welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the russian billionaire roman abramovich is reported to have suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning during peace talks in ukraine earlier this month. it does appear that there are organophosphates, aka nerve agents, involved, and we really need to see the medical records. russia continues to hit targets in all parts of ukraine. the next round of face—to—face negotiations between ukraine and russia take place on tuesday in turkey. the academy launches a review and condemns will smith, for slapping the comedian chris rock after a joke about his wife.

and a city of 25 million people — shanghai in china — goes into lockdown, after a dramatic rise in covid infections. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. it's been reported that the russian billionaire roman abramovich and two ukrainians have suffered a suspected chemical poisoning, after peace talks over the war in ukraine. it's alleged to have happened earlier this month, on the border with belarus. it's understood the chelsea football club owner, who's thought to be acting as a go—between in the negotiations, suffered sore eyes and peeling skin. two ukrainians are also said to have been affected, with all three

making full recoveries. here's our security correspondent, frank gardner. recent pictures of roman abramovich at tel aviv�*s ben gurion airport. but 11 days earlier, on march 3, something happened to him and two others following peace talks on ukraine's border with belarus. hours after these russian and ukrainian delegates met, three of them, including mr abramovich, suffered searing pain in the eyes, dimness of vision and inflamed, reddened skin. later that night, in the ukraine capital kyiv, according to the investigative website bellingcat, all three were suffering symptoms of intentional poisoning with a chemical agent. it is potentially very serious, and hopefully the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons will be called in to investigate. both ukraine and russia are signatories to the chemical weapons convention, so that would be within the remit of both,

particularly ukraine, to bring in. there was no immediate comment from moscow and no proof that russia was behind this. but back in 2020, the russian opposition activist alexei navalny was hospitalised and nearly died inside siberia after being poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. he recovered, but bellingcat�*s investigators were able to prove it was the work of russia's federal security service, the fsb. two years before that, the same nerve agent, novichok, was used in an attempt to murder the former kgb agent sergei skripal in the town of salisbury. he was saved by an antidote — atropine. roman abramovich's associates say he's fine now and he intends to continue trying to broker a peace between his native russia and ukraine. it's thought that whoever poisoned him and the other delegates was looking to sabotage those peace talks by sending a sinister warning. frank gardner, bbc news.

well, peace talks are expected to resume on tuesday in turkey — and just ahead of them, ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky has made an offer to russia. he said his country could adopt the status of neutrality if that would help end the war, though it would have to be agreed in a referendum. on the battlefield, russian advances have stalled recently. this map shows the areas of ukraine currently under russian control. russian troops still haven't been able to encircle the capital kyiv — the closest they are is about 15 miles away. elsewhere, ukraine has set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, but some of those corridors haven't opened yet because of fears russian forces might attack people who are fleeing. our next report is from jeremy bowen. i want to warn you that his report from kyiv contains some distressing images. the russians attacked an oil storage depot in western ukraine. the war is settling

into a deadly daily grind. medics live and sleep at the hospitals. there is no time to get home. in one in kyiv, the patients include a ukrainian diplomat. victoria said it was ironic that she was wounded in her own home when she came back from belarus, russia's ally. "but i won't lie," she said, "i'm very scared." gennady�*s home was also hit. "the russians thought they'd be greeted with hugs," he says, "but if we don't get weapons to take the offensive, "missiles and planes, the war is going to "drag on for a long time." president zelensky hinted at compromise to russian journalists on ukrainian neutrality and territory. translation: i understand it's impossible to force - russia completely from

the ukrainian territory. it would lead to the third world war. i understand it, and that is why i'm talking about a compromise. in kyiv, a few cafes are open, and it is less tense than a month ago. slava and katarina were intrigued by what the president had said. translation: nobody's saying i we should give up the territories, but there should be some compromise or concession. translation: we hope that putin is a sane person. - but it's a very small hope. but at the end of the lonely roads out to the front line towns, the war feels much closer. people risk a trip to the market here. but the mayor shows off his ukrainian—made assault rifle and says that nato's only choice is to give them the planes

and the tanks they need to beat the russians. i think if putin wins this war, they don't stop. next will be poland, maybe romania, bulgaria and other countries in the european union. i think. biden and some of the other leaders have said that if they intervened in the war, if there was a no—fly zone, it could be world war iii. maybe, maybe, but if they don't close the sky, they will be next. ukraine's president was right to talk about compromise. but it may never happen. ceasefire agreements that work generally require either two sides fighting each other to exhaustion, or the weaker side making concessions because it fears defeat, or an outside intervention. none of those conditions applies in ukraine at the moment. so the most likely option is a continuation

of a war of attrition. jeremy bowen, bbc news, kyiv. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the transport secretary has written to the chief executive of p&o ferries, urging him to rehire the 800 workers he sacked with no notice earlier this month. if not, he said the government plans to make it a legal requirement for all ferry firms operating from uk ports to pay at least the national minimum wage. tougher english and maths targets, and the introduction of a national behaviour survey, are part of new government plans for schools in england. the measures also contain plans to re—organise the structure of schools. education unions have criticised the plans saying they lack ambition and won't do enough to help disadvantaged children.

the body that awards the oscars is launching a formal review into the circumstances that led to the actor will smith slapping the comedian chris rock on sunday night. the academy of motion picture arts and sciences condemned smith's behaviour, and said it would explore what further action could be taken. the actor has apologised to the academy but not to chris rock, who had made a joke about his wife's hair. katie razzall has more. will smith was always going to make news at the oscars, but he dominated the headlines for all the wrong reasons. and now the academy has condemned what happened and announced a formal review. while presenting an award at the ceremony, comedian chris rock had made a joke about will smith's wife's lack of hair. jada, i love you. gi jane 2, can't wait to see it. all right? watch jada pinkett smith's reaction. it clearly got to her husband, who strode onto the stage

and delivered this. oh, wow! at first, it wasn't clear if it was an elaborate joke, but those involved weren't laughing. the tv broadcast muted the sound, but inside the dolby theater, shocked guests watched as will smith continued to abuse rock. keep my wife's name out your...mouth! i'm going to. now, at this point, i can only laugh. i you all know i've been struggling with alopecia, and... _ jade pinkett smith has previously opened up on social media about her hair loss, so the joke wasn't in the best taste. but there's clearly history here, too. when he hosted the oscars in 2016, chris rock mocked the couple after she'd announced she was boycotting the awards for their lack of diversity. isn't she on a tv show? jada's going to boycott the oscars. jada boycotting the oscars is like me boycotting rihanna's panties! i wasn't invited!

last night, long before the slap, one of the hosts, actress regina hall, said this. you're on the list, and it looks like jada approved you, so you get on up here! will smith laughing off thatjoke about the couple's reportedly open relationship. he wasn't laughing later, to the upset of those there. it was kind of hard to watch, i guess, because it's probably the best night of his life, in a way, and then also might have some repercussions. and the oscar goes to... and when that more predictable event of the night happened... will smith! ..his best actor win making him only the fifth black man in history to do so, the only question was whether he would apologise. now, i know to do what we do, you've got to be able to take abuse. you've got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. in this business, you've

got to be able to have people disrespecting you, and you've got to smile and you've got to pretend like that's ok. i want to apologise to the academy, i want to apologise to all my fellow nominees. love will make you do crazy things. it overshadowed what had the makings of a glorious night, with a film about deaf culture making history. troy kotsur was named best supporting actor — the first deaf man ever to win an oscar. this is dedicated to the deaf community, the coda community and the disabled community. this is our moment. coda, the movie in which he stars, also snatched best picture. jane campion became only the third woman ever to win best director, for power of the dog. for the brits, sir kenneth branagh finally won an oscar after seven unsuccessful attempts — original screenplay for belfast — and riz ahmed was rewarded

for his short film the long goodbye. will smith appeared defiant after the ceremony, posting this video, saying he and his wife got "dressed up to choose chaos". he apparently partied into the night, but may now have to face up to the consequences of what he's done. katie razzall, bbc news, los angeles. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: a city of 25 million — shanghai in china — goes into a nine—day lockdown.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines: the russian billionaire roman abramovich is reported to have suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning during peace talks in ukraine earlier this month.

russia continues to hit targets in all parts of ukraine. the next round of face—to—face negotiations between ukraine and russia take place tomorrow in turkey. the bbc understands that the first fines for breaches of covid—i9 rules which are part of a police investigation into the uk government lockdown parties will be issued soon. the metropolitan police investigation into 12 events held across government was launched in late january. i'm joined now by our political correspondent david wallace lockhart. and he has been looking into this story for us very closely. great to get you on the programme, david. what more can you tell us at this stage? what more can you tell us at this staie? , what more can you tell us at this stae? ,,.,.,, ., what more can you tell us at this staue? , .,, what more can you tell us at this stale? .,, stage? soap to set some the context of a before the — stage? soap to set some the context of a before the war _ stage? soap to set some the context of a before the war in _ of a before the war in ukraine, politics in the uk, all the talk at westminster was really dominated by

what came to be known as partygate, and those were the parties held at downing street and whitehall, around government buildings, while the uk was under strict covid restrictions, and it all looks likely to be thrust into the limelight once again, because westminster sources are telling the bbc that the first explosion notices, essentially fines for breaching rules, are expected to be announced tomorrow, at least 15 of those expected. there was an internal report by a civil servant called sue gray, and she looked at 16 events that it taken place between may 2020 and april 2021, while covid rules were in place, and she concluded that rules had been broken. she was very critical of the culture taking place in government at the time, and we then know that the metropolitan police went on to look at 12 of those events. at least

three of them were attended by the prime minister borisjohnson, though he denies breaking the rules at any point. over100 he denies breaking the rules at any point. over 100 questionnaires sent out to people who were thought to be involved to try and ascertain what happened, what rules may have been broken, borisjohnson always previously said he believed he was following the rules, but he did apologise in january for attending what was known as a bring your own booze party at the downing street gardens in the first covid lockdown, and he apologised for that. downing street has always said that they will be open and they will announce that if the apprentice or himself receives a fine, but it is important to stress we don't know who is going to stress we don't know who is going to be part of these six penalty notices announced tomorrow, we don't know what events they will relate to —— the prime minister himself. the

pressure on this had eased in recent weeks, with the war in ukraine, some of borisjohnson�*s own mps less likely calling him to go. this will bring it back in the limelight somewhat. bring it back in the limelight somewhat-— bring it back in the limelight somewhat. . ~' , . bring it back in the limelight somewhat. ., ~ , . somewhat. thank you very much, david wallace lockhart, _ somewhat. thank you very much, david wallace lockhart, for _ somewhat. thank you very much, david wallace lockhart, for those _ somewhat. thank you very much, david wallace lockhart, for those details. - on to other stories for you now. a federaljudge in the united states has ruled that donald trump must hand over key documents to the committee investigating the january 6 riots at the us capitol. mr trump's lawyer, john eastman, is accused of helping him to develop a strategy to pressure the former vice president, mike pence, into overturning joe biden�*s victory. our north america correspondent anthony zurcher has more. the federaljudge was looking at e—mails thatjohn eastman, who's a law professor in california, was sending the donald trump. who's a law professor in california, was sending to donald trump. and the january 6 investigatory committee in congress wanted to get its hands on these e—mails, to see what eastman was saying

about ways to challenge the election results. eastman said he didn't want to share them. he was citing attorney—client privilege, which usually protects communications between an attorney and his client. but that protection doesn't hold up if the discussions are in furtherance of a crime, and what the judge looked at here was at one e—mail in particular. he said that that attorney—client privilege is punctured because it was in furtherance of a crime and it was more likely than not that, in this instance, donald trump and eastman were conspiring to commit a crime, a violation of federal law in challenging the election results. so that was the specific finding here. it's not going to lead donald trump to be indicted necessarily, but it is a judge who is looking at the evidence and saying, "you know, there's a chance that donald trump committed a crime." anthony zurcher on that story for us. let's go back to the news that the body that awards the oscars is launching a formal review into the circumstances that led

to the actor will smith slapping the comedian chris rock on sunday night. joining me now from los angeles is variety magazine's chief correspondent, elizabeth wagmeister. great to get your on the programme, elizabeth. i understand you were at the oscars, in fact, at the moment when all of this happened. what was the reaction of people around you to this, want to think is fair to say was a shocking incident? it this, want to think is fair to say was a shocking incident? it was pure shock. was a shocking incident? it was pure shock- that — was a shocking incident? it was pure shock- that is _ was a shocking incident? it was pure shock. that is an _ was a shocking incident? it was pure shock. that is an absolute _ was a shocking incident? it was pure shock. that is an absolute record - was a shocking incident? it was pure shock. that is an absolute record to | shock. that is an absolute record to categorise it. i have been on the red carpet all day, or everybody was predicting that will smith would his first oscar, and there was a leak such momentum surrounding him, to then for this to happen, it was just such a shock. and first and foremost, everybody was trying to figure out what was this real? was it a skit? what was really going on? and i think once everybody in the room realised that this was not planned between chris rock and will smith, once they realised this was an

actual moment of raw human emotion and will smith really didn't get up on a stage and snack chris rock and then verbally also, we heard what he said, i think everybody was just completely and utterly shocked. yeah, think gob smacked is certainly an emotion many people must�*ve felt on that date, watching that as well, but now we have got the academy sink is launching this sort of formal review. what does that mean, elizabeth? will will smith have to forfeit his price crucial i don't think i will be the case. the academy has not given for the detailed guidelines or any indication of what that formal process will include, but yesterday, as this was happening, within an hour of the show ending, they say, we do not condone violence. and the academy will he faced a lot of pushback for that, because someone had your sinew don't condone violence, on the hand, you just let will smith physically, violently

assault someone, and verbally abuse someone, and then you gave him a platform and a podium for five minutes. had this been a seat filler, had to spend on celebrity, they certainly would have been escorted out, it may even arrested, so i think if this is their response to the backlash, but it is going to hear they will be looking into it, because even if will smith is not going to get his oscar revoked, which i don't think you should, because he got this oscar for his performance on screen, which was an excellent performance, but now you have this performance in real life at the oscars, and that needs to be addressed further, because violence is never the answer, certainly when you're in a list of this platform and this magnitude.— and this magnitude. elizabeth wagmeister. _ and this magnitude. elizabeth wagmeister, thank _ and this magnitude. elizabeth wagmeister, thank you - and this magnitude. elizabeth wagmeister, thank you so - and this magnitude. elizabeth i wagmeister, thank you so much and this magnitude. elizabeth - wagmeister, thank you so much for joining us on tuesday with your thoughts. —— ona —— on a ron mcnair

on newsday. millions of people in eastern shanghai have spent the day sealed in their homes waiting to be tested as the authorities try to stamp out a worsening covid outbreak. in the western half of the city, people cleared shops and markets of supplies as they stocked up before their lockdown. shanghai is a key financial and manufacturing hub — and lockdown is being imposed in two halves as authorities carry out covid—19 testing. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell reports. panic buying led to fights, as shanghai's 25 million residents prepared to go into lockdown. from today, the east side of the financial capital is a ghost town. the west side will follow on friday. across china, the daily covid tests are mostly orderly, but at times chaotic. in the third year of this crisis, the government's complete elimination strategy is under huge strain, with signs of pandemic exhaustion. those who break the rules are being taken away by the police. some are forced to make public confessions. here, a woman pleads to be allowed to leave home so her husband can receive urgent cancer treatment.

from the north—east to the south, tens of millions of people are now confined to their homes. beijing, as a city, is not under lockdown, but if you live in this compound right now, you can't leave. that's because there has been a case here. now, these are the deliveries of food and other provisions. you can see they are marked up according to the flat number, and the staff here will take these provisions and deliver them to people, and that way, everybody can stay inside for the next two weeks. in hong kong, 6,000 mostly elderly and non—vaccinated people died in two months. yet, it is thought that nearly half the population was infected, boosting herd immunity. china, by, you know, learning from the mistakes that hong kong have made, they will be upscaling the vaccination, especially among the elderly.

on the mainland, officials say the vaccine booster rate for those over 80 is at only 19.7%. one 85—year—old tells us she and her husband have only just been vaccinated. translation: i'm not worried. we just need to be careful. translation: chinese people do what they are told. - they listen to the government. yet it's hard for the party to shift when it's making political mileage attacking other countries for sacrificing lives by opening up. translation: if we chose to lay down now, our efforts _ will have come to nothing. we unswervingly insist on zero covid. blue fences mark communities under strict isolation. the world's covid emergency started here. it looks like this will be the last country to emerge from it. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. that's all the time that we have for you on newsday at this hour. thanks

so much forjoining us. from me and the team, to stay with bbc news for the team, to stay with bbc news for the latest global headlines and analysis. hello. there is a change on the way, and for some, it will come as a shock to the system, especially in those parts of the uk where temperatures on monday afternoon got up to 18 degrees, especially across some western areas. up to the north, in shetland, just 6 degrees, and that colder air will be sweeping southwards over the next few days. it will turn cold enough for some of us to see some snow. now, tuesday morning starting off with a lot of cloud, some mist and fog in places, rain for a time across southern counties of england. in fact, some showery rain will continue here through the day. rain with some sleet and snow mixing in in northern scotland. elsewhere, some brighter skies developing, a scattering of showers, although eastern counties are likely to stay quite cloudy. for most, temperatures will be between nine and 1a degrees, but in northern scotland, just four to 7 degrees,

the colder air starting to make a little more progress southwards. the cold air tucking behind this band of cloud, rain, sleet and snow, which will continue the journey southwards as we go through tuesday night and into wednesday. behind that, the temperatures really dropping away, with a frost into wednesday morning. ahead of our weather front, still relatively mild to start the day. our weather front will be making some more progress southwards during wednesday, some rain along it, yes, but also some sleet and some snow. now, much of the snow along the weather front will initially be falling over the hills, but we could see some getting down to low levels, say, across parts of northern england. and behind that, a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers following on behind — in fact, mainly snow showers across northern scotland. temperatures across the north of the uk just five to 8 degrees. and that weather front ushering in the colder air continues to journey southwards during wednesday night into thursday. there could be a covering of snow, even down towards the south, especially over the hills, but possibly at low levels.

we'll have to keep an eye on that. sunny spells and wintry showers into thursday, a brisk north or northeasterly wind, so it is going to feel cold. temperatures, at best, between five and ten degrees. so, the days rather chilly as we head through the rest of the week. there will be some showers of rain, sleet and snow, some sunny spells as well. i mentioned the chilly days. there will be some cold nights as well, with a widespread frost developing in many areas from midweek onwards. bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines sources close to the russian billionaire roman abramovich say he suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning at peace talks in kyiv earlier this month. mr abramovich reportedly suffered sore eyes and skin inflammation. he has now recovered. the mayor of mariupol in southeastern ukraine says five thousand people have been killed since russia began its siege of the city almost a month ago. around a—hundred—and—sixty thousand civilians are still thought to be trapped in the ruined city, which has been under relentless russian bombardment. russia continues to hit targets in all parts of ukraine. the next round of face—to—face negotiations between ukraine and russia take place this week in turkey.