08/03/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at ten, Wiltshire Police

praise the bravery of an officer

who went to the aid of the Russian

former spy and his daughter,

poisoned by a nerve agent.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey

is said to be in a serious

condition in hospital.

He's well, he's sat up.

He's not the Nick that I know,

but of course he's receiving

a high level of treatment.

Tonight, the area in Salisbury

where the attack took place

remains cordoned off.

But it's still unclear how and why

Sergei Skripal and his daughter

Yulia were targeted.

We'll have the latest

reaction from Moscow,

as the Kremlin continues to deny it

had any involvement

in the attempted murders.

Also tonight.

An Old Bailey jury is shown video

of the moment a bomb partially

explodes, on a tube train last

September.

Donald Trump signs off on higher

tariffs for aluminium and steel

imports, sparking fears

of a global trade war.

New figures show tens of thousands

of patients had non urgent

operations cancelled,

as the NHS struggled to cope

with the winter crisis.

And the cycling senior citizens,

who are as fit as fiddles.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News, it's a perfect night

for Arsenal in the last 16

of the Europa League.

2-0 they lead AC Milan,

heading into the second leg.

Good evening.

Police in Wiltshire have

praised the bravery of one

of their officers, who went

to the aid of the former Russian spy

Sergei Skripal and his daughter,

after they were poisoned by a nerve

agent in Salisbury.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey

is still in a serious

condition in hospital.

It's still unclear how

and why Mr Skripal,

and his 33-year-old daughter,

were targeted last Sunday afternoon.

Our home affairs correspondent

Tom Symonds reports from Salisbury.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is 38

years old, a decorated officer

with plenty of experience

on the front line of policing.

He's still in a serious condition,

but the good news today

is he is awake and talking.

He's a great character.

He is a huge presence

in Wiltshire Police, a well-loved

and massively dedicated officer.

He is clearly receiving high,

specialist treatment.

He is well, he's sat up.

He's not the Nick I know,

but he is receiving

a high level of treatment.

He's very anxious, he's very

concerned. He did his very best on

that night. All of our stuff that

attended the incident in Salisbury

in the Maltings performed the role

that police officers and police

staff do every day up and down the

country.

The inquiry's not letting up.

Police began what appeared

to be a major search

and possible decontamination

of Sergei Skripal's house today.

For a while, they even taped off

the graves of his wife and son.

The use of a nerve agent on UK soil

is a brazen and reckless act. This

was attempted murder in the most

cruel and public way. People are

right to want to know who to hold to

account. But if we are to be

rigorous in this investigation we

must avoid speculation and allow the

police to carry on their

investigation.

The BBC has been told

the nerve agent used was not sarin

or VX, which have been used as

weapons of the past, but rarer.

Decontamination teams were heavily

protected on Sunday.

Look at this picture

from earlier that day.

No respirators or suits.

These officers could not have known

they were about to deal with the use

of a chemical weapon in their city.

The risk they faced became obvious

today, when a bench on which the

Skripals was sitting was exposed by

a gust of wind. Just look at the

operation needed to go in and paid

it down again. Four days on from the

incident and it wasn't just police

officers who risked being exposed

that afternoon.

I've spoken to a doctor

who was there.

She's asked us not to name her

but she says she came

across Yulia Skripal slumped over

the bench, unconscious,

not breathing, vomiting

and having a fit.

She stepped in.

She got Yulia onto the floor,

she got her breathing

and handed her patient

over to paramedics.

She's concerned about what she's

come into contact with,

but she feels fine.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal,

attacked as she came to Britain

from Russia to visit him,

are not getting better.

They remain in a critical

condition, as the race

to find their assailant -

or assailants - continues.

Tom Symonds, BBC News, Salisbury.

Suggestions that the Kremlin may

have been involved in the poisoning

have sparked anger in Russia.

State media has complained

of an anti-Russian campaign

by the West, with little sympathy

for Sergei Skripal,

as our Moscow correspondent

Steve Rosenberg reports.

Moscow feels a world away

from the drama of Salisbury.

Relaxed Russians are out

enjoying a public holiday,

determined not to allow a spy

scandal to spoil their day.

People here are short

on sympathy for Sergei Skripal.

TRANSLATION:

The fewer secrets

you sell, the longer you'll live.

TRANSLATION:

Don't

betray your motherland.

Then you'll have no problems.

TRANSLATION:

When he was in prison

in Russia, he was healthy.

He goes to Britain

and gets poisoned.

He should have stayed here.

It's a similar message

from Russian TV.

The Kremlin-controlled media have

been mocking Boris Johnson

and making fun of Britain.

If you're a professional traitor,

he says, my advice,

don't move to England.

Something's not right there,

the climate, perhaps.

But too many bad things go

on there - people are hanged,

poisoned, helicopter crashes

or they fall out of windows.

Under Vladimir Putin,

the Kremlin has sent a very clear

message to the Russian people

that their country is a besieged

fortress, threatened by enemies

abroad and traitors at home.

That's why there's little sympathy

here for Sergei Skripal.

And if Moscow did target

Sergei Skripal...

Most Russian people, not me,

of course, most Russian people

would take pride in it

because there is a very black

and white worldview -

it's us against them.

Putin has brought this

back in a big way.

Today, the president

delivered a special address.

No mention of spies.

He congratulated Russian women

on International Women's Day.

Moscow knows it's under suspicion

but the Kremlin is acting

as if it's business as usual.

Steve Rosenberg, BBC News, Moscow.

Our security correspondent

Gordon Corera is live outside

the headquarters of MI6 tonight.

Are we any closer to understanding

who was behind all this, and why?

Well, the identity of that rare

nerve agent will still be a crucial

clue to establishing that.

Government officials are still

cautious about pointing the finger

publicly. They want to make sure

they have as many facts as possible

before doing that. But in terms of

motive, there has been speculation

that perhaps Sergei Skripal was

still involved in some kind of

active ongoing intelligence work,

but sources I've spoken to have said

there's no sign or suggestion of

that will stop there's even been

talk that perhaps he was involved

somehow in that dossier on Donald

Trump drawn up by a former MI6

officer, Chris Steele, but sources

close to Orbis, Chris Steele's

company, say they have no links

whatsoever with Sergei Skripal. So

what does that leave? Well, dull the

possibility of revenge, revenge by

Sergei Skripal's former colleagues

in Russian intelligence for his

works buying for British

intelligence, revenge and perhaps a

message to anyone else thinking of

doing the same. And that will worry

MI6 here will stop it will worry

them, because they don't want the

perception to be out there that they

can't protect the lives of their

agents, even when those agents are

in the UK.

Gordon Corera outside MI6

HQ in London.

A jury at the Old Bailey has been

shown a video of the moment a bomb

partially exploded on a tube train

in southwest London.

Some of the passengers have been

describing in court how their hair

and clothes caught fire

in the packed carriage

last September.

30 people were injured

at Parsons Green station.

Ahmed Hassan, who's 18,

denies attempted murder.

June Kelly has more.

The moment when a fireball engulfed

a packed train carriage.

It left passengers burning

and screaming in pain,

the Old Bailey heard today.

This is Ahmed Hassan, the teenager

on trial for the attack.

Here shopping at Asda the day

before, and being asked for his ID.

He bought batteries

and screwdrivers.

Hassan is an 18-year-old asylum

seeker, and the following morning

CCTV showed him leaving his foster

parents' home in Sunbury, in Surrey.

Other cameras captured his journey

as he carried a little plastic bag,

said to contain his bomb.

At Wimbledon station

he went into the toilets,

where it's alleged he set the timer

on the device, and then he made

for an underground train.

A few stops down the District line,

he got off, leaving his little bag

and its contents behind.

As the train pulled

into Parsons Green station,

the device only partially exploded,

but a number of passengers

were burned by the fireball.

This computer-generated graphic

shows the scene on board

the train after the attack.

Today, some of those caught up

in the blast described in court how

the ball of flame rolled

down the carriage.

Aimee Colville told the jury

that her hair caught fire

and she saw a wall of glass.

Victoria Holloway spoke

of a whooshing sound,

as if someone had lit

a Bunsen burner.

She said the flames

were touching her legs

and wrapping around her skin.

Two of the passengers were in tears

as they gave their evidence.

They testified from behind

a screen and could be

seen by only the judge,

jury and lawyers.

One of them, known only as Miss S,

described how on that

morning her coat was burning

and her tights were melting.

She's been left scarred after burns

to her hands, legs and face.

June Kelly, BBC News,

at the Old Bailey.

President Trump has signed into law

new tariffs on steel and aluminium

entering the United States,

prompting fears of

a global trade war.

The European Union and China have

already said they'll retaliate,

and the President's chief economic

advisor has resigned over the issue.

Mr Trump says the new tariffs

are being imposed for national

security reasons, and that American

industry has been "ravaged

by aggressive foreign trade

practices" for far too long.

Our North America correspondent

Nick Bryant reports.

History is often written

with a presidential pen,

and with steelworkers who helped

put him in the White House

at his shoulder, Donald Trump

added his name to a signature

campaign promise -

putting American first

by imposing tariffs on foreign

steel and aluminium.

APPLAUSE.

The American steel and

aluminium industry has been

ravaged by aggressive

foreign trade practices.

It's really an assault

on our country.

The workers who poured their souls

into building this great

nation were betrayed,

but that betrayal is now over.

Defending America's industrial

heartland has prompted his most

protectionist move yet,

one that strikes a blow

against globalisation -

the integrated system of worldwide

commerce, from which these rust belt

communities feel excluded.

American steel...

American steel...

American steel...

A promise made, a promise kept.

Wait till you see what I'm

going to do for steel.

Now it's time for action.

It's the glut of steel

produced in China that's

angered the president,

but that accounts for just 2%

of US steel imports.

Bigger importers, such

as Canada and Mexico,

are initially exempted.

It's not clear whether

Britain will be punished.

European Union countries

could be hard-hit.

President Trump has recently

said, and I quote...

"Trade wars are good

and easy to win."

But the truth is quite the opposite.

Trade war are bad and easy to lose.

Harley-Davidson, the quintessential

Middle America brand,

and for that very reason a likely

target for EU retaliation.

Trump supporters in key battle

ground states, like Wisconsin,

could be caught in the crossfire.

A trade war won't benefit anybody.

I generally believe in free trade.

I don't think he's serious

about it, regardless.

I think he's just trying to scare

people into getting some

concessions, which is how he rolls.

It's too late to save these

old steel mills in Pennsylvania.

Many senior Republicans fear

that this act of economic

nationalism could also be an act

of national self harm.

Nick Bryant, BBC News, Washington.

All this on a day when 11 Pacific

rim countries signed a landmark

trade agreement, the transpacific

partnership which was intended by

the Obama administration as a

counterweight to China, but which

the Trump Administration pulled out

of. This feels like a milestone

moment for the international system

and another example of America

first, leaving America alone.

Nick Bryant, live in Washington.

Tens of thousands of patients in

England had their non-urgent

operations like me and hip

operations postponed in January.

Figures show AMD departments missed

waiting time targets in their worst

performance since

records began.

Our health editor

Hugh Pym has more.

New Year brought extraordinary

pressure, illustrated in the new BBC

hospital series filmed

at Nottingham University

Hospitals Trust.

Today we have run out of space.

We are being asked to cancel any

nonessential activities.

So not cancer, not clinically

urgent, but pretty

much anything else.

I can't see the sense

in cancelling...

Word has come through from NHS

leaders that all non-urgent surgery

should be cancelled for the month

to free up beds for emergencies.

I'm very sorry, but I don't know

if you've heard the recent news,

but we have a bed crisis

in the hospital.

We're going to have to cancel

operations at this moment.

I'm afraid it's bad news.

We are going to have

to cancel tomorrow.

I'm really sorry.

Sometimes that meant operating

theatres were lying empty.

We don't know when we can start

operating again at the moment.

We've never had it

as bad as this before.

We're just left,

largely, at a loose end.

We're being paid to work,

but just trying to find

something constructive to do.

By February operations had resumed.

But patients elsewhere, like Scott,

are still facing delays.

He was told the day before his back

operation it had been put off,

and he doesn't know

when it will happen.

I'm very, very frustrated.

I'm annoyed and I'm hurt,

because now I've got to go

through this all over again.

In December, there were nearly

27,000 fewer routine

operations carried out

in England than the same month

a year earlier.

In January, after the national

NHS intervention, there

was a drop of nearly 14,500.

For the most recent two week

period, bed occupancy

in hospitals at more than 95%

was the highest this winter.

Some hospitals though worked hard

to avoid cancelling operations.

It is a very bad patient

experience to cancel surgery.

These patients have very often been

waiting for a very long time

to have their procedure done

and then cancelling it one or two

days before it's been planned

is a thing that you really

want to avoid.

NHS England said February

was the most pressurised month

in the history of the service,

with high levels of flu -

the background to another

deterioration in A&E performance.

Hugh Pym, BBC News.

And you can see more from that

documentary - Hospital -

featured in Hugh's report,

on BBC Two at 9:00pm

on Monday 26th March.

Ministers in Ireland have

approved a referendum

bill on whether to amend

the constitution, making it easier

for women to have abortions.

The current law gives a mother

and her unborn child

an equal right to life,

and this has been the basis

for strict abortion controls.

The nationwide referendum

will be held in May.

Our correspondent Chris

Page has been hearing

the arguments on both sides.

This is a nation which was once seen

as the most socially

conservative in western Europe,

but it feels like

change has been swift.

In the next few months, Ireland

will make a defining decision.

Tens of thousands of Irish women

have travelled to other

countries to have abortions.

Gaye Edwards' baby,

who she and her husband

named Joshua, had a fatal

condition called anencephaly.

She says having to go away

to end her pregnancy

magnified her grief.

While I knew that I had come

to the right decision for me,

it made me feel that society

viewed my decision as

being somehow wrong.

When you really need to be taken

care of you feel like you're just...

Pushed aside and into a corner.

Stories like Gaye's have helped

to bring about the referendum.

Voters will decide whether to remove

the Eighth Amendment

of the Irish Constitution,

which gives an unborn child

and a pregnant woman

an equal right to life.

These canvassers are campaigning

to repeal the Eighth.

Abortions are happening in Ireland,

they're happening dangerously

and they're happening illegally.

We're on the shoulders

of generations of women who have

been organising and working

for this shift forward.

If the change to the constitution

is approved in the referendum,

the parliament in Dublin

will determine how available

terminations will be.

Ministers want to allow

abortions up to 12 weeks

into a pregnancy and in some

limited circumstances afterwards.

But the Government

doesn't have a majority.

The two main parties

are divided on the issue.

The Catholic Church is strongly

defending the Eighth Amendment.

Its power has diminished,

but it certainly hasn't disappeared.

Life begins at conception and ends

at death and we have

to protect all life.

If it's repealed, all the rights

are gone from the baby.

Women who support the current

law are speaking about

their experiences too.

Vicky Wall's daughter, Liandan,

was still-born at 32 weeks.

She recalls what happened

when a doctor told her he didn't

expect her baby to live.

He said that my only option

was to pop to England -

insinuating an abortion.

That was never going

to be an option.

We spent the summer

just being with her.

The Eighth Amendment

showed to me that not

only did we value her,

but our country

valued her like that.

For people on both sides,

the referendum's about what sort

of society they want to live in.

It's a personal,

passionate, emotive debate.

Chris Page, BBC News, Dublin.

Millions of women in Spain have gone

on strike in protest

at gender inequality.

This was the scene in Madrid

tonight, as they took to the streets

with the slogan "if we stop,

the world stops".

Trade unions, who supported the

action on International Women's Day,

estimate that six million

women took part.

Cuts to bin collections,

closing libraries and dipping

into cash reserves are just some

of the ways councils

in England have been coping

with a squeeze on budgets.

The National Audit Office says

funding from central government has

fallen by nearly a half since 2010.

Many are struggling, in particular

with the growing cost of social

care, and the NAO is warning that

one in ten could completely run out

of money within three years.

Here's Alison Holt.

Do you want to do

something different?

An afternoon art class

at the Nexus Day Centre in Surrey

is a chance for people with learning

disabilities, brain injuries

and other conditions to develop

their skills and socialise.

For most here, the support is paid

for by the County Council,

but today's report says with local

authorities facing such

major cuts to their money

from central government,

they are struggling to cope.

Do you like its legs?

I think they're lovely!

I think its legs are brilliant...

Sue, who has multiple sclerosis,

describes this centre as a lifeline.

I come here only twice a week.

I would come more if there

was the funding for it.

Councils like Surrey

have a statutory duty to provide

support for people who are older

and disabled as well as providing

children's services,

and across the board

demand is increasing.

Today's report calculates that

on average, councils in England now

spend 54% of their total budgets

on social care for

children and adults.

With money so tight,

many other services have been cut.

Since 2010, more than 33% fewer

homes get weekly bin collections

and 10% of libraries have closed.

The report warns with councils

also using their savings

to balance the books,

one in ten will have exhausted

their reserves within three years.

In Surrey - one of the wealthiest

parts of the country -

as well as increasing council tax,

they're dipping into

their savings again.

It has been really difficult to make

sure we could come in this year

with a budget that actually had

the minimum level tax level

increases that we had to do.

We have had to use £24 million

of our reserves and £15 million

of our capital receipts.

Today's report says there needs

to be a long-term central

government plan for the bins,

roads and other services

that people need.

What is it they want

local government to do,

and fund them for that,

or make funding available

from whatever sources.

Alongside that, social care needs

a funding solution as well.

The Government says a new funding

settlement has been approved

for councils, and that will mean

a real terms increase

in the money they get.

Alison Holt, BBC News, Surrey.

Nottingham Trent University has said

it's "shocked and appalled"

after a video was posted

on social media, appearing

to show a group of people

chanting racist abuse outside

the room of a black female student.

Two men were arrested on suspicion

of racially aggravated

public order offences,

but tonight have been released.

Here's Elaine Dunkley.

SHOUTING

Recorded on a mobile phone

by student Rufaro Chisango...

CHANTING

What appears to be racist chanting

outside of her door in halls

of residence at Nottingham Trent

University.

I just heard shouting

from outside my door,

and I was just shocked.

My initial response

was I was really shocked.

I felt really isolated

and uncomfortable.

The incident took place

on Monday evening.

Her friends say it has left

traumatised and tarnished

their experience of university life.

I know these things do

happen, but to think

it was so close to home,

so close, being in my university.

Yeah, I was, I was appalled.

We know some people might not

like the way we are,

might not like where we come from,

our race, our religion, our creed,

but it's something that we kind

of just power through,

just knowing that maybe they don't

like us but we do our best.

Rufaro Chisango has now been offered

new accommodation and two

-- on the university said it

accepted an act quickly enough.

There was a delay, a significant

delay, and we acknowledge that.

It's vile behaviour,

it's absolutely abhorrent.

We are really, really shocked.

This is not the NTU positive culture

for students and staff

that we all recognise.

Tonight, Nottingham Trent University

are reassuring students that this

was an isolated incident.

But the National Union

of Students say when you look

at the wider picture,

they receive phone calls every week

from students who have

been racially abused,

and the only way to end it is with

zero tolerance on campuses.

Elaine Dunkley, BBC News.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed

bin Salman has held talks

with the Chancellor Philip Hammond,

with both sides hoping

to agree billions of pounds

of new trade and investment.

Saudi Arabia's Commerce Secretary

says this is a "moment of great

opportunity" and he's been

responding to criticism of Riyadh's

handling of the war in Yemen.

Our business editor

Simon Jack reports.

Meeting the Queen, seeing

the Prime Minister, chatting

with the Archbishop.

The British establishment rolled out

the red carpet for a man whose face

seemed to be everywhere:

Mohammed bin Salman,

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

But this is no social visit -

his Commerce Minister

is here to talk business.

Together, we can do so much

for our own people.

It will create jobs for our own

people, we will create

opportunities for our own people,

it will be win-win situation.

There is an opportunity

that we need to grab.

And we need to work as one team,

because there is a common objective

that will be fruitful and beneficial

for both nations.

Saudi Arabia is the UK's largest

trading partner in the Middle East.

Arms sales are a big part of that.

In 2015 to 16, the UK

sold £3.3 billion worth

of weapons to the kingdom.

In total, we exported £6.2 billion

worth of goods and services

to Saudi Arabia in 2016,

while Saudi investments in the UK

come to over £11 billion.

Both the UK and Saudi Arabia

are going through big changes.

For the UK, of course, it's Brexit.

Saudi Arabia is desperate to try

and wean itself off an oil industry

which up to now has produced 90%

of its income.

Some say its modernisation

programme, like allowing women

to drive, introducing public

entertainment, is an attempt to make

Saudi Arabia more palatable

to the business friends it so badly

needs to achieve that.

But Saudi bombing of targets

in neighbouring Yemen have

caused widespread outrage,

and for many overshadow any social

progress Saudi Arabia may have made.

I don't think that we can be

comfortable selling billions

of pounds worth of arms

to Saudi Arabia, knowing

where they are ending up

and the damage and the war crimes

that are taking place.

I don't think that the British

people want those

kind of trade deals.

Jeremy Corbyn and other

political leaders agree.

What do you say to those people

who don't want to do

business with Saudi Arabia?

I think that our relation,

an historic relation,

speaks for itself.

We respect their opposition

but we would like to invite them

to see and to talk and discuss why

they want to do that.

But if they want to look

at what business is happening,

and these opportunities,

I'm sure they will change

their mind, because action

speaks louder than words.

This Saudi charm offensive moves

to the US next month.

According to Saudi Arabia, there is

plenty of opportunity to go around.

Simon Jack, BBC News.

Running a marathon or long

distance cycling -

they shouldn't just be

activities just for the young.

Researchers have been

following a large group of older

cyclists, some in their 80s,

who've all remained highly active,

and the results are surprising,

as our medical correspondent

Fergus Walsh explains.

I've arranged a 60-mile ride

through the Surrey hills.

This is what healthy

ageing looks like.

These cyclists - aged 64

to 82 - think nothing

of spending five hours

or more in the saddle.

Room for one more?

Yeah, welcome.

I do it all for reasons for health,

because I enjoy it, because

it's sociable.

It's just a wonderful life.

They have all been examined as part

of a trial which is challenging

perceptions of ageing.

One of the first results

I got from the medical

study was I was told my

body fat was comparable

to that of a 19-year-old.

Leading the peleton

is Professor Norman Lazarus - at 82,

a prime example of healthy ageing.

If exercise was a pill, everybody

in the world would be taking an

exercise pill.

Really good, Norman.

He not only took part

in the study, but

helped lead the research.

This test shows his

excellent lung function.

Last little bit now, keep pushing.

An MRI scan gives another indication

of how well Norman is ageing.

These are his thighs.

Now compare Norman's muscly leg

on the the right with

that of a sedentary

50-year-old on left -

which is mostly fat.

Ready, push!

If more of us could do

the recommended 150 minutes

of moderate physical activity each

week, it would pay huge dividends.

Across a whole gamut

of different levels,

what exercise is doing in older

individuals is giving them higher

levels of function and

better quality of life.

The most remarkable findings

came when scientists in

Birmingham examined blood

samples from a cyclist.

They found their immune

system, which normally

declines with age, was still

as strong as a young person's.

The immune system is really key

in the body, it has several roles -

it protects us from infections,

but it also helps us

to find things like cancer.

So the fact these

cyclists have the immune

system of a 20-year-old and not a 70

or 80-year-old, means they're

protected from infections

and from cancer potentially.

The advantages then of exercise

in later life are profound.

So if cycling's not your thing,

try another sport,

or what about dancing,

gardening, even brisk walking.

Most of the health benefits of these

sup-agers are easily

achievable if we just did a bit

more physical activity.

Fergus Walsh, BBC News, Surrey.

While we've been on air,

President Trump has said

South Korea will make,

what he's calling,

a 'huge' announcement

on North Korea at midnight.

Seoul has sent a delegation

to Washington, following reports

that the North Korean leader

could be open to halting

his nuclear programme.

They'll be more on that

on the BBC News Channel but from us