this is bbc news. the headlines at nine: motorists face treacherous driving conditions due to the cold weather. forecasters predict temperatures will feel as low as minus ten today. in east yorkshire wind, snow and ice are still causing problems for travellers this morning. the russian ambassador to the eu suggests the nerve agent used in the salisbury poisoning could have come from the british research laboratory at porton down. porton down as we now all note is the largest military facility in the united kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons and research and it is actually about eight miles from salisbury. a man's been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend in kent. a number of people have been injured.

a commons committee says the government should consider delaying brexit because so little progress has been made in key areas of negotiation with the eu. and britain wins its first gold at the winter paralympics — menna fitzpatrick and her guide jen kehoe took the the women's visually—impaired slalom. and our sunday morning edition of the papers is at 9.35am. this morning's reviewers are journalist and broadcaster rachel shabi and anne ashworth, associate editor of the times. good morning and welcome to bbc news. parts of the uk have been gripped with snow and ice, as the "mini beast from the east" has swept in from siberia. a number of met office amber warnings of a possible risk to life

have been in place in south—west england, south—east and mid—wales and the west midlands. a number of met office amber warnings of a possible risk to life have been in place in south—west england, south—east and mid—wales and the west midlands all day, where five to 10 centimetres of snow is forecast to fall widely. police say driving conditions are poor, with no safe routes across the pennines and snow ploughs dispatched to the m62. lincolnshire police said up to 35 vehicles were stuck overnight in snow drifts on the a158 near edlington. meanwhile, airports including heathrow, gatwick, sta nsted and luton have urged passengers to check flight information before travelling due to possible disruption.

restore evalds and meet —— bristol airport and east midlands airport are also close. let's cross to our correspondent. the snow flurries are heavy and as they hit the ground bait to delete—macro vaah very heavy. in linkage people have been digging people out of snow drifts. some of the roads on possible unless you have a four by four, said people are being advised to stay away. greater manchester police say the conditions over the pennines are bad. the work they have used on twitter is bleak.

—— word. we have delays and disruptions on trains today, certainly great western, great northern and south—western. we were meant to have a coach replacement service between manchester airport and york, but the weather is so bad that the coaches can't run either. if you are hoping to take a train journey today, check with the roco website. also delays and cancellations at airports because the planes have to be de—iced and that takes extra time. so if you are going to be heading up somewhere, hopefully to warmer climes, check with your airline before you set the good news is that we are expecting conditions to start improving later in the morning and into the afternoon. and we hear a lot about the feels like temperature, in other

words it feels colder than actual temperature, what does it feel like there? how cold is it? it feels very cold and you are right, the temperatures are cold, but what we are seeing here, and is a particular problem on the seafront along the east coast, very strong winds. the wind chill is causing areas and problems —— the wind chill is causing problems in areas that you would not expect them to. it is absolutely freezing. not a gritters still out and about. if you have a journey to make today, highways england is advising you to take extra ca re. leave england is advising you to take extra care. leave yourself longer than you normally would to make your journey. thank you very much, sarah. the russian ambassador to the eu vladimir chizhov has suggested that the uk's own research

laboratory in wiltshire could be the source of the nerve agent used in the poisoning of a former russian spy in salisbury.the foreign office has called the russian account "absolute nonsense". here's our diplomatic correspondent, james robbins. two weeks after the chemical attack on sergei and yulia skripal, ambassador chizhov said there were no stockpiles whatsoever of nerve agents left in russia. but then in an interview with andrew marr he went a bit further. asked how the chemical weapon came to be used in salisbury, mr chizhov suggested... when you have the nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories. and porton down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the united kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. and it's actually only eight miles from salisbury. you're not suggesting porton down is responsible for this nerve agent? i don't know, i don't know, i don't have evidence of anything having been used. as britain continues to investigate the chemical attack,

the foreign office dismissed this latest russian account as absolute nonsense with not an ounce of truth in it. a spokesperson said it's just another futile attempt by the russian state to divert the story away from the facts that russia has acted in flagrant breach of its international obligations. james robbins, bbc news. let's get a bit of reaction to those comments. we have a former commander of the british chemical forces. thank you for being with us, hamish. what do you make of what that russian ambassador was suggesting?” agree with the foreign office. it's

agree with the foreign office. it's a ridiculous suggestion. however, not at all unexpected. it's what we call in the trade plausible deniability. in other words, try to find some way to get out of it, and when they were choosing the choice of weapon used against colonel skripal, a chemical weapon would be ideal. the russians are surprised that porton down managed to work out it was novichok which originated from russia. how difficult or that process have been for the site is there? visit with a sample of the agent to work out very rapidly what it was and where it had come from. hugely challenging, but porton down is the best in the world at what we

call chemical attribution. no doubt there would have had help and support from allies such as the usa. all the evidence that is coming out now, we note the russians are the only ones who have novichok and therefore the trail very much lead to them, and hopefully once the russian election is over today, perhaps the russians can concentrate more on this and make sure that the organisation there will allow things to be checked. how clear that this, obviously as you say was a nerve agent manufactured in russia, but

was it necessarily used by the russian state, by the russian authorities? or could it conceivably in your view have been a nerve agent that would have fallen into the hands of some sort of mafia type organisation? i think that is highly unlikely. there were rumours that very small amounts of robert rock found its way to uzbekistan in the 19805. found its way to uzbekistan in the 1980s. the russians did lose some chemical precursors at the break of the soviet union, but even if they we re the soviet union, but even if they were involved, they would have lost their toxicity years ago. we know that the novichok in salisbury was highly toxic. that argument falls down. we know that the sense russia has been in

existence post—1991, the suspected area where novichok was produced has been highly secure. britain is now investing in a new counter chemical weapon centre at porton down. thank you very much for being with us. voting is taking place in russia's presidential election. incumbent vladimir putin, who is seeking another six—year—term, cast his ballot a short time ago. he's running against seven other candidates. the first results are expected this evening. our correspondence has been

following events. there won't be any surprise as who will win. it's widely assumed it will be vladimir putin, the strongman, the man who has been in power since the end of 1999. he is seeking his fourth term in office and he will get another six years, assuming he does win, which means he will be in office until 202a. the only issue around this election is what the turnout will be. people have seen putin in power for many years and whether there was a sense of apathy creeping in. i think there is concern in the kremlin about that. they want this 70-74 kremlin about that. they want this 70—74 miller. kremlin about that. they want this 70-74 miller. 70% of kremlin about that. they want this 70—74 miller. 70% of the votes, 70% turnout. it's questionable whether they will achieve that. if it looks as if they were, could there be elements of fraud coming into the election? in 2011 we saw huge protests when it was believed there

was fraud in the vote. richard galpin reporting from moscow. a group of mps says that the government should consider the possibility of delaying when we leave the eu, if complex issues remain unresolved. the exiting the eu committee says more time should be allowed if a detailed and comprehensive agreement on the future relationship isn't settled by october. the brexit committee's view isn't unanimous though — a minority report by eight members warns that a long transition would be difficult. us media reports suggest sacked fbi deputy director andrew mccabe has given memos about conversations he had with president donald trump to an inquiry into alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election. an internal review concluded that mr mccabe leaked information and misled investigators, something he denies. president trump's personal lawyer has now called for an end to the russia investigation. residents from several cliff top seaside chalets in norfolk have been told to evacuate their homes due

to strong winds. police say six properties in the village of hemsby are at risk of coastal erosion overnight because of the high tide. in 2013, tidal storms saw three homes in the village washed away. robby west reports. knowing the tide was drawing in, lifeboat crews helped moved people's furniture out. when stephen chadwick woke up yesterday morning, his garden had all but gone. yeah, bought it for sea views, beautiful sea views, now the has taken it away. woke up this morning, had a cup of coffee, half past seven at the back door and i felt, it was like an earthquake and the cliffjust went. it's just a terrible shock. watching people taking my house apart. i don't think they'll be here tomorrow. five years ago three homes were washed away following a storm surge. this time a fortnight of high tides and easterly winds have resulted in the coast‘s natural

defences being washed away. house is close to the see are just inches from falling in. there are probably five properties that are at the highest risk. this end one we are at now is the one that is teetering on the edge of the cliff and it wouldn't take much for it to start to fall into the sea. it's already twisted at the backs of the doors can't open, so it is quite high risk. as the tide reached its peak, the road was closed. they live on this evening we were just down there behind us, but now the police have moved us on because the weather has turned so bad. the houses are still standing, but they are now properly speak close to the edge. been lost to the sea. robby west, news. the headlines on bbc news: snow and ice are causing difficult driving conditions across much of england and wales. some police forces are advising motorists to avoid non—essential travel. the russian ambassador to the eu has

suggested the nerve agent used in the salisbury poisoning could have come from the british research laboratory at porton down in wiltshire. a man's been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend in kent. a number of people have been injured. syrian civilians have been facing intense fighting over the last few days, and the un says there is likely to be more to come. a few miles from the capital damascus, regime backed forces have nearly captured the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta, and thousands of people have been forced to flee the area. and in the north, as many as 150,000 people are fleeing a military operation by turkey, aiming to push out kurdish forces in the town of afrin. andrew plant reports. on the road out of afrin. civilians are now leaving this city, 150,000 over the past few days, carrying what they can.

this area of northern syria the latest battlefront in a country besieged firewall for seven long years. translation: we fled because of the air strikes and bombardment by turkish forces. there is no united nations or international community. they fire at us with warplanes, mortars and bombs. what can we do? we had to flee to safer places. translation: as you can see, there is war and displaced people. our children are hungry and we've been walking for three days. thank god we've arrived here. further south on the outskirts of damascus, eastern ghouta has been under siege since 2013. in the past month hundreds have died amid repeated bombings as the government tries to retake the area and drive out the rebel groups hiding here. this temporary shelter now overwhelmed. this man says his family fled as

the syrian army forces approached. translation: people were hungry. ghouta's women were in good health, now they've become thin. they beg for money. the rebels have a lot of money and farms that cost millions. separated by hundreds of miles, these two syrian war zones are causing a mass exodus of civilians. it's thought as many as 12 million syrians have fled their homes. meanwhile, more than 400,000 are dead or missing, many buried beneath the rubble in the dozens of towns destroyed by the conflict. andrew plant, bbc news. turkish led forces have made rapid

advances and have been against in a two—month battle advances and have been against in a two— month battle with advances and have been against in a two—month battle with kurdish militiamen. lez talk to our correspondence in istanbul. what is the latest on this? are turkish forces in control on what is the significance of that if they are? we have seen footage released by the turkey ‘s military that shows turkish troops in the centre of afrin. a turkish flag and syrian opposition flag draped over buildings in the town centre. president erdogan is saying that they are now under the control of turkish troops. the white pg resista nce turkish troops. the white pg resistance who have been the target of the turkish offensive for two months seemed to melt away towards the end. many of the fighters we understand fled the town along with some of the hundred and 50,000 or so

civilians who have escaped to a corridor in the south east of afrin as the city was squeezed by the rebels. this means that it deprives the kurdish fighters of a key town that they held close to the turkish border. turkey targeted afrin because it did not want the kurdish fighters there to link up afrin with other parts of northern syria that they also control in order to create some semi—autonomous statelet. turkey sees the white pg as terrorists, but the west sees them as allies against islamic state. this has caused friction between ankara and washington. what do people think of this military operation. ? i have never seen such

a wholeheartedlyjingoistic operation. ? i have never seen such a wholeheartedly jingoistic and unified support base for a military operation is here in turkey. this is a very nationalist country on the whole. it's a country where the kurdish militants are an age old enemy and turkey long argued that the kurdish fighters in northern syria were linked to the kurdish militants who have been fighting insurgency in turkey since the 19805. insurgency in turkey since the 1980s. this argument held sway with vast swathes of the population. even the hard core secularists, they rallied behind the government on this. there have been some pockets of opposition to the war, but they have been stamped out because close to six or 700 people have been arrested here for social media posts that were deemed to be in support of

the terrorist organisation by hosting anti—war messages, including the main doctors union who simply said that war is a threat to public health. they were detained and langbaurgh sted as traitors. so in a country where there is this real absolute outpouring of jingoistic nationalist warmongering support, really, this is a cause that has rallied president erdogan‘s support base and that's why he has shaken off international criticism because all that matters for him is that he has his supporters here in turkey. thank you very much. a conductor for the bournemouth symphony orchestra is leading a new ensemble of disabled musicians. butjames rose, who's dreamed of a career in music all his life, doesn't have control of his arms. the conductor, who has cerebral palsy, uses a baton attached to his head to lead the group. they want to show that people with disabilities can be more involved in classical music.

our reporterjames ingham was at one of their first rehearsals. classical music plays. music, james says, ignites a ball of fire in his stomach. it is a passion he was always determined to pursue as a profession to prove his disability is no barrier. james rose is on a unique training placement with bournemouth symphony orchestra where he is fulfilling a long—held ambition, creating and directing his own group of musicians. one of james's mentors is roger preston, who has been

a cellist with the bso for nearly a0 years. he recently became disabled as a result of cancer. while he still plays in the main orchestra, he is also part of a new ensemble. we don't want to be thought of as we are successful because we are disabled ensemble. we want people just to listen to our music making and think that is really good. probably most disabled people even if they could perhaps play a bit would discount the idea of taking it further. it would be great to see a few more amateur orchestras incorporating other disabled people but if disabled people have to form their own ensembles or orchestras as well, great. the ensemble's professional musicians like siobhan clough, who is partially deaf, have all fought hard to get where they are today. they are united in wanting to inspire others. all through my career i was told

that i could not be a professional violinist and it was something i always wanted to do and now i am doing exactly what i want to do, so for me this isjust reinforcing the point that it is possible, it just takes perseverance and encouragement. ensembles and orchestral situations have been inaccessible mostly because of the need to sight read. this means that i get the opportunity to actually work, as in professionally work, as a musician in a professional setting with other professional musicians. james says he has always ignore people who have told him he cannot do something. he hopes to break what he sees as fixed ideas in professional classical music that have limited him and other disabled musicians in the past. he has got the drive and determination to do

absolutely anything he wants, and he has got the musical talent to do it. silhouettes of soldiers are being put in towns and cities to mark a hundred years of armistice day. our correspondent has been to see them. ijust i just installing one ijust installing one of the silhouettes. in this parish church they are getting ready for a special service this weekend. the villagers will bejoined by service this weekend. the villagers will be joined by these ghostly figures from the past, each one a

reminder of a man who lost his life in the first world war. remember the love of them that came knocked home from the war. this is how this town remembered its war dead in the 1920s and here is a list of the names of those who died. 61 in total, including three brothers. 61 dead in this small community. it must‘ve made big impression. once the temporary cap —— once the somme campaign had begun, the telegram started arriving. this is roger martin, my great uncle. he worked as a groom in hunt and stables in tarporley. he was actually wounded in action three times.

apparently so, yes. but died of his injuries after the third time, yes. there are 61 silent soldiers, here. once each of tarporley‘s first world war dead. when you put this number of people sitting here, you realise it is a congregation. it is two class sizes. there's a lot of people. what we are doing here is actually giving them a physical presence. we were at the very inspired by the diaries of the rector of tarporley at the time, when he was raising money to put up the village war memorial. he told the community that this is the least that we can do, for the boys and men have done so much. that has really echoed through my head. the men of tarporley who died for their country have not been forgotten. kent police have arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder after several people were injured when a car was driven into a busy nightclub in gravesend.

police say the incident at blake's nightclub is not been being treated as terror—related. footage posted on social media appears to show a car inside a marquee at the nightclub, as officers led people to safety. joining us now is reece parkinson, a bbc 1extra dj, who was there. my my god, i nearly died. i'm in this clu b my god, i nearly died. i'm in this club and a car came through the club. a guy who did not get let in and drove in the club. look! that is the latest from that seen in gravesend in kent. time for the weather. there were still out from the met

office throughout the rest of the day and especially so across the south and the west, but we will continue to see showers falling across the north, central and eastern areas. the northwest and parts of northern ireland will see brighter weather. this is the greatest concern. 10—20 centimetres, severe weather. it will be blowing a gale as well. treacherous conditions for those out and about. it stays bitingly cold overnight, even though we lose a lot of the snow. it will bea we lose a lot of the snow. it will be a hard frost in the south because of the strength of the wind. the good news is things quietened down tomorrow as high pressure moves into cot of this bitter wind.