this is bbc news. i'm nicholas owen. the headlines at 11:00: 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. will always do what is to defend ourselves, our allies, and our values against an attack of this sort. drivers are warned to prepare before setting out this evening as snow and ice grip parts of the uk. high wind and tide forces evacuation of clifftop homes in norfolk amid fears that will fall into the sea during the night. officials investigate claims of political consultancy mishandled the data of millions of facebook users to support donald trump's run for the white house. also in the next hour, ireland celebrate a six nations grand slam on st patrick's day. they beat england at twickenham to complete a clean sweep for only the third time in their history. and we'll be taking another look at the sunday papers with reviewers bonnie greer and ruth lea

in half an hour's time. good evening and welcome 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 has the latest from moscow. he had been expecting the telephone call. and today, it came. richard ——

britain's ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry and in the skyscraper that dress of stalin built as a symbol of a superpower, the ambassador was told how moscow would retaliate for uk sanctions. 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, the pens have safety a nd including russia, the pens have safety and security. thank you. the ambassador headed into work to tell embassy ambassador headed into work to tell e m bassy staff ambassador headed into work to tell embassy staff about the russian sanctions. moscow says their response to british provocation, russia has expelled 23 british diplomats, the uk will expel 23 russians over the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the authorities here are shutting down the british consulate in st petersburg and the

british was —— which promotes uk culture abroad will now be forced to end all activities in russia. moscow says the language coming out of london was a factor when deciding what sanctions to announce. translation: the british prime minister insults us and threaten us. and defence secretaries insult. they took to russia as if they are drunk ina pub. took to russia as if they are drunk in a pub. support the uk got from us todayis in a pub. support 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 is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable. relations between moscow and london haven't been this structure is since the cold war. —— this fractured. the expulsion of 23 british diplomats was expect it,

thatis british diplomats was expect it, that is traditional tit—for—tat but the shutting down of a consulate and the shutting down of a 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. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins is at the foreign office and explains what britain's options now are in response to the expulsions announced today by the kremlin. it is clear that theresa may and her ministers to face a dilemma, she has made clear they will consider the issue of possible further sanctions, probably next tuesday when the national security council has its regular weekly meeting. the dilemma ears do they interpret the expulsion of 23 britons from russia as a simple tit—for—tat parity or do they

think the russians have gone too far adding the closure of the consulate in st petersburg and perhaps actually more significantly the com plete actually more significantly the complete closure of british council operations in russia. that is significant because it is the way in which britain tries to export its values as well as the english language into russia it has a huge reach, reaches a lot of young russians, teenagers and young adults, and is seen as a way of appealing to the post pick generation, trying to export to them. values that they may miss at home. —— post—putin. losing it is a big load and how will britain now response to that? —— big low. 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 reports 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 their most comprehensive timeline to date, the police now say the car was first seen at 9:15am on sunday, march 4th, 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. and then, nearly two hours later, they're found violently ill on a nearby bench. it's nearly two weeks since the skripals left their home here and today, the police revealed the full extent of their investigation. they've 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, yes. 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. but downing street has now invited chemical weapons experts to carry out independent tests. it is likely that a team will come over to porton down. theoretically, they could do the analysis at the porton laboratories. i suspect what is more likely is they will take samples away back to the hague. health officials said today 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. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in salisbury. forecasters say snow could cause

further problems across large parts of the uk this weekend. amber weather warnings have been issued in england and wales and more than 100 flights have been cancelled today at heathrow. the so called ‘mini—beast from the east‘ swept in overnight. this was the scene this evening in dartford, where snow and ice alerts are still in place. the met office says snow showers will become more frequent later and weather warnings will remain in place until tomorrow afternoon. our reporter simon jones has the latest from dartford in kent where snow and ice warnings are still in place. it has been dubbed the mini ‘beast from the east‘, the snow here in north kent has been coming down throughout the evening, eating heavier as time goes by. what a difference a day makes because yesterday, temperatures reached around 15 degrees. today in many

areas where the snow and the biting wind, they have dropped below freezing and when you add in the windchill factor in areas here like da rtfo rd , windchill factor in areas here like dartford, the temperature has felt more like minus nine. now there is an amber weather warning in place for much of kent, london, the midlands, and also the north—west and it continues throughout the night into tomorrow morning. we are told in certain areas they could be up told in certain areas they could be up to 15 centimetres of snow and it could make getting around extremely difficult. we are also told tomorrow but the big concern is going to be as the snow moves from here towards the south—west where they could be up the south—west where they could be up to 25 centimetres of snow. now, travelling here, the roads didn't seem too bad but if you look at the surface of a side road like this, the snow is beginning to gather and the snow is beginning to gather and the concern is going to be with the freezing temperatures, what will happen when it turns into ice? there could be some very difficult conditions ahead. the advice is if

you are heading out in your car, don't if you don't have to, if you don't if you don't have to, if you don't particularly if you are in a bad area, but make sure you have the right equipment with you, perhaps ta ke right equipment with you, perhaps take a shovel, take some warm clothes in case the worst happens and you break down or get stuck in any of the snow. but the warning is, it will be difficult tonight and tomorrow but then towards the middle of the week, things are going to get better, temperatures are likely to return to something like normal, i can tell you, standing out here this evening, it cannot come too soon. frank bird is an emergency planner at highways england. he spoke to me a little earlier from their birmingham control centre off the m5 with an update on the current situation on the roads. we have just watching the cameras, we have had a jackknifed lorry testing our grey cells for the last

couple of hours on the m1 around leeds and just managed to get that vehicle sorted out and it is in the process of being removed so hopefully we should get the m1 opened there. there has also been quite a nasty accident between coventry and birmingham but we managed to keep one main past the scene while we have been dealing with that incident along with 999 colleagues. and the key story obviously is the a 66, the snow gates were closed earlier this afternoon, they will remain closed probably through until elyce daylight tomorrow morning. the a 66 is often a source of problem, scotch corner up is often a source of problem, scotch corner up across is often a source of problem, scotch corner up across to penrith, right across the top of the pennines that? absolutely, it is part of the reason why we have invested in those snow gates because it is easier to close the road off completely and it stops people from travelling along the route because obviously once people

do ignore our advice and do start to travel down roots that they probably shouldn't, then have to rescue them so it is easier to not let them get into trouble the first place. so it is easier to not let them get into trouble the first placelj so it is easier to not let them get into trouble the first place. i was talking earlier to a lady and her husband who work trapped on the a66 and asked them if they were all right for any food in the cards they said didn't. seems to me one should at least have at least a six suppliers to keep you going just in case you will get stuck. absolutely, this is one of the things that continues to disappoint us. when we have severe weather situations, and this is in for winter, this could also be the summer as well although at the moment it seems an awful long way away! carry some water, carry some food, some high energy bars, something that will keep you warm. extra sets of clothing. i mean obviously if your vehicle breaks down it is the key source of heat fear sells. if your engine is not running, you are going to get cold

very quick and it is interesting, your earlier report was saying how cold the wind was. temperatures here in the midlands have struggled to get above zero all day. actually the windchill has put another 10— 15 degrees so it kind of felt like —15 or —24 a time. very much like siberia. frank bird from highways england. information from millions of facebook users may have been used in a data company during the 2016 american presidential election. a former employee of cambridge analytica claims that 50 million profiles were accessed. the two companies deny any wrongdoing. our business correspondentjoe lynam gave me the background to the case. this all started when an application was developed in the university of

cambridge about four years ago which harvested the profiles of anyone who signed up for the app via their facebook login. it also harvested all the information of their friends as well. that information was given to cambridge analytica, no relation specifically, and facebook ordered them a few years ago to delete all of the personal information because it was breaching the rules. in the past 24 hours facebook said that they didn't delete all the information as ordered that is why we are the account for cambridge analytica and this professor at the university of cambridge. so now, whistleblower has come forward and set cambridge analytica not only did not delete the information be used 50 million facebook profiles in order to target very specific people to ring the us presidential election in 2016. the whistleblower says that individual messengers were targeted

anti— hillary clinton messages and crew prompt messages within the general election. —— pro—trump. the attorney general of massachusetts is launching an investigation. she says the of massachusetts deserve answers immediately. on this side of the atlantic the information commissioner ‘s office has said it too is launching an investigation to establish whether the circumstances in which facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used for political purposes. what about facebook and cambridge analytica?m is pushing back a lot on this, facebook flatly denied any data breach is alleged by the whistleblower, it that users have knowingly provided all the information and that its systems had not been infiltrated. it is true that the information was knowingly provided four years ago when people click the box, things have changed since then, you are not allowed to share it with friends or friends of friends, cambridge analytica has denied that any information acquired from the app has been used in the

election and it only receives and uses stutter that has been obtained legally and fairly. the headlines on bbc news: the prime minister says the government will consider its next steps, after 23 british diplomats were ordered to leave russia within a week. drivers are warned to prepare before setting out tonight as snow and ice grip parts of the uk. and as we have been hearing and discussing, us officials and investigate claims that a political consultancy —— consultancy mishandled millions of facebook users information for donald trump's run to the white house. what a busy day it has been in the sporting world. for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's james pearce. a very good day if you are an irish by a very good day if you are an irish rugby fan. a brilliant victory for

ireland over england in the six nations, which gives them the grand slam. the 24 points to 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. if you missed ireland's progress, here is a recap. first there was france and a last—minute drop goal. then we thrashed italy. come on, the boys! and then ireland beat wales in dublin. yay! we scored four tries to beat scotland. four tries! and i've just left twickenham. and here we were aiming for the grand slam, ireland hoofed the ball towards the london snowflakes. england's anthony watson was under it, or was he? whose hands put pressure on the ball to the turf? ringrose's for ireland. try and another followed. 14—0 down, england had to respond. and here it came. farrell's kick, daley‘s finish. the home side had something. something. but watch jacob stockdale. ireland's super kid. kick and dash. he had to reach the ball

before the blue line, coloured in case of snow. england had extended the pitch, perfect for this. stockdale's seventh try of this six nations, and that is a record. eddiejones could see his first twickenham defeat with england coming. england added tries in the second half, but never got close to winning. ireland's grand slam, a perfect six nations completed here, never better. it is a special day for everyone involved with irish rugby and to be here and celebrate it and to top it off with winning somewhere like this. this is a fortress, a really 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 not just because of these scenes of celebration at twickenham. the challenge for these players is to be world champions next autumn. standing here right now, that seems very possible. joe wilson, bbc news, at twickenham.

iam sure i am sure the celebrations are only just getting under way. 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. scotland ended their campaign with victory against italy in rome. mohamed salah scored four goals, as liverpool thrashed watford 5—0 to move up to third in the premier league. jurgen klopp's side have now opened a seven—point gap over chelsea, who are fifth. 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. elsewhere, west brom remain rooted to the bottom following defeat to bournemouth. stoke remain a place above them, after defeat to everton. palace move out of the bottom three, after a much needed win at huddersfield. christian eriksen scored twice, as tottenham reached the semi—finals 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 spurs a step closer to what would be a ninth win in the competition. manchester united have also made it through to the semi—finals, thanks to a laboured 2—0 win over brighton at old trafford. romelu lukaku struck the first, and nemanja matic hit the second in what has been a difficult week forjose mourinho, who didn't hold back in criticising his players despite the victory. in the scottish premiership, hearts beat partick thistle 3—0 to end a run of five games without victory. all goals came in the first half at tynecastle. kyle lafferty scored the opener to claim his 10th league strike of the season. aberdeen beat dundee 1—0 at pittodrie. 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. he's 36 years old, but world number one roger federer has now made his best ever start to a season

and reached the final at indian wells in the process. he beat croatia's borna coric 5—7 6—4 6—4 and will face argentina's juan martin del potro in the final. it was federer‘s 17th consecutive win since the beginning of the year, surpassing his previous career best of 16 back in 2006. that's all the sport for now. james, thank you very much. the former deputy director of the fbi, 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 concluded that mr mccabe leaked information and misled investigators, something he denies. president trump called his sacking a great day for democracy. our washington correspondent chris buckler says mr mccabe may have lost hisjob, but he's not going quietly. andrew mccabe was fired by the

attorney general, not president trump directly. but he said it was asa trump directly. but he said it was as a direct result of presidential pressure and it was intended not just to paint him, but to discredit the fbi, law enforcement agencies and that investigation is taking place with the special console with allegations of russian interference on the presidential election in 2016 and certainly president trump has exhilarating his dismissal on twitter. indeed, his personal attorney has even given a statement saying that he feels after this firing that that special counsel investigation should be brought to an end. although he made clear that was his view and not his client. nonetheless, that enquiry will continue and we understand that in fa ct continue and we understand that in fact it has got notes, and memos kept by andrew mccabe of conversations he had with president trump and events surrounding the firing of his boss, the fbi director

james comey. this could get nasty andi james comey. this could get nasty and i will give you one last quote from the former cia directorjohn brennan, he said you may disgrace andrew mccabe but you will take place as a disgraced demigod in democracies history. 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. this is just how close these homes are to the cliff aged. this the most vulnerable. being checked by the coxswa i n of vulnerable. being checked by the coxswain of hemsby lifeboats topic concerns were raised last night after an exceptionally high tide, this, one of six houses at risk. the owner here left yesterday evening. at the older properties we just

co nsta ntly at the older properties we just constantly visit them throughout the evening or will do this evening to make sure that they are safe, that they have got appropriate measures in place, they have got a grab bag in the event that they decide to evacuate 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 culmination of factors has led to fresh fears. there are justs of up to 50 mph, damaging the sand dunes and also meaning that the sea cannot fully recede so that when there is high tide, water levels will be higher than normal. there are a whole stretch of homes along this road. today they are all being visited by the police. there is 13 properties up there thomas six of them have got a good chance of going in the sea if the weather conditions stay as they are. we have been

telling them to get ready to go, pack a bag. morris lives in one of those houses, intending to stay tonight because of his pet. obviously i have 90 metres between me and the sea, when i first came here only two years ago. now we are only at nine feet. obviously with the east wind, we desperately need a sea defence. within another year these lot will disappear, that is an absolute guarantee. other residents told the off—camera beef held safe and were not worried. these aerial pictures show the proximity of some of these homes to the edge, with high tide this evening, cheques will be made on properties throughout the night. let's ta ke let's take a look at how this plus a wintry weather is affecting various parts of the country. the east coast is worse hit so far. thank you to send howard of this shot of the harbour in essex, blanketed with

snow. everton‘s theo walcott got a smelly dead as his team took on state city. —— stoke city. there we re state city. —— stoke city. there were harsh conditions for fans state city. —— stoke city. there were harsh conditions forfans in wolverhampton or the chairmanship match between wolves and burton albion. it has been a smelly day for supermarket shopping in salisbury. and it was bitterly cold with snow in london, this was kensington gardens during the day. just before we get the latest weather forecast, i must tell you the met office have just put this out. great dun fell in cumbria, the daytime high today reached —7.1 celsius with wind dusts in excess of 85 mph, this gives a feel like literature of —22. ben has a weather forecast. that is extremely cold, what are the prospects for it getting warmer? good evening to you. the prospects are actually that as we go through

into the coming week things will turn warmer. but we have another day or two to wait. and some more snow to come in places. i have a couple of silly pictures for you as well, this one from kent earlier on from one of our weather watchers. snow scene clone to sheffield as well and more snow to come. this is the radar picture from earlier on. can see just how many snow showers there are adhered, plenty. it thick and fast and then down here to the south, some more persistent snow that is drifting its way westwards. a couple of met office be prepared warnings in force for parts of east yorkshire, lincolnshire to the north midlands. to the south—east and the london area and those warnings will bejoined by london area and those warnings will be joined by another warning, london area and those warnings will bejoined by another warning, valid during sunday across the south—west and the south—east of wales. here, this area of persistent snow drifts westwards, it looks like it will set in and some places seen 5— ten centimetres but over high ground it could be lifted more that. widely

dropping below freezing, expecting a frost and perhaps some icy stretches to ta ke frost and perhaps some icy stretches to take us into tomorrow morning. tomorrow, the most concerning weather will be around this south—western corner. here is a closer look. 9am, parts of devon, dorset, somerset, bristol, east wales, the west midlands seeing this persistent snow. blowing around on this strong easterly wind. still a feed showers into northern england could into parts of northern ireland, mainly the eastern side of scotland. western scotland largely dry with some spells of sunshine. winding the clock through, you can see this area of snore tracks for pulling away from wales but not near south—west, that is why we are concerned about disruption in this pa rt concerned about disruption in this part of the world. snow showers elsewhere tending to fade away with more in the way of dry weather and a little brightness by the afternoon. windy and cold wherever you are. as we move to saturday night, will push this area away to the south, high

pressure building down from the north and that means monday is looking like a decent day. there will be slabs of cloud floating around but good spells of sunshine as well. no more easterly wind, more northerly, that is by no means a warm direction but it will not be as cold. pre—7d on monday. have a look at the temperatures as yet deeper into the week. double digits by thursday and friday but with that innes will turn unsettled with some strong wind and rain at times. that is all the weather from me. could evening. —— good evening. hello. this is bbc news. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment. first, the headlines. 23 british diplomats are to be expelled by moscow amid tensions over the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the british consulate in st petersburg will also close. the prime minister has said russia must account for its actions. —— the prime minister has said russia must account for its actions.