novichok out the? public there is still not known novichok? novichok? that there is more novichok rather than is any solid evidence. than is any solid evidence. decontaminate and we can undertake decontamination. decontamination. it has always been said that the risk is low. said that the risk is low. this is contained rather than a broad attack. broad attack. itself was a targeted attack on the individuals concerned. individuals concerned. possibility of anything being anywhere. you cannot disprove the negative. negative. anything there and, if there was, it would be cleaned. would be cleaned. that is the work we will undertake. we will undertake. at an entirely name location that was not contaminated before? was not contaminated before? we do not seek to explain that. we expect... but how does one explain it? it? site was not previously contaminated. contaminated. unprecedented, complex and fast paced investigation. paced investigation. so we can provide answers to those questions. questions. all of our minds and it concerned the concern of the public

we do not know much about novichok like other nerve agents. the skripal nerve agent case. what impact does it have on people in contact with it? direct contact, well, nerve agents work by blocking a signal. we end up with eight —— a compound. it stops muscles working as they should. people have issues with breathing, salivation, movement, and things like control of their bladder and bowels. we saw that with the sergei skripal case, and this daughter, they made a full recovery. how would you describe the adequate treatment that may be required for somebody who has been affected by it? as we mentioned in the case, and especially with this case, we have identified the agent very quickly. we know that the hospital has treated the skripals successfully before. they. be able to treat before. they will be able to treat these people quicker than the skripals. what is the lifespan of the nerve agent? i do not know if él—fi 557—555 %£££é’:‘ 2.4.5 554 lr;;,.,;~'4~~ . ..... is even the right way to that is even the right way to describe it. in terms of how

i'd be surprised if we find any other debris containing novichok.pon and it would have been weaponised somewhere, and the second important thing is the evidence that the police and security service will be able to get off this thing, there may well be dna, the container might lead to where it came from. it's a very good day today in the development of this investigation. can we speculate on what this small bottle of novichok look like and how it might have come into the possession of charlie rowley?” suspect it's small and nondescript on the outside. when nerve agents are moved around in small quantities, they are usually moved in small plastic type looking containers, only maybe an inch and a half across and an inch wide, but very thick and heavy. at the end of the day, it only contains about a quarter of the day, it only contains about a quarterofan the day, it only contains about a quarter of an egg the day, it only contains about a quarterofan egg cup the day, it only contains about a quarter of an egg cup full of novichok. they might have thoug

but that is what they said after the novichok poisoning of the skripal family soi novichok poisoningmily so i think that will be a ha rd family so i think that will be a hard message to get across to the people in the area. what we are being told from the prime minister and home secretary is that there will be a lot of support for people in the area who are worried. that determination to find out who is responsible for it, but once again the message to people, don't be alarmed, but also don't touch anything strange you might see, because potentially that is how dawn sturgis became because potentially that is how dawn stu rgis became exposed because potentially that is how dawn sturgis became exposed to novichok. —— sturgess. medical director at salisbury district hospital dr christine blanshard says: dr richard guthrie is a chemical weapons expert and joins us via webcam from bath. doctor guthrie, thank you for joining us so late at night, in particular. tell us a little bit more, just remind us about how novichok works, and how it is delivered, if you like. well, novichok is one of

but how did the novichok nerve agent get to amesbury?t that was used to make the agent that was carelessly discarded. if that's the case there are three crucial questions. could there be more objects? can they be detected? and are they still deadly? we have to bring in again the inspectors from the 0pcw, from the hague, and get them looking at what happened here and checking these compounds are making sure this time that we get some way to axe ablution as to who might have done this. the nerve agent was identified and britain's chemical weapons research laboratory in porton down. it spreads through contact with the skin, through the mouth, or by injection, even a tiny amount can cause the body's muscles to contract, make it harder to breathe and causes a heart attack. there is no simple test to detect the agent and it remains highly poisonous for a long time. our assessment is the risk to the general public remains low. it's perfectly reasonable to carry on with your normal day—to—day activities. we are giving some highly precautionary a

novichok.sing estate, many people have just moved in in the last few weeks and there shock displayed and alarm about what has happened and a lot of questions the authorities as well. it does seem that this couple, dawn sturgess and charlie rowley had no connection whatsoever with russia. the authorities do not believe it was an attack on them so they're working assumption is that this couple went to salisbury and somehow came across a residue of the novichok that may have been left by the assailants who attacked the skripals. the day was left there during the preparation or after that attack, and this couple may have found a syringe, a vile, or some of the residue. the spectre of a chemical weapon attack is back. a number of areas around salisbury and amesbury in wiltshire cordoned off for forensics test. two people, dawn sturgess and charlie rowley, unconscious in hospital, the victims, we now know, of novichok poisoning. and a full counter—terrorism investigation is under way. people in the a

both with their friends novichok nerve agent. both with theirfriends and novichok nerve agent. we received, from a friend who had been with the couple all day, alongside the initial medical diagnosis within that day, and based upon items that had been located at the address, there was a strong indication that there was a strong indication that the decline in the health may have been connected to a contaminated batch of illegal drugs. this formed our initial work —— working hypotheses. 0ur response is entirely proportionate and i fully support the decisions that were taken by initial police responders and by our commanders. i have spoken to the initial responders to provide my support and to reassure them concerning their decisions, based on the intelligence and information that was available to them at that time. following concerns from medical staff, regarding the symptoms the couple were showing, samples were subsequently sent to the stl and porton down for analysis. preliminary results of these tests came back on tuesday evening, indicating they may have been exposed to a ne

they developed a new class called the novichok, which was intended to ove rco m e novichok, which wason is. these tend to be very persistent, stay around for a long while, they are highly toxic, really bad things are. when you say they are known to hang around for a long time, in comparison to other nerve agents, what is the timeframe that we are looking at here? the nerve agent that was used by north korea against the brother of kim jong—un in february last year is called vx, it is often persistent in a0 days or so it is often persistent in a0 days or so in it is often persistent in a0 days or soina it is often persistent in a0 days or so in a liquid form. novichok is persistent for many times that period of time. in this case, it could be the case that the couple made contact with something that had been planted by the original perpetrators and theyjust accidentally ran into it. as i am sure you are aware, we are at accidentally ran into it. as i am sure you are aware, we are at threat to established the circumstances of this. but in terms of that coming into contact, how much of th

we note that novichok is a very dangerous substance, that it does suggest that have been exposed to it very closely, but quite a lot of it. obviously of the sort of exposure that perhaps the scribbles themselves had. one of the problems of looking at exposure is of some of the materials, on the skin, can have an effect, so it may not be more material, but they were in contact with it for longer. that might make a big difference, so a small amount of material exposed to the skin for a long time can have as much effect asa largeramount on a long time can have as much effect as a larger amount on the skin for a small time if that makes sense. it could be they had an object that may they took that to the house, that had left material that perhaps they have washed their hands for a number of hours or it had been on another pa rt of of hours or it had been on another part of the skin, so it had been there for quite a while. thank you very much forjoining us this evening. with that breaking news that two more victims of a novichok poison has been confirmed by the police tonight. thank you for

about agent was identified in the same place used to identify the novichok liquid in march.ropolitan police counterterrorism unit confirmed the latest findings. following the detailed analysis of those samples, we can confirm the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok, identified as the same urge agent —— nerve agent that contaminated both julia and sergei skripal. the latest update we have from hospital is that both patients remain in a critical condition. for the past four months, salisbury has been the scene of massive decontamination after the poisoning ofjulia and sergei skripal and a police sergeant. a number of sites were handed back to the public at the cleanup is still going on in places with the highest concentrations. everyone had assumed that cleanup would be the end of the story so the revelation tonight there is a fresh nerve agent incident comes as a shock to many people. although public health england have stressed again today that the risk to the public remains low. will share police say five sites are being investigated in this latest n

more to come on novichok. are continuing in northern thailand to work out the best way to rescue the 12 boys and their football coach who've been trapped in flooded caves for 11 days. they're being given food, and the authorities are trying to put in phone lines so that the boys can speak to theirfamilies. but they say no attempt to rescue them will be made until it can be done safely, and that could take months. our south east asia correspondent jonathan head reports from the scene in chiang rai province. no longer alone. the trapped boys now have an army doctor treating them. they even manage a smile. they're being given foil blankets to keep them warm. they are painfully thin. "the food is coming", promises one of the divers. up on the surface, they've been rehearsing for the scenario everyone here is hoping for — getting the boys out and off to hospital. but it won't happen soon. translation: we need to be 100% confident in order to get the boys out, and they don't have to come out at the same time. we are

charlie rowley and dawn stu rg ess novichok. charlie rowley and dawn sturgess final novichok.dawn stu rg ess final two novichok. charlie rowley and dawn sturgess final two weeks ago, they we re sturgess final two weeks ago, they were treated at this hospital after coming into contact with novichok. dawn stu rgess coming into contact with novichok. dawn sturgess died last weekend and charlie rowley is any serious but sta ble charlie rowley is any serious but stable condition. he is able to talk to the police there. this is the focus now, this small bottle that was found at his house in aylesbury, about eight miles from here. it raises questions as well as answering a few. police want to know how he came into contact with this bottle. where was it discovered? was it in the park near here. we know they visited the park. the working assumption is that this container is from the same batch of novichok that was spread on the door handle of the former russian spy for months ago. he and his daughter were poisoned. you have that investigation and simultaneously scientists at portland s

novichok was placed on the handle of theirfront door.ed on the handle of their front door. sites they visited afterwards worked the contaminated and the amesbury couple are not believed to have come into contact with the nerve agent at any of these sites. that has left police with one primary theory, that dawn sturgess and charles rowley had handled something that was dumped by the attackers in march, that could be some kind of container in which the nerve agent was held. one possibility is that they came across something in the park they visited just one mile from sergei skripal‘s home. but would it dangerous for months on's it doesn't surprise me that they are still in the environment for months after you. the work i have done has shown presence of agents for years after they have been used. might suggest it was residual contamination or perhaps something was in a container for example and that is what was discarded. the government's emergency committee that today, speaking afterwards, the home secretary suggested this could be the cas

based on what you know from novichok, how long can it remain active? how high should the level of concern be around amesbury and salisbury? >> well, this is an absolute key question and lots of people in salisbury are worried nerve agents usually last for hours but the novichok is a secret program that has been uncovered that the russians have been working on for 20 or 30 years. we believe it's persistent, it's been around on the ground for four months now and has the potential to create serious injury. how much longer we don't know. one thing people are suggesting and i support is that the russians could rather than putting out this ridiculous propaganda could help and tell us what the novichoks are made of, how persistent they are and is it a threat in future. i agree with the chief medical officer in the uk that the threat to the population of salisbury is low but people are concerned and i've been requesting the british government give more information to the people of salisbury. i agree i don't think there's a lot of threat going forward but we do

it reduces the risk of further containers of novichok that could be in the area.this point. dawn stu rg ess that led us to this point. dawn sturgess and charlie rowley fell ill two weeks ago. they were admitted to salisbury district hospital behind me. dawn sturgess sadly died last weekend, prompting a murder investigation, which is now active. charlie rowley is in a serious but sta ble charlie rowley is in a serious but stable condition in hospital, but doctors say his condition is improving, and crucially he's been able to talk to police officers, and they will now be desperate to know, really, how he came into possession of this small container of novichok. they are working on the assumption that the substance, the novichok in this bottle, was the same substance that was smeared or sprayed onto the door handle of sergei skripal‘s home in salisbury four months ago, leading to the poisoning of the former russian spy and his daughter, julia. they will be looking for further evidence to support that theory. meanwhile, scientists at porton down laboratory would be l

we can confirm that the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok — which has beenntified as the same nerve agent that contaminated both julia and sergei skripal. training for escape in thailand. the boys trapped in a flooded cave get advice from the military on a possible plan to get them out safely. we report from syria on the plight of people in one of the last rebel strongholds under fire from government forces. british police have confirmed that two people who've fallen critically ill have been poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. the couple were discovered in the town of amesbury in south west england. the town is a few kilometres from where the former russian spy, sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, were poisoned in march. police say the substance had been identified by chemical weapons research experts. duncan kennedy reports. four months to the day after the salisbury attack, and dawn sturgess and charlie rowley have become the new victims of nerve agent poisoning in britain. the couple were taken ill from their home on saturday are now critically ill

someone has put more novichok out there in wiltshire. either of those are fairly unpleasant prospects. i think the police would hope it is the former rather than the latter. but either way, it is what had become a rently controlled situation has become a highly uncontrolled again. laura: how are the authorities trying to determine the case of this couple is linked to the skripal poisoning in march? daniel: the key is finding out how this fresh pair of people became contaminated. eventually the police did manage to work out how it was theec skripalse contaminated. w the believe smeared on the front door of sergei skripal's house. th believe they know why t police officer was contaminated, because he visited one of the scenes of the crime, as it were. they need to work out how these two people became coated. if they were to find a discarded bit of equipment or glove committee would givesome clue -- this was discarded after the attack, or there was carelessness with decontamination, or some new site that the skripals had visited that noby k

she too a victim of this novichok poisoning.r. she too a victim of this novichok poisoningm pay tribute to her. she too a victim of this novichok poisoning. it has been a life—changing three weeks for charlie rowley. contaminated by a nerve agent, but now well enough to leave hospital. early charlie rowley was discharged from hospital. he has been through an appalling experience most of us could never imagine. todayis most of us could never imagine. today is a welcome milestone in his recovery and we all wish him well as he continues to get better. the news of his release comes nearly two weeks after the death of his partner, dawn sturgess, from novichok poisoning. today in a park in salisbury, a few of dawn's friends gathered in a tribute to the mother of three. she was a very nice friendly person. she looked out for people. she lent people money and helped them in any way she could. it isa helped them in any way she could. it is a shame to see her go. she was a caring person and liked being a mother of everyone. dawn and charl

how long does novichok hang around? we have no idea. is no published information on this tour, nothing from the russians, the uk or the united states. we really have little idea about its persistence and the environment. some evidence suggests it would be persistent given the length of time it took to clear the systems of the skripals, but that's about as much as we know. the working assumption is that they we re the working assumption is that they were contaminated by the original batch. when the scientists look at this, is there a marker in what they have taken from this couple that would tell them whether or not it was the same batch? i think that is unlikely. that might been suggested but we did not know the full details of the actual traces that they looked at. the material used against the skripals was described as being very pure, suggesting there were very pure, suggesting there were very few other ingredients present, other contaminants or pre—cursors, and it is those other contaminants and it is those other contaminants and pr

people in this area believed the novichok crisis had passed.t the same. at the cordon by the hostel, flowers have "dawn, you were the innocent one in this." in a tragic twist, dawn sturgess has become the unintended victim of an international murder plot. the hunt is now on for her killers. june kelly, bbc news, salisbury. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, your live with the bbc sport centre and chris mitchell. coming up, swatting them away for fun! fedorova looks unstoppable at wimbledon. so too the seven time champion serena williams. she gets to the quarter—finals too. —— federer. the time for training is done. neighbours belgium and france get ready for their semi—final showdown at the world cup. business as usual at wimbledon. federer, djokovic, nadalanne williams all won with very little trouble. the only blip perhaps, discover, knocked out by kiki bertens —— nadal and. that means all top ten women's seeds are out. —— this,. many have tried to stop roger federer on the grass at wimbledon, mannarino will add to that l

so, it is high in novichok terms, but small in actual quantity.ublic being low. this text i have just had into the programme, iam this text i have just had into the programme, i am a resident of salisbury and i am just astonished that after four months of careful cleaning and monitoring we find ourselves with traces of the substance still hanging around. how many more times should we expect this to happen? one of the challenges with novichok, this is a secret russian chemical warfare agent that was designed to over match nato capabilities to detect it. so, detecting it is very difficult indeed. we also believe it is quite consistent. one thing that would be really helpful at the moment is, with the russians engaging with us, because they know about this stuff, so that we can do better in protecting it and finding it. that is unlikely to happen, you may have heard the deputy speaker of the state duma say that this is effectively cooked up by the brits to spoil relations between england doing well in the world cup?” to spoil relations between englan

the daily mail leads on murdered by novichok. paper reports on the death of dawn sturgess, who was poisoned by the nerve agent. the times leads on the operation to rescue the boys trapped in a cave in thailand. the metro has a photograph of dawn stu rg ess o n the metro has a photograph of dawn sturgess on its front page. divers managed to bring four of the boys out of the cave today, but the rest must wait until the mission resumes tomorrow. the guardian has a photograph of family members waiting outside the cave, but its lead story is about brexit. it says the prime minister will face down angry eurosceptic mps over the agreement made by the cabinet at chequers on friday. the daily telegraph also leads on brexit, and a warning from the leading eurosceptic conservative mp, jacob rees—mogg. writing in the paper, mr rees—mogg says he will vote against the deal. the sun leads on the world cup and comments from sir geoff hurst who believes victory is inside this time as well. —— in sight. so we began with the death of dawn sturgess,

to novichok — the same type of nerve agent used in the attempted murder of a former russian spy and hisaughter. offciers say there was no evidence that the couple had been deliberately targeted. officers say there's no evidence the couple were deliberately targeted. in thailand, 10,000 litres of water an hour are being pumped out of the flooded cave complex where 12 teenage boys and their football coach are trapped. the hope is they can be rescued before the monsoon rains start, within days. otherwise they may have to wait underground for up to 5 months. there's been more heavy fighting in southern syria, as government forces try to recapture daraa province — one of the last rebel strongholds. un officials say at least 270,000 people — a third of the population — have fled their homes. let's get more now on our top story: british police have confirmed that a man and a woman are in critical condition after being poisoned by novichok — the same nerve agent that was used in the attempted murder of the former russian spy sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia in wiltshire. neil basu, assist

the night police have confirmed yet again that this is a novichok poisoning.months to the day after the salisbury attack and dawn sturgess and charlie rowley have become the new victims of nerve agent poisoning in britain. the couple were taken ill at their home in amesbury on saturday and now critically ill in hospital. this is the moment the emergency unfolded on saturday night. the bbc has been given the phone images of the fire and ambulance services at the property. this man says he's a friend of the couple and saw what happened. he was sweating loads, dribbling and you could not speak to him, he was making funny noises and rocking backwards and forwards. there was no response, you did not know i was there, it was like he was in another world and hallucinating. the nerve agent was identified at porton down the near amesbury, the same place used to establish the novichok liquid in the salisbury attack in march. tonight the metropolitan police counterterrorism unit confirmed the latest findings. following the detailed analysis of those examples we can confi

dawn and charlie came into contact with the novichok here at charlie's home in amesbury.lass bottle found here. police have now released these pictures of the park in salisbury where it's possible charlie or dawn picked up that bottle. the operation comes as some reports suggest officers are close to identifying suspects in the case. four months after yulia and sergei skripal were contaminated with novichok, along with a police officer, it's now charlie rowley who's able to leave hospital, to carry on his recovery alongside a huge, complicated police investigation. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in salisbury. the israeli military has launched a heavy bombardment against hamas targets in gaza in response to what it says was sniperfire aimed at israeli troops. an israeli soldier is reported to have died. health officials in gaza say four palestinians, including three members of hamas, have been killed. the new health and social care secretary says he will look again at the current key a&e target of seeing patients within four hours in hospital in england and at whether it is rea

dawn and charlie were poisoned by novichok somewhere in salisbury or amesbury.n unprecedented test for everyone involved. this is really testing that resilience now, and all we can do is ask people to be calm, to be patient, and let the professionals from the met and from our own police force do what they have to do, and to keep us safe. police were back again today at the park in salisbury where dawn or charlie may have picked up a discarded container with the novichok in it. but the park alone is 25 acres in size. that container, which will potentially contain micro quantities of this material, it would appear it may well have been discarded. this is the principal theory that people are working on, so it may still be out there and it will be essential for the police investigation to try and find, not only for the safety of the public, but also to take forward the investigation, because if it as a container, then there might be other vital evidence on there that can take the police investigation forward. but with all the possibilities now involved, that evidenc

what they are also saying is they cannot guarantee that there is not more novichok in the area.y say that is why they were going to keep the cordons on, looking at these addresses, like the hostel here behind me, also the park here in salisbury, plus one or two other places, in case there is another source of novichok in this area. so the police are describing the finding of this bottle as a significant breakthrough, and have been asking the public to help them on this, while making sure the public do not pick anything up that was not their own. that has been a key search for the police, just how did don and charlie come into contact with that novichok? it now looks like for certain, it looks like novichok within that small bottle but the details surrounding its whereabouts, the type of bottle, are not yet clear and the police have stressed again that their investigations are continuing. 100 or so detectives on this, trying to pin down all these lines of inquiry they have running. we have also found out today that the postmortem examination of dawn, who died last sunday, will be

it's still not clear where the couple were when they came into contact with the novichok.ll have the latest from the scene. eurosceptic minsiters meet to talk tactics as theresa may faces a cabinet showdown over brexit at chequers tomorrow. pumping out water gets rescuers closer to the trapped children in thailand but they still can't get them out. going underground in eastern ghouta. jeremy bowen discovers the hidden tunnels below what was once a rebel stronghold in the syrian war. and gareth southgate on why england's young lions may never have a better chance to make it to a world cup final. in wales: celebrations, including a royal visit, to mark the 70th birthday of the nhs. but what does the future hold for the service? warnings it may not reach its 100 birthday unless there are radical changes. good evening. police say the couple who are fighting for their lives after being exposed to a nerve agent in wiltshire fell ill after touching a contaminated item. dawn sturgess and charlie rowley have been poisoned by novichok — the same nerve agent used on the former russia

they came in contact with the novichok at his home in amesbury.t was a small bottle found here. police today released these pictures ofa police today released these pictures of a parking salisbury where it is possible charlie or she picked up a bottle. the operation came as some reports suggest that police may have come closer to identify suspects in the case. four months after you and sergei skripal were contaminated with novichok, today it was charlie rowley a ble with novichok, today it was charlie rowley able to leave hospital. one of four active —— victims of a nerve agent now at the heart of a major police investigation. duncan kennedy, bbc news in salisbury. and a little earlier i spoke to our correspondent caroline davies who has the latest from the hospital. of course it is notjust three weeks since charlie rowley and his partner dawn stu rgess were since charlie rowley and his partner dawn sturgess were admitted here to salisbury hospital after they came into co nta ct salisbury hospital after they came into contact with that nerve agent

the russian word novichok means newcomer. it refers to a group of advanced nerve agents developed by the soviet union in the '70s and '80s. western intelligence agencies didn't even know about this class of nerve agents until a russian scientist defected, reporting on violations of the 1990 chemical weapons accord. according to experts, the way it works is frighteningly simple. once entering the body, the chemical blocks neuro transmitters that include the muscles. the muscles get stuck in the on position, cramping up over and over again. a person exposed to novichok convulsing and has severe difficulty breathing and their heart slowly stops. there is several variations. one is eight times more deadly than vx, which you may remember is the chemical that's used by the alleged north korean agents to kill kim jong-un's half brother at an airport in february. the really horrifying part is that the standard nerve agent an antidote is almost useless against knovichok. the exact chemical makeup is still a closely guarded secret, but

they have been exposed to novichok ina way they have been exposed to novichok in a way that...with this?m is really what the police said late last night, they'd think so far this isa last night, they'd think so far this is a case that the people did not pick up the contamination from previously identified sites that we re previously identified sites that were decontaminated. these individuals seem to have picked it up individuals seem to have picked it up somewhere else. it has been confirmed as novichok. they have lived eight miles away from the centre of salisbury, but they did go ona trip centre of salisbury, but they did go on a trip to salisbury. that is why we have seen a number of sites cordoned off, with the police doing painstaking work to identify if there was something in those locations that contaminated them. we know because of the way novichok agents work, they haven't picked it up agents work, they haven't picked it upa agents work, they haven't picked it up a while ago. we can narrow it down to the few sites they visited in the hours before... there was a huge c

confirm that two people who fell criticially ill in wiltshire have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok. charlie rowley and dawn sturgess were found unconscious on saturday. the site where it's believed the two were poisoned — in the town of amesbury — is just a few miles away from the site of the russian poisoning in march. following the detailed analysis of those samples, we can confirm that the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok — which has been identified as the same nerve agent that contaminated both julia and sergei skripal. police confirm the man arrested on suspicion of murdering six—year—old alesha macphail is under the age of 18. alesha went missing on the isle of bute on monday. police are continuing to question a nurse, after arresting her on suspicion of murdering eight babies and attempting to murder another six. the government puts forward new proposals on how it will manage fishing in british waters after brexit, which it says will allow a fairer allocation of fishing opportunities. but others warn there will be new barriers, to the eu market, fo

and british authorities have just confirmed that two people have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok, the same substance which poisn former russ spy sergei skripal and his daughter earlier this year. the man and woman are in critical condition. the searches on as to how they were exposed. rttalking kennedy re dayan: four months to the donhe salisbury attack, and burgess and charlie rowley are the latest victims. they are critisplly ill in hoal. this is the moment the emergency unfolded saturday night. the bbc has been given these phone images of the fi ambulance services at the property. ieis man says he's a of the couple and saw what happened. >> he was sweating, dribbling, couldn't speak to him, he was making funny noises. there was no response. he didn't even know i was there hallucinating. duncan: n tve agent was identified near insperity, the same place used to service the -- to establish the novichokid lin the attack in march. the findings were confirmed. >> following the detailed analysis of the samples, we can confirm that the man and woman were exposed to the nerve agent nov

we now know there was novichok on his door handle.re admitted to hospital. that led to a huge police investigation in the past four months or so, including the police asking people for cctv footage to help them with their enquiries. fast and the forward, press association are saying that their sources are telling them that the police have married up some of this cctv footage, we know not where from, with people entering this country to identify some suspects, plural. the press association are saying the police have used this cctv footage to identify the suspects, and that the police think several russians we re the police think several russians were involved. this is what the sources are telling the press association. they are not saying any names or anything like that. we ourselves have checked with the metropolitan police this morning, and they are not commenting on these reports by the press association. all they are saying is, this investigation is ongoing. they are not commenting about whether there are any number of suspects lin

the programme: police in wiltshire try to find the contaminated item that poisoned a couple with novichokve agent. a diver has died in thailand after trying to help the 12 boys trapped in a cave. controversy as donald trump tries to build another wall — this time to protect his golf resort in ireland from the sea. and i'm in samara, the furthest east that england have travelled in their world cup campaign. and coming up on bbc news, serena williams and roger federer are the big names in action at wimbledon today. they are both playing third round matches on centre court later. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the cabinet are meeting at chequers now, with the prime minister saying they have an opportunity and a duty to agree a blueprint for brexit. theresa may's latest brexit plan is 120 pages long and proposes a close alignment with eu rules on many goods, but not services. it also proposes an end to free movement of people, one of the key demands of the brexiteers. but the uk would acceptjurisdiction from the european court ofjustice in some areas. well, the prime minis

dawn and charlie came into contact with the novichok here at charlie's home in amesbury.nd here. police have now released these pictures of the park in salisbury where it is possible charlie or dawn picked up that bottle. the operation comes as some reports suggest officers are close to identifying suspects in the case. four months after yulia and sergei skripal were contaminated with novichok, along with a police officer, it is now charlie rowley who is able to leave hospital, to carry on his recovery alongside a huge, complicated police investigation. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in salisbury. a competition has been launched to name a robot being built to explore mars in the future. at the moment the rover is called exomars, but the european space agency hopes the public can come up with something more inspiring, as caroline rigby reports. it is a competition that's, well, out of this world — what to call a robot set to explore mars in 2021. currently called exomars, this six—wheeled rover will travel across the red planet in search of life. capable of drilling to a depth

also on the programme, as police investigate the death of a woman after exposure to novichok, the homeetery updates and peas on russian involvement. we can see with this incident, we must be led by the evidence and see what the facts are, as the police continue with their investigation, but frankly it is hard to see that there is no other plausible explanation. after a lock—out at that prime minister plus i read residents on friday. she said she secured a plan for brazil. —— brexit. in an entity with the bbc, she declared that collective responsibility within the cabinet had returned and the government moving forward together. but the consensus is soon began to unravel. david davis resigned as brexit secretary late on sunday night. saying he could not support the proposals after all. 15 hours later, borisjohnson stepped down as foreign secretary. saying the plan on offer would deliver a semi brexit. his resignation was announced half an hour before theresa may was due to make a commons statement on her brexit strategy. so with two cabinet ministers gone when mrs may got up to speak the

but would novichok be dangerous four months on? 0ne expert says it could be.r use. work i have done has shown presence of agents four years after they have been used. it might suggest it was residual contamination or perhaps something was in a container, for example, and that is what was discarded. the government's emergency committee met today. speaking afterwards, the home secretary suggested this could be the case of novichok leftover from the attack on the skripal‘s. an attack the government has blamed on moscow. it is completely unacceptable for our people to be either deliberate or accidental targets — or for our streets, parks or towns to be dumping grounds for poison. but the russian foreign ministry, as it did on march, cast doubt on britain's claims. translation: we call on theresa may's government to stop it's intrigues and games with chemical agents. and to stop obstructing a joint investigation. today, forensic teams are urgently searching for the source of the latest contamination. until they find that evidence, they cannot know for sure how it c

people in this area believed the novichok crisis had passed.tel, flowers have been left with a message — "dawn, you were the innocent one in this." in a tragic twist, dawn sturgess has become the unintended victim of an international murder plot. the hunt is now on for her killers. june kelly, bbc news, salisbury. let's look at the other main stories tonight. the leaders of ethiopia and eritrea have declared an official end to a state of war that has existed between them for nearly two decades. eritrea, formerly a province of ethiopia, seceded in 1993. a subsequent war between them led to the deaths of around 800,000 people. the hollywood film producer, harvey weinstein, has pleaded not guilty in a third case of sexual assault. mr weinstein, who appeared in court in new york, has already denied having non—consensual sex in two cases injune. he's been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 70 women. the car maker nissan has admitted that it falsified data on car exhaust emissions at several of its factories injapan. the company has not reveal

dawn stu rgess find the source of the novichok. a critical condition, having been exposed to the poisonous substance. dawn was seen in this shopin substance. dawn was seen in this shop in salt three last friday, a day before she was taken to hospital. —— salsbury. she does not appear to be showing any obvious signs of the illness. she lived in a hostel on the street in salisbury. todayit hostel on the street in salisbury. today it was sealed off. specialists in protective clothing can be seen in what may be the start of their search for the nerve agent. locating the substance is the top priority. one possibility is that either dawn 01’ one possibility is that either dawn or charlie came across the novichok in this park in central salt three, which has been sealed off. sources told the bbc it could have been in —— insidea told the bbc it could have been in —— inside a container, like a perfume and to —— atomiser. they picked up because it looked interesting. some experts in chemical weapons set is not cleared just how long been a ra

throughout all of this it's worth reminding ourselves just what novichok is.al weapons expert, hamish de bretton—gordon. this is a secret russian chemical warfare agent that was designed to overmatch nato and armed military capabilities to detect it. so detecting it is very difficult, indeed. we also believe that it's quite persistent. one thing that would be really helpful at the moment is with the russians engaging with us, because they really know all about the stuff, so that we can do better at detecting it and finding it. stay with us on 0utside source, still to come. landing a big expansion. planemaking giant boeing prepares to take control of the commercial jet business of brazillian rival embraer. here, theresa may has said she hopes her cabinet will be able to discuss and decide on a substantive way forward on brexit tomorrow when they meet for a make—or—break gathering at the prime ministers country residence chequers. meeting german chancellor angela merkel this afternoon in berlin, theresa may said she hoped this would lead to an increase in the "p

the headlines at 12pm: police in wiltshire widen their search for clues into novichok poisonings, as a man who was left critically ill in amesbury is discharged from hospital. not—so—smart smart meters? a criticism of delays in the multi—billion pound roll—out scheme — which may only save some customers eleven pounds a year. nine people from the same family were among the 17 who died when an amphibious boat capsized on a lake in missouri. also coming up this hour, girl guiding gets a 21st century re—boot with 800 new badges and activities. guides and brownies can now earn badges in inventing, human rights and survival skills — as the 109—year—old institution completes a major overhaul. and at 12:30, the click team heads to farnborough international airshow in search of the future of aviation. police in salisbury have stepped up their search of a park in the centre of the city where two victims of the novichok poisoning may have picked up a contaminated bottle. it comes after charlie rowley, who was exposed to the substance two weeks ago, was discharged from hospital yesterday. invest

the surviving victim of the novichok poisoning in amesbury leaves hospital. whole secret of survival was never to stay still for more than two seconds. —— 20. geoffrey wellum, the youngest spitifire pilot to fly in the battle of britain, has died aged 96. good evening, and welcome to bbc news. it may only be 310 miles long, but the border between northern ireland and ireland is still proving a major block on the road to brexit. speaking in belfast, the prime minister called on the eu to "evolve" its position on the issue. the eu's chief negotiator responded that he's open to any solution that is "legally workable." michel barnier also welcomed mrs may's brexit white paper — the one that triggered a slew of resignations in westminster — but questioned key sections of it. 0ur deputy political editor john pienaar has the latest. the protesters often turn out for theresa may but the problems of brexit follow her everywhere. today, she was in belfast with a plea and a promise. a promise there will be no hard irish border when the uk leaves. and a plea to the eu. s

—— novichok.the two people who picked up a bottle of novichok. their bottle was unopened, sealed, now that means that in the view of the counterterror operation, there must be two sets of novichoks going around and so there could be some on the streets of salisbury, which could pose a health hazard. war on the web trolls, here, and we have been reporting on that in the news bulletin a lot as well. do you think trolling... is that having a real impact on our political life? undoubtably. undoubtably, mps will tell you that they got death threats in the run—up to the last election. because of online trolls, determined to abuse anyone who wants to stand for public office. it is having a chilling effect, i would say, on the political class, which is probably, probably a term that feeds into it. there is a feeling out there at the minute that there is a kind of them and ask. everyone is being part with the same brush. yes, there are reasons to go after the political class, goodness knows henry and i do

what they are also saying is they cannot guarantee that there is not more novichok in the area.y that is why they were going to keep the cordons on, looking at these addresses, like the hostel here behind me, also the park here in salisbury, plus one or two other places, in case there is another source of novichok in this area. so the police are describing the finding of this bottle as a significant breakthrough, and have been asking the public to help them on this, while making sure the public do not pick anything up that was not their own. that has been a key search for the police, just how did don and charlie come into contact with that novichok? it now looks like for certain, it looks like novichok within that small bottle but the details surrounding its whereabouts, the type of bottle, are not yet clear and the police have stressed again that their investigations are continuing. 100 or so detectives on this, trying to pin down all these lines of inquiry they have running. we have also found out today that the postmortem examination of dawn, who died last sunday, will be car

the novichok will deteriorate over some time, like all nerve agents.rstanding is that in the case of this type of nerve agent, that could take months or months. therefore it is scientifically perfectly possible that this is the exact same nerve agent that was used from the same batch. it could well be the exact same nerve agent that was used in march, because it would not have had enough time to deteriorate in any meaningful way. can i thank these home secretary for his excellent statement, and join others in celebrating his distinction between our condemnation of the russian government and our support for the russian people? his careful phrasing today and his diplomatic sensitivity is vital. we reassure the house that all ministers will follow his lead and his calm strength. yes, absolutely. the home secretary is right to draw distinction between the russian government and the russian people. with a potential clash between russia and england in the world cup, can i ask what conversations he's had with the foreign secretary to ensure that english fans

we all thought novichok has gone away. it hasn't.uld persist in this way. yes, this is true for all nerve agents, there are a variety of them. some disappear more readily than others. some are deliberately designed to persist. novichok is one of the latter. it is one of the more persistent agents. it seems the police say they found some kind of container, what do you think that container is most likely to be? it will be relatively small. i suppose you could think of something that might hold nail varnish, for example. that sort of quantity would be, if it was fully feels, with novichok, it would be sufficient to kill hundreds of people. it is a small container easy to smuggle in. it would contain more than enough agent to do the poisoning that has happened. what kind of material would it likely be encased in or protected in? presumably you put it in there to only use it when you wa nt in there to only use it when you want to, you don't want it leaking out. absolutely. this is the most important thing, avoiding any contact with the ag