welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines. reports the russian billionaire roman abramovich suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning during russian—ukrainian peace talks 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 across the country. the next round of face—to—face negotiations are expected to take place on tuesday in turkey. hollywood star will smith says sorry for slapping comedian chris rock at the oscars, admitting his behaviour was unacceptable and inexcusable.

and lockdown in shanghai, china — a city of 25 million people races to test for covid—19 as authorities try to stamp out a worsening covid outbreak. hello and welcome to the programme. russian billionaire roman abramovich reportedly suffered symptoms of poisoning at peace talks on the ukraine—belarus border earlier this month. the chelsea football club owner, who has now recovered, suffered sore eyes and peeling skin according to the reports. two ukrainian peace negotiators were also said to have been affected. 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 officer 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. viktoria 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 we should give i 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. hollywood actor will smith has apologised to chris rock for slapping him during the oscar ceremony on sunday night. in a statement posted on his instgram account, he describes his behaviour as "unacceptable and inexcusable" and said he "deeply regretted" his actions. our north america correspondent david willis is following the story and hejoins me now from los angeles. this statement on instagram from will smith in the last half an hour or from will smith in the last halfan hour orso... from will smith in the last half an hour or so... were you surprised by the fact he has made this decision to apologise after that shocking incident?

it's interesting, because in that very tearful acceptance speech, will smith apologised to his fellow nominees and the academy, but he didn't apologise to chris rock. now he has done so, a fulsome apology on instagram. he says, violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive, my behaviour last night was unacceptable and inexcusable. jokes at my expense are a part of thejob, he jokes at my expense are a part of the job, he says, jokes at my expense are a part of thejob, he says, but jokes at my expense are a part of the job, he says, but a joke about my wife's medical condition was too much for me to bear and i reacted emotionally. i want to publicly apologise to you, chris. this follows the news earlier today that the academy is looking into this incident. it is a major test now for the academy of motion pictures, arts and sciences, as to how they deal with this. they really have

very limited scope. they could expel will smith, they could censure him, but it is very unlikely he would forfeit the best actor oscar he picked up last night, only a few minutes after the incident involving chris rock. it leaves something of a dilemma for the academy, because a lot of people believe on a public platform, such an incident... inaudible. indeed, when you look at some of the commentary coming out about this, it really does seem very divided, doesn't it? i was particularly struck by will smith's acceptance speech on the night. when he talked about the night. when he talked about the fact denzil washington, a fellow actor, had counselled him and quoted from him, saying, at your highest moment, be careful, that is when the devil comes for you. with this

apology, do you think there is apology, do you think there is a sense of redemption for will smith in all of this? can he make his way back? he was definitely — make his way back? he was definitely trying _ make his way back? he was definitely trying to - make his way back? he was definitely trying to explain. | definitely trying to explain. he said love takes many forms, something along those lines, an attempt to explain away his actions, i think, attempt to explain away his actions, ithink, as attempt to explain away his actions, i think, as a attempt to explain away his actions, ithink, as a result of the public pressure that had been placed upon him. but this was a very public assault, physical and then verbal, because he went back to his seat and continued to mouth obscenities at chris rock, to the absolute horror of people in the theatre and viewing the award show on television around the world. as i say, it does leave officials of the academy in a very awkward position. the academy has of course gone through some people in recent years over its ethnic mix and other things, and now having to face this very public

embarrassment, if you like, involving of course one of the key names in hollywood, somebody that normally they would go out of their way to avoid upsetting.— would go out of their way to avoid upsetting. david, always fantastic to _ avoid upsetting. david, always fantastic to get _ avoid upsetting. david, always fantastic to get you _ avoid upsetting. david, always fantastic to get you on - fantastic to get you on the programme. 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, could be issued as soon as tuesday. the metropolitan police investigation into 12 events held across government was launched in late january. our correspondent david wallace lockheart has more. so, to set some of the context, 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 in 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 fixed penalty 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 had 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. over 100 questionnaires sent out to people who were thought

to be involved to try and ascertain what had happened, what rules may have been broken. boris johnson always previously said he believed he was following the rules, but he did apologise injanuary for attending what was known as a bring your own booze party at the downing street gardens, when the first covid lockdown was in place, and he apologised for that. downing street has always said that they will be open and they will announce if the prime minister himself receives a fine, but it is important to stress we don't know who is going to be part of these fixed penalty notices announced tomorrow, we don't know what events they will relate to. now, the pressure on this issue had perhaps eased in recent weeks, with the war in ukraine taking a lot of political oxygen, some of borisjohnson�*s own mps easing off their calls for him to go. this is likely to bring it back

into the limelight somewhat. millions of people in eastern shanghai spent monday 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 ahead of a lockdown there, which starts on friday. the 30 authorities have reported a record 4000 new cases in the past day. —— the city authorities. 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 nearly half the population is 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 i9.7%. 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. if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter — @bbckarishma. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. a balance of power, ukrainian ought to have enjoyed some success in recent days pushing back russian forces. in forces. the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worst, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these stations from resurfacing.

the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become - a symbol of paris. 100 years ago, many parisians| wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is- being marked by a re—enactment of the first ascent by gustav eiffel. i 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 russian—ukrainian peace talks earlier this month. russia continues to hit targets in all parts of the country. the next round of face—to—face negotiations take place on tuesday in turkey. against that backdrop in ukraine, the white house had to row back those comments from president biden that he made on saturday in warsaw — that putin �*cannot remain in power.�* earlier, he was asked to clarify what he meant by those comments.. i was expressing my outrage, he shouldn't remain in power, but people shouldn't continue to do bad things, but it doesn't mean we have a fundamental policy to take putin down in any way. in the south of ukraine, ukrainian forces have had some success in recent days pushing back russian troops, raising

doubts over whether the kremlin will still try to seize control of the whole coastline. in the strategic port city of odesa, the immediate fear of russian bombardment has — for the time being — eased. andrew harding sent this report. somewhere out there is the russian navy. and on ukraine's black sea coast, no—one is letting down their guard. "we've had a lot of incoming fire, rockets, bombs," says anatoly, and with them, the fear of an amphibious landing. and yet, in the nearby port city of odesa, clubs and restaurants are reopening — not exactly packed yet, but the mood here appears to be easing. the city's coming alive, ifeel, something like this. why is that? i don't know. i think the fear is going away a little bit.

people think that odesa won't be attacked? i think, yes. and here's why he may be right. along the black sea coast, russian hardware — and russian plans — lie in ruins. the kremlin�*s advance here has stalled, or even been pushed back. which may explain these tense scenes in kherson, a front—line city occupied by the russians. but they're having growing trouble controlling it. when they started using this gas, smoke pellets and stun grenades, so i started running. it seems they are using more threatening techniques and tactics. i think they are in panic. panic or not, back in odesa, ukrainians are still preparing for a russian attack,

from land, sea or air. but what if this war is edging towards some kind of a stalemate? of course, anything is still possible, but here in the south, ukrainians increasingly are looking for reasons to be hopeful, maybe even confident. a guide takes us down into odesa's ancient catacombs. these vast tunnels once helped families shelter from the nazis. there's some graffiti here from the 1940s. it reads, "hitler, go. death to fascism." now, the past and present seem to mingle in the musty air. and yet, from its catacombs to its clubs, today's odesa is embracing optimism, as if that alone were a form of defiance against the kremlin. andrew harding, bbc news, in southern ukraine.

and a reminder of our live page on bbc news online which has updates as they happen on events in ukraine — the top headline is that possible poisoning but you can get all the latest from inside the country from our correspondents on the ground. and finally, i want to bring you this story about the winner of the bbc indian sportswoman of the year. its just been announced at an awards ceremony in the indian capital, delhi. the winner, olympian mirabai chanu, is india's first silver medalist in weightlifting. she's from rural north east india, from the state of manipur where she would carry firewood and water on her shoulders from hills to her home — herjourney to become a weight lifting champion is quite remarkable.

that's all for now — stay with bbc world news. 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 14 degrees, but in northern scotland, just four to 7 degrees,

the colder air starting to make more progress southwards. the cold air tucking behind this band of cloud, rain, sleet and snow, which will continue to 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 5—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 south,

especially over the hills, 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'll 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. but 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.

retired pharmacistjacinta curran is chairperson of newry chernobyl aid. we need the blue on top. for years, the charity has provided support to countries

impacted by the chernobyl nuclear disaster in ukraine.