by giving the same number of british officials a week to leave moscow. it's 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. now, if you're a competitor at the paralympic winter games in pyeongchang, what happens if your wheelchair breaks or your prosthetic limb needs adjusting?

well, as you'd expect, the paralympic repair centre has been very busy. here's a look at their work. iama ph.d. iama ph. d. student iama ph.d. studentand i am iama ph.d. student and i am here to help repairs at the paralympic games. 0ne help repairs at the paralympic games. one of the most surprising things that i have is the fact that there is sewing involved. quite a few wheelchairs coming with complaints that the wheels are turning quite like they should. we think it is to do with the different salts and stuff that are coming off the snow. you are constantly worried about something not working and then how are you going to get to the venue, get to eat, get the recovery, all of those things that up and

pulled up against you. you have to really trust your equipment to make sure that it works. you feel proud little bit because you help the athletes and people to do the sports they are trained for the four years. i'm used to working in the laboratory by myself but if you have met with a patient and had seen like what their needs are and have a better understanding of what is going on can go into the workshop with that in mind. we had 260 repairs in sochi and we are on 300 repairs in sochi and we are on 300 repairs and the games are not over so we are repairs and the games are not over so we are still working. the paralympic repair centre there. now on bbc news, injanuary 2017, finland began a bold social experiment — the government started paying 2,000 unemployed finns a basic income. it's free money — it comes with no strings attached. in this special programme, we follow the stories of four finns to see if the scheme has helped them get back into work. injanuary 2017, finland began a bold social experiment.

the government started paying 2000 unemployed finns basic income. they each get a guaranteed 560 euros a month for two years. it's free money — it comes with no strings attached. you could say that basic income is money for free, because you don't have to fulfil any conditions to get it. basic income is an idea that has gained some high profile champions, from facebook chief mark zuckerberg to elon musk to bernie sanders, and this experiment is being closely watched by policymakers around the world. we have been following four people who have been chosen to receive basic income. it was like winning a lottery. i think i am much more inspired to get a job.

has it changed their lives? could it change society? i am feeling more and more free and independent. i felt more comfortable to maybe open up my business again. my name is tanja. i am 30 years old. i live in 0ulu in the north of finland, and i have only worked four or five months in a factory. i know that 0ulu has some problems with unemployment, but i know there is also jobs here. tanja has been in full—time education for most of her life and has never had a long—term job. now, that is not unusual for people in 0ulu, a town 100 miles south

of the arctic circle, where she has spent all of her life. the unemployment rate here is 15% — twice the national average. i went to 0ulu university of applied sciences. it's always so hard to get the first realjob. you have great grade papers but then they look, you have no experience. now that i graduated from the business school, they are offering me jobs like cafeteria worker. i have big worry that i can't any more pay my bills. i don't remember the last time that i went to the store and bought food. i get food from my mum. that's so embarrassing. i want to work and i want to be able to go to the store and buy my own food, and buy whatever i want. "i want that cheese",

and i want to be able to buy the good cheese, you know? even if tanja gets a job, she will still get the full basic income every month. but she's not convinced the experiment will make any difference to her. i opened the letter and they said "you are selected to get the basic income". i was like yay, yay, yay! then i realised — i read the paper down, and they said that "if you are not working, your benefits will be the same". i was like, ugh. the benefit from the basic income comes only when you get a job. you get thejob, like, 1,500 euros, and on top of that, you get the basic income. but the government wants to see whether the way people receive

the money will change their behaviour. there is no means testing and no requirement to apply for jobs. so the government would like to find out what is the effect of basic income on the employment rate of this particular group. tanja is not convinced it will help herfind a job and she thinks it is unrealistic that the government could roll out the scheme nationally. it's just not possible to give everyone in finland, 5 million people, 560 euros a month. i don't see it happening. the finnish government isn't going to assess the pilot until the 2—year experiment is finished. so far, it's quietly optimistic about how the pilot is going but there are concerns about the cost. i think we have some data to prove that this is, well, if not a glorious success story, but it has very positive aspects.

now we are making this experiment, it's very generous, and it would be too expensive to afford it for all citizens. but i am happy that we have taken the first step. five hours drive to the south from 0ulu, juha is hoping the basic income will help him rediscover his entrepreneurial spirit. my name is juha jarvinen. i am 39 years old, father of six kids, and artist. i was making window frames, wooden decorative window frames, and that was my business for seven years. all of this five, six years what i have been unemployed, i have been dreaming to start a new company, new business. so i will try to start to shoot and edit commercial videos for small

companies to youtube and social media. but also i want to do artwork, creative work. juha is optimistic that the way basic income works will make it easierfor him to get back into employment. with the basic income, the biggest change is the bureaucracy. like before, i needed to fill out different kind of forms and i need to meet employment office people, and i was spending quite a lot of my time on stuff that has no meaning. with basic income, i can focus on the more important things. i don't need to spend my time to something that has no meaning. and i really believe also that this would be super good for all of the people.

so i got my humanity back. then i can start to do things what i can do, and what i want to do. and i can use my skills. five months after the start of the experiment, juha is still unemployed but he is full of enthusiasm. he is about to start his new business. we don't know yet whether there are many persons who have started their own companies but i have read from newspapers that there are some, and they have been very positive peaceful time, to start their own companies. but unions in finland think basic income will have the opposite effect. basic income would basically be an early retirement scheme that you can take up whenever you want. you can simply choose to stop working and live off your savings and basic income, and that means lower level of employment and less taxes, so even less money

to fund the social benefits and services we want. some of the people on the basic income trial were established in professional careers for many years before losing theirjobs. my name is tuomas muraja. i am a freelance journalist and author. i have been without work since 2013. i was a foreign news editor in the third daily newspaper in finland. but then, they decided to put down all the section of the foreign affairs, so basically i lost myjob. it's not easy to find a job as a journalist in the capital of finland. so for tuomas, being chosen for a basic income pilot was a dream come true.

it helps me as a freelancer and it is social security in a way, without the stigma. for me, it is not embarrassing anymore to get benefits. work has changed and social politics has to follow that trend now. i think that this basic income will encourage people to get back to the society and not be at home. and he thinks finland can afford a system like this one. the northern countries are more prepared for this kind of basic income system because the same money is there already. we pay taxes. now we spend it in a smart way. the budget for the basic incomes experiment is 20 million euros. this is an experiment, not a full model.

the problem is that it will be paid by the tax money from hard—working people, and is hard tojustify it to employees, that you have to pay a higher level of tax to provide benefits for those who simply choose not to work. it may be expensive, but the truth is that policymakers have to start thinking radically about new ways to make the labour market work in the future. studies indicate that in the next 20 years, between 30% and 47% ofjobs in developed economies could be at risk of automation. that means robots doing jobs that humans currently do. all this is preying on the mind of our fourth basic income recipient. i am sini marttinen. i am 35 years old. i live in helsinki, the capital of finland. i worked for a danish company and through that company, i worked all around the world. and after about six years

of travelling around, i moved back to finland, and the employer told me that i had to move again, which i didn't want to do, and so, i had to give up thejob, so i became unemployed. sini now works for herself, and very flexibly. so now, i am still working, so i have one customer — i am working for a foundation. and one week, i might work two days, five days, three days, so it is a bit insecure. so i have work, but my income level changes all the time. sini is convinced that more and more people like her will be pursuing flexible careers like this in the future. a very common comment that i get from people, you know, "you're educated, open and ready to do different kind of work. how can you be unemployed?" and i think that will be — it's not discussed openly,

but it is the situation for educated people, you are unemployed sometimes. and if the scenario of robotics and all these kind of, the concept of work will change, more and more educated and skilled people will be unemployed. it's now ten months into the pilot and things have changed radically for tanja. when we first met her, she thought basic income would make no difference to her prospects of finding a job. i took this job offer. speaks finnish. it is telemarketing. i actually enjoy myjob a lot. i love my co—workers, i love the office, i love the hours. and ijust love to be being independent, earning my own money,

and standing on my own two feet. speaks finnish. now i actually can go to the store and buy food and not be so worried what i am going to eat the next day. {fawn—w iii? estitti': i 7t7fi2.

it's obvious that we can't afford to pay it to every citizen. but then i realised, it is actually a genius idea. if you just pay it for those people who have been at home for so long, and been unemployed for so long, that's a huge drive for them to get a job. we are human beings, we need human contact, we need to be proud of something, and that's a huge problem when you are unemployed. i think i have turned my life around. when we metjuha five months ago, he was hoping he would be able to start a small business after going bankrupt. like aianb with

breakfast, but with art. we are going to be calling people

that know how to draw and paint, and doing something in painting, and putting it here so that next week, you can start filming. we have some studios, so people would stay here and spend here one week, two weeks, or one year making their own art. do you want me to help you with the drums? and juha and his friend mika have other plans too. today, they've come to meet the mayor, to talk about transforming an old art school and turning it into workshops for artists. juha is optimistic that he will still be on a firm financial footing after the basic income experiment ends. i think, for me, it is enough. i believe that after one year, my business is running and it's quite a struggle and i don't need other help. i very much believe that basic income would be super good

for finances, and economy of the government. i feel that it should be given for others, also. when we first met unemployed journalist tuomas, he was optimistic that the basic income trial would help them find a newjob. he is now married to a former mp and green party activist. what else is new? what has changed in my life since june? i got married. but financially, not so much. i'm still without a job. i can say that the basic income has changed a lot in my life. 0k, psychologically, yes, but financially, not so much. tuomas is craving the structure

that a job would bring. i would be happy if i had a job, even a part—timejob, for the routines. in that sense, you can call me lazy, because i need a producer, i need somebody to tell me what to do, and i enjoy doing that. now, afterfive years — almost five years as a freelancer, maybe i'm not the right person to be like that. my wife can do that. she has always done that. but for me, it's more secure if you have a job. as tuomas attends a political event with his new wife, how does he feel now about job prospects? i have still over one year to go, so anything can happen. so i am quite optimistic.

i'm not worried, when this pilot is ending, because then i got back for the old system, and get those benefits other way. let's see. during summertime next year, i'll have a job. and what about sini? she wanted a career structure that will allow her to work for multiple employers, and still find time for herself and her family. the insecurity of not having a permanentjob, and actually working as self—employed, allows also to have more freedom in the way you spend your time. my dad has alzheimer's, and me and my sister, who lives also in finland, we try to help them out a lot.

sini has found that basic income gives her more time with family and also to pursue charity work. with basic income, it's kind of easy, maybe, to get this work—life balance. so basic income helps me to make myself available to help my parents, or do volunteer work. of course, i understand not everybody is motivated to do those things, but i'm the type of person that i want to do something that makes me happy, and i would want more people to have the courage to say, ok, maybe money's not everything. what would you like to study? language. i think basic income, as an idea, for everyone to receive it, is a very nice idea. on an individual level, it has been very, very life—changing for me.

so i would see a package more or less in a way that, if your income drops to a certain level, then you become part of kind of the basic income, or the benefit system. four people, four very different experiences of basic income. tanja has found a job she would never have considered before. and is loving it. juha has rediscovered his entrepreneurial spirit. and is setting up a business. tuomas is still unemployed. and sini has found a way to pursue a portfolio, career, see her family and do charity work. there's a year to go before the trial ends. is there a chance the government will extend the scheme to all of finland's unemployed?

finland is quite moderate in this way. we have a culture of experimentation and where we want to see these kind of social innovations in practice. so, whether this basic income is the solution to poverty or labour market problems, i can still be proud that finland has taken this sort of bold way of testing, and hopefully, our experience can benefit other nations. we'll have to wait and see if finland's experiment becomes a model for the future. 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 these showers piling in from the east, but then an area of more significant, persistent snow that developed across 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's all about the snow across these western and south—western areas during the first part of sunday, let's take a closer look. 9am, you can see the snow falling across devon, dorset, somerset, the bristol area, into east wales

and the west midlands. that snow really 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 as well. further west, the western side of scotland not seeing as many 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 appearing 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. but we will lose this area of snow during sunday night. high pressure starts to build down from the north and we have a subtle shift in the wind direction as well. the easterly winds 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 to between 3—7 degrees with some good spells of sunshine. not a bad day. temperatures will continue to climb as we head deeper into the coming week, but after a dry start to the week, things will then turn much more unsettled. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name gavin grey. our top stories: moscow makes its move — 23 british diplomats are expelled in the stand—off with the uk over the chemical attack on yulia and sergei skripal. syrians flee fighting in huge numbers — almost 250,000 are reported to have been forced from their homes in the last week. us officials investigate claims that a political consultancy mishandled the data of millions of facebook users to support donald trump's run for the white house.

severe weather in britain leaves clifftop homes in danger of collapsing into the sea.