05/03/2018 BBC News at Ten

A former Russian spy is critical

in hospital after a suspected

poisoning in Salisbury.

Sergei Skripal, convicted of spying

on Russia for the UK,

has been living in Britain

for nearly eight years.

Police in protective clothing have

sealed the area after the Russian

and a young woman were found

unconscious on a bench.

There was a couple, an older

guy and a younger girl.

She was sort of leant

in on him, it looked

like she had passed out, maybe.

He was doing some strange hand

movements, looking up to the sky.

We'll bring you the latest as police

and doctors race to establish

if this is another example

of a Russian being

poisoned on UK soil.

Also tonight....

Bradley Wiggins tells the BBC he's

not a drugs cheat after MPs

accuse him of taking medicine

to boost his performance.

This whole thing has just been,

you know, a complete mess

of innuendo and rumour and nothing

has been substantiated

and it is just...

I am having to deal

with the fallout of that now.

An aid convoy gets in at last

to the people trapped by bombing

in Eastern Ghouta in Syria.

And Gary Oldman wins his first Oscar

at 59 while profoundly deaf

Maisie Sly is in her first Oscar

winning film aged just six.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, find out if Manchester United

can get a win at Crystal Palace

tonight, which would take them back

to second in the Premier League.

Good evening.

Could this be another

example of a Russian

being poisoned on UK soil?

The BBC understands that

a man in hospital tonight

is Sergei Skripal, a Russian

convicted in Moscow

for spying for Britain

and now living in the UK,

is in a critical condition.

He and a young woman were found

unconscious on a bench in a shopping

centre in Salisbury.

She is also critically ill.

A number of locations in the city

centre have been cordoned off

and police in full protective gear

have been using hoses

to decontaminate the street.

The hospital where the couple

are being treated has

declared a major incident.

Tom Symonds has more.

Whatever happened here is now the

subject of a delicate and

potentially hazardous investigation.

And so officers in respirators were

tonight searching bins in the square

where Sergei Skirpal and the

33-year-old woman he was with were

found slumped and delirious

yesterday afternoon. Eyewitnesses

said the pair had been sitting on a

bench now covered with a police ten

when it became clear that something

was wrong.

There was a couple, an

older guy and a younger girl. She

was sort of leaning on him, looked

like she had passed out, maybe. He

was doing some strange hand

movements and looking up to the sky.

I felt anxious and like I should

step in, but they look so out of it

and I thought I was not sure how I

could help.

After they went to

hospital, the square was cordoned...

And teams in full hazardous material

suits were called in to make the

area safe. A major incident was

under way. Both victims are in a

critical condition at Salisbury

District Hospital. Sergei Skirpal is

Russian. He is 66 years old. He was

arrested by Russian secret service

officers in 2004, accused of handing

over state secrets to MI6. In 2006,

he was

convicted by a military court in

Moscow of high treason. But in 2010,

he was pardoned by the Russian

authorities and came to this country

in return for the release of ten

spies from the US. Police who were

at his home in Salisbury today said

they are keeping an open mind.

We

have access to a wide range of

resources and services that are

helping us to understand what we are

or are not dealing with at this

time. The focus at this moment is

trying to establish what cause these

people have -- to become critically

ill and we are working with partners

to prioritise this diagnosis.

They

would not discuss the possibility

that he was targeted because of his

past. If so, there are many

unanswered questions. Why did it

happen here in the centre of

Salisbury in such a public area? How

was he targeted? The pair were both

found with no sign of external

injuries and why and why now? And

tonight, sections of the city centre

remain closed off while a few miles

away, two people are fighting for

their lives in hospital. Tom Symons,

BBC News, Salisbury.

Our security correspondent

Gordon Corera is here.

If this is a poisoning,

too early to say, it has

uncomfortable echoes

with what happened to another

Russian living in the UK,

Alexander Litvinienko.

What are the priorities

for this investigation?

That is right. The parallels are

striking to the case of Alexander

living and go. He was a former

Russian intelligence officer who

came to the UK and fell ill for

reasons initially unclear which

turned out to be poisoning. Again we

have a former Russian intelligence

officer falling ill of what is said

to be an unknown substance. The

police are stressing they do not

know what cause the owners and their

not saying that they even know of a

crime was committed. While there are

similarities, it is too early to say

that these are the same. In the case

of Alexander Litvinenko, it took

days to establish what had happened

and what the poison was. In that

case, eventually, a judge found that

the link and the orders for it went

not just to the Kremlin but most

likely to Vladimir Putin himself.

What are the priorities?

What are the priorities? The first

is understanding what that unknown

substance is. That is vital for

treating these people. It is vital

to establish for sure whether it was

a deliberate poisoning, because if

it was, it means that the

perpetrators could still be at

large, perhaps even still in the UK

and beyond that, the question as

with Alexander Litvinenko is why? Is

this someone who was targeted

because Russian intelligence but he

was a traitor or is there another

reason, if it was a deliberate

poisoning? If it was and the trail

leads back to Moscow, then I think

there will be real pressure on

the British Government to respond

and real questions asked about

whether they did enough in the past

to respond to previous incidents to

deterrent this kind of thing

happening again and again and

perhaps again.

Thank you.

Sir Bradley Wiggins has told the BBC

that he is categorically

not a drugs cheat -

after he was accused

of "crossing an ethical line".

A report on doping compiled

by a committee of MPs claims

he took an asthma medicine,

which is permitted for health

reasons, to boost his performance.

The findings cast a shadow

on the cyclist's victory

in the Tour de France in 2012.

In an exclusive interview

with our Sports Editor Dan Roan,

Sir Bradley said he had done nothing

wrong - and that his family

was going through a "living hell".

He's Britain's most decorated

Olympian, but today

Sir Bradley Wiggins was effectively

accused of cheating.

MPs alleging the first Tour de

France winner that he used asthma

drugs to boost performance and not

just for medical need.

But today, in his first

interview for 18 months,

Wiggins came out fighting,

telling me he'd done nothing wrong.

The report by the DCMS select

committee said you cross

the ethical line, did you?

The report by the Select Committee

says that you crossed the ethical

line, is that fair?

Did you?

No, we did not.

Not at any time during my career

could be crossed the

ethical line.

As I said before, I had a medical

condition, that I went

to a doctor.

This has been treated

since back in 2003 when I was

diagnosed with it,

through the doctors

at British cycling at

that

time.

This was the treatment that I had

been prescribed for that

particular occasion,

which was seven years ago now.

Under specialist

supervision as well.

And in place of the rules

of that time, you were

allowed to apply for use

of this medication.

This was not a medication

that was abused in order

to gain an advantage.

That is not what your

former coach said.

He said that your use

of that drug was,

quote, unethical.

That hurts me, actually.

Shane knows around that time,

exactly what and why I was

taking her medication.

taking that medication.

The revelations that he used

exemptions for a powerful banned

steroid before three major races

triggered the saga. MPs have

suggested he came to rely on it to

shed weight without losing power.

Only one other time

did you use the drug

other than the times we know about?

The report says, they suggest you

may have taken it nine times in four

years.

This, I do not know

where that has come from.

I really would like to know.

This is an anonymous source,

an anonymous person.

It does not mean it is wrong.

You say it is a lie?

I refute that 100%.

Yes.

This is malicious.

This is a direct...

This is someone trying to smear me.

Sitting here now, you can

categorically say that you did not

cheat?

100%.

Never throughout my career.

No.

I worked and had the passion I had

for this sport for 15

or 20 years.

Jerseys, I am doing a book,

I have been writing a book,

about my love of the sport.

To do that to the sport...

I mean, it is just absurd.

These allegations, it is the worst

thing to be accused of,

I said that before.

It is also the hardest thing

to prove you have not

done.

We are not dealing

in the legal system.

I would have more rights

if I had murdered someone in

this process.

I have been gagged for the last 18

months because there was a

legal investigation going

on and I could not say anything.

We were still waiting

on this report.

These allegations had

never been put to me

until now.

I have only found out today

what I am being accused of.

The whole jiffy bag

thing was a shambles.

The Geoffrey Bible is a mystery

medical delivery in 2011, and lack

of record-keeping adding to the

suspicion, Bradley Wiggins insist he

only had a legal decongestant that

they -- the Jiffy bag.

What was in it?

God knows!

Your guess is as good as mine.

That package, as we

have been told in the

houses of Parliament,

contain the drug.

At the end of the day, the buck

stops with me. We travelled six

hours later on a train with the

doctor came and I was treated that

evening.

The report's criticism has

raised questions over the future of

Sir David Aylesford who launched

Team Sky promising to be whiter than

white but despite denials of

wrongdoing, he is now embroiled in

the grey areas -- Sir David

Brailsford.

If proven, maybe he

should go, but until that is, we

cannot take this report as that is

it, set in concrete.

How much of the

toll has this taken on a Bradley

Wiggins?

I am trying to do

other things with my

life and the effect it

has had, the widespread

effect it has had on

the

family, it is horrific and I do not

know how I will pick up the pieces

with the kids and stuff and I am

left to do that as well as try and

salvage my reputation from this.

I would not wish it upon anyone.

But the MPs report as gone way

beyond cycling. Record-keeping

around the injection of a substance

for Mo Farah has seen athletics

criticise. The most powerful figure

in track and field, Lord Coe accused

of misleading Parliament about when

he first knew about corruption

allegations, claim he denied. This

is a chastening day for some of

Britain's biggest sporting

reputations.

An aid convoy has delivered

supplies to people trapped

in Syria's Eastern Ghouta -

for the first time since a major

bombardment by pro-government forces

began two weeks ago.

But it was forced to cut its mission

short as shelling began.

Dozens of people are reported

to have been killed today.

Forty six lorries carried

provisions intended to feed

around 27,000 people.

The region has a population

of around 400 thousand -

and bombing and artillery fire have

continued , despite

a UN backed ceasefire.

Our Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen

was there as the convoy set off

into Eastern Ghouta -

heading for the town of Douma -

and sent this report.

46 lorries moved through some

of the most dangerous territory

around Damascus to get

into Eastern Ghouta.

The Syrians refused

to let them take in 70%

of their surgical and trauma kits,

but they carried food and medical

supplies for 27,500 people.

It was a start.

We need to be sending convoys

at least three times a week

to a besieged area such

as Eastern Ghouta,

where there are serious shortages

of medical equipment,

medical supplies, food and nutrition

for nearly 400,000 people

trapped on the inside.

The lorries moved through the final

Syrian army checkpoint

on the edge of Eastern Ghouta.

The fact this convoy

is moving at all is a sign

of President Assad's confidence.

Syrian armed forces are pressing

ahead into Eastern Ghouta

that way, of course,

with their Russian allies.

And if they win, and at the moment

that's the way it appears to be,

President Assad will have scored

a significant victory,

because, for the first time

since the war started,

he will have secured his capital.

The enclave has been controlled

by Islamist militias since 2012.

Some militias are negotiating,

and there's talk of a deal,

but not yet.

The Syrian army says it is fighting

terrorists in Eastern Gouta,

who fired hundreds of mortars

into Damascus this year,

killing many civilians.

Even so, Damascus, a few miles away,

has suffered much less destruction

and death than Eastern Ghouta.

But, as I found in a small basement

flat, statistics don't

matter when an attack has

changed your family's life for ever.

Everyone in this family was wounded

by a mortar ten days ago. They were

out together, picking up the

children from school when the mortar

hit.

hit. This man lost three toes.

His wife has a serious leg mood and

-- leg wound. I asked them what they

would take to the man who fired? "I

Would tell him, when you fire the

mortar at innocent people, imagine

if these were your kids. Would you

want this to happen to your kids?

Your blood is on your hands until

Judgment Day."

. I would tell him he was an evil

coward, if he wasn't a coward he

wouldn't fire on us.

President Bashar al-Assad is the

strongest he has been since the war

started. He says the West is lying

about the humanitarian crisis in

Eastern Ghouta. Inside the siege,

heavy shelling and air strikes

continued throughout the day.

A white helmet civil defence rescue

team was caught up in an attack.

Into this came the aid convoy.

Carrying a limited amount of relief,

for a place the UN Secretary General

calls "Hell on earth". They ran out

of time, leaving before they could

unload all beaten tracks, because of

more shelling. -- all the trucks.

Eastern Ghouta's underground clinics

have been working at full stretch

for weeks. More casualties were

coming in, and for this doctor it

was almost nonstop.

This was filmed for the BBC. The

Syrian government won't allow us

into Eastern Ghouta. The doctor

doesn't flinch any more when shells,

in. She didn't think the convoy

would change anything.

How can a

small convoy help us, including some

food and materials? It isn't enough

even for a few days.

People live close together in

Eastern Ghouta. There is nowhere to

hide, and plenty of places to die.

The grown-ups war is spending and

breaking another generation. --

bending and breaking another

generation.

Three men have appeared in court

in Leicester in connection

with an explosion that killed five

people in the city.

They are all charged

with manslaughter and arson

and remanded in custody.

The blast, in the Hinkley Road

area, destroyed a shop

and the flat above it.

After the big freeze

has come the big thaw -

and it's causing problems

with thousands of people

losing their water supply

because of burst pipes.

Water companies in London,

the Midlands and South Wales

are urging people to use as little

as possible to conserve supplies.

Bottled water has been distributed

to people in parts of the capital.

But in Cumbria, remote households

remain cut off by snow

and helicopters have been making

drops of food and firewood,

as Danny Savage reports.

Getting to the cut-off communities

of the Pennines can only be done

on foot or quad bike.

The 'Farmy Army' are

still doing their bit.

The snow was up to the top

of the door here, with the window.

We had snow all over

the front window.

It just stuck, it's

like living in an igloo.

Gill and her husband have

been cut-off for a week.

So this RAF Chinook over their home

was a welcome sight.

It's been doing the rounds

in Cumbria today, going

from isolated hamlets to cut off

farms, offering help.

They've run out of heating oil here,

so a delivery of logs

for the burner was very welcome.

What is their reaction

when you drop in?

I think they're quite

surprised, but I think

they are pleased to see us.

We are here to assure them

that help is on its way.

Obviously working with the police

and the Mountain rescue and they are

doing their bit as well.

A few minutes later, they were away

to their next cut-off location.

Further south, rising temperatures

have seen a sudden spike

in burst water pipes.

Supplies have been cut off

in London, Kent, Scotland and Wales.

In Carmarthenshire, Darren has

been without running

water since Thursday.

Getting rainwater from outside

and from my neighbour,

so it's not been impossible.

But I would say the worst thing

is not being able to keep

the washing up in the kitchen clean

and also keep myself clean,

having a shower everyday.

Just a very basic wash

in a basin with cold water.

As people queued for bottled

water in south London,

frustration grew at the lack

of a basic service.

7:30 in the morning they sent me

a message the water was fixed.

Nothing was fixed.

I think this is

absolutely appalling.

It's shocking that

there is such poor...

Well, there is zero communication.

In the Midlands, big companies

like Jaguar Land Rover and Cadbury,

halted production so Severn Trent

could sustain supplies

to households.

The cold weather

devastated wildlife too.

The storms killed millions

of sea creatures.

In East Yorkshire, they have been

rescuing lobsters and reviving them

in salt water at fish markets.

I think the industry will be fine,

but from an natural perspective,

it's quite shocking what mother

nature can do.

Back in the hills of northern

England, people living

beyond the snowdrifts hope to be

reached by road, rather than air

over the next couple of days.

Danny Savage, BBC News, Cumbria.

Two anti-establishment parties

in Italy have each claimed they have

won the right to govern the country

following yesterday's

general election.

Support for the far-right anti

immigration League party also

surged to record levels.

The Eurosceptic Five Star

Movement became Italy's

largest single party -

which has won almost

a third of the vote.

A hung parliament is the most likely

outcome with weeks of negotiation

and coalition building ahead..Our

Europe Editor Katya Adler reports.

Her report contains

flash photography.

Luigi Di Maio's Populist Party has

turned Italian politics on its head.

Now, he can't walk up on stage

without getting crushed.

What a scrum, the press

are hungry for him.

Before the elections, Luigi Di Maio

and the Five Star Movement

were dismissed by the Italian

establishment as naive,

populist shambles.

Now he's the man and they are

the party of the moment.

Looking like he couldn't quite

believe what's just happened,

the 31 year-old declared

a new Italian republic -

of the people, for the people.

Five Star's leaders have holed

up in this Rome hotel,

planning their next move.

But are they really ready to govern?

TRANSLATION:

This is a revolution.

Italians understood they can't trust

the old politicians.

It's time for us to work

on serious issues.

But here is the dampener on those

plans - Five Star hasn't won

an absolute majority.

Just look at this map.

Italy is divided.

Five Star supporters in the south,

highlighted in orange,

while a group of right-wing parties

dominates the North,

led now by this man,

another Italian Populist,

but this time of the

anti-immigration Eurosceptic kind.

TRANSLATION:

In Brussels,

some people are worried.

They are wrong.

With the Italian vote,

the people of Europe have taken

a step towards liberation from rules

and regulation that bring

about poverty and insecurity.

Now, behind guarded doors,

the political horse trading begins.

It will be weeks before Italians

know which Populist politicians

make it into government

and whether they keep

their promises.

The EU is watching events unfold

here carefully. Brussels is jumpy.

The two main Populist parties are

sceptical in nature, they don't want

to leave the EU but want to change

and are much less likely to keep to

its rules. That could put Rome on

collision course with Paris and

Berlin just as they are trying to

deepen European integration. And

when it comes to Brexit, political

turmoil in Italy means yet another

EU country could be distracted from

negotiations with the UK.

Thank you.

One of the most significant

political gatherings

for a generation has

opened in China.

The National People's Congress

will consider a proposal to abolish

presidential term limits,

which would hand the current

President, Xi Jinping,

a mandate for life.

The idea was welcomed

with applause at today's meeting.

The Prime Minister is urging

developers to do their duty

and build the homes

the country needs.

She says owning a property is now

largely unaffordable to young people

without "the bank of mum and dad".

Theresa May claims changes

to planning rules -

which would penalise developers

who delay building on their land -

should help to deal

with the shortage of properties.

Labour described the proposed

changes as 'feeble.'

Here's our Home Editor Mark Easton.

The Prime Minister donned the hi-vis

today, determined to show she's

tackling what she describes

as a national housing crisis.

But Theresa May's not the first

senior Tory to get her shoes

muddy on a building site.

Remember him?

And him?

And him?

Today, the PM had the big builders

and developers in her sights,

blaming some of them for putting

profit before their patriotic duty

to restore the dream

of home ownership.

The bonuses paid to the heads

of some of our biggest developers

are based not on the number of homes

they build but on their

profits or share price.

I expect developers to do their duty

for Britain and build

the homes our country needs.

Some builders will tell

you their first responsibility

is to their shareholders,

and it is unusual for

a Conservative Prime Minister

to tell private companies she's

considering changing the rules

to make it more difficult

for them to make a profit.

Among possible planning reforms

is the idea that developers

with a reputation for not building

homes fast enough, might be denied

planning permission by councils.

Not only do house-builders make

returns to their shareholders,

we're also cross subsidising almost

half of the affordable housing

in this country every single year.

So we're doing the job

of government.

Mrs May wants lots more

houses but doesn't want

to upset her core vote.

Hello, do you know about...

People like these residents

in true blue Surrey,

who are supported by their MP,

Environment Secretary Michael Gove,

in their opposition

to a new garden village.

Planning reform worries

these campaigners.

I think this is going to be

a backward step and we are really

worried that these sort

of developments, which are really

damaging to the environment

and the community as a whole,

will be pushed forward,

against the peoples' wishes.

Some Conservatives want the Treasury

to relax borrowing rules so councils

and housing associations can build

many more genuinely

affordable homes.

Others see the priority

as protecting England's

precious green landscape.

It's a surprise, perhaps,

the Prime Minister didn't think it

wise to wear a hard hat today.

Mark Easton, BBC News.

The inventor Trevor Baylis -

best known for developing

the wind-up radio -

has died at the age of 80.

And to make it work,

you simply wind this and now...

Mr Baylis was inspired to design

the radio after watching

a documentary about Aids in Africa.

He believed the invention would help

halt the disease by making

educational radio broadcasts

accessible to more people.

He died this morning

at his home on Eel Pie Island,

in south-west London,

after a long illness.

The British actor Gary Oldman

is celebrating after

winning his first Oscar.

He picked up the award

for his portrayal of

Sir Winston Churchill in Darkest

Hour.

The British short film -

The Silent Child -

starring six-year-old Maisie Sly

from Swindon who's deaf -

also won an Oscar.

But the night belonged to The Shape

of Water which won four awards,

including best film.

Our Arts Editor Will

Gompertz was there.

The night began with host

Jimmy Kimmel using his opening

monologue to round up some

of the elephants in the room.

Black Panther and Wonder Woman

were massive hits, which is almost

miraculous, because I remember

a time when the major studios didn't

believe a woman or a minority

could open a superhero movie.

And the reason I remember

that time is because it

was March of last year.

LAUGHTER

That joke set the agenda

for the evening.

In the year of the 90th

Academy Awards, it was Time's Up

for a monocultural male

dominated movie business.

It's a new day in Hollywood...

Said Jennifer Lawrence,

before announcing that the winner

of Actress in a Leading Role was...

Francis McDormand, Three billboards

Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

So, I'm hyperventilating

a little bit.

If I fall over, pick me up,

because I've got some things to say.

If I may be so honoured to have

all the female nominees in every

category stand with me in this room

tonight, the actors...

Meryl, if you do it,

everyone else will, come on.

The film-makers...

Look around everybody,

look around ladies and gentlemen,

because we all have stories to tell

and projects we need financed.

The call for equality and tolerance

was made time and again

and was perhaps best captured

by Guillermo del Toro,

whose film The Shape Of Water,

a story of misfits and outcasts,

won Best Picture

and he Best Director.

I am an immigrant,

and like many, many of you,

the greatest our art does

and our industry does is to erase

the lines in the sand.

We should continue doing that

when the world tells us

to make them deeper.

Roger A Deakins...

There were long-awaited wins

for two British veterans.

After 13 failed attempts,

the cinematographer Roger Deakins

finally converted a nomination

into a golden statue for his work

on Blade Runner 2049.

And for his portrayal

of Winston Churchill

in The Darkest Hour,

Gary Oldman won his first Oscar.

I say to my mother, thank

you for your love and support.

Put the kettle on, I'm

bringing Oscar home!

The Silent Child, a British film

about a deaf four-year-old,

played by Maisie Sly,

won the Short Film Category.

I made a promise to our

six-year-old lead actress that

I'd sign this speech.

My hands are shaking a little

bit, so I apologise.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Maisie, who is deaf in real life,

had friends and family

watching the ceremony nearby

when the announcement was made.

The Silent Child, Chris Overton

and Rachel Shenton...

CHEERING

Our daughter is the face

of change, let's hope.

You know, it's just...

I don't know what to say.

A lot of the reaction from last

night's Oscars were they were a bit

boring, there were no real

surprises. Indeed, the early viewing

figures show that to be the fact,

down about 15%. That would be to

ignore the fact that a line was

drawn last night between the past,

the present and the future, where

diversity is more than just rhetoric

and talk, it's a real thing and I

think it will change the shape of

Hollywood in the future.

Will in Los Angeles, thank you. Back

to our top story, in the last few

minutes Wiltshire Police say a

restaurant in Surrey has been closed

as a precaution after a former

Russian spy on the woman he was with

were left critically ill in hospital

with suspected poisoning.