this is bbc news. the headlines at eleven. another cold snap leaves motorists facing treacherous driving conditions. forecasters predict temperatures will feel as low as minus ten today. borisjohnson dismisses russian claims that the nerve agent used to target the former russian spy in salisbury could have come from the porton down research laboratory. this is not at the response of a country that readily believes itself to be innocent. this is not the response of a country that wants to engage in getting to the bottom of the matter. a man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend, in kent. a number of people were injured. mps demand answers from facebook, after accusations that data from millions of users profiles is being mishandled without users‘ consent. 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 in half an hour, dateline london takes a look at russia's presidential election, and considers what impact another six years of vladimir putin in the kremlin would have. 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. this is the current picture, most of the most serious warnings have now expired but there is still an amber snow warning in place in the south west

of england where forecasters say there is a good chance that some rural upland communities could become cut off. 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. mountain rescue teams have been working through the night to help cumbrians in the show. meanwhile, airports including heathrow, gatwick, sta nsted and luton have urged passengers to check flight information before travelling due to possible disruption, and bristol airport and east midlands airports are currently closed. our correspondent sarah ransome is in devon where worsening weather is expected. it is worsening right now. it is worsening right nowli it is worsening right now. i can tell. not only expected but it has

arrived. in the last hour, that heavy snowfall but they have been talking about from nine o'clock this morning has made its way west. it was first over dorset and made its way to devon and here in the last hour it has arrived in the west country. it has been snowing in other parts of devon come up in the north. exmoor that's part of the world. they have been having a lot of snow already. a lot of snow gathered on the size where critters have been trying to clear it. snowploughs have been out clearing its too. i am on hold and help where you can see the roads are still clear. that is because the critters have been out since early morning. overnight, and early morning. one going past now. this is all part of an emergency plan that the emergency services and the local authority have in place because this is a sport where drivers can find

themselves in difficulty sometimes. only a couple of weeks ago, drivers we re only a couple of weeks ago, drivers were stranded and lorries were needed to be pulled out of the snow because of the conditions. today, so far, the tractor ploughs that have been going out and about have said that no particular problems. elsewhere, the snowploughs and the snow blowers have been working hard on exmoor. but temperatures are plummeting, the advice from the authorities is to not travel unless you have got to. the temperatures have gone down. i've lost contact with my hands and feet! it has gone down by at least 2 degrees today and it will set to go further. also we hear the snowfall is that the last for the next three hours. the amber warning in place here across the whole of the south—west is for the whole of the south—west is for the whole of the day. 25 centimetres on high ground and summerlike yet that

could be 10—15 centimetres. —— and areas like this could be 10—15 centimetres. watch this space. thanks very much for braving the cold and snow for us. the cold weather is also affecting a number of sporting events across the country. charity runs were cancelled in lincoln and reading with some competitors making it to the start line before getting the news. our very own harry gration, amy garcia and paul hudson from bbc look north in leeds have had to cancel their ‘big 50‘ sofa challenge for sport relief, which will continue at a later date. amy canjoin amy can join us amy canjoin us now. i am pleased to say from the wants of our will is newsroom. tell us, how bad is it there and why you have had to cancel? iam in cancel? iamina cancel? i am in a warm cancel? i am in a warm newsroom cancel? i am in a warm newsroom but i was hoping to be in subzero temperatures polling a red sofa today. we, like

the rest of the country come have had a lot of snow particularly in the early evening yesterday. there isa the early evening yesterday. there is a good three or four inches in west yorkshire, the route that we we re west yorkshire, the route that we were going to be pulling the sofa. the decision was made that it was just too dangerous to do that. we have postponed a four off our sofa talent. we will be revisiting their route at some point. the decision was made better date was not safe enough. we're hoping to carry on day five of our challenge tomorrow, we need to see what the weather is going to be doing that up to explain little bit about our challenge, we are celebrating 50 years of bbc look north. to coincide with sport relief we thought we would pull the sofa to 50 different locations across the region to meet our wonderful viewers and to raise cash as well for a really good cause. that is why we're doing it. not a daft thing at all, a very sensible thing! part of the reason

it had to be council was they were going to be so any thousands of people out on the streets to meet and greet you, there might have been some risk to them. absolutely. it is the third time with dennis sport relief challenge. the first time it is a tandem bike ride. we rode 250 miles around yorkshire. thousands of people came out to support us. it was wonderful. there was another challenge two yea rs there was another challenge two years ago which was the weatherman and harry again, they tied themselves to do a three legged walk. we got the wonderful support from our viewers and the last few days that haven't disappointed us again. they have come out in their droves, thousands of them, lining the streets giving us chocolate bags and energy drinks to keep us going. the worst thing for us would be to go out on somebody to injure themselves by coming out supporters. it was the right decision to postpone day four of our sport relief challenge. we are hoping we

can carry on with the rest of the challenge from tomorrow. let's hope you can. good look with that. amy garcia there from look north. you are watching bbc news. experts from the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons will arrive in the uk tomorrow to test samples of the nerve agent used in the salisbury spy poisoning. it comes as the war of words between moscow and the uk continues. 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 sergei skripal and his daughter yulia. 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.

meanwhile, 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. 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. 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. meanwhile the turkish president says turkey's syrian allies have now entered the centre of the syrian city afrin, and that it's now entirely under turkish control. monitors confirm that turkish—led forces have made rapid advances. they've been engaged in a two—month battle with a kurdish militia. the digital culture media and sport committee chairman damon greene said alexander who is chief executive of cambridge analytic had made false state m e nts cambridge analytic had made false statements in evidence last week. he denies receiving the data. facebook

has suspended cambridge analytica. the two companies deny any wrongdoing. our business correspondence joined wrongdoing. our business correspondencejoined me earlier to explain more about the allegations facing the company. very personal data was harvested from 270,000 people plus all of their facebook friends say you can see if we have an average of 200 friends per facebook user, that number can reach the millions very quickly. a whistle—blower has come forward and said the information was harvested with out the facebook user ‘s knowledge and all of their friends, and used to help get donald trump are elected in 2016. as you've already said, cambridge analytica has denied it used this personal data for electoral purposes. there's been a development in the last hour or so which is changed things quite a bit from a uk perspective. the chairman of the uk culture, media

and sport committee of mps, has put out a statement saying he has accused check —— cambridge analytic of misleading parliament in when it gave evidence last month. by giving false statements. he will be calling them back to appear before mps in them back to appear before mps in the very near future will stop on top of that, damian collins said facebook knew about this harvesting of personal information and the involvement of cambridge analytic had deliberately avoided answering straight questions. this has been ratcheted up a notch by mps about this issue and how you care for personal information. 13 people have been injured after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend, in kent. a man's been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. vishala sri—pathma reports. this was moments after a 4x4 car drove into blake's nightclub in kent. terrified clubbers scrambled

to safety as security staff moved in. at least two individuals were seen hit by the vehicle, the police believe the driver was asked to leave the club following an earlier incident. police and fire rescue services were called to the scene where detectives have remained today. we cannot talk to a woman who was at the club with her friends when it happened. thank you so much for being with us. tell us where you we re being with us. tell us where you were and what you were doing when this happened. i arrived at about 11 o'clock and when i arrived in amman were

shouting because he had been sent out of the club. he was shouting and swearing. i got into the club and i was there for about an hour, a0 minutes and we heard a massive bang. we were going to the smoking area outside and then there was a big axa driving about and it went into the lounge. he hit people. people were running back in, everybody was screaming and shouting. we went back in and after about five minutes they locked the doors and we couldn't go out. they were not playing music. everyone was screaming and everyone was saying we had to go out through the other exit. we couldn't get out of the exit of people were pushing.

eventually, we got out but everybody left their coats. at first we thought it was a terrorist attacks. i set my family attacks everything off when i was and i love and everything. i didn't know what was going to happen. we were told to go and leave the club immediately. you must have been really frightened because as you say, i know police say this was not terrorism related, but at that time am sure a lot of you did think it might be. yes, definitely. that is the first thing i came into my head because i heard the bang. with everything that has been going on lately as well. when you saw, you actually saw the vehicle hitting people. what is

being driven at speed around the area? it came in, it went forward, stopped and went forward again. i didn't see it up close but two of my friends we re it up close but two of my friends were closer to it. they told me what happened. there was obviously a lot of panic as well, wasn't there? people running from what had happened. definitely. they were running and screaming, crying. people calling their parents and everything. you are just relieved to be out of there and in one piece, i guess. definitely. people were injured and i hope they are all located but everybody was in a panic. it does have an effect on you because now even when i go out, i don't want to go out. i am just scared, i am just in shock. i'm sure, that is understandable. chloe, thank you very much for talking to us. take

care. 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 foreign office has dismissed claims that the nerve agent used to target the former russian spy in salisbury could have come from the nearby porton down research laboratory. a man's been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend, in kent. thirteen people have received treatment for injuries. let's catch up on the latest sports news now. it is catherine. good morning, everybody. paralympics gb are celebrating their best ever winter games after winning their first gold medal in pyeongchang. menna fitzpatrick and jen kehoe won the visually impared slalom — adding gold to the two silver medals and a bronze they'd already won. they'll be flagbearers

at today's closing ceremony. mille knight and brett wild won bronze in the same event bringing paralympics gbs medal tally to seven. it has been absolutely astonishing the way this week has gone from quite low to extremely, extremely high. as soon as he crossed the finish line on the second race, my confidence got boosted. for winning the bronze as well, it is absolutely amazing. to finish on a gold medal and put in one of our strongest performances this week is beyond words. it hasn't sunk in and i think probably won't until we get back to the uk and we're back our own beds. ireland head coachjoe schmidt says his side's six nations grand slam victory was down to "class and courage". ireland provided the perfect end to theircampaign, as they beat england by 2a—15 at twickenham to win

their third grand slam on st patrick's day. first—half tries from garry ringrose, cj stander and this one from jacob stockdale helped the irish open up a 21—5 lead, which they never looked like relinquishing. it's ireland's first grand slam since 2009, but for england it's the first defeat at twickenham under head coach eddie jones. i don't think i could be much prouder of the group of the way they committed themselves. some of their defensive work, particularly in the 22, they had eight minutes at the start of the second half, we were under the start of the second half, we were underthe pump. it under the pump. it was all hands to the deck and they managed to really fight their way through that period of the game. that is the turning point really. there were also final day wins for scotland over italy and and wales over france. so this is how the final table looks. ireland are champions, wales finish second. england supporters may want to look away, they sit only above italy in fifth. tottenham and manchester united are both through to the fa cup semi finals.

tottenham beat swansea, while united saw off brighton 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, even though they're through to the last four. when the sun is shining, it's easy to play football, you know what i mean? when you win matches, everything goes in your direction and even myself i can play when the sun is shining, but when it's dark, and when you are under pressure, only the top ones can do it and today we did not have many top ones. liverpool managerjurgen klopp believes forward mohamed salah is "on the way" to being mentioned in the same breath as lionel messi. that's after the egyptian played another starring role in his side's 5—0 win over watford last night. salah scored four of his team's goals, with roberto firmino scoring the other, assited by salah, who now takes his goal tally in the premier league to 28, four clear of spurs' harry kane. he has 36 goals in all competitions.

he's 36 years old, but world number one roger federer has not only reached the final at indian wells. it's also his best ever start to a season. he beat croatia's borna coric in three sets and will face argentina'sjuan martin del potro in the final. it was federer‘s 17th consecutive win of the year, surpassing his previous career best of 16 back in 2006. now is mark cavendish one of the unluckiest men in sport? the british cyclist suffered a concussion earlier in the season, then in his first race back a fortnight ago he crashed and broke a rib. despite that he took on the milan san remo one day race yesterday and crashed again. to rub salt in his wounds he was in contention when the crash happened. italy's vincenzo nibali took the victory. that is all the spot for now. plenty

of cancellations for football and by of cancellations for football and rugby fixtures across the country and horse racing as well. keep up—to—date with that on our website. experts from the committee will test samples of the nerve agents that was used in the salisbury spy poisoning. joining me now is tom burridge. snowing as we can see. what is the latest on the investigation there in salisbury? there has been minimal activity this morning in the city. the focus is on the fact that officials from the old pcw, this international body, will go to porton down, not farfrom here. the ministry of defence's

scientific laboratories to take a sample of the nerve agent which british scientists have determined as from this group of nerve agents known as knobhead choke. we believe, it would take about two weeks for international members of this group, this independent body to carry out the test and come up with a result. they would do it in the hague where the organisation is based. russia has denied and continues to deny this nerve agent programme has ever existed. the foreign secretary and fodor ‘s office coming out with details this morning claiming that they have evidence that russia in the last decade has been producing the nerve agent and using them and developing techniques to carry out assassinations. those are the words of the foreign office this morning.

borisjohnson spoke to the andrew marr programme on bbc one this morning. we actually had it in the last ten years that russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling it. that was a direct like i was given? but you will get that and that is the tactics we have come to expect from russia over the last few years. it is fairto from russia over the last few years. it is fair to say over the last few yea rs it is fair to say over the last few years the russian state under vladimir putin has run a campaign of misinformation of muddying the waters if you like. the classic example is ukraine, russia denied being involved with going into crainey with its soldiers. it has denied being involved in the war in

the ukraine. in terms of the position of labour and the government here in the uk, generally speaking from the interviews this morning, it is fair to say labour is on the same page as the government in terms of the main facts. the accusation to russia that it is responsible, or it is only the credible theory russia is responsible for the attack in salisbury. the shadow chancellor spoke to the pastern programme on itv this morning. it shows there is a difference of tone if not a difference on the main facts. there is a pattern of people being murdered here. if you're lazy to the conclusion that putin has questions to answer because this is highly likely, it could be a state execution. but we don't do in this country is we don't leap to the conclusion without evidence. we are saying working with the inspectors

as well, working with porton down, we got to produce the evidence that users to a judgment that they can rely upon. iam i am sorry, we have lost that link their in salisbury. we will be back with him in the next hour on bbc news. let's bring you the latest weather forecast now. it is causing travel disruption as well. this snowy picture was taken in mid wales this morning. we've got more snow to come in mid wales. there are still amber warnings out from the met office through the rest of the

day, especially across the south and the west. we will continue to see showers falling across the north—east of england, as through the central lowlands of scotland. the north—west, part of northern ireland will see dry and brighter weather, but this is the greatest concern. up to 20 centimetres, severe weather. it'll be blowing a gale. blizzard conditions and bitterly cold. some treacherous conditions for those out and about. it stays bitingly cold overnight even though we start to lose a lot of the snow, it will be a hard frost. a penetrating frost for the south. things start to ouine down a little bit tomorrow as we get high moving in. this is bbc news — our latest headlines... 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 foreign office has dismissed claims that the nerve agent used to target the former russian spy in salisbury could have come from the nearby porton down research laboratory. a man's been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend, in kent. 13 people have received treatment for injuries. and police are asking facebook for an explanation after accusations profiles were used without permission by a firm connected with donald trump's election campaign. now on bbc news it's time for dateline london. hello and a very warm welcome to dateline london.

i'm carrie gracie. this week we devote our attention to russia. russia abroad — after what the uk and its allies called the first offensive use of a nerve agent in europe since the second world war. and russia at home — as a presidential election is expected to deliver vladimir putin another six years in the kremlin. my guests this week: the former observer writer now political commentator adam raphael. jef mcallister, the american broadcaster, formerly the head of time magazine's london bureau. italian journalist and film maker annalisa piras, and russian political commentator, and former kremlin advisor, alexander nekrassov. welcome to you all. let's start by discussing how the british government is handling the events of the last few days, how do you think