hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm gavin grey. 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. the british prime minister, theresa may, says the government had anticipated the kremlin‘s move, and is considering its next steps. our correspondent steve rosenberg reports from moscow. 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 that joseph stalin built as a symbol of a superpower, the ambassador was told how moscow would retaliate for 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 when deciding what sanctions to announce. translation: the british prime minister insults us and threaten 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 doesn't 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 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 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. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. voting has begun in the presidential election in russia,

where vladimir putin is seeking another six—year term. seven other candidates are also standing. thousands of people have been forced to flee the northern syrian town of afrin in the face of a turkish offensive. another exodus is under way in the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta, which is being subjected to a syrian government offensive. andrew plant reports. under control of the kurdish forces, afrin, in northern syria, has been under turkish attack. the city became the battleground as the two sides fought for control, civilians now fleeing their homes in search of safety. translation: as you can see, there is war and displaced people. our children are hungry, and we have been walking for three days. i thank god we have arrived here. further south, on the outskirts of damascus,

eastern ghouta has been under siege since 2013. translation: we wanted to leave three months ago, but the ghouta rebels did not allow us. they starved us. in the past month, hundreds have died amid repeated bombings, as the government tries to reta ke bombings, as the government tries to retake the area and drive out the rebel groups hiding here. this temporary shelters now overwhelmed. this man says his family fled as the syrian army forces approached. people were hungry, they were in good health, and they became thin. they beg for money. the rebels have a lot of money, and farms that cost millions. in the past month, president assad's forces have reta ken, president assad's forces have retaken, they say, 70% of eastern ghouta. translation: according to the information we have, individual militant units are ready to lay down their arms and leave eastern ghouta,

but they are waiting for the command from the western patrons. seven yea rs of from the western patrons. seven years of civil war has driven 12 million syrians from their homes. a while, more than 400,000 are dead or missing, many buried amid the rubble in the dozens of towns destroyed by the conflict. at least three bystanders including a baby in a pram were killed by stray bullets during a shoot—out between police and a drugs gang in rio dejaneiro on friday. the killings in the alemao favela district come a month after the brazilian military took control of public security in rio state, to combat a wave of violence that has claimed 7,000 lives in the past year. the city also saw protests for the killing on wednesday of rights activist marielle franco. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: hanging on a cliff edge. the horrorfor homeowners in hemsby. ten properties are evacuated as strong winds and high tides

threaten to wash them away. back now to our top story: 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 their most comprehensive timeline to date, the police now say the car was first seen at 9:15am on sunday, 4 march, 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 are found violently ill on a nearby bench. it is 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 russia, yes. that's why i've 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's 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 at heathrow. the so—called mini beast from the east swept in overnight on friday. this was the scene earlier 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 later on sunday afternoon. the cold wintry snap is affecting large parts of the uk. in eastern england, some clifftop homes are now in danger of falling into the sea. emergency services have been asking residents in the town of hemsby, near great yarmouth, to leave. from norfolk, louise hubball reports. this is just how close these homes are to the cliff edge, this the most vulnerable. being checked by the coxswain of hemsby lifeboat. 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 other 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've got a grab bag in the event that 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 has led to fresh fears. well there are gusts here of up to 50 mph. that is damaging the sand dunes. it is also meaning that the sea can't fully recede, so that when there is high tide at 7:00, water levels will be higher than normal. there are a whole stretch of homes along this road. today, all being visited by the police. there's 13 properties up there. six of them have got a good chance of going in the sea if the weather conditions stay as they are, and we've just 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 pets. obviously i had 90 metres between me and the sea, when i first come here only two years ago. and now i've only got nine feet. 0bviously, with the east wind, we desperately need a sea defence. within another year, these lot will disappear. that's 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 some of the other stories making the news: germany's chancellor, angela merkel, and china's president, xijinping, have discussed overcapacity in world steel production. they have agreed to work within the g20 group of nations to find a solution. their telephone discussion comes shortly before president trump's new tariffs on steel and aluminium are enforced. both china and germany are big steel producers. an engineer left a voicemail two days before a bridge collapsed

in miami, warning some cracking had been found in the structure, but added there were no concerns from a safety perspective. officials say the voicemail wasn't picked up until after the accident on thursday, in which six people were killed. tens of thousands of spanish pensioners have held rallies in the capital, madrid, and other cities across the country to demand an increase in public pension pay—outs. demonstrators called on the government to guarantee them dignity in old age. pensions in spain are among the highest in europe, but protesters say this is eroded by rising energy and food prices. the government of monaco has warned the public to be wary of moneymaking scams by crooks impersonating top figures from the principality. last september, a local newspaper reported that a person resembling prince albert ii, monaco's ruler, tried to con a journalist into contributing funds towards a ransom. 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 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. our business correspondent joe lynam explains. this is all about protection of personal information and data. it all started with the creation of an app four years ago by the university of cambridge. that app harvested loads of data from facebook users, 270,000, in fact. but in addition to there, their friends' as well, so you can see how it gets into millions. that information, which is very personal information, was then given to a company called cambridge analytica —

unfortunate that the name is confusingly similar. and facebook ordered cambridge analytica to delete that personal information because it was in breach of their rules. in the last 24 hours, facebook said that you didn't delete all that information, and so we're now suspending you from facebook entirely, pending an investigation. in the meantime, as you've said, a facebook — a whistle—blower has come forward and said that 50 million facebook profiles were harvested from this app and used to target very specific messages in relation to the 2016 us presidential election. pro—trump and anti—hillary clinton messages. so we have the attorney—general in the state of massachusetts saying that she will launch an investigation. she said that the residents of that state deserved answers immediately. on this side of the atlantic, the information commissioner's office has said that it is also investigating the circumstances in which facebook data may been illegally acquired and used for political purposes.

a reminder of our top story: 23 british diplomats are expelled from russia, its retaliation in the spy row with the uk. but that is not moscow's only move, as it closes a consulate and the british council. let's stay with that story — the bbc‘s diplomatic correspondent, james robbins, says britain faces a tough choice when deciding what to do next. it's clear that theresa may and her diplomats face a problem. next tuesday the national security council has their weekly meeting. doedee x —— doedee see this as a tit—for—tat or do they think the russians have gone too far and more significantly, the closure of

british council operations in russia is significant because the it is the way in which britain tries to export its values as well as the indie —— in which language into russia. —— duvet. it reaches our lot of young russians, teenagers and adults. —— do they. losing the council is a major blow. how will britain respond to that? earlier, we spoke to james sherr — an associate fellow for the russia and eurasia programme, at the international policy institute, chatham house — and asked him what further options were open to the british prime minister, theresa may. i think the key steps are the ones she has already outlined. what really matters now is the extent to which we will give practical effects to steps already outlined to increase security, increase the coherence and cohesiveness of our effort, primarily with regard to our domestic security, including protecting those people, including russian citizens who are lawfully resident here, and other domains as well which must

include financial security and the privileges that dubious russian entities have enjoyed so far in making use of all the privileges and services of the city of london and the openness of the london property market. the kremlin is still waiting to see whether we actually mean it. and this is going to be — this is the serious story, not the tit—for—tat and the exchanges that are taking place publicly. and just to remind you —

for more detail on this story you can go to the bbc news app or website. there's this summary of what we know so far and details of the uk government's warning to exiled russians about their security. just go bbc.com/news. 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. 0ur correspondent chris buckler spoke to us from outside the fbi's headquarters in washington. he said it appears mr mccabe is not going to leave quietly. andrew mccabe was fired by the attorney general, not president trump directly, betty says it was as a result of presidential pressure

and was intended notjust to taint him but discredit the fbi, law enforcement agencies and indeed investigations taking place into allegations of russian interference into the presidential election back in 2016. certainly, president trump has been celebrating his dismissal on twitter. indeed, his personal attorney has even given a statement saying he feels after this firing at the special counsel investigation should be brought to an end although he did make clear that was his view and not his client‘ he did make clear that was his view and not his client'. memos kept by andrew mccabe of conversations he had with president trump and about events that surrounded the firing of his boss, the fbi director, james comey. this could potentially get nasty and with that in mind, i will give you a quote from john brennan. he said he might skip andrew mccabe

that you will take your place in the dustbin of history as a disgraced demigod. australia and south—east asian leaders are meeting in sydney on the final day of the two day summit of the ten country group asean. it's being hosted by australia which isn't a member. the leaders are discussing how to improve economic and security ties and deal with regional issues like north korea. there have been protests against hun sen of cambodia and myanmar‘s aung san suu kyi. a new campaign to clean up mount everest has started, with 1,200kgs of waste taken to the nepalese capital kathmandu. the aim is to airlift 100 tons of waste from the world's highest mountain and the surrounding region, which was visited by more than 100,000 people last year. a private airline said it would continue to transport mostly recyclable waste like bottles, adventure gear and metal throughout the year. alan hinkes has been to the everest on multiple expeditions. he explained how litter can be quite

a problem around everest. there is quite a lot of rubbish on the way up to base camp, not vast amounts, but there is some. the nepalese and sherpas are very environmentally aware, so they clean it up. unfortunately there hasn't been a proper disposal system there like we have in first or countries, so they are getting to grips with it now. there are lodges on the way up. the trek up is eight days form the airstrip where they are flying the rubbish out. on that eight day trek, trekkers will drink bottles of beer and soft drinks and eat things that are wrapped up and all that rubbish has to be taken out. at the moment a lot of it isjust piled up, so thankfully they are starting to take it out. 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. charlotte wright reports. a usually an assuming neighbourhood swarming with armed officers. our sister heard them coming out of the house and she was shouted out and told to get back in. i could see all told to get back in. i could see all to police in gardens clearly looking for somebody and a lot of shouted going on. the sound of shots was heard before quarter to eight last night. after more than two hours trawling the neighbourhood, armed officers made an arrest. on the other side of the rail bridge. we had shouting and policemen shouting to get underground. —— on the ground. the policeman questioning me

ran over the bridge and told me to get out. today, the police gave this update. garner 35—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into where he remains. he was known to the victims. a firearm has been recovered. the 32—year—old and 53—year—old woman were killed. it is believed they were related. two other women including a pregnant woman was in the property at the time. the thought is they were all known to the suspect. our compassion and feelings are with the victim and theirfamilies but and feelings are with the victim and their families but there and feelings are with the victim and theirfamilies but there isn't and feelings are with the victim and their families but there isn't any threat to anybody else. anyone else ——i don't think anyone else should feel afraid or worried. i think it is an isolated incident. the police are not looking to anyone else but they are hoping anyone else with information should come forward.

finally — there have been festivities to mark saint patrick's day in cities around the world. from new york to nanjing landmarks turned green and fans of irish culture turned out to celebrate. bill hayton reports. new york city claims to have the old est st new york city claims to have the oldest st patrick's day parade in the world, starting in 1762. it is older even than the united states itself. they have had plenty of practice and it shows. today, more than 30 million americans, mark the day to come out and show their support. in chicago, that means dying the river bright green. a secret agent dies it rolled. meanwhile, one famous irish—american crossed the galaxy to be the very

first international guest of honour at the parade in dublin. the great—grandmother of star wars star mark hamill was born in ireland in 1873. he saw a show that was big on myths and legends. myths took ce ntresta g e myths and legends. myths took centrestage in other irish towns and cities, too. according to the story, saint patrick drove the snakes out of island. he had a bit of trouble driving this snake through the streets of derry. there was a regimental mascot and an irish wolfhound. as night fell around the world, the green spread to hundreds of international landmarks from niagara falls to nanjing in china, they all had a drop of the irish. now let's get the weather with ben rich hello there. winter has returned

with a vengeance this weekend. strong, cold easterly winds have already brought snow in places, our weather watchers have captured the scenes, this one from west yorkshire, this weather watcher picture from essex. and there is some more snow to come. let's look back at how things developed during saturday evening, from the radar picture you can see all of the showers piling in from the east, but then an area of more significant, persistent snow that developed over the south—east. that continues to drift westwards and so we have three different met office amber warnings in force, one towards the london area, one across parts of eastern england and the north midlands and one for the south—west of england and the south—east of wales. these areas most prone to seeing disruption from significant snowfall. this is how we start off the day, with this area of more persistent snow continuing to drift across england and wales, some snow showers elsewhere, widely down below freezing, so not only frost, but ice to take us into sunday morning. but it is all about the snow

across these western and south—western areas during the first part of sunday, let's take a closer look. 9am the morning, you can see the snow falling across devon, dorset, somerset, the bristol area, into east wales and the west midlands. that snow piling up and blowing around this strong easterly wind, could be some drifting snow in places. all the while, a feed of snow showers across the eastern side of northern england particularly, one or two clipping into the south—east of northern ireland and some showers across the eastern side of scotland aswell. further west, the western side of scotland not seeing as much showers, more sunshine, that is the theme as we go through the day. many of the showers in eastern areas will slowly but surely fade away, could be some brightness towards the south—east later and the snow will pull away from wales but will keep falling across the south—west, 10—20 centimetres over high ground. windy for all and a bitterly cold feel. we will lose this area of snow during sunday night. high—pressure will start to build out from the north and we have a subtle shift in the wind direction as well. the easterly wind from the weekend will become more like northerly winds.

northerly winds are never warm by any means, but they will be slightly less cold. so monday sees temperatures rising between 3—7 degrees with some good spells of sunshine. not a bad day. temperatures will continue to climb as head had deeper into the coming week, but after a dry start to the week things will then turn much more unsettled. this is bbc news. the headlines: russia's responded to the expulsion of 23 of its diplomats from the uk by giving the same number of british officials a week to leave moscow. it is also closing a british consulate and the british council in russia, as the row over the chemical attack on a former russian double agent and his daughter continues. this week's fighting in syria has driven up to 250,000 people from their homes. 150,000 are reported to have fled

a turkish military offensive in afrin, in the north, while tens of thousands have escaped the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta in the south. us officials are investigating claims that a political consultancy misused facebook users' data in order to support president trump's election. an ex—employee of cambridge analytica claims 50 million profiles were accessed. the companies deny wrongdoing. facebook has suspended cambridge analytica.