06/03/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten - counter-terror

police take charge of the inquiry

into the suspected poisoning

of a former Russian agent

and his daughter, in Salisbury.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal are still

critically ill in hospital,

after they were found unconscious

two days ago.

It's believed the father

and daughter were captured on CCTV

shortly before being found

on a bench nearby.

Her eyes were just completely white,

wide open but just white

and frothing at the mouth.

The man went stiff, his arms stopped

moving but he was still

looking dead straight.

Military scientists are testing

samples of the substance thought

to have caused the illness,

as ministers warn that Russian state

involvement is being looked at.

Should evidence emerge that implies

state responsibility,

then Her Majesty's government

will respond appropriately

and robustly.

Mr Johnson added that Russia

was a "malign and disruptive force".

Moscow said his remarks

were "wild' and "preposterous".

Also tonight:

In Syria, the terrible suffering

of civilians who are unable to leave

the besieged suburb of Eastern

Ghouta.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un,

has hinted that he's willing

to begin talks about giving

up his nuclear weapons programme.

Food companies are told to reduce

the calories in products by 20%

to deal with obesity.

And, how Picasso celebrated

the beauty of his young lover,

we visit a major new exhibition

at London's Tate Modern.

And coming up on

Sportsday on BBC News:

With it all so comfortable

for Liverpool.

Could PSG comeback against

Real Madrid in tonight's other

Champions League game to reach

the quarter finals?

Good evening.

Counter-terrorism officers have

taken charge of the investigation

into the suspected poisoning

of a former Russian

agent and his daughter,

in Salisbury on Sunday.

Sergei Skripal had been convicted

in Russia, 12 years ago,

of passing secrets to MI6.

He and his daughter Yulia are both

critically ill and military

scientists are testing samples

of a substance which may have

caused their illness.

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson

has promised a robust response,

if there's conclusive evidence that

Russia was involved.

Our first report tonight

is by our home affairs correspondent

Tom Symonds in Salisbury.

A father and a daughter apparently

struck down in public on a Sunday

afternoon in Salisbury.

The BBC revealed today that

Yulia Skripal had been

visiting her father Sergei

from Russia when it happened.

They were left fighting

for their lives.

Her eyes were just completely white,

they were wide open but just white

and frothing at the mouth.

And the man went stiff,

his arms stopped moving,

but he was still looking dead

straight.

CCTV images obtained by the BBC

appeared to show Mr Skripal

and his daughter walking together

at 15:47 on Sunday afternoon.

They were heading for a small park

surrounded by shops in the centre

of Salisbury called The Maltings.

The camera which captured

these pictures is yards

from where they were found.

Police were called at 4:15pm

when people reported the pair

were unconscious on a park bench.

Last night Zizzi, an Italian

restaurant nearby, was sealed

by police, followed today by a local

pub, Bishop's Mill.

Did someone slip something

into their food or drink?

For the police this is a highly

sensitive and potentially

hazardous investigation,

not least for the officers involved.

The key question of course

is what was the substance that left

a father and his daughter in such

a terrible condition on the park

bench covered by the tent behind me?

There will be toxicology reports

prepared but we understand that

several police officers

were admitted to hospital,

one has been kept in.

Symptoms include breathing

difficulties and itchy eyes.

Experts at the research

facility Porton Down are now

involved, testing for a wide

range of substances.

From things that are chemically

toxic to things that

are radiological such

as was used against Litvinenko.

I think people will have an open

mind, they will be looking

at what is in the environment,

what is on the clothing,

on the skin of the people and also

what is in blood and urine

and any other samples.

So far the tiny Wiltshire Police

Force has led the investigation

but that changed today

in a significant department.

This afternoon the Metropolitan

Police have confirmed that,

due to the unusual circumstances,

the counterterrorism network will be

leading this investigation as it has

the specialist capability

and expertise to do so.

After all, as the Foreign Secretary

made clear in Parliament this

afternoon, this incident could have

implications for Britain's

relationship with Russia.

Should evidence emerge that implies

state responsibility,

then Her Majesty's government

will respond appropriately

and robustly.

Sergei Skripal was arrested in 2004,

accused of spying for MI6,

convicted, but in 2010 handed over

to Britain as part of a spy swap.

Sergei Skripal's wife,

older brother and son have

died in recent years -

the family believe in

suspicious circumstances.

He has been living quietly here,

vigilant and fearful

of Russian intelligence,

his relatives said,

but under his own name.

He would not have been hard to find.

Tom Symonds, BBC News, Salisbury.

In Moscow, the Russian government

has vehemently denied any

suggestion of involvement,

and promised to cooperate

with the inquiry if asked.

A foreign ministry spokesman accused

Boris Johnson of making "wild"

and "preposterous" statements,

and the Russian ambassador in London

accused the British media

of trying to demonise Russia,

as our correspondent Steve Rosenberg

reports from Moscow.

It sounds chillingly familiar.

Russia under suspicion of planning

and executing an attack,

2,000 miles away, in Britain.

In 2006, the target was former

Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko,

murdered in London.

The man Britain believes

poisoned him is Andrei Lugovoy.

Today, he dismissed claims

that Moscow had attacked

Sergei Skripal as propaganda.

TRANSLATION:

Why do

they say he was poisoned?

Perhaps he poisoned himself

or had a heart attack.

You talk about propaganda,

but what about Alexander Litvinenko?

The inquiry in Britain

into his death found that

you had poisoned him,

probably on the orders

of Vladimir Putin.

TRANSLATION:

There was no

official investigation

into Litvinenko's death.

There was an attempt to accuse

Russia and a Russian citizen,

me, of poisoning him

in Britain with polonium.

As for the Kremlin, well,

it's been saying very little today

about Sergei Skripal.

President Putin's spokesman told me

earlier, "We have no information

about what happened.

We cannot comment."

Although he did add,

it was a "tragic situation."

But catching spies has become one

of Vladimir Putin's priorities.

Yesterday, the former KGB officer

praised Russia's security service

for uncovering 397 spies last year.

The Kremlin leader has never

hidden his contempt for those

who betray the Motherland for money.

"Traitors will kick

the bucket, trust me."

"These people betrayed their

friends, their brothers in arms.

Whatever they got in exchange

for it, those 30 pieces

of silver they were given,

they will choke on them."

Yet Sergei Skripal wasn't an obvious

target for the Kremlin.

TRANSLATION:

There are certain rules

that the secret services keep to.

When there's an exchange of spies,

the matter is considered closed.

Skripal had been exchanged,

Russia had no problem with him.

Moscow denies any connection,

but a former double agent,

collapsing in Britain,

it can only add to the chill in

relations between the UK and Russia.

Steve Rosenberg, BBC News, Moscow.

As we've heard, the man

at the centre of the investigation,

Sergei Skripal, arrived in the UK

in 2010, as part of

an exchange of spies.

He was a former colonel in Russian

military intelligence.

And Mr Skripal's relatives have told

the BBC that he believed Russia's

special services could come

after him at any time.

Our security correspondent

Gordon Corera examines

whether the signs so far point

to a state-sponsored

assassination attempt.

Does the long arm of the Kremlin

reach all the way from Moscow

to Salisbury in Wiltshire?

And if the attack on Sergei Skripal

did come from Russia, why?

After being released from jail,

Skripal had spent the last eight

years living quietly in Salisbury

but he still had enemies.

Sergei Skripal had been imprisoned

in Russia for selling secrets

to British intelligence here at MI6.

It's claimed he provided

the identity of hundreds of Russians

operating undercover in Europe.

Even though he had been pardoned

as part of a spy swap,

his former colleagues

would still have regarded

him as a traitor.

The fact that he blew a whole range

of Russian agents, there may be

personal animosities there.

The fact that he was a British spy,

a former member of the Russian

military, in most Russians' minds

actually it would categorise

him as a traitor.

So yes, there would have been,

there are people there

delighted to see him dead.

No one yet is confirming that Moscow

was involved but there have been

other incidents involving Russians

in the UK.

As we have heard, most famously

Alexander Litvinenko,

another former Russian spy,

poisoned in London's Mayfair.

And there have been other figures

whose deaths have aroused suspicions

like Badri Patarkatsishvili.

Alexander Perepilichny died

suddenly jogging in Surrey.

One test revealed traces of a rare

toxin in his stomach

and a businessman campaigning

over his death says not enough has

been done to deter Russia.

Based on the reaction of the British

government to the murderer

in Mayfair using nuclear material

with Alexander Litvinenko,

which has nothing, it basically gave

a green light to Vladimir Putin

that he could do

whatever he wants here.

And he has been doing whatever

he wants here for quite awhile.

It is still too early to be sure

this investigation will go.

But if the trail does connect

Salisbury to Moscow,

then the pressure will be

on the British

government to respond.

Gordon is here, how close are we to

finding out what this substance was?

Tests have been going on and it is

possible they may have some kind of

preliminary assessment of what it

might be. But officials know, they

are not saying until they are sure.

One possibility it was some kind of

nerve agent. Some counts about

eyewitness of foaming and voluntary

movements, it might fit above. It

was a nerve agent used on the Korean

leader's half brother. It is usually

a spray. It could be a poison or

tucks in ingested in a drink. With

Alexander Litvinenko, it was a cup

of tea. That might be harder to do

surreptitiously. If it is some kind

of unusual toxin or some kind of

chemical weapons, that may point to

a state being behind and potentially

a small group of states who have

that capability. So it could be a

very important piece of the puzzle.

Ministers will be updated on the

latest are at a meeting of the

Cabinet Office emergency committee

Cobra which is taking place tomorrow

morning chaired by the Home

Secretary.

Thank you very much for

the update.

In Syria, the intense

bombardment of rebel-held

territory in Eastern Ghouta,

has left around 800 civilians dead

over the past fortnight,

according to local activists.

The besieged enclave is the last

area under rebel control

near the capital Damascus.

The Russian military, which supports

the Syrian government,

has offered civilians what it

calls "safe passage".

But the UN says some

are being prevented

from leaving by rebel fighters,

as our Middle East editor

Jeremy Bowen reports and, a warning,

there are some graphic images

from the start.

It was another day in the life

and death of Eastern Ghouta.

The BBC's been following

Dr Amani Ballour, a paediatrician

in an under ground hospital,

through the worst days of attacks.

This was filmed for the BBC,

the Syrian government won't allow

us into the enclave.

Dr Amani and her colleagues

were dealing with the results

of an air strike on a market,

more than 20 dead and 90 injured.

TRANSLATION:

The hospital is stuffed

with injured people,

including women and children.

Their injuries include brain damage,

fractured and amputated limbs.

A child's arm was amputated.

Some children were seriously

wounded, others were killed.

Dr Amani examined a boy who'd been

brought in, presumed dead -

she found a pulse.

They went to work to

get him to breathe.

He was rushed into intensive care,

but it was a false hope,

a few hours later he was dead.

In a siege surrounded

by casualties, the world shrinks

to a few essentials.

The most important is survival -

living through this day

to have the chance to start another.

On the battlefield the Syrian

army, helped by Russia,

has been advancing.

Resistance seems to be collapsing.

The trucks that took

aid into the enclave

were forced out by shelling,

with ten out of 46 still unloaded.

UN aid workers said civilians

were terrified, angry

and many wanted to get

out, but couldn't.

They feel that they're

being blocked.

There are snipers sitting

at the checkpoint exit,

the corridor that is there.

They're very unhappy

with their own armed groups inside,

but there is also this other

narrative, which is very strong

amongst the elders and the leaders,

is that this is our place,

we're not moving out from here.

A Russian general, Yuri Yevtushenko,

said his men would guaranteed

the safety of civilians who wanted

to get out, and he said fighters

could leave with their personal

weapons and immunity.

Russian troops are very visible

around the war zone.

Moscow has given the Syrian army

the fire power to break

into rebel strongholds.

On the front-line, around

Eastern Ghouta, most

of the troops were Syrian,

but the Russians were

there, alongside them.

Russia is now the most important

foreign power in this war.

President Putin was given equal

billing with President

Assad in this position.

The Russians are preparing

for the day after.

It looks as if the end game

is approaching for the armed

opposition in Eastern Ghouta.

Elsewhere in the country,

rebels still control territory,

though not nearly as much as before.

And fighting goes on, It's

particularly fierce at the moment up

near the Turkish border.

Syria's war is changing,

but it's not ending.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC News, Damascus.

After months of growing tensions

on the Korean peninsula,

North Korea's leader,

Kim Jong-un, has hinted

he is willing to start talks

about dismantling his nuclear

weapons, if his country's

safety can be guaranteed.

He's agreed to meet the South Korean

leader at a summit next month,

the first meeting of its kind

for more than a decade.

Our correspondent,

Laura Bicker, is in Seoul.

Laura, this does seem to represent a

significant change in tone. What do

you make of it?

Well not only is Kim

Jong-un willing to discuss getting

rid of his nuclear weapons he's

willing to do so with the United

States and he said he will halt any

missile tests while those talks take

place These are extraordinary

announcements. They come from a

dinner in Pyongyang hosted by Kim

Jong-un where he welcomed ministers

from South Korea for the first time.

Those delegates will travel from

here in Seoul to Washington to brief

the Trump administration. The US

President believes its his policy of

maximum pressure, those

international sanctions, that has

forced Kim Jong-un to the table. It

may well be that Pyongyang is

running out of cash, but it could

also be that Kim Jong-un is lying,

trying to buy time to continue to

build his missile programme. Or it

could be that the young leader is

looking for something that his

father and grandfather failed to

achieve, a peace treaty with the

South. Whatever the motivation

behind this change of heart,

ministers here in Seoul say they are

dealing with the North with clear

eyes, but they are also very aware

of the effects of war on this

peninsula and they're willing to go

wherever these talks may lead them.

Laura, many thanks for the latest

there. Laura Bicker, our

correspondent in South Korea.

Food companies have been told

to reduce the calories

in their products, or face

legislation if they fail to comply.

The target of a 20% reduction,

over the next five years,

is the latest attempt to tackle

the problem of obesity,

which is costing the NHS

an estimated £6 billion a year.

Public health officials are also

recommending new reduced calorie

limits for meal times,

as our health editor,

Hugh Pym, explains.

It's time for action and food

companies must cut calories.

That's the demand from public health

chiefs, who want to see new recipes,

smaller portions or more effort

to move customers

to healthy options.

Here's the obesity problem.

A child's diet might include

breakfast with nearly 500 calories.

A packed lunch with more than 1,000.

An after-school snack at around 250

and pasta and a pudding for dinner,

with more than 800 calories.

But that's nearly 600

above the recommended limit

for children, which is like eating

an extra meal a day.

But with an ice cream

van parked outside this

school in Salford today,

parents told us it wasn't easy

keeping their children's

diets under control.

Well, look, there's an ice cream van

right now outside the school.

There's something

everywhere, isn't there?

So it's hard, but I do try.

If children want an ice

cream, they just want

an ice cream, don't they?

Kids are just going in McDonald's

and eating burgers and stuff,

and even I don't even

know what calories are

in them, to be fair.

McDonalds, in fact, is one

of the big companies which has

agreed to a calorie cutting plan

for its meals and it's

backed a campaign telling

customers what they can get

if they want to stick

to a 600 calorie limit.

Subway is another company

publicising nutritional information

and says all its individual items

are under 600 calories.

Do you acknowledge that your

company and others have

contributed to this problem?

I think with the choice that

customers have today,

there is so much choice

on the high street.

Four out of ten Subs

purchased every single week

is from our low-fat range.

There's still a lot of detail

to be worked out on how

the calorie reduction plan

will work in practice.

The fast-food chains

and supermarkets have until 2024

to deliver the 20% cut.

So the question arises, what happens

if things aren't on track?

So what we need to see is regular,

transparent reporting so we can see

which parts of industry

are playing their role

and who's lagging behind.

If change doesn't happen fast

enough, we need the government

to introduce legislation

to make this mandatory.

There's already a sugar

reduction plan for cakes

and other sweet items.

That has to deliver by 2020.

But the new calorie initiative

for other food runs

four years beyond that.

Some say that's not fast enough

to tackle what's been called

an obesity epidemic.

Hugh Pym, BBC News.

A brief look at some

of the day's other news stories.

The body of a woman,

who'd been stabbed, has been found

in her family home in south-west

London.

The discovery was made

an hour after the bodies

of her husband and two boys,

aged seven and ten,

were discovered at the foot

of cliffs in East Sussex.

Police say they're not looking

for anyone else in connection

with the investigation.

A lorry driver has been

convicted of causing

the deaths of eight people

in a crash on the M1,

near Milton Keynes, last August.

Ryszard Masierak had stopped

in the inside lane for 12 minutes

when a second lorry and a minibus

collided with his vehicle.

The threat of plastic pollution

in the world's oceans has

been highlighted again,

this time by a British diver.

Rich Horner filmed himself swimming

through large quantities

of plastic waste off the coast

of the Indonesian island of Bali.

The Balinese authorities

have previously warned

about the problem and its effect

on the tourist industry.

Thousands of people in parts

of the UK have spent a fourth day

without water after pipes that froze

last week burst as temperatures

rose at the weekend.

Water companies have continued work

to restore supplies to homes

and businesses in parts of London,

Kent, Sussex and parts of Wales.

The industry regulator, Ofwat,

said suppliers had "fallen well

short" on their forward planning.

Our correspondent,

Emma Simpson, reports.

A Sussex country pub with lots

of beer, but no running water.

Not today.

I'm really sorry.

That's all right.

They've been saying sorry

to customers since Saturday,

200 lost bookings, and counting.

How much is this all

going to cost you?

Probably £6,000, £7,000 so far.

It's devastation,

we can't open and we've lost food.

We've lost our revenue, you know.

Down the road, yet more emergency

supplies for households in need.

Oh, we're managing.

You know, we're British, aren't we!

They were helping themselves in west

Wales, and there are still thousands

without water in London.

Here's the problem -

just one of many burst pipes

still being repaired.

No quick-fix, but

progress is being made.

The big freeze has put an enormous

strain on the water network,

but critics say the water companies

should be investing much

more in improving ageing

infrastructure and making

the system more resilient.

South East Water will invest

£450 million into its infrastructure

from 2015 to 2020.

We're dealing with an unprecedented

event here due to the weather,

where we've seen a 25% increase

in burst and water demand

over a couple of days.

Back at the pub, the chef's

cleaning, not cooking.

They just want to know

when they can re-open.

This ale won't keep

if it's not soon, yet more

money being poured away.

Emma Simpson, BBC News, Wadhurst.

A former private investigator,

engaged by the Sunday Times

and other media, has spoken

for the first time about the extent

of the criminal activity

he was involved in while obtaining

information for the papers.

John Ford told the BBC that hundreds

of members of the public and well

over a dozen leading politicians,

including Tony Blair and Gordon

Brown, were among his targets.

His admissions come days

after the Government

abandoned the second phase

of the Leveson Inquiry

into press standards.

Our media editor, Amol

Rajan, has the story.

I did their phones,

I did their mobiles,

I did their bank accounts.

I stole their rubbish.

For 15 years, John Ford was engaged

by The Sunday Times.

Now, for the first time,

he's speaking out about what he did,

including targeting Tony Blair

and Gordon Brown.

He received a police caution

for fraud in the course of his work.

As a private investigator,

he earned up to £40,000 a year.

There were a lot of people who say

that Britain's newspapers for many

years harboured huge and industrial

scale criminal activity.

Does your experience, working

for them, suggest that's true?

Absolutely, and I was at

the forefront of it,

I'm ashamed to say.

For almost two centuries,

The Sunday Times has been

an ornament to British journalism,

launching many of the most famous

campaigns and names in the trade.

Like other titles owned

by Rupert Murdoch, it was involved

in the Leveson Inquiry

into press ethnics.

Last week the Government

finally scrapped phase two

of the Leveson Inquiry,

which was due to look at allegations

of police corruption and failures

of corporate governance

at Murdoch's News International

and other media organisations.

The Government and newspapers argue

it would be an expensive distraction

from the real challenges

facing the industry.

But together with Hacked Off,

the group campaigniing

for victims of press abuse,

John Ford wants to see

phase two happen.

How many members of

the British Cabinet in that

New Labour period, after 1997,

do you think you targeted?

15 to 20.

Can you describe the nature

of your attacks on members

of the British Cabinet?

Aggressive, unprincipled.

Fishing expeditions often.

What is the nature of the fishing

expeditions that you conducted

on the British Cabinet?

Hundreds of telephone interceptions,

hundreds of bank interceptions.

Utilities, I've been

through mortgages,

I've stolen rubbish.

I've...

I mean, I'm afraid

the list is endless.

Not all that John Ford did

was illegal, some of it may have

been in the public interest.

In a statement, a spokesperson

for The Sunday Times said...

The Sunday Times has also said "it

has always been its expectation

and practice that its contractors

work within the law."

The Government says that we need

to move on and fight the next

battle, but with Sir Brian Leveson

and victims of press

abuse saying that we need

phase two of his inquiry,

Fleet Street's past still casts

a long shadow over its future.

You're aware clearly that you're

confessing, as it were,

to large scale criminality?

Yeah.

What do you think are likely to be

the legal repercussions for you now?

I don't know.

But as far as whatever

is coming my way, I'm ready

to accept it because what I want

is my conscience to be clear.

Amol Rajan, BBC News.

Picasso's young lover,

Marie-Therese Walter,

inspired some of his most celebrated

works of art.

A new exhibition, at

London's Tate Modern,

focuses on Picasso's work

from the year 1932

and includes The Dream,

and Nude In A Black Armchair.

One of Picasso's portraits

of Walter sold recently

for nearly £50 million.

Our arts correspondent, David

Sillito, reports from Tate Modern.

There's a lot of emotion in this

exhibition. It's kind of into lust

and into life. There's also drama.

Normally a Tate show would be a

retrospective of a life's work, but

this is just one year of Picassos.

That year is 1932. This is Picasso

and this is his wife Olga. But when

you look at the paintings, it's

another face.

Wherever you look you see the same

shock of blonde hair, the same

profile. Here she is again. The same

hair, the same profile. We're not

looking at Picasso's wife here

though, this is Marie-Theres Walter.

This is her granddaughter, Diana.

Two generations may have passed, but

I think you can probably see a

certain family likeness.

What I

think of, it as a granddaughter,

when I walk in an exhibition like

this, is that it's not a great

artist it's a an accounter.

She is

everywhere. An obsession. Picasso

was approaching 50 when the affair

began. Marie-Therese was a teenager.

She was very young when she met

Picasso. 17.

She was 17-and-a-half!

And she's accepting the idea to see

him again the following day. So she

was young, but she was also

adventurous. If a relationship can

bring you to an extraordinary level

of life experience, I could never

judge that.

These days we've grown

used to this new way of seeing. A

Marie.

-Therese Picasso can go for £100

million. That is the art market.

This is the story of the man and the

women behind the paintings. David

Sillito, BBC News.

Newsnight is coming up on BBC Two.

Here's Kirsty Wark.

Tonight, as a former Russian double

agent and his daughter remain

critically ill in hospital, our

diplomatic editor has the latest on

his condition.

Join me now on BBC Two.