond the measures announced in the uk. given the mood and the language here in recent days, moscow might have gone even further. officials here call the poisoning in salisbury a provocation, and they say comments linking vladimir putin directly to attempted murder were unforgivable. but this row could yet escalate. moscow will continue to deny everything, and officials here warn that they are ready to impose further sanctions and that any moves made by the uk. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. jeremy corbyn, is in newcastle at a regional labour conference, from where he gave this reaction to the latest news from russia of expulsions. we have to have relations with governments. therefore, there has to be a limit to how far you go with that. clearly, there has to be a relationship where we can talk to the russian government. i challenge the russian government on human rights in russia, on lgbt rights, on chechnya and much of its foreign policy. does that mean we don't talk to them? absolutely not.

we have to talk to them and assert all of those values. borisjohnson yesterday named putin as being responsible. do you think it's wise for the foreign secretary to antagonise russians by naming putin as the culprit? the basis of any assertion or allegation has to be based on evidence. i would be very interested if the foreign secretary has evidence that wasn't revealed during the week by the prime minister in two statements to the house of commons. i think we need cool heads. we need people that are going to be serious about this and not shoot from the hip. earlier our news correspondent in moscow, richard galpin, told me that there is anger in russia over how britain is portraying what happened in salisbury. they are still denying they had any involvement. they are saying that britain has not produced any evidence so there is real anger about that. historically, over the many years in which mr putin has been in power

he has played this card of basically the west being strongly opposed to russia and trying to close it in and encircle it, and that works, it works for him and has done for quite a few years, he's running now for his fourth term. he knows the narrative works. people respond to that. they agree with what he says, and they do believe that they face a real problem from the west. mrs may was speaking earlier today. there's a lot of talk of taking further action. how is that perceived in russia? also, is the narrative of the west really being against mr putin and the country believed wholeheartedly? if there is further measures from britain, there is no doubt

so absolutely, it will carry on. if britain goes further, which they have hinted they might, russia will respond. you could see the whole thing ratcheting up and already it is a febrile atmosphere between the countries — the relationship is absolutely at rock bottom. but at least they say they want to maintain some kind of relationship despite everything that has happened — they don't want to break the relationship completely which is critical. because then it would leave a very precarious situation between the countries. earlier i spoke to our news

correspondent kathryn stanczyszyn who explained that what, if any, further action britain takes will be who fizzggned that what, if c“ and the prime minister have who fizzggned that what, if c“ and the ptinle minister have talked ! who fizzggned that what, if c“ and the prime minister have talked about is that the next steps. we will find out what they may be with this national security council meeting. what we know today is that the foreign office updated this morning its advice for instance to travellers to russia, saying that anyone going there should be aware that due to the heightened political tensions between the uk and russia they may experience anti—british sentiment or even harassment. the foreign office was very quick to put out a statement this morning after the news about russian sanctions against british diplomats. it was basically saying that whatever russia has done today, the fact remains the same, that actually

russia must answer for it factions, for the attempted assassination of discrete pals and that is what theresa may said and again today she talked about an act of russian aggression and whilst the prime minister and the foreign office have said that it would not be in the national interest to cut off dialogue completely between the two countries, they are nonetheless thinking about those possible next steps and it is those next steps thatjeremy caution —— jeremy corbyn is urging caution over. earlier our diplomatic correspondent james robbins explained to me the impact of russia's response. i think it hurts because the russians have gone a bit beyond that by closing the consulate in russia's ancient historic previous capital, the second city, st petersburg. that is an escalation from the russian side and also, almost more important, the forced closure of '§'fififf§fif ffié f“??? fiee'jfefi ; '§'fififf§fif ffié f“??? fiee'jfefl l. council '§'eeffefif fee fefeee’ fieel‘ffifl l. council 11; russia. british council activity in russia. this is really significant because

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expelled from the uk. alexander ya kovenko expressed his gratitude to his colleagues for their work. they are due to leave london on tuesday. police in salisbury are continuing their investigation into the murder of sergei skripol and his daughter. one of the vic —— not one of the key questions is where sergei skripol and yulia skripol came into contact with the nerve agent before they ended up on that bench on sunday 4th of march, which is now covered by the tarpaulin, the white and yellow structure there. they know that the police from their activities in the last couple of weeks and from the information they are now giving us are particularly interested in the car that belonged to sergei skripol

and we have been given another photo from the metropolitan police of the maroon bmw. we already had information from the police that they were very keen to hear from anyone in salisbury hall saw that bmw between 1pm and 1:45pm in the city centre and now they are appealing for information from anyone who may have seen this skripals driving in the bmw area in the day at about 9:15am. they have named three main rd through salisbury. those three main roads arejoin the house salisbury. those three main roads are join the house of sergei skripol and the cemetery where his wife and his son are buried. i think we can say with some certainty that the police believe that they drove early on sunday from the house over to the cemetery probably to visit the graves of their relatives and we have seen a lot of activity from the police and other officials often in protective suits and it is thought to be decontamination work.

police have launched a murder investigation after two women were shot and killed at a house in st—leonards—on—sea, in east sussex. two other women, including one who's pregnant, were taken to hospital suffering from shock after the shooting. a 35—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. temporary chief superintendent, jason taylor from east sussex police made the following statement. i would like to begin by saying my thoughts are with the family and friends of the two victims who tragically died following a shooting at a house in bexhill road, saint leonards, last at a house in bexhill road, saint leona rds, last night. at a house in bexhill road, saint leonards, last night. officers responded immediately to a reporting of the shooting shortly before 7:45pm. two women died at the scene. two other women who were also at the house were led to safety by police officers and taken to hospital for shock. they are being supported by specially trained police officers. a

35—year—old man, who was known to the victims, was arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into custody, where he remains. a firearm has been recovered. officers and staff from the surrey and sussex major incident team are leading the investigation, supported by local policing teams. we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the murders but are appealing for witnesses to contact us by quoting operation wind lock. an amber weather warning is due to come into force this afternoon in north—west england, yorkshire, the midlands and also london and parts of south—east england. more snow has fallen across parts of the uk overnight as a cold snap dubbed the mini—beast from the east sweeps in. more than 100 flights have been cancelled at heathrow, mostly on short—haul routes. earlier i spoke to our reporter sarah walton from ainley top near huddersfield in west yorkshire about the weather conditions there. the snow has been coming down in

flurries through the day. some of them quite heavy. we have another one coming in now and the snow is lying on high ground like here in west yorkshire but we are being warned that this is just the beginning and that conditions are going to get worse through the afternoon into tonight and into tomorrow morning. those amber weather warnings mean that a lot of places will get about three centimetres of snow but over the hills there could be ten or 15 centimetres of snow and they will come with strong winds. we are feeling some of it now but gusts of up feeling some of it now but gusts of up to 70 mph are predicted the later on and that is what could cause some problems. blizzard conditions are possible in places and also some brit to —— drifting snow. we are seeing the weather causing some problems already this afternoon. is that patrick's day celebration in sheffield was cancelled and the boat race of the north was called off in newcastle because of concerns about the wind. high with england is advising drivers to take extra care.

if you have a gervinho to make leave yourself extra time to do it. here in west yorkshire police are asking people to avoid roads over the pennines, the rate on high ground where we are already seeing some closures. a lot of councils have the critters out trying to prepare for what is to come. you mention the call flight cancellations from heathrow. that is so planes can be de—iced as a precaution. good news to keep in mind, this cold snap should not last as long as the last one we had, the beast from the east, this is more of a mini beast. by tuesday we should see temperatures getting back to average for this time of year but the bad news to keepin time of year but the bad news to keep in mind is that the weather warnings mean that before it gets better it is going to get worse for some of us. the headlines on bbc news: britain's ambassador has been summoned to the russian foreign ministry as moscow announces 23 british diplomats are being expelled 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. six nations champions ireland take on england at twickenham. the irish have a 21—5 lead after 56 minutes, as they aim for the grand slam. earlier penalty from greg laidlaw with one minute remaining gave scotla nd with one minute remaining gave scotland a 29—27 victory over italy which denied italy the first six nations victory since 2015. christian ericsson fire tottenham into the fa cup semifinals as he scored twice as spurs beat swansea 3-0. scored twice as spurs beat swansea 3—0. details on those under a lot more for you at 5:30pm. the former fbi deputy director,

andrew mccabe, has accused the trump administration of acting with political malice after he was fired, just days before he was due to retire. an internal review said that mr mccabe leaked information and misled investigators. claims he has denied. president trump called his sacking a great day for democracy. our washington correspondent, chris buckler, reports. as deputy director, andrew mccabe was heavily involved in some of the fbi's most controversial and politically contentious investigations. and it's one of those inquiries that's led to his dismissal. in 2016, as hillary clinton was running for president, she was being investigated because of questions about e—mails she received on a private server when she was the us secretary of state. mr mccabe authorised information to be given to the media, something the department ofjustice said he was not entitled to do. and an internal fbi investigation found he had not been completely honest when asked about it.

firing him, the us attorney generaljeff sessions said: but andrew mccabe says he has been sacked for political reasons, and he claims that president trump brought much of that pressure. in a lengthy statement, he accused the white house of declaring a war on both the fbi and the special counsel's investigation into allegations of russian interference in the election two years ago. it's less than a year since his boss, the former fbi directorjames comey, was fired by president trump. and mr mccabe claims what he witnessed event was another reason for his dismissal. andrew mccabe had served more than 20 years in the fbi, butjust over 2a hours before his retirement and his 50th birthday, he has been sacked in the full glare of publicity. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. the number of hospital admissions

due to older people falling, is expected to rise to nearly 1,000 a day by the end of the decade. that's according to figures obtained by the local government association. it's prompted calls for more funding for adult social care. marta newman reports. falling over can have a huge impact on older people, as well as adult social care and health services. it is a common but often overlooked cause of injury. it can lead to considerable distress, pain, a loss of independence and even death. nhs figures show around 300,000 people aged 65 and over were admitted to hospital last year due to falling. the number of fall—related hospital admissions is rising year—on—year, and it is expected that by 2021 there will be nearly 1000 new cases every day. around one in five falls are caused by slipping,

tripping or stumbling. the local government association says it costs the nhs more than £2 billion per year. the lga, which represents 370 councils in england and wales, say putting more of that money into council services to prevent falls would improve the quality of life of an ever increasing ageing population. we think the track record of the council programmes that are already in place is showing that we can help many older people stay in their houses for longer, enjoy a healthier life and this is about saving the taxpayer some money and enhancing their experience. the department of health and social care say they have dedicated £91; billion in social care funding over the next three years to support local authorities so that comprehensive fall prevention plans can be developed. the head of the organisation

which awards oscars, is reported to have been accused of sexual harassment. john bailey is the president of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences. it's confirmed a review is underway but no further details have been announced. britain's department stores used to be the height of luxury and service. if you needed anything from clothing to electricals or food, they were the place to go. but today they face fierce competition in all categories, as online retailers offer everything a customer wants, everything a customer wants at the click of a button. radio 4's consumer reporter, samantha fenwick has been finding out how department stores are fighting back. george davies has been called a serial brand creator, a fashion visionary, the king of the high street. they're very abba, these, aren't they?

yes, very good. i was too young to remember abba. laughter he's the man behind next, george at asda, and m&s. when i started next in 1982, there were 10,000 registered vehicles. when i started next in 1982, there were ten million registered vehicles. by the time i got to the 1990s, when starting george and asda, i already knew parking was a real problem. so you could see that there was, at that point, decline in the high street? yes, sure. it was obvious. george left m&s in 2008, vowing never to return to the high street. he said it was no longer a place to make money. ten years on, and he's changed his mind. his new line of women's and children's clothing will be in the shops next week. so why the change of heart? rents are high, business rates are high, but dealers own a lot of their properties. probably 70%, they own it, so that takes quite a high risk out of it.

but not all department stores are that lucky. this is london's oxford street. it's where all the big names have their flagship stores. but the buildings are big, with too much unprofitable space. house of fraser have asked their landlords to reduce their rent, and the likes of debenhams and marks & spencer's are closing stores completely. costs are going up for retailers, and shoppers want to go online because it offers convenience. they can get the lowest prices, and they get the lowest prices because those operators don't have the same kind of costs as a physical store. to avoid that, the government has set up a special panel. to investigate how best to adapt to the changes in the way we shop. it's being led by richard pennycook, the chairman of department store fenwick. department stores are about theatre and service, and those are things that can't be replicated online. so i think there's a real good future for department stores, but it's all about making sure that we're providing something different,

which makes the visit worthwhile. it will have to be something very different to get us off the internet and into the high street. let us find out how the weather is looking. we have all seen a significant drop in temperature now and snow showers have been widely across the uk. it is due to the beast from the east with the air that originates in siberia. significant wind chill blowing snow as well. for many parts of the country there is just a dusting of snow but here in essex we are in one of the met office amber snow and ice warning areas with things set to get worse through the night and early into tomorrow morning. those two

areas have more frequent snow showers beading in one after another and another of the north sea but we have another amber warning that has been issued for the south—western parts of wales with heavy snowfall, especially over the high ground, overnight and continuing tomorrow as well. snow showers around elsewhere and feeding off the north sea and the cold wind. here is our main area of snow further south that moves away from the south—east and heads into the midlands but more towards whale in the south west. heavy falls over higher ground. the widespread frost and snow shower was almost anywhere. icy conditions as well. moving into sunday morning and a more detailed look in the forecast for early in the day where we have got the snow across the west country and into devon and cornwall and into mid and south east wales amber hides it there was generally dry and cloudy conditions in the south is before we are back into these lines of showers coming in on the strong wind off the north sea. sheltered west and scotland and northern

ireland are missing much of the snow showers and we will be dry for most of the day through the south—east snow. the snow was still there in the south—west corner of england, even into the afternoon, but by this stage it should have moved away from wales, not before release some disruption and temperatures are struggling to make one or 2 degrees and a bitterly cold easterly wind will feel more like —5 or six. it is a mini beast so we will find high pressure builds across the uk and that will squash away the easterly wind and drag down more of a north they went briefly so it will not feel as cold as we head into early next week with high pressure building in and we lose a lot of the snow before it turns unsettled without atlantic wind from midweek. this is bbc news.

our latest headlines: moscow announces it will expel 23 british diplomats amid tensions over the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the british consulate in st petersburg will also close. here, theresa may said the russian measures did not come as a surprise and the government will consider its next steps in the coming days. counterterrorism police are contacting russian exiles living in the uk about their personal safety following the suspected murder of businessman nikolai glushkov. a 35—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after two women are shot dead in east sussex. flights are cancelled and the met office sets out an amber weather warning as snow and freezing temperatures are forecast for much of the country this weekend. now on bbc news, it's

time for dateline london with carrie gracie. hello and a very warm welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie. this week, we devote our attention to russia. russia abroad — after what the uk and its allies called the first offensive use of a nerve agent in europe since the second world war. and russia at home as a presidential election is expected to deliver vladimir putin another six years in the kremlin. my guests this week: the former observer writer now political

commentator adam raphael. jef mcallister, the american broadcaster, formerly the head of time magazine's london bureau. italian journalist and film maker annalisa piras, and russian political commentator, and former kremlin advisor, alexander nekrassov. welcome to you all. let's start by discussing how the british government is handling the events of the last few days, how do you think theresa may is doing? i think she's doing pretty well, she was home secretary and this is an area she is familiar with. it is almost proforma, what she has been doing. sling out a few russian spies, you sound tough. she carried the house of commons with her, i think she's done her political credibility quite a lot of good. and on the other hand the opposition leader, jeremy corbyn has not done well. did not get the mood of the house or the nation. she has come out well, but the question is can she then deliver on what she is saying?