this is bbc news. i'm nicholas owen. the headlines at 8pm: russia is expelling 23 british diplomats — in the row over the nerve agent attack on a former spy. the prime minister insists the kremlin must account for its actions. were never tolerate a threat to the lives of british citizens and others on british soilfrom lives of british citizens and others on british soil from the lives of british citizens and others on british soilfrom the russian government. applause police investigating the death of a russian exile in london discuss others to discuss their personal safety. forecasters say snow could cause further problems, across large parts of the uk this weekend. high winds and tides foresee a magician clifftop homes in norfolk, amid fears they could fall into the sea in the night. and ireland celebrates a six nations grand slam on st patrick's day. they beat england at twickenham to complete a clea n swee p england at twickenham to complete a clean sweep for only the third time

in their history. and in money for nothing we look at the experiment in finland which gives unemployed people are basic income. good evening and drop back to bbc news. russia says it will expel 23 british diplomats, 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 the government had anticipated the kremlin‘s move, and is considering its next steps. our correspondent, steve rosenberg, is in moscow. it is three days since theresa may stood in the house of commons and concluded that russia was culpable.

three days since the uk announced sanctions against russia. today, moscow retaliated. he had been expecting the telephone call and today it came. britain's ambassador was summoned to the russian foreign ministry. and in the skyscraper thatjosef stalin built as a symbol of a superpower, the ambassador was told how moscow would retaliate to uk sanctions. a note of defiance when he left. 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, all countries including russia, depend for their safety and security. thank you. the ambassador headed into work, to tell embassy staff about the russian sanctions. moscow says they are a response to british provocation, russia has expelled 23 british diplomats. the uk had expelled 23 russians over

the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the authorities here are shutting down the british consulate in st petersburg and the british council which promotes uk culture abroad will now be forced to end all activity in russia. moscow says the language coming out of london was a factor in deciding what sanctions to announce. translation: the british prime minister insults us and threatens us. her foreign and defence secretaries insult us. they talk to russia as if they are drunk in a pub. so what the uk got from us today is the result of this loutishness and their groundless accusations. not so, said theresa may. russia's response does not change the facts of the matter. the attempted assassination of two people on british soil, for which there was no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable. relations between moscow and london have not been this

fractured since the cold war. the expulsion of 23 british diplomats, that was expected. that is traditional tit—for—tat. but the shutting down of the consulate and the activities of the british council, that feels like a challenge to the british government. and the russians have said that if britain responds with more measures against moscow, then russia will respond with more sanctions against the uk. the danger now is a spiral of confrontation. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the labour mp stephen kinnock, who was formerly the director of the british council in russia told me that the country should not host the 2018 world cup in light of the salisbury poisonings. i was a director of the british council in st petersburg from 2005—8. there was

a campaign of harassment against us by the russian authorities because the bilateral relationship between russia and britain was bad at that stage and in the middle of it all was the assassination of alexander leg—burning code and the russians insisted on closing down our office in st petersburg, and there was a stand—off. —— alexander alyabev in code. it really showed us the ruthlessness of the russian regime, the fact that they will not stop, they. at nothing. and unfortunately for the russian people, because the british council is a purely constructive agenda, building intercultural dialogue and helping russians to learn english, education products, the arts, creative industries. it has no political agenda whatsoever. it is a real

tragedy now that they have shut us down in st petersburg, back in 2008, and now they are shutting is down in moscow as well, and i just feel very sorry for all those russian people, many of them younger people, who rely on the british council services so rely on the british council services so much. you can't be surprise, though, that it has happened. no, it isa though, that it has happened. no, it is a reflective pattern of behaviour, mean—spirited, narrow—minded, driven by paranoia, we see from the russian regime. i think what we also know is that they see a new generation of russians coming through, and change will, eventually in russia, putin is not going to be there for over. and i think a lot of people in and around the lemon, who are desperate to cling on to power —— the kremlin, and that is why they want to undermine organisations like the

british council, which has no explicit political agenda, but they see that change is coming. there are millions of russians who hate the isolation anti—authoritarian nature of the regime, they want to be", to learn english, to understand how things work in other countries and thatis things work in other countries and that is anathema to many of the people in and around the kremlin. we've had the tit—for—tat expulsions of diplomats which is a familiar thing going back in time, and now the british council. where do you see this going, if britain is going to ta ke see this going, if britain is going to take more action what might the russians do, in your view? the ball is now in a british court. the russian retaliation will depend on whether we retaliate against the measures they have just taken. my view is that we need to put the world cup into the mix. i think that theresa may should be approaching angela merkel and emanuel macron and

other european leaders to approach fifa to suggest the world cup should be postponed until 2019 and should ta ke be postponed until 2019 and should take place in a different host country or countries. i think it is just unthinkable that we could be vindicating and legitimising the putin regime by rewarding him with this festival of football in the summer, giving him a huge public relations coup, if you like, and allowing him to showcase his government and rewarding his behaviour. i think that it conflicts directly with what is happening, the and appalling attempted murder on the streets of britain. that's where i think the next steps should be. the difficulty, of course, cracking down on the finances of those people in and around the kremlin, signing up in and around the kremlin, signing up to the magnitsky are called

across the european union and so many other measures that we can take to directly target the people in and around the kremlin. but make no mistake, the move that would do the most damage to britain and undermine support amongst the russian people would be if the world cup were to be moved away from russia —— the most damage to president putin. and police in salisbury have renewed their appeal for witnesses, following the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter yulia. around 400 people have been interviewed so far, and investigators are trawling through 4,000 hours of cctv footage. health officials say detective sergeant nick bailey, who was exposed to the nerve agent, is making progress in hospital. duncan kennedy has the latest from salisbury. the tempo and scope of the police operation across salisbury remains intense and widespread. today, police issued theirfirst official photo of sergei skripal‘s bmw, whose movements they want to trace.

in the most comprehensive timeline to date, police now say the car was first seen at 9:15am on sunday, march 4, in the london road area of the city. at 1:30pm, it is spotted on devizes road. ten minutes later, the car arrives at sainsbury‘s and sergei and yulia go to the mill pub. at 2:20pm, they visited the zizzi restaurant. then, nearly two hours later, they are found violently ill on a nearby bench. it is nearly two weeks since they left their home here. today, the police revealed the full extent of their investigation. they have interviewed around 400 witnesses, gathered nearly 800 pieces of evidence and are trawling through 4,000 hours of cctv footage. today, the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, was in newcastle and repeated his call for more information on the nerve agent. the origins of the nerve gas

appear to be russian. that is why i have said the issue should be referred to the chemical weapons convention and we should challenge the russian government on it. the nerve agent was identified at porton down near salisbury. the russians have denied involvement. downing street is now inviting chemical weapons experts to carry out independent tests. it is likely that a team will come over. theoretically, they could do the analysis at the laboratories. i suspect it is more likely they take samples to the hague. health officials said they welcome the progress being made by sergeant nick bailey, who was affected by the nerve agent. sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical but stable condition. and we'll find out how this story — and others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30pm

this evening in the papers. our guests tonight are bonnie greer, playwright, and writer for the new european and ruth lea, arbuthnot banking group economic adviser. drivers are being urged to be prepared before setting out on journeys. amber weather warnings for snow and ice are in force in some parts of the country. 0ur correspondent frankie mccamley was in lofthouse near wakefield in west yorkshire. there have been sporadic snow showers here throughout the day and the snow does seem to be staying here, especially going into the evening. you can see behind me a lot of the snow on higher ground has stuck. temperatures today have dipped to around —3 in north yorkshire. the met office say with these heavy winds of up to 70 mph in some places, that could feel like it is going down to —8 and —9 overnight. there are amber weather warnings in place across the northwest, the midlands, london and the southeast.

further amber warnings are coming into place in the southwest and south wales into sunday morning. there has been a lot of disruption. planes — heathrow has had to cancel 100 flights today. we understand that has affected around 1,500 people. also on the roads in cumbria, there has been a 12—car accident in the snow on the a66. there have also been accidents in derbyshire, and in the midlands, too. there is more still to come, especially in wales and the southwest tomorrow. further weather warnings are in place. the advice is to check before you travel and to give yourself extra time before you travel and to take precautions. you don't want to be getting stuck in the snow. a reminder, this is dubbed "the mini beast from the east", so hopefully it will not be sticking around as long as the last one, and things should clear up by tuesday. 0n the line is aimee cave, who is with her husband ben

on the a66 on the pennines in cumbria. good evening. where are you at the moment and how is it going? we have been the first car on the line to get through, but we have seen at this point, we have been at this point for about two hours. you set off on the a66, road either quite well. where are you trying to go? we live in york and we are visiting friends in penrith for the evening. it sounds like you will probably not make penrith. what happened on the journey? it was fine, there wasn't much lower, little bit on the a1, but when we got to the a66, all of a sudden, right at the top of the a66, we stopped and we were at a

standstill for about an hour and a half. it was for a couple of reasons. we were stuck behind a 12 car pile up. nothing serious but just people bumping, and they had actually shocked the road. they got that clear, then we got stuck behind this plan. it has been about four or five hours now. are you in a reasonable condition, keeping warm, something to eat? we haven't, but hopefully it will not be too long. they seem to be getting there with clearing up. we are nice and warm, just a little bit bored! best of luck for the rest of the evening, aimee cave. the headlines on bbc news. russia is expelling 23 british diplomats, in the row over the nerve agent attack on a former spy. the prime minister insists the kremlin must account for its actions. drivers are being warned to prepare

before setting out this evening as snow and ice gripped parts of the uk. a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after two woman we re suspicion of murder after two woman were shot at a house in saint leonards in east sussex. and a very busy day for sport. for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's james pearce. it's been a busy day of sport, but we're going to start at twickenham and a brilliant victory for ireland over england in the six nations which gives them the grand slam. the 24—15 win was the perfect end to the irish campaign, winning their third grand slam on st patrick's day. joe wilson was watching for us at twickenham. first the response, the new crush italy, go on the boys! and then ireland beat wales in dublin! we

scored four tries to beat scotland, four tries! and here we are at twickenham. and here we were, aiming for the grand slam, i hoofing the ball towards the england snowflakes. whose hands put pressure on the board to the turf? another try for ireland followed. 14—0 down, england had to respond and there was a finish from daily. the home side had something. but watch jacob stockdale, the island superkick. he had to reach the ball before the blue line. england had extended the pitch, perfect for this. his seventh try of the six nations. that is a record. eddiejones would see his first twickenham defeat of england coming. england added tries in the second half but never got close to winning. ilan‘s grand slam, the perfect six nations completed here, never better. is a special day for

eve ryo ne never better. is a special day for everyone involved in irish rugby. the perfect six nations completed here, never better. it's a special day for everyone involved in irish by. day for everyone involved in irish rugby. to be here and to celebrate and to cap at all, winning somewhere like here. this is a fortress, very tough place to go. and it is a sign ofa tough place to go. and it is a sign of a champion team to come here and do that. right now irish rugby union is the envy of europe, and notjust because of these celebrations at twickenham. the challenge for these players is to be world champions next autumn. standing here right now, that seems very possible. wales secured second place in the six nations with victory over france. a liam williams try and three leigh halfpenny penalties gave wales a narrow 14—13 win in cardiff to earn runners—up spot behind ireland. it was also a really tight game in rome, but greig laidlaw‘s penalty with just a minute to go earned scotland a narrow 29—27 win. it denied italy their first six nations victory since 2015 in rome.

so this is how the final table looks. ireland had already wrapped up the title, of course, and sit pretty at the top. confirmation of wales in second. england supporters may want to look away — they only sit above italy in fifth. mohamed salah scored four goals as liverpool thrashed watford 5—0 to move up to third in the premier league. salah has now scored an incredible 36 goals this season in all competitions. he also set up roberto firmino for liverpool's other goal at anfield. juegen klopp's side have now opened a seven—point gap over chelsea in fifth. the day's earlier matches all impacted the lower end of the table. west brom remain rooted to the bottom following defeat to bournemouth. stoke remain a place above them after defeat to everton. but palace move out of the bottom three after a much—needed win at huddersfield. christian eriksen scored twice as tottenham reached the semifinals of the fa cup for a second successive season. they beat swansea 3—0

at the liberty stadium. first—half goals from eriksen and erik lamela put mauricio pochettino's side a step closer to what would be a ninth win in the competition. manchester united are taking on brighton right now in a repeat of the 1983 final. it is still goalless at old trafford. hearts beat partick thistle 3—0 at tynecastle. this goal by kyle lafferty. elsewhere, aberdeen beat dundee 1—0 at pittodrie to move to within two points of second place. there was something of a shock at ibrox as second—placed rangers went down 1—0 to kilmarnock. ross county and hamilton drew 2—2. leaders celtic play tomorrow. mark cavendish‘s hopes of winning the prestigious milan—san remo one—day race were ended by a spectacular crash.

the briton couldn't avoid hitting a bollard which sent him flying over his handle bars, landing on his back. he was racing despite a broken rib but was in contention when the crash happened. italy's vincenzo nibali took the victory. that is all the sport for now. i'll have more throughout the evening here on bbc news. the attorney general in the us state of massachusetts, is to begin an investigation into claims that information from millions of facebook users may have been used by a data company, the attorney general in the us state of massachusetts, during the 2016 us presidential election. a former employee of cambridge analytica claims that 50 million profiles were accessed. the two companies deny any wrongdoing. with me is our business correspondent, joe lynam. tell us the background to this case. this is fiendishly complicated. bear

with me. this happened when an app was developed in the university of cambridge which harvested the profiles of anybody who signed up for it through their facebook login but it also harvested all of the information of their friends as well. that information was given to cambridge analytica, no relation specifically. facebook ordered them to delete all the personal information because it was breaching their rules. in the last few hours facebook has said you didn't all delete the information as ordered so thatis delete the information as ordered so that is why they are suspending the account for cambridge analytica and this professor in the university of cambridge. cambridge —— cambridge analytica didn'tjust cambridge. cambridge —— cambridge analytica didn't just not cambridge. cambridge —— cambridge analytica didn'tjust not delete the information but used 50 million facebook profiles to target very specific people during the us presidential election in 2016. the whistle—blower says that individual

m essa 9 es whistle—blower says that individual messages targeted anti—hillary clinton messages and pro—donald trump messages within that general —— that presidential election. the tourney generalfor —— that presidential election. the tourney general for the state of massachusetts has launched an investigation. —— the attorney general. and the information commissioner ‘s office on the side of the atlantic has said it is launching an investigation to establish whether the circumstances under which facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used for political purposes. what have facebook and cambridge analytica said? they are pushing back a lot of this. facebook has denied any data breach as alleged by this whistle—blower. it said users knowingly provided all the information and that is systems had not been infiltrated. it is true that the information was knowingly provided for use but when people click that box to allow share with friends of friends, cambridge

analytica has denied that any information required from the app had been used in the us election and it only receives and uses data that has been obtained legally and fairly. the police was the murder investigation after two woman were shot and killed at a house in saint leonards on sea in east sussex. 35 gold man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. —— a 35—year—old man has been arrested. it is usually i'm assuming neighbourhood, swarming with armed officers. we heard their helicopters going over. my sister came out of the house. and she was shouted at and told to get back in. the search for a gunman at large in madrid. there was a lot of shouting going on

at that time. the sound of shots being fired was heard at around quarter to eight last night. after two hours trawling the neighbourhood armed officers made an arrest.|j two hours trawling the neighbourhood armed officers made an arrest. i saw these tortures by the railway bridge. i heard policemen shouting to get on the ground. —— i saw these torches. today the police gave this update. a 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into arrested on suspicion of murder and ta ken into custody, arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into custody, where he remains. he was known to the victims. a firearm has been recovered. i32—year—old woman and 53—year—old woman were killed in the shooting. it is believed that they we re shooting. it is believed that they were related. two others including one pregnant woman were in the property at the time, but they were not injured. the police say that they were all known to the suspect. the compassion we feel for the victims and their families. i would

not say that there was any threat the anybody else and that anybody should be worried about what happened here. it is an isolated incident. the police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the investigation, but they hope that anyone else with information will come forward. the severe weather has brought with it some extremely high tides, and in norfolk, that's left some cliff top homes in danger of falling into the sea tonight. emergency services have spent the day asking residents in the town of hemsby near great yarmouth to leave. louise hubball has this report. tee: if: i253, 5575515sz $555??? eésaifzf ’ ’ this, the most vulnerabtev being checked by the coxswain of hemsby lifeboat. concerns were raised after high tide last night. this, one of six houses at risks. the owner here left yesterday evening. at the other properties, we just constantly visit them throughout the evening and will do

this evening to make sure they are safe, that they have got appropriate measures in place. we've got a grab bag in the event they decide to evac fairly quickly. in 2013, the largest tidal surge in 60 years saw three homes washed away in hemsby, and four so badly damaged they had to be demolished. now, a combination of factors have led to fresh fears. there are gusts here of up to 50 miles an hour. that is damaging the sand dunes. also meaning the sea cannot fully recede so that when there is high tide, water levels will be even higher than normal. there is a whole stretch of homes across this road, all being visited by police today. there's 13 properties up there. six of them have got a good chance of going into the sea. with the weather conditions staying as they are. we have been telling them to get ready to go, pack a bag.

maurice lives in one of those houses, intending to stay tonight because of his pets. obviously, i had 90 metres between me and the sea when i first came here only two years ago. now i've only gotten nine feet. 0bviously, with the east wind, they desperately need sea defence. with another year, these would disappear, that is an absolute guarantee. other residents told me off—camera they felt safe and were not worried. these aerial pictures show the proximity of some of these homes to the edge. with high tide this evening, checks will be made on properties throughout the night. let's take a look at how this blast of wintry weather is affecting other parts of the country. the east coast is worst hit so far. thank you to sam howard for this shot of the harbour at leigh—on—sea in essex, blanketed with snow.

everton's theo walcott got a snowy beard as his team took on stoke city at the bet365 stadium in stoke. and there were also harsh conditions for fans arriving at molineux stadium in wolverhampton for the championship match between wolves and burton albion. it's been a snowy day for supermarket shopping in salisbury in wiltshire. and it was bitterly cold with snow at kensington gardens let's get the latest weather forecast now — here's ben rich. winter returned with a vengeance, cold easterly winds bringing snow in places and there is more to come. we have amber be prepared weather warnings and force across parts of the south east, the london area, and also in yorkshire and lincolnshire into the north midlands and on sunday the south—west of england and south wales. these are the areas most at risk of seeing some disruptive snowfall. particularly where we have this more persistent

snow drifting westwards through the rest of the night. still feeding showers into eastern areas, and some clear spells, as well, with temperatures below freezing, so widespread frost and some ice tomorrow. tomorrow, this area of snowfall could bring up to 20 centimetres of a higher ground in the south—west. it will snow here for a good part of the day. elsewhere, shell is blowing in on the easterly wind but maybe not as many as today. drive towards the south east, but it will still feel cold. —— dry towards the south east.