this is bbc news, i'm david eades. our top stories. 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. a little earlier i spoke to andy weber, who served as assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs under barack obama. i asked — given the limited information we have a present — whether the finger can be pointed at the kremlin. we have very minimal information at this point. it fits the pattern of the russian intelligence services, using chemical weapons and other poisons for assassinations.

it always raises the question as to how easy it is to transmit these things, as well. what would need to have happened in orderfor mr abramovich and any others to suffer this way? it's fairly easy to deliver these types of poisons. it could be as simple as giving them a chocolate bar with the chemical agent on the wrapper. or a handshake. or an aerosol delivery. so lots of ways to deliver chemical weapons covertly or discreetly, in a way that they wouldn't know. in the case of navalny, they put it on his underpants. the opposition leader. as for roman abramovich, playing some sort of mediating role, we understand, within these peace talks. would you see him as a real target or perhaps an accidental

victim of an operation like this? well, it depends. there are certain details about the meeting in kyiv in early march that i am not aware of. but if he were planning to meet with president zelensky subsequent to these negotiations — which i understand he did meet with zelensky at some point — he could have been used as a delivery system to get to the president. because we know putin wants to see president zelensky dead. so the decision perhaps for this operation to have taken place would have to come from pretty much the top, you would think? yes, in general putin approves these operations conducted by the gru or the fsb.

does this lead you to think the broader picture of the use of chemical weapons, which we have talked about time and again in the past few weeks, is even closer? does it feel ever more likely or is that overstating the case? us intelligence believes russia plans to use chemical weapons. we don't have a lot of details that have been publicly released. it fits with the russian m o. it fits with the syrian use of chemical weapons with russian support during the civil war there. so i wouldn't be surprised if they are planning to use chemical weapons against civilians, soft targets, military targets or even ukrainian military and political leadership.

the weapons expert andy weber, there. peace talks will 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, 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 - 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. 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. the question is when some or any of those conditions may apply. 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. they are due to start in the hours ahead. 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. earlier i asked steven gaydos, the executive director of variety magazine, what he made of the will smith incident. i welcome the apology of mr smith. that was central and necessary. it didn't come last night. you can imagine the high level huddling happening in hollywood at the academy, trying to figure out, what do we do about this, and how do we not overreact, but how do we seem firm? mr smith and his team, how do we not crater the career of a $1 billion business called will smith enterprises? as you put it, in a question,

what do you do when an a—list black actor assaults a host or compere? it all plays into the nightmare scenario. it's a total nightmare. the show was, in my view, editorialising, a bad show, terribly done. they don't seem to know what to do with the oscars any more. and then in the middle of it, you have three minutes of complete and utter chaos. an inappropriate event. i have talked to a lot of people who were inside the building, men and women, and i have been on social media. i think the consensus is that it was absolutely the wrong thing to do, and not acceptable on any level, no matter that he was upset that the jokes were at his wife's expense. it's just, he crossed a line... you know, there is a thing called impulse control which he seems to have lost completely. he won an oscar for playing the role of richard williams,

the father of the williams sisters, serena and venus. notorious for being not only a fierce defender and champion of his daughters, but a pretty rugged character, as well, prepared to stand up for himself. was there a little bit of will smith just taking on that persona at that moment? well, you're making me laugh because in hollywood — and i have been in this industry and this town a long time — i think you find everybody is taking on way too many personas, way too deeply, way too much of the time. taking themselves too seriously, you are saying? that's exactly what i am saying. when you have everyone running around treating you like you are — and in fact, you are, you are a big business to everybody — they treat you like you are special, you get to the point where you can stand up in front

of millions of people and talk about god speaking to you and using you as an instrument of peace and love, after you have punched somebody on the face on tv. you put it very well! i was reflecting on when ricky gervais hosted the oscars a few years ago and he said to his assembled audience, "you are nobodies, just come up, say thank you to your god and push off," in so many words. is it perhaps an opportunity for the academy — they talk about having a review — have a full tilt change of attitude? um... have you ever been to hollywood? laughter. enough said. no, i haven't. stephen gaydos there are variety. the bbc understands that the first fines relating to parties held in downing street while

coronavirus restrictions were in place are about to be issued. it's believed at least 15 fines will be handed out initially by the metropolitan police. the force is investigating 12 events, including as many as six at which prime minister borisjohnson is believed to have been present. our correspondent david wallace lockheart has more. before the war in ukraine, politics in the uk was largely dominated by what became to be known as partygate — those parties taking place in downing street and in whitehall while covid restrictions were in place — and all looks like it could come into the limelight once again, because westminster sources have told the bbc that the first fixed—penalty notices, the first fines for breaches of the rules are expected to be announced today. let's remember, an internal report by the civil servant sue gray looked

between may 2020 and april 2021. she concluded that rules had been broken. the metropolitan police went on to look at 12 of these gatherings, three of which were attended by the prime minister borisjohnson. he's always said he did not break any of the covid rules. 100 questionnaires going out, of course, to to people 100 questionnaires going out, of course, to people who the police believe may have been involved in all of this. injanuary, borisjohnson did — though he says he did not think he broke any rules — he did offer an apology for spending a short amount of time at a bring—your—own—booze party and the downing street gardens. downing street has previously said it will confirm if the prime minister gets a fixed penalty notice, gets fined for breaching covid rules, though it's very important to stress at this point — we don't know who's expected

to be given a fine today, and we don't know what events it will relate to now. a lot of the political pressure perhaps had eased off a bit off the prime minister in recent weeks because of course, the war in ukraine was was taking a lot of the political oxygen at westminster at the moment. some of his own mps who had previously called for him to go over the issue of lockdown parties eased off on those calls. feeling it was not the appropriate time to be discussing it, but with the issuing of the first fixed penalty notices, with these fines potentially being announced, it's possible that some of that pressure comes back as partygate rears its head once again. we will get more on that later on in the day. stay with us on bbc news — still to come... we've been here before — the chinese in lockdown after a surge in covid cases. how is shanghai coping? we will find out. 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 bbc world news, the latest 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. 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 negotiating 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 zelensky 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 zelensky has had to say. yes, there are still major sticking points. president zelensky 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 zelensky 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 areas held by pro—russian separatists. azadeh moshiri there. news coming into us. a court in singapore has rejected an appeal against the execution of a malaysian man convicted of drug smuggling, who has an iq of 69. lawyers for the man — nagaenthran dharmalingam — argued he should be spared because he is

mentally impaired. their client has been on death row for more than a decade for trafficking heroin into singapore, which has some of the toughest drug laws in the world. the courts had previously said dharmalingam knew what he was doing when he committed the crime. 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. - 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.

that brings us to the end of this bulletin. thank you for watching bbc 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 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 the oscar ceremony on sunday.

writing on instagram he described his behaviour