16/03/2018 BBC News at Ten

Police launch a murder inquiry

after another Russian exile

is targeted in London.

Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian

businessman, was found dead

in his home on Monday,

it appears he was strangled.

The police are keeping guard

outside his house tonight,

they say there is nothing yet

to link his death to

the attack on Sergei Skripal.

With Mr Skripal and his daughter

still critical in hospital,

the Foreign Secretary blames

Vladimir Putin for

the nerve agent attack.

Our quarrel is with Putin's Kremlin,

and with his decision -

and we think it overwhelmingly

likely that it was his decision.

The Kremlin retaliates by calling

Mr Johnson's comments

shocking and unforgivable.

Also tonight...

The Iraqi teenager found guilty

of the Parsons Green tube bombing,

who was on the government's

anti-radicalisation

programme at the time.

Thee African countries, home to most

of the continent's elephants,

call for all ivory to be banned.

They say even antique ivory should

be banned.

More elephants are being killed

every year than are being born.

It's still a big crisis

for Africa's elephants.

And the three mile duel that

saw Native River win

the Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News,

Liverpool and Manchester City

will meet in the last eight

of the Champions League,

the first all-English

quarterfinal since 2011.

Good evening.

Detectives from Scotland Yard

are treating as murder the death

in London of a Russian

exile and businessman.

Nikolai Glushkov, who was 68, was

found dead at his home on Monday.

A postmortem concluded he'd suffered

compression of the neck,

suggesting he'd been strangled.

His death, just a week

after the poisoning of a former

Russian spy and his daughter

in Salisbury, is being investigated

by counter-terrorism police.

They say there's no evidence

at the moment to link the two cases.

Our home affairs correspondent

Tom Symonds has more.

It was an ominous development,

given what has happened elsewhere.

Monday night, a 68-year-old man

found dead, his body taken

for a postmortem examination.

Ominous because Nikolai Glushkov

was Russian, a political exile,

number one on that country's list

of people it would like

sent back to Russia.

Not that his neighbours had much

idea of his background.

I think he presented

as a normal Englishman.

I didn't know he was Russian.

It's horrible to be on your

doorstep, for one thing,

About to happen to him, it must be a

horrible thing to have happened. The

daughter must be terribly upset.

All week, his house has been

the subject of a detailed search.

The tents were for protecting

items of interest.

The pathologist has concluded that

Nikolai Glushkov died as a result

of compression of the neck,

suggesting strangulation,

but detectives are clear

they are keeping an open mind.

They'll be looking at all aspects

of his life, and of course his past.

But the stakes for them are high,

not least because of the possible

consequences for Britain's

relationship with Russia.

In the 1990s, Glushkov was director

of Russia's state airline, Aeroflot,

but in 1999 he was charged

with fraud and money-laundering.

After five years in prison,

he fled to the UK and was

given political asylum.

Among his friends here

was the Russian billionaire

Boris Berezovsky, a prominent critic

of Vladimir Putin, found dead

in 2013 at his former

wife's Berkshire home.

The coroner recorded an open

verdict, but Nikolai Glushkov

was convinced that Berezovsky

and other Russian exiles

had been murdered.

This week, Glushkov was due

to appear in court in London.

The Russian authorities

were continuing to pursue him

for more than £100 million

of Aeroflot's money.

Did his past make him a target?

Russia's sternest critics have no

problem believing that.

Mr Glushkov's death fits

into a wider pattern of the last 12

years or so of Kremlin opponents

dropping dead across Europe.

The consequences for the Kremlin of

this were limited for far too long.

The UK response has recently been

much stronger but there's

still an awful lot more

that we could do.

But it's clear to take the strongest

possible action Britain will have

to rely on the gathering

of solid evidence.

So the world watches another complex

investigation unfolds.

Tonight, we have spoken to Lord

Bell, the former advertising

executive and PR executive. He has

told us he is a friend of Mr

Glushkov, and he says he is

concerned that his friend's passed

might have put him on the list of

people that Russia might suspect of

working against his country. In

fact, we have got to the point where

the police and security services are

reassessing their previous view that

Russian exiles were at a low risk.

So much so, that the police are

starting to contact some of those

Russian exiles to discuss their

safety.

Tom Symons, in south-west London.

Thank you.

A direct attack by the the Foreign

Secretary on the Russian President

has triggered a swift and angry

response in return.

Boris Johnson says he believes it's

"overwhelmingly likely" that

President Putin was personally

responsible for directing

the use of a nerve agent

on the former spy Sergei Skripal

and his daughter in Salisbury.

The Kremlin has called his comments

shocking and unforgivable.

Our diplomatic correspondent

James Landale's report contains

some flashing images.

Boris Johnson brought

the Polish Foreign Minister

to a Battle of Britain Museum today,

a memorial to a war

fought in the air.

Every single plane that Britain

had, was up in the sky.

And the Foreign Secretary used

the opportunity to push forward

Britain's current battle with Russia

- fought this time over

the airwaves, blaming Vladimir Putin

personally for the nerve agent

attack in Salisbury.

Our quarrel is with Putin's Kremlin,

and with his decision

- and we think is overwhelmingly

likely that it was his decision -

to direct the use of a nerve agent

on the streets of the UK,

on the streets of Europe,

for the first time since

the Second World War.

That is why we are

at odds with Russia.

Today, President Putin visited

a medical centre in St Petersburg

ahead of Sunday's elections.

His spokesman issued an angry

statement, accusing Mr Johnson

of a shocking and unpardonable

breach of diplomatic etiquette.

The Kremlin confirmed that

some British diplomats,

based here at the embassy in Moscow,

would be expelled,

an announcement officials said

could come at any moment.

A response to the UK's decision

to expel 23 Russian intelligence

officers who will leave London next

Tuesday.

Once again, Russia's Foreign

Minister denied any involvement

in the Salisbury attack.

TRANSLATION:

I don't

really want to comment

on the current situation any more.

Let it stay on the conscience

of those who have started this

shameless, groundless,

Russophobic game.

And as for the undiplomatic language

or the Defence Secretary,

Gavin Williamson?

TRANSLATION:

He says Russia should

go away and shut up.

Well, maybe he lacks education?

I don't know.

Officials here at the Foreign Office

believe that the robustness

of Britain's response and the unity

of the Western allies

has surprised Russia,

and they say they are ready for any

form of retaliation

coming from Moscow.

As one source said, "We've got more

stuff in the locker."

It's now almost two weeks

since the former Russian

intelligence officer Sergei Skripal

and his daughter, Yulia,

were poisoned with something

London's Russian ambassador named

today as Novichok A234,

a delayed casualty nerve agent.

Downing Street said officials

from the chemical weapons watchdog

would come to Britain imminently

to start verifying the nerve agent.

The investigation in Salisbury

focused on Mr Skripal's car,

potentially containing clues

about how he and his

daughter were poisoned.

The police here were still

in their protective gear,

still investigating,

still making the streets safe.

James Landale, BBC News.

An Iraqi teenager who smuggled

himself into Britain

on a lorry to seek asylum has been

found guilty of the London

tube bombing at Parson's Green.

18-year-old Ahmed Hassan

left his bomb on a packed

underground train during rush hour.

The device only partially detonated,

but injured 50 people.

It's emerged that Hassan

was on the government's

de-radicalisation programme

"Prevent" while he was

plotting the attack.

The Government says

there are lessons to be

learned from the case.

June Kelly reports.

Ahmed Hassan, buying batteries

and screwdrivers in Asda.

Everyday items, but for

a violent extremist,

part of his bomb-making kit.

He's asked for ID.

He may have looked young but Hassan

is said to be mature,

highly intelligent and calculating.

CCTV cameras captured his journey,

as the following morning he left

home early with his bomb in a bag

and a murderous plan in his head.

He was setting off to cause carnage

on the London Underground system.

He made for a train and then,

a few stops down the District Line,

he got off, empty-handed,

his bomb on a timer left behind.

Just after the train pulled

into Parsons Green station,

the bomb detonated, creating

a massive fireball which rolled

down the carriage.

Passengers were left burning

and screaming in pain.

A gassy flare ran up

above my head, singed my hair.

There was panic all

around me on the train.

People were diving off the train.

Fortunately the doors were open

so I managed to get off the train.

My initial reaction was that there

was a fault on the train

rather than a device.

Hassan had strapped

shrapnel to the device -

nuts, bolts, screws and knives -

to cause maximum death and injury.

It was said to be pure luck that his

bomb only partially exploded.

This computer-generated

graphic shows the scene

in the carriage after the attack.

He had used the explosive TATP,

known as Mother of Satan.

At Parsons Green, a major emergency

operation got under way.

Terrified passengers

were taken off the train,

injured commuters carried out

of the station.

Meanwhile, the teenage bomber left

London and went on the run.

The year before, he declared

it was his duty to hate Britain

because his father had been killed

by coalition forces in Iraq.

At the time of his attack

he was on the Government's

de-radicalisation programme,

Prevent, aimed at turning people

away from terrorism.

He was very cunning and devious and,

on the face of it, Hassan

was engaged on the programme,

but coming back to his devious

nature, he kept it very secretive

in relation to what he was doing,

what he was planning,

and nobody around him actually

knew what his plot was.

Armed police!

24 hours on from the attack,

firearms officers were surrounding

Hassan's house in Sunbury in Surrey.

Inside were his petrified

elderly foster parents,

Penny and Ron Jones.

This was a couple who had received

MBEs from the Queen for fostering

hundreds of children.

Ahmed Hassan repaid them

for giving him a home by secretly

building a bomb in their kitchen.

And it came out in court

that the teenager staying

in their spare bedroom had told

immigration officials he had been

kidnapped and trained to kill

by the Islamic State group.

It is understood the Joneses

were not given his full story.

After the bombing,

Hassan headed for Dover.

He was arrested as he tried to flee

the country which had given him

a home and an education,

but for which he felt only hatred.

He will be sentenced next week.

People are going to be wondering how

a young man who was on a programme

designed to prevent getting involved

in terrorist activity was making a

bomb while on the programme?

It is

an astonishing story. It was with an

elite immigration official interview

when he said he had been kidnapped

and trained to kill by the Islamic

State group. A charity worker from

Barnardos was sitting on that

interview and raise the alarm, not

immigration officials. That was a

failing. When orders were told by

somebody from the Prevent

deradicalisation programme that

there was no cause for concern and

they should look out for signs of

strange behaviour, such as him

hanging black flags in his room. At

that stage, he was living in a

Barnardos home. It was decided he

should go on the Prevent programme.

Surrey County Council, responsible

for his welfare at that point, we

are told that they did not involve a

specialist Home Office mentor to

oversee him on that programme. While

he was on that programme, he was

actually building his bomb. Surrey

County Council said they apologise,

they realise that there were

failings in the case and that

lessons have been learned. They also

apologised to his foster parents.

The father of a female engineering

student allegedly attacked

by a group of women in Nottingham

has called for justice

for his daughter.

18-year-old Mariam Moustafa died

on Wednesday, nearly a month

after she was assaulted on a bus

in the city centre.

The case has caused outrage in Egypt

where Mariam's family are from.

Nottinghamshire Police says

there is nothing to suggest

it was a hate crime,

though they are

keeping an open mind.

Sima Kotecha reports

from Nottingham.

18-year-old Mariam Moustafa, an

engineering student in Nottingham.

Her family are from Egypt and came

here for a better life.

Her sister and father

described her as loving,

cheerful and intelligent.

Mariam was always looking

at, looking forward

to being in engineering.

She was a hard worker.

She always put all her effort

into being in engineering.

In February, as the teenager

was making her way to see her mother

and sister, she was attacked.

She caught a bus on this street

to try and get away from the girls.

However, they followed her.

Police say she was

punched several times.

She died on Wednesday.

This footage on social media shows

what happened on the bus.

You, move out my way.

You, move out of my way.

Yesterday, police said there was no

information to suggest

it was a hate crime,

but that they were

keeping an open mind.

However, today, they acknowledged

there had been a previous incident

involving Mariam and that the family

had expressed concern about it.

Officers said they were

reviewing that case.

Mariam was discharged

from hospital after the attack,

but then she fell ill

and was readmitted.

That's when she went into a coma.

The family gave us these pictures.

For me, I still can't

believe that she's gone.

I still feel like she's around me,

I feel like she's going to come

knocking on the door saying,

"Mallak, I'm here."

But that's not happening.

The Egyptian government,

as well as her family,

have called on the UK authorities

to bring those who did

this to justice quickly.

A 17-year-old girl was arrested

on suspicion of assault,

but has been released

on conditional bail.

In a tweet this afternoon,

the Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, assured the Egyptian

authorities that Nottinghamshire

Police was investigating the case.

Sima Kotecha, BBC News, Nottingham.

As we heard earlier,

the Russian leader Vladimir Putin

was out on the campaign trail today,

ahead of the country's Presidential

election, on Sunday.

Mr Putin is hoping to win his

fourth term in office -

he's the clear favourite

in the opinion polls which show him

on nearly 70% of the vote -

his next nearest rival is on 7%.

So why is Mr Putin so popular?

Our Moscow correspondent,

Steve Rosenberg travelled

to Karabash in the Russian rust belt

to find out.

The West fears the Kremlin

is spreading disorder,

but at home many see Vladimir Putin

as a cog that keeps Russia moving.

This is Carol Karabash,

rust belt Russia.

This is Karabash, rust belt Russia.

Karabash overwhelms the senses,

from the smoke of copper

works to the biting cold.

Outside, it's 20 below.

Inside, the heat hits you.

This is Russian fire and fury.

Many here support Vladimir Putin,

not because he's forged a great

country, but at least one that feels

more stable than 1990s Russia

after the fall of communism.

"Stability will continue under

Putin", Sergei says.

"There is no one else

worth voting for".

And yet real incomes

in Russia are falling,

the economy stagnating.

So the government

appeals to patriotism.

It tells the people, "We are

a player on the world stageW.

It tells the people,

"We are a player on the world stage.

That's little comfort to Nina.

Her biggest concern is making it

home, because no one clears the ice

outside her apartment block.

Nina complains her heating

bills are getting bigger,

but she doesn't blame the Kremlin

and she doesn't want

a new president.

For the retired maths teacher,

it's a simple equation.

No change equals no risk.

"I'll vote for Putin", Nina says,

"so that life doesn't get any worse.

"As long as we have no war here,

that's what matters".

Under Vladimir Putin,

you see two very different Russias.

There is Russia, the military

and cyber superpower,

flexing its muscles

on the international stage.

And there is another Russia,

where more than 20 million people

live below the poverty line,

and where life is a daily struggle.

Tatiana can afford the basics,

like milk, but not much else.

Her pension is barely

enough to live on.

She has to borrow to get by.

When I visit Tatiana at home,

I meet her daughter, Natalia.

She has been unemployed for four

years, but she still has

faith in the Kremlin.

"I'm for Putin", Natalia says.

"At least Putin tries his best".

Many Russians fear change.

They worry that change can bring

greater instability.

And those in power

exploit that fear.

That benefits Vladimir Putin.

It allows the Kremlin to argue it's

safer to stick to the same path.

Steve Rosenberg, BBC News, Karabash.

A brief look at some

of the day's other news stories.

As many as 70,000 people have fled

two separate offensives

in Syria in recent days.

The UN estimates almost 50,000

people have left the northern town

of Afrin in the last few days,

while activists say 20,000

have escaped rebel-held

Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.

Police in Miami are continuimg

to search under a collapsed

footbridge, 24 hours after it fell

onto an eight-lane motorway near

Florida International University.

At least six people

were killed, and nine injured.

The bridge was only

completed last Saturday.

Police in East Sussex are responding

to a report of a shooting at a

property in Saint Leonards. People

are advised to stay away and remain

indoors but the incident is not

thought to be terror related.

The former President

of South Africa, Jacob Zuma,

will face prosecution for 16

charges of corruption.

Mr Zuma denies the charges, which

relate to a multi-billion-pound arms

deal before he took office

and include counts of fraud

and money laundering.

Three African countries that

are home to the majority

of the continent's elephants have

signed a petition asking Britain

and the rest of the EU to ban

the legal trade in antique ivory.

At a wildlife summit in Botswana,

the country's president said

a complete trade ban would help

protect the remaining elephants.

He criticised Donald Trump for

lifting a ban on hunting trophies,

saying he was

"encouraging poaching".

Our Africa correspondent Alastair

Leithead reports from Botswana.

Botswana is the last sanctuary

for Africa's elephants.

Half of the animals left

on the continent live

here and on its borders.

But conservationists say

the continuing trade in tusks,

be it legal or illegal,

to feed the market for ivory

in China, means the elephants

are still seriously endangered.

Thousands of elephants

are still being killed

for their ivory across Africa every

year, leaving orphans,

like these guys.

Although the scale of the poaching

is down from what it was a few years

ago, more elephants are being killed

every year than are being born.

It's still a big crisis

for Africa's elephants.

We haven't passed the worst

of the poaching crisis.

I fear the worst is yet to come.

The political will to address these

issues, unfortunately is not there.

It has been in Botswana,

and if our neighbours can learn

from Botswana's example,

I feel that we can address

this poaching crisis.

This is one way to address

it, cracking down hard

on the poachers and traffickers.

A demonstration at the Giants Club

Summit shows how lessons learned

in counterterrorism are now

being used for anti-poaching.

Making sure animals are worth

more alive is important,

but many here think ending

trade is key.

This ivory ornament was bought

at auction in the UK as an antique,

and therefore legal to sell.

But radiocarbon dating proved

it was from an elephant

killed 13 years ago.

If the experts can't

tell, then how on earth

are the public supposed to know?

And I think the default setting

when you have that level

of uncertainty simply has to be,

"We can't afford to sell ivory".

That's why a global petition

is pushing for an EU and UK ban

of antique ivory sales,

now signed by three

African presidents.

Well, I think the way we are moving

now, when you look at the other

countries coming on board,

for example, like China.

I think they are setting a wonderful

example for others to follow,

whether it is the UK,

the European Union or anyone else

involved in the trade.

Banning the legal ivory trade

won't stop the illegal killing

and orphaning of elephants,

but it's another step towards making

ivory a less acceptable ornament.

Alistair Leithead,

BBC News, Botswana.

The first polar bear cub born

in Britain for a quarter

of a century has been

filmed for the first time

in the Scottish Highlands.

As you can see, mum and cub,

born in December, are doing well.

The footage was captured by remote

cameras for a Channel 4 documentary.

Highland Wildlife Park is yet

to find out if the cub is a boy

or a girl, but it's

already proving to be

a confident little

character, and very cute.

In a thrilling two-horse race duel,

Native River ridden by champion

jockey Richard Johnson has beaten

the favourite Might Bite to win

the Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

It's Johnson's second Gold Cup win,

and comes nearly two

decades after his first.

Andy Swiss was there

to see all the action.

# Life could be so sweet

on the sunny side of the street.#

In racing you need that bit

of optimism and with what seemed

like the most open of Gold Cups...

Any more bets?

Punters certainly required it.

So many factors,

not least the soggy,

stamina-sapping conditions.

But while there were 15

runners, this proved

the ultimate two-horse race.

In the white nose band Native River,

and next to him Might Bite.

The rest mere observers

as fence after fence,

furlong after furlong,

they slugged it out.

Going into the last,

they were seemingly inseparable...

Who will prevail up

the Cheltenham Hill?

Native River and Might Bite...

But on that final, gruelling

gradient it was Native River

who edged ahead, a remarkable duel

and a remarkable victory.

He wins the Gold Cup!

For jockey Richard Johnson,

a second Gold Cup win,

some 18 years after his first.

This was even sweeter.

I'm still a bit speechless now.

The first time I don't think

I realised how amazing

it was and how hard it is.

18 years later, you realise just

to get one of these horses to ride,

let alone to win the race,

is very difficult.

And delight too for Dorset

trainer Colin Tizzard -

once a dairy farmer and now part

of a Gold Cup-winning team thanks

to a horse seemingly

enjoying his big moment.

Well, the Gold Cup has seen some

dramatic duels over the years,

and this was right up there,

on a day when leading

from the start produced

the perfect finish.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Cheltenham.

That's it.

Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.