welcome to bbc news, i'm david eades. was the russian billionaire roman abramovich poisoned as he attended russian—ukrainian peace talks earlier this month? as russia continues to hit targets across the country, a new round of face—to—face negotiations are due to take place on tuesday in turkey after a gap of two weeks. will smith says sorry to chris rock for slapping him at the oscars — he admits his behaviour was unacceptable and inexcusable. and lockdown shanghai—style, as the authorities there try to stamp out a worsening covid outbreak.

welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the globe. the 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. mr abramovich is on the sanctions list of both the uk and the eu for his supposed links to vladimir putin. 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 in 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. king mallory is a former us state department adviser, and director of the rand center for global risk and security. thank you for your time. i wonder if you agree with frank there about the motivation for an attack like this, if indeed it transpires that it was a

poison attack? i it transpires that it was a poison attack?— it transpires that it was a poison attack? it transpires that it was a oison attack? ~ , poison attack? i think there is [en of poison attack? i think there is plenty of motive. _ poison attack? i think there is plenty of motive. zelenskyy . poison attack? i think there is i plenty of motive. zelenskyy has been running circles around putin in information war. and the negotiations have made putin look bad because he is refusing to accept a meeting with the lenski, when zelinsky has already admitted he is willing to consider neutrality and other measures. —— a meeting with zelinsky. there is a history stretching back to rasputin, markov, and others, and more recently in salisbury, of russian use of such tactics. so would you say roman abramovich is an unfortunate bystander caught up in a possible sting effort or is it aimed at him? unfortunately i think he is _ aimed at him? unfortunately i think he is a _ aimed at him? unfortunately i

think he is a target. _ aimed at him? unfortunately i think he is a target. ukrainian | think he is a target. ukrainian mother, with billions of dollars at stake. i think he is making a good faith effort to broker negotiations that are proving very embarrassing to the russian leader. find proving very embarrassing to the russian leader.— the russian leader. and yet it's an interesting _ the russian leader. and yet it's an interesting one, - it's an interesting one, because he is of course on the sanctions list for the eu and the uk. he is perceived by many, whether it is true today or not, as someone very close to vladimir putin.— to vladimir putin. right. i'm not in any — to vladimir putin. right. i'm not in any way _ to vladimir putin. right. i'm not in any way implying - to vladimir putin. right. i'm not in any way implying that| to vladimir putin. right. i'm i not in any way implying that he is acting out of altruism. i think he is defending his interests. i think he has personal ties to the region. they have proven embarrassing to the russian leader. and if indeed this was an attack, then the sanction for such an attack in a society such as russia could only have come from the very top, namely vladimir putin. ~ ., , putin. do you think it would be realistic to _

putin. do you think it would be realistic to think _ putin. do you think it would be realistic to think that _ putin. do you think it would be realistic to think that there - realistic to think that there will be an answer to this at some point, that it will be found that it was a poison attack, and this is the poison that was used? will that sort of information ever get out, do you think? if of information ever get out, do you think?— you think? if it turns out these chemicals - you think? if it turns out these chemicals stay - you think? if it turns out these chemicals stay in l you think? if it turns out i these chemicals stay in the human system a lot longer, and they do, we were able to establish... inaudible. despite the fact the negotiators and abramovich have not been able to undergo medical testing, there is still some chance that toxicology might reveal the ultimate origins. might reveal the ultimate ori . ins. , origins. remember in the litvinenko case, - origins. remember in the litvinenko case, it - origins. remember in the litvinenko case, it was i origins. remember in the litvinenko case, it was a l litvinenko case, it was a number of weeks before we could establish where this came from. thank you very much for your analysis. peace talks will resume

on tuesday in turkey. and just ahead of them, ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy 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, moscow's forces still haven't been able to encircle the capital kyiv, from wherejeremy bowen now reports, and a warning, his report 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's 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 i 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. i but it's a very small hope. in boryspil, people risk a trip to the market. 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. jeremy bowen there. and in a few minutes, we'll be looking in more detail at the next round of talks between russia and ukraine.

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 instagram 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. i suppose it's almost the final brick in this extraordinary wall of events, isn't it, david, for will smith to at least have come out and not just apologised to the academy and his fellow nominees, but the man he slapped? you are absolutely — the man he slapped? you are absolutely right, _ the man he slapped? you are absolutely right, david, i the man he slapped? you are absolutely right, david, and l the man he slapped? you are| absolutely right, david, and it is a fulsome apology to chris

rock. in his acceptance speech he apologised tearfully to the academy and his fellow nominees but he made no mention of chris rock. he has corrected that now. a very fulsome apology, saying he was out of line. in his acceptance speech, he blamed his actions on variously his love for his wife and the pressures of fame, but he was seen smiling broadly later in the evening, dancing the night away with his wife at the oscars after party. and he must have woken up, however, with some sense of the general shock and disbelief being felt in this town over what was a verbal and physical assault, carried out under the eyes of a watching world. he must have realised that he has to do something about this in order to salvage his career. the academy of motion pictures, arts and sciences is looking into this and they are going to meet on wednesday apparently to

discuss the fate of will smith. that is the interesting part. his statement saying he realised he was wrong and out of line, well, the academy has already decided that for him. they have, although they were a little slow to do so, issuing just a terse one sentence statement directly after the assault saying that the body condemned it. now they have been a bit more fulsome, condemning his actions and conducting an inquiry into what happened last night, but there is a lot of pressure for the academy of motion pictures, arts and sciences with this one, and a limit to what they can do. they could expel will smith, they could sense you him, but as for taking away his oscar, well, that's never been done before. they have kicked people out in the past, like harvey weinstein, but taking away an oscar is something

else. indeed, senior member of the academy whoopi goldberg said today she didn't think that was likely in this case. but the academy has to do something to meet, i think, the global outrage over this incident. the fear is if they are seen to be light on this, that they will indeed be condoning violence. we that they will indeed be condoning violence. we wait to see, a condoning violence. we wait to see. a very _ condoning violence. we wait to see, a very bizarre _ condoning violence. we wait to see, a very bizarre set - condoning violence. we wait to see, a very bizarre set of- see, a very bizarre set of circumstances. 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 on 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. stay with us on bbc news, still to come. we've been here before — the chinese in lockdown, after a surge in covid cases. 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 i 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 bbc news, our main headline. the russian billionaire roman abramovich is reported to have suffered symptoms

of suspected poisoning during russian—ukrainian peace talks earlier this month. let's get more on the next round of talks between russia and ukraine later today in istanbul. our reporter azadeh moshiri has been looking at who's actually sitting round the negotiatiing table. they are still at the ministerial level. it's the first time delegations from russia and ukraine are meeting face—to—face in more than two weeks. partly because the last time the foreign ministers met, it didn't go well, so both countries feel that before president zelenskyy and president putin can meet, they need more progress. unfortunately both sides have warned not to expect any major breakthroughs, but obviously we are hoping for a ceasefire. major breakthroughs would be one thing, nonetheless, possibly the kernel of some eventual arrangement coming out largely from the things

volodymyr zelenskyy have has had to say. yes, there are still major sticking points. president zelenskyy has said he will compromise on some pretty big points. he said ukraine is prepared to accept security guarantees for its safety, and give up the idea of receiving any nuclear weapons. they are also willing to make compromises on neutrality. that is the idea of ukraine seeking to ally itself with the west, with any application for the eu and nato, but that is a big one. only three years ago, ukraine adopted that aspiration into its constitution, so it may not come as a surprise surprise zelenskyy saying, if it were to be that compromise, it would need to be put to a referendum. territory, sovereignty, it is

extremely important to ukraine, the ukrainian foreign minister has laid out some of those red lines for ukraine. translation: the president of ukraine gave clear instructions. for our delegation. we do not trade land, people or sovereignty. this is not for negotiation. here, our position is reinforced concrete supported by international law and ukraine's armed forces. that's fairly uncompromising, and compromise in a time of war is extremely difficult to achieve. we have the russian side as well, any hints to the overtures they might make? this is the question that has dogged diplomats since before the invasion and after, what is president putin thinking? what does he want? we know the issue of territories and boundaries is extremely important to him, he has said he sees the ukrainians and the russians as one people, so that will be a major sticking point, as are the terms around neutrality and allying itself

with the west. but according to us defence officials and ukrainian ones, this war is stalling, and that might be why we are seeing a shift in rhetoric from russian defence ministers, saying the goal may be changing. perhaps they are now focusing more on the perhaps they are now focusing more on the areas held perhaps they are now focusing more on the areas held by pro—russian separatists. let's get some of the day's other news. foreign ministers from four arab league countries have held an historic meeting in israel in a continuing effort to normalise relations. us secretary of state antony blinken also attended the two—day summit, and said that better relations between israel and arab states should not be a substitute for progress between israel and the palestinians. the delegation from the united arab emirates, morocco, egypt and bahrain reiterated their demands for a two—state solution in israel. gunmen in northern nigeria are reported to have abducted an unknown number of passengers from a train in kaduna state. the gang put explosives on the track between

the capital abuja and kaduna city. one man reportedly killed. new cases of coronavirus, a new record, just as half the chinese city of shanghai has reported close to 11,500 new cases of coronavirus, a new record, just as half of the country's financial hub enters a second day of lockdown. the city is being closed in two halves, east and west, 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 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. i 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.

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 9—11; degrees, but in northern scotland, just 4—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 5—10 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.

this is bbc news — the headlines. sources close to the russian billionaire — roman abramovich — say he suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning at peace talks earlier this month — though ukrainian officials have urged people not to trust unverified information. mr abramovich reportedly suffered sore eyes and skin inflammation. he has now recovered. peace talks are expected to resume on tuesday in turkey. ukraine's president 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. the hollywood star — will smith — has apologised to the comedian — chris rock —

for slapping him during