this is newsday on the bbc. i am rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: nato expels seven russian diplomats based at its brussels headquarters in the latest response to the nerve agent attack in britain. in an exclusive interview with the bbc, the niece of the poisoned former spy speaks about the pain the attack has caused her family. trans—mac i don't want there to be this massive conflict between our two countries. for all this to get worse and for it to happen because of my family. —— translation: i don't. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also in the programme: sent home in disgrace: cricket australia says only three players knew in advance about the ball tampering incident in south africa. tough sanctions are to follow. and could biodegradable film, thousands of times thinner than a human hair, save australia's great barrier reef? we speak to someone who thinks it mightjust do the job. glad you could join us.

it's 7am in singapore, midnight london and iam in brussels, where nato is expelling seven russian diplomats from its headquarters, in response to the nerve agent attack in the uk. 26 countries have now taken similar action, in solidarity with britain, expelling a total of more than 140 diplomats. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says moscow will respond in kind. here's steve rosenberg. it looks like a game show, but this was russian tv on the diplomatic war with the west. the names in the frames, the string of countries who had expelled russian diplomats over the salisbury attack. 26 countries have now ordered expulsions.

moscow's point is that the west has got it in for russia. this is not about poisoning some former agents. this is about containing russia, creating problems for russia with its sovereign and independent foreign policy. and could a diplomatic war morph into something more dangerous? this confrontation has certain logic, and this logic is to step up — each next move should be stronger than the previous one. and with this, we can reach a pretty dangerous situation where militarisation of behaviour will be inevitable. the one expression you hear more and more to describe the growing tension between russia and the west is "new cold war". but in fact what we have now is potentially more dangerous than the cold war, because back in the days

of communism against capitalism, both sides stuck to the rules of the game. today, it seems, there are no rules. meanwhile, sergei and yulia skripal remain in a critical but stable condition in a salisbury hospital. their relatives back home have said little about this drama. but in her first tv interview, sergei's niece viktoria has told the bbc russian service that political tensions are the last thing her family wants. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. in russia, president putin has declared a national day of mourning after 64 people — most of them children — died in a fire at a shopping centre in siberia on sunday. people in moscow held

a vigilfor the victims as mr putin blamed what he called ‘criminal negligence‘ for the tragedy, and suggested that safety certificates had been obtained with bribes. our correspondent paul adams sent this report. grief turning to fury on the streets of the siberian mining town. two days after the fire, people are angry. "resign, resign," they shout. local officials are bombarded with questions — how many people really died, were children locked inside, why were the fire alarms not working? the crowd smells corruption. the sign above the mayor's assistant reads, "how much are your closed eyes worth?" translation: i've got nothing more to lose, my whole family has died, my younger sister, my wife and my three children. my wife rang me quite late, shejust wanted to say goodbye to me. inside what's left of

the shopping complex, a scene of utter devastation. this place was packed on sunday. when the fire broke out, it swept through the building with appalling speed. on one of the upper floors, the cinema, where many of the children died. the man leading the investigation says those responsible for safety simply run away. the view from above is equally shocking. is there evidence here that corners were cut? vladimir putin visited the city this morning, offering condolences, saying what happened was inexcusable. translation: an investigation group of 100 people is working here. they will go through the whole chain, starting with those who issued licenses and up to those who were responsible for safety. in moscow this evening, a silent vigil for the victims, the people here promising not to forget what happened in siberia two days ago.

what began as a local tragedy now has the potential to turn into a national scandal. fires like this are not uncommon in russia, and behind them there's often a story of corruption, fast money and lax oversight. this disaster raises a host difficult questions. pauladams, bbc news, moscow. also making news today, a mysterious train, rumoured to be carrying north korean leader kimjong—un, has left beijing after an overnight stay which was neither confirmed nor denied by china. the train looks remarkably similar to one used by mr kim's father, kimjong—il. if confirmed, it would mark the leader's first trip abroad since coming to power in 2011. vietnamese singer and free speech activist, mai khoi, was detained at an airport in hanoi on tuesday. after being released she took to social media, saying she had been held for eight hours. mai khoi speaks out against state censorship in vietnam, court documents say dozens

of pornographic images were found in his office — some featuring students at the university — and a video of larry nassar and a young patient. scientists studying bears in sweden say hunting may be leading females to raise their cubs for longer. the study says that, compared with two decades ago, more female bears are nurturing their cubs for an extra season, staying with them for two—and—a—half years. like many other countries that allow bear hunting, sweden bans the shooting of bears in family groups. three australian cricketers involved in a ball tampering

incident in south africa are being sent home and have been told they will face significant sanctions. at a news conference, the chief executive of cricket australia, james sutherland said knowledge of the incident was limited to the captain, steve smith, david warner and cameron bancroft. the team coach, darren lehmann, will remain in hisjob. this report from our sports editor dan roan contains some flashing images. in the eye of a cricketing storm. reporter: david, are you going to get banned today? australia's players arriving here injohannesburg this morning, their preparations for the final test against south africa totally overshadowed by the ball—tampering scandal that has shocked the sport. reporter: did you cheat during the ashes as well? have you done it before? are you going to resign, darren? the most powerful man in australian cricket also in town, in a bid to get a grip of the crisis. i want to apologise to all

australians that these events have taken place and particularly to all the kids who love cricket and idolise the players. an investigation has found that the plot was confined to three players — cameron bancroft, who used sticky tape to tamper with the ball, captain steve smith and his deputy, david warner, all will be sent home in disgrace tomorrow. in regard to the three players on report, i want to stress that we are contemplating significant sanctions in each case. these sanctions will reflect the gravity with which we view what has occurred and the damage it has done to the standing of australian cricket. meanwhile, head coach darren lehmann was found to be unaware of the cheating scheme and, despite concerns over the culture he presides over, remains in hisjob. cricket australia knew their announcement here at this johannesburg hotel this evening came amid intense scrutiny, notjust from the cricketing public, but also sponsors and even

the australian government. a sense of outrage ensuring that this is now a test case for the integrity of the sport. i think it's desperately sad. obviously, individuals occasionally cross over the boundaries between fair play and unfair play, but to have organised, orchestrated cheating in this way, with the australian captain, captain of a side that set itself out to claim the moral high ground, now they're caught doing this, and i really don't think almost any punishment is too big. shame and anger now follow this team. australia hoping that swift action and appropriate punishments allow them to move on from this cricketing crisis. dan roan, bbc news, johannesburg. a little earlier, hywel griffith in sydney spoke to me about the reaction in australia for the investigation so far. a lot of people waking up to the news and the footage from that press conference. a lot of people talking about what was and said in the

absence of the word cheating. james sutherland, the ceo of cricket australia was very careful in the wedding he used, talking about the spirit of the game, the integrity and reputation of cricket. lots of people here in australia wanted him to bea people here in australia wanted him to be a bit more blood and straightforward, saying it was cheating. but they understand there could be a legal process to go through, notjust could be a legal process to go through, not just in could be a legal process to go through, notjust in terms of handling the players, but also in terms of the sponsors and so on as well. the other discussion now is what those sanctions will be when the players are sent home. some people talk about a six—month ban. would that make a difference? a 12 month ban would have more of an impact, but that would put things forward to the next ashes series against england next year. and a lot of surprises within the industry that the coach, darren leeman, wasn't made to resign. surely it must reflect badly on him that he did not have a clue what was going

on. “ did not have a clue what was going on. -- lehmann. absolutely. either he was in on the plot was not aware of all was having amongst his senior players. certainly some former cricket internationals have been on social media this morning saying that they think there is more to come out of the dressing room in cape town. it is a small place and over the coming weeks and months we may learn more. but yes, darren lehmann holds onto hisjob. this will be a hard right into the rest of the contract, because that questions of suspicion will properly over him. —— that question and that suspicion will probably be over him. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we take a look at the thin biodegradable film that could save australia's great barrier reef from coral bleaching. also on the programme: mona lisa on tour. how millions of americans got to view her without having to buy a plane ticket. let there be no more wars

or bloodshed between arabs and israelis. with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa should be excluded from the 1970 competition. chanting streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji.

woman: wow! you're watching newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. our top stories. nato has expelled seven russians based at its brussels headquarters, in the latest diplomatic response to the nerve agent attack in britain. three members of australia's cricket team are being sent home from south africa for ball—tampering. officials say they're planning harsh sanctions against them. let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the south china morning post in hong kong focuses on the unconfirmed visit by north korean leader kim jong—un to china. it says kim's distinctive green train was reported to have left pyongyang yesterday. after less than a day,

it was expected to rattle back across the border in the opposite direction. the philippine daily inquirer reports on a demonstration by the city's poor in manila. the protestors are shown carrying crosses representing what they say is the burden of their communities, from taxes to extra—judicial killings. and the china daily has a front page picture of a boat race. contestants paddle their boats to drumbeats in the university dragon boat competition in hangzhou, in all, 15 universities, including peking and harvard, competed. now, what stories are sparking discussions online? this is a very popular video online.

it's a wedding which didn't exactly go to plan. a barn owl was the ring—bearer and while it made it down the aisle, after its first landing on the best man, things go wrong. you can see the entire video at bbc.com. not the owl. australian scientists have developed a so—called "sun shield" that they hope can help prevent coral bleaching in the great barrier reef. take a look at this. the shield is made from an ultra—thin biodegradable film that is 50,000 times thinner than a human hair and contains calcium carbonate. the film is designed to sit on the surface of the water above the corals, rather than directly on the corals and is said to provide an effective

barrier against the sun. i spoke to dr andrew negri, of the australian institute of marine science who's been working on this research. i began by asking him exactly how the sun shield works. the end of the three is caused by a combination of things. the temperature of the ocean in combination with the light that reaches the corals. we believe that if we can block some of the sunlight, it will help not only reduce the ocean surface temperature, it will also stop some of the sunlight reaching the corals. we have to take the edge off corals bleaching by applying this to the service of the ocean. why did you use this material, calcium carbonate? calcium carbonate is the material that makes up the corals skeletons. it is a white material,

natural, we have very fine particles of it and when we suspended at the ocean's surface, it looks like a very thin, white film and this reflects a nd very thin, white film and this reflects and blocks the sunlight from getting through. the advantage of using calcium carbonate is that it isa of using calcium carbonate is that it is a natural product and so when the film eventually breaks up, it will cause no harm to the corals or any organisms in the ocean at the time. basically, you have already tested the sun shield, what results have come out from these test two! — — tests ? have come out from these test two! -- tests? the first formulation that we tested, block about twitter by% of the sunlight getting through to the corals and we performed a number of test at the national marine simulator, we ran it through an artificial leeching event, taking it up artificial leeching event, taking it up to bleaching temperatures and we found that when we applied the surface film that this reduced the

bleaching in most of the corals species that we were using. we used seven 01’ species that we were using. we used seven or eight species in this test to ensure that we were looking at results that made it applicable amongst a diversity of corals across the reach. what problems have you been experience in so far with this sun shield? -- experiencing. it is interesting. when you apply it to the service, you need to apply it in a thin film. when we first applied it with thought that supply it on still water and see what happens because that might be the best way and what we found was that the film took a little while to establish itself on the surface. what we did then was to apply some ways action to the tank and we found that the film self assembled better when there was water motion, we are hoping that when there is water motion around that the film will maintain its integrity for quite

long periods. but doctor, tell me, the great barrier reef is 348,000 square kilometres. do you have any ambitions of ruling out —— rolling out of this sun shield across reef? no, this isn't the solution for coral bleaching across the whole reef, what we are intending to do is to provide an intervention that can be provided on a relatively small to medium scale. it could be applied over several have theirs, in fact, you only need about one kilogram of material to protect around a cat ear of coral. we are talking about protecting areas that are maybe more ecologically important or important for tourism. or they may be seed areas of reef that may help in the repair of reefs after a bleaching

event. so we just apply it to smaller areas at this week, we are still looking at scalability, we still looking at scalability, we still need to talk to model is to find out just how still need to talk to model is to find outjust how wide of the scale we can apply this to be effective. —— modellers. the louvre museum in paris says it may allow its most treasured painting, the mona lisa, to go on tour in france — the first time it's left the building in almost half a century. da vinci's masterpiece has only officially travelled abroad twice before. the pair of lucky locations were japan, and the usa for two exhibitions in 1963. a new edition of the history of that trip — the mona lisa in camelot — has just been published. jane o'brien went to the national gallery of art in washington to find out more. the immortal masterpiece of leonardo

da vinci is now in america... it was the cultural coup of a century. the mona lisa arrived in new york harbour after a perilous voyage across the atlantic, amid serious misgivings of from our experts, not to mention, the french public. mona lisa will be the artistic attraction of all time. the visit by the world ‘s most famous painting was made possible by the world ‘s most famous woman at the time. the first lady, jackie kennedy. this was 88 days that changed america and onlyjackie kennedy could have pulled it off. 2 million people lined up in long on a snaking lines both at the national valerie and the metropolitan museum of art. valerie and the metropolitan museum ofart. imagine, valerie and the metropolitan museum of art. imagine, not some of them had never stepped foot into a museum before. was taken under police escort to the national gallery of art in washington and placed in a vault. experts had just a few weeks to recreate the humidity of the

louvre before she was put on display. 1 million ordinary americans lined up outside the national gallery to see the mona lisa and injanuary 1963 national gallery to see the mona lisa and injanuary1963 it was the who's who of washington. this is where she was? this was the exact spot. she was hung against the most dramatic, red velvet back the. spot. she was hung against the most dramatic, red velvet back them took mrs kennedy more than the year took mrs kennedy more than the year to secure it and was almost entirely due to the charm offensive she deployed against this man, the french culture minister. she met him in paris, invited him to dinner at the white house and there, clinched the white house and there, clinched the deal. she is leaning very close to his shoulder, tucked up under his ear, the minister whispers her pledge that will make history. he said i've will learn new one of our great artistic treasures. i will only use the mona lisa. the mona lisa established the national gallery's international reputation and created a new awareness of art

asa and created a new awareness of art as a tool for diplomacy. as a -- mr minister, we in the united states are grateful for this loan from the leading artistic power in the world, france. from washington, the mona lisa travelled to new york, where1 million more people stood in line to see her. the visit was a milestone in the history of art, and event that even today has been hard to eat. he jane o'brien, that even today has been hard to eat. hejane o'brien, bbc news, washington. —— beat. the last time i saw the mona lisa was two weeks ago at the louvre. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. it's the third day in our series on indian agriculture. today, the issue of food waste is discussed. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. stay with us. hello. temperatures on the way down

in the lead up to the easter weekend. low pressure close by. it is looking unsettled. some rain around in the day ahead in its first area of low pressure, there has been some uncertainty about how far north the wet weather will get. a little bit about that. south wales, southern england most likely to see wet weather but it might push further north to parts of wales and the midlands into east anglia as the day go on, getting some showers, a bit of sleet and wet snow around this, on the hills into the west of these areas as we go through the afternoon. much of northern england, northern ireland and scotland will have variable cloud, spells and showers around, longer spells of rain in the northern islands into shetlander. single temperature digits. —— single digit cabbage is a topic some spots reaching as high as 16 celsius. the chill will be around on wednesday night and a clearing skies, most of the showers on wednesday evening will die away and

that means clear skies will be widespread frost settling in on thursday morning. it does mean is thursday morning. it does mean is thursday begins in will be chilly, but there will be a fair amount of sunshine around, but watching and other area of low pressure coming in from the south—west. a bit slower, but it will at least have some showers, some longer spells of rain but at least showers pushing into south—west england, wales and parts of northern ireland. gradually on thursday, edging a bit further north—east. ahead of that, you are likely to see some dry weather and some sunshine and a fairly pleasant day. a weather front working in northern scotland with outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow around here, quite cold. little bit milder, those eastern areas have seen the sunshine during thursday and those heavy showers edging into the midlands, parts of south—east england, continuing to feed northwards during thursday night into good friday. low pressure very much in evidence during good friday. there will be

bands of showers pushing north across the uk but there will be gaps between them, we might get to see some sunshine but for the most part it will be single figure temperatures. that is how we are going into the easter weekend. temperatures on the cool side of average. not cold, but call for the time of year. it is low pressure so there will be wet weather at times, they risk of snow on northern hills but it won't be wet all the time. there will be dry and sunny moments, quite pleasant in the spring sunshine, mild by monday, particularly into england and wales. that is your forecast. i'm sharanjit leyl with bbc world news. our top story: nato expels seven russian diplomats based at its brussels headquarters in the latest response to the nerve agent attack in britain. in an exclusive interview with the bbc, the niece of the poisoned former spy sergei skripal has spoken about the pain the attack caused her family. cricket australia has said only three players knew in advance

about the ball tampering incident in south africa. its officials say tough sanctions will follow. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it's a wedding which didn't exactly go to plan. a barn owl was the ring—bearer and while it made it down the aisle, after its first landing on the best man, things go wrong. you can see the entire video at bbc.com. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news.