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 the response of a country that believes itself to be innocent, this is not the response ofa innocent, this is not the response of a country which wishes to engage in getting to the bottom of this. snow and ice continue to cause disruption to road, rail and air travel in parts of the uk, forecasters predict temperatures will feel as low as minus ten today. my my god, i nearly died! a man is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a car was driven into a nightclub in gravesend, in kent. thirteen people were injured. mps demand answers from facebook, after accusations that data from millions of users profiles is being mishandled without users' consent. 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, politics europe asks whether the eu will increase sanctions on russia following accusations of a targeted attack in the uk. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the foreign secretary boris johnson says the government has evidence russia has been making and stockpiling novichok, the nerve agent britain says was used to try and kill the former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter in salisbury. mrjohnson accused the russians of "smug sarcasm" after their ambassador to the eu suggested

the nerve agent could have come from britain's own porton down research centre, which is near salisbury. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. after two weeks of delicate investigation and decontamination work in salisbury, in which police officers and troops have had to take extraordinary precautions to protect themselves, the russian ambassador to the eu chose to hint that britain might have been responsible for the nerve agent attack. 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. immediately afterwards on the same programme, this was the foreign secretary's riposte. this is not the response of a country that really believes

itself to be innocent. their response has been a sort of mixture of smug sarcasm and denial, obfuscation and delay. and he insisted the russians have been doing recent nerve agent research. we actually have evidence within 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 novichok. that was a direct lie that i was being given there? but you will get that. however the foreign secretary then had to concede that the wife of a former finance minister under putin had paid £160,000 in a conservative party auction to play tennis with him. did the tennis game actually happen? it did. after signs of a gap opening up last week between labour leadership and downing street over the salisbury attack, this morning the labour position was much closer to the government's. putin has questions to answer

because this is highly likely it could be a state execution, but what we don't do in this country is we don't leap to conclusions without the evidence. what we are saying to our international partners, working with the chemical weapons inspectors as well, working with porton down, we will now produce the evidence that leads us to a judgment that they can rely upon. the porton down military laboratory is where experts have spent two weeks analysing the rare nerve agent used. tomorrow, international specialists from the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons will arrive here to start their own independent analysis of what left yulia and sergei skripal fighting for their lives. daniel sandford, bbc news. our correspondent tom burridge is in salisbury. that visit by the international

expert, starting tomorrow, will be crucial. really important, this is an international organisation, britain and russia both signatories to the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons and sending over a delegation, we understand, they will go to porton down, ministry of defence's of arteries, where british scientists have already done tests on samples of the nerve agent used on sergei skripal and yulia skripal, and the idea is that the international organisation will take away a sample, to authorities to independently verify whether the nerve agent is part of this group of nerve agents, known as novichok, believed to have been elated by the soviets in the late 19805 elated by the soviets in the late 1980s and early 1990s. —— formulated. the claim by the home secretary is very interesting, the british government saying they have evidence that russia has been

developing of a jock nerve agents within the last decade. anything happening in terms of the investigation today? within the last few minutes, on the tent covering the bench, where sergei skripal and yulia skripal ended up two weeks ago ina yulia skripal ended up two weeks ago in a critical condition, they have been clearing off in protective suits in gas masks, they have been clearing off the snow, it has been significant overnight, probably just to make that specific location safe for the time being. 0ther to make that specific location safe for the time being. other than that, activity has been fairly minimal at the main site, for example, the house of sergei skripal, and here, at the wall in shopping centre. the focus of the investigation seems to be the car of sergei skripal, maroon bmw parked adjacent to hear when they came into the city centre on sunday, march four, toads to a garage on the edge of salisbury, and

police have been carrying out a lot of activity on that car over the course of the last two weeks, and they launched a fresh appeal yesterday for more information from anyone who is in salt free on sunday, march four, who may have seen that maroon bmw, first, in the city centre, around 2pm, they also wa nt city centre, around 2pm, they also want to hear from anybody who may have seen it earlier in the day, 9:15pm, travelling across the city, from the cemetery, where sergei skripal‘s son and wife are buried, and his house, in another part of the city. the police really focusing on the car. the key question we don't know the answer to, exactly where sergei and yulia skripal. came into co nta ct where sergei and yulia skripal. came into contact with the nerve agent, but the car is an essential part of the police investigation. huge questions still out there. angry very much. much of the uk has experienced it's second significant snowfall in the last few days. worst affected have been the north

and east of the country and the snow is now falling in south wales and the aouthwest of england. combined with sub zero temperature and strong winds, the arctic weather has brought delays and cancellations to public transport and made driving conditions difficult for many. 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 where forecasters say there is a risk to some rural upland communities. jane—frances kelly has the latest picture from across the uk. heavy snow made driving conditions treacherous on exmoor, in north devon, strong, east north—easterly winds allowed snowdrifts to build up and the met office says the snow could strand some vehicles and passengers. amber weather warning meaning a possible risk to life is in place for much of south—west england, forecasters say there is a

good chance that some rural upland communities could be cut off. around exeter, they have snowploughs to clear major routes. across the country, community spending the day trying to clear pavements and roads. rail companies and airports are warning people to check before travelling, bristol, east midlands and bournemouth airports were all closed during the morning, so i’u nways closed during the morning, so runways could be cleared of snow. 0vernight conditions were treacherous further north, snowploughs had to be sent to clear the m62, in halifax, a car overturned. in barnsley, drivers in four by four vehicles towed motorists to safety. a lorry proved just too much. in the north—east of england, roads remain hazardous. in co nsett, england, roads remain hazardous. in consett, county durham, darren spend

the morning digging his street out for his neighbours, even though he doesn't drive, but he enjoys the exercise. i haven't been to the gymnasium for a week because of the weather, cannot be bothered to trudge through it, so i thought i would clear snow everyday! sporting fixtures, including a number of half marathons, have been called off, but it has not been doom and gloom for everyone, children have been getting out there sledges for the second time ina out there sledges for the second time in a matter of weeks, with this weather set to improve over the next couple of days. fun for some! our correspondent sarah walton is in barton—upon—humber in north lincolnshire. actually, we have seen things improve a little bit in the last couple of hours, less snowfall, what we have been left with is piles of snow standing around, very strong winds and ice. you can see the

humber bridge, closed to high sided vehicles for a while, the snow has been drifting across roads in places. the 815 is open because there has been snowploughs and gritters up and down. small rural roads are not even passable by the snowploughs. they have been struggling to clear the roads. they have asked people to stay off the roads unless they need to travel. —— a15. greater manchester police have said that conditions over the pennines were bleak, pictures earlier of a blizzard over there, and they are warning people to stay off the roads that go over high ground. we have had disruption today also on trains, south—western railway, great northern rail affected, so if you were thinking of getting a train later today, tonight, have a look at rail website before you set off. delay also from bristol airport, both for a while, cancellations of planes out of

heathrow and planes in the south, that is because planes have to be theice that is because planes have to be the ice before they can take off as a precaution, more about as —— that adds extra time to the journey. —— delays. if you are one of those people leaving for warmer climes, do check. conditions will improve in lincolnshire and yorkshire, the midlands and the north—west, things getting better as we move the afternoon. because there are large piles of snow, one foot deep in some places, they will take time to clear, so if you have to travel today, if you are out and about, ta ke today, if you are out and about, take extra care, give yourself more time than you normally would. from one sarah to another, going down to devon, sarah ransom, in devon, the weather seems to be worsening. —— sarah ransome. it came in at 11:30am, the met office had been

forecasting it would come around then. they were not wrong, it came in a wave and a flurry, a dump of snow is how it would be described, temperatures dropped, then came the snow. you can see it coming in on the horizon, almost smell it coming, because there it came. when i left here early this morning about 5pm, the whole area around here was a smattering of snow, in the space of about 20 minutes, half an hour, suddenly three or four inches of snow came down, and still coming, as you can see. this morning we went up toa you can see. this morning we went up to a place called holden hill, if you look behind me you can probably see the sign that says torquay and plymouth, the right—hand turn that you need to take to get up to holden hill, and that is where some of the most treacherous driving conditions we re most treacherous driving conditions were this morning and still are, it has to be said, this afternoon. snowploughs out, firefighters

clearing garage forecourts to try to help people, hgv vehicles get away from there, in fact, a number of hgv vehicles have been stacked up at junction 30, a mile or so from here, at the end of the motorway. conditions are so treacherous. look at the road now, barely any cars on it, because it is so difficult and treacherous that police are making sure they clear the roads, they have snowploughs, tractor plough is going up snowploughs, tractor plough is going up and down, gritters have been out relentlessly overnight, to try to clear the pathways. ain't you so much for braving it for us, we will talk to you later. the headlines: the foreign office has dismissed claims that the nerve agent used to target the former russian spy insoles brigade have come from the nearby porton down research laboratory. snow and ice continue to cause disruption to road, rail and air travel in parts of the uk. some police forces are

advising motorists to avoid nonessential travel. snow and ice continue to cause disruption to road, rail and continue to cause disruption to road, railand air continue to cause disruption to road, rail and air travel in parts of the uk. some police forces are advising motorists to avoid nonessential travel. let's go back to that story. a man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after at least 13 people were injured when a car was driven into a busy nightclub in gravesend. it's thought the car drove into a covered smoking area at bla ke's nightclub. our correspondent simon jones at the scene sent us this update. police remain at the scene, they we re police remain at the scene, they were initially called herejust before midnight, that was after clubbers heard a big bang, able trying to enjoy their night out,

suddenly, a four by four, ploughed into a tented area at the end of the alleyway behind me, there was panic, people screaming, one of the people inside the club said that she sent a text to her family to say she loved them because she did not know what was going to happen. security staff quickly took charge of the situation and got people out of the tented area into the main part of the club and people were allowed to leave through the back entrance. the police say at least 13 people have been injured, those are the 13 they know about but they believe their are other people who may have suffered injuries and left the club of their own accord, they are being asked to contact police. we are told the injuries are largely broken bones rather than any life—threatening injuries. the police say a 21—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. according to the police, they believe he had left the clu b police, they believe he had left the club earlier in the evening, after an altercation. for the people

inside, a frightening situation, the owners of the club have put a statement on their facebook page saying they are very sorry people had to experience this and there are thoughts are very much with those who are affected, those who witnessed it, those who have been injured and with security staff who had to deal with the aftermath of it. one of those who experience it was chloe germaney. it. one of those who experience it was chloe germaneylj it. one of those who experience it was chloe germaney. i arrived at 11am —— 11pm, when i arrived, there was a man shouting because he got sent out. he was restrained, whilst shouting and swearing. i was in the clu b shouting and swearing. i was in the club for shouting and swearing. i was in the clubforan shouting and swearing. i was in the club for an hour, 45 minutes. we heard a massive bang, we went to the smoking area, by this she is a bar lounge, and there was a big four by four driving about. —— shisha bar. it went by the gate and into the

shisha lounge and it was hitting people. the security guard said, run, get back in. everyone was screaming and shouting and pushing. we went back in, and after about five minutes, people were back in, we locked the doors, —— available the doors, they were playing music to come down a little bit but it did not can anybody down. everyone was screaming and saying, go to the other exit. we all literally ran to the other exit but nobody could get out, everyone was pushing, there was loads of fights. everyone left their coats. at first i thought it was a terror attack, because i thought there was more people in here. i thought anyone who came through the door was going to kill us. i send my familya door was going to kill us. i send my family a text message saying where i was and saying i love them. i did

not know what was going to happen. we were told to leave the club immediately. the chair of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee has accused the data analysis firm hired by donald trump's presidential campaign team of deliberately misleading it. damian collins said the chief executive of the firm, cambridge analytica, had made false statements when he denied receiving secretly harvested data of millions of american facebook users. joining me now is our business correspondent, joe lynam. when you click like on facebook, when you join something using your facebook profile, most people don't know what that triggers, it triggers a whole chain of data being handed over, effectively, to strangers, what this case is doing is highlighting that. four years ago and that was developed in the university of cambridge which

harvested personal information of facebook users plus all of their friends! almost certainly unwittingly, for all of their friends, and that information was given to cambridge analytica, no relation to the university, which worked on the donald trump campaign in 2016. that company was before mps last month, as was facebook, to talk about the husbandry of personal information. and damian collins, today, wrote to the company and said it seemed clear they do literally misled the committee and parliament about giving falls statements, they also said they were very critical about facebook, social media giant, and would be inviting mark zuckerberg or a very senior official to appear before mps as well, this is what he told me earlier this morning. —— false statements. i don't think facebook was straight with us, they have known about this data breach for over two years. they did nothing to make sure that the

data ta ken data taken was destroyed properly, as they requested it should be done. i don't think they have notified users and the lawyers tried to stop the guardian and the observer publishing the story in the first place. looks like facebook were trying to avoid difficult questions about this, and people will rightly be concerned about other data breaches that we do not know about, how effective are facebook at stopping people taking data from their platform and using it in a way that suits them? their whistle—blower has been talking to the new york times, to the observer, to channel 4 news as well, chris wylie, who worked with this company, cambridge analytica, and he says that 50 million facebook user profiles were acquired from this app, developed four years ago, facebook pushes back hard and said there was no breach, definitely, of its data, and says people, when they joined this app, they did so knowing not just there

joined this app, they did so knowing notjust there but joined this app, they did so knowing not just there but all of their friends personal information would be tapped into. they are not updating the statement in the light of comments from the chair of the select committee. as for cambridge analytica, have not heard from them, they say they did not use any of the information that they harvested from this infamous app, in the us presidential election of 2017 —— 2016 and used only legally acquired data, fairly, in also consensus. voting is under way across russia in the country's election, in which president putin is expected to win a fourth term in office. there are several other candidates but his main rival alexei navalny has been barred from taking part after being convicted of fraud, a charge he says was politically motivated. from moscow richard galpin reports. at a polling station here in moscow, a deliberately festive atmosphere. encouraging people to vote. russians have only known one leader, vladimir putin, since 1999, and now they are casting their ballots once again with the odds stacked heavily in his favour.

with the only serious opposition leader banned from taking part in this election, there's virtually no doubt that vladimir putin will win. the issue is going to be the turnout and whether it is sufficient to legitimise another six years in powerfor mr putin. and although people have been voting here, we soon found scepticism about how genuine this election is. translation: formally, there is a real choice, but in reality i cannot say it is fair because i know people are being forced to vote, especially those working in government institutions. the president himself voted here in moscow earlier today. the kremlin apparently aiming for him to get 70% of the vote and of the turnout.

but when asked byjournalists how many votes would be seen as a success , he said "any amount allowing him to be president." voters in crimea are also taking part in this presidential election for the first time since the area was annexed from ukraine, the election date moved to today to coincide with the fourth anniversary. another boost for mr putin. we must emphasise that vladimir putin retains high popularity among voters here but there is a question about reaching 70% turnout, which the kremlin wants, and there have been some reports of electoral violations, with reports coming in of ballot boxes being stuffed in one area. i must again stressed that is

only a small number of reports in just one area. us media say that ex—fbi deputy director andrew mccabe has given memos about conversations he had with president trump to an enquiry into alleged russian meddling in the 2016 election. andrew mccabe was fired from the fbi on friday following an internal enquiry, donald trump had accused him of buyers. andrew mccabe is not going away quietly after the career fbi employee was canned by attorney generaljeff sessions on friday, cbs news has learned the former number two in charge of the fbi kept memos of his conversations with president trump detailing what happens during the firing of former fbi director james comey, he has turned those documents over to special counsel, robert mueller, which could provide corroboration of the accounts given

byjames corroboration of the accounts given by james comey for the obstruction of justice by james comey for the obstruction ofjustice investigation. in a statement, the attorney general said james mccabe was terminated for authorising disclosure of sensitive information to the media and that he lacked candour. —— the attorney general said andrew mccabe. all fbi employees know that lacking can and under oath result in dismissal, they said. i cannot comment on any conversations the director may have had with the president. andrew mccabe was a frequent target of president trump for his roles in the hillary clinton e—mail and rush investigations. the president we did: now the president's personal lawyer says that robert mueller should end his rush investigation which he claims was manufactured byjames comey, on cbs, saturday morning, ben goldberg of time magazine weighed in on the political ramifications. the firing itself, there is a labour timing of it, and also the president response to it, last night, they ensure that the scrutiny on the

special counsel investigation is only going to intensify. andrew mccabe was fired less than two days before his 50th birthday and scheduled retirement date. —— ben goldberger. that puts his full pension injeopardy. britain has won its first gold medal at the winter paralympics in south korea. menna fitzpatrick and her guide jen kehoe took the women's visually—impaired slalom crown on the final day of the games as kate grey reports. it was the golden moment they had been waiting for, menna fitzpatrick and jen kehoe save their best until last to win gold on the slalom, the pair were in silver medal position going into the second run and displayed a perfect performance, the time was unbeatable. commentator: she is in front! voiceover: fourth medal in pyeongchang, becoming the most successful british winter paralympians. we are running on

adrenaline, this first bronze was an incredible achievement, to finish the race and win a medal and then to finish on a gold medal... and put in one of our strongest performances this week, is beyond words. it has not sunk in and i think probably will not until we get back to the uk and we are back in our own beds and have a lie in. further success from millie knight and guide brett wild, sneaking the bronze in the same race, which means paralympics gb have reached their target of seven medals, but all dependent on one sport, one classification, and a small number of athletes. we came into these games with clear potential on both snow and ice, the curlers have had a tough week but i think from my perspective, as chef de mission, i am think from my perspective, as chef de mission, iam proud of think from my perspective, as chef de mission, i am proud of every single one of the 17 athletes who came here to pyeongchang to represent paralympics gb, yes, the medals came from snow, but every one of those athletes gave it their all. so, the brits have had plenty to cheer about, and with more nations

taking part than ever before, and a record number of tickets sold, the international paralympics record number of tickets sold, the international pa ralympics committee can also celebrate. they move these games to be the greatest winter paralympics to date. many congratulations to men —— two menna and jen and all that competed there, now let's have a look at the beast from the east. it won't last long and it will turn more miles, more likely to get rained on snow, some snow in the hmmfi rained on snow, some snow in the forecast for today and tonight, we have the amber snow warning from the met office, for the south—west of england, this is the radar picture from earlier, a lot of snow showers coming in from the north sea. more persistent area of snow, moving away from wales and the west country, dawdling across the south—west. other southern counties could see some light coming back in over the

course of the night, they view showers towards the north, not as many most places dry overnight, the wind cries a little bit, widespread frost, given how cold it is, icy conditions as well. remaining snow across southern counties will head a way to the channel islands, still breezy, not the coldest winter that we have had recently. and it will still be cold, but it will be better than it has been. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. 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. snow and ice continue to cause disruption to road, rail and air travel in parts of the uk.