10/03/2018 BBC Weekend News

More than 200 witnesses

have been identified

as part of the inquiry,

into the attempted murder

of a former Russian

spy and his daughter.

Forensic teams have been

re-examining sites in Salisbury,

as the Home Secretary says

investigators are being given

all the resources they need.

This is a painstaking detailed

investigation and the police need to

be given the space and the time to

get on with that.

Tonight, the BBC understands

traces of the nerve agent,

have been found in the local

restaurant where the victims had

been eating last Sunday.

Also on the programme:

How to end the teacher recruitment

crisis in England's schools.

The Government says,

cut their work load.

More than 1,000 people

are thought to have died,

since Syrian government forces

stepped up their attack,

on rebel held eastern Ghouta.

And Ireland secure the Six Nations

Championship, with victory

over Scotland in Dublin.

Good evening.

Police have identified

more than 200 witnesses,

and are examining around 240 pieces

of evidence, in the investigation

into the attempted murder,

of a former Russian spy

and his daughter.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal are still

in hospital in a critical condition.

The BBC understands that traces

of the nerve agent used

in the attack, have been

found in the pizzeria

where they were eating,

last Sunday afternoon.

Our home affairs correspondent

Dominic Casciani has the latest.

Is this the key location in the hunt

for whoever attacked Sergei Skripal

and Millie

and Millie Yulia? Police have now

found evidence in what is now an

evolving and huge operation. This

was the scene at Salisbury's

ambulance station as chemical

warfare specialists arrived earlier

today.

A vehicle designed to

save lives, now posing

a grave risk to the public.

This is the second major military

operation in Salisbury

in the last 24 hours.

Last night, we saw them take away

a police car from the hospital.

Today, they are taking away

ambulances, which were potentially

contaminated last Sunday.

Everyone in this city

is watching and waiting to see

when this emergency will end,

and the nation is watching

and waiting to find out

who is behind this crime.

Ministers are being briefed on the

unfolding situation.

And today, the second meeting

in a week of the government's

emergency committee Cobra.

This investigation is focused

on making sure that we keep

people safe as a priority,

that is what the Cobra meeting

was about, and also making sure

that we collect all the evidence,

so that when it comes

to attribution, we will be

absolutely clear where

it should lead.

The main cemetery is one of five

sites under investigation. It is

being close to the public as offices

examine the grave of Mr Skripal's

wife and son.

Today, there was no

change in his condition,

or that of his daughter: still

critical, still in intensive care.

Wiltshire Police released

a statement on behalf of

the third victim of the nerve agent,

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.

He said he and his family are hugely

grateful for all the messages

of support.

He does not consider himself a hero,

he was merely doing his job, a job

job, a job he loves.

Salisbury too is a proud city,

trying to get on with normal life.

Shoppers out in the market,

and officials drawing up a plan

to help businesses affected

by the police operation.

But with more barriers going up

tonight at the park bench where the

emergency began, it may be weeks yet

before it is all over.

So, a lot of continued police

activity in Salisbury, Dominic. Is

it clear that progress is being made

in the investigation?

I think

progress in this investigation will

be slow, methodical and really quite

delicate baby steps. But also with a

real determination from the police,

from this large team of 250

counterterrorism experts supported

by the military to get to the truth.

What is interesting tonight is that

now we understand traces of the

nerve agent were found in word-macro

here in the centre of Salisbury,

that narrows down potentially the

investigatory window for the

detectives.

detectives. -- Zizzi. It suggests

that -- the investigation suggests

that Mr Skripal and his daughter

were contaminated before they went

into the city. Detectives have to

work out how this was administered

and when they worked that out, it

will lead them to who did it.

Thank

you.

The Education Secretary says

he wants to resolve a recruitment

crisis in England's schools,

by cutting the workload of teachers.

Damian Hinds told a conference of

head teachers, that the government

would "strip away" pointless tasks,

so their staff can "focus

on what actually matters".

Here's Elaine Dunkley.

This is Passmores Academy in Essex.

And like so many schools, it is

struggling to recruit teachers.

It has had to use innovative

ways to attract staff.

We even offer housing.

That's one of our school houses over

there, so you can come and live

cheaply at Passmores while you pay

off your student loan.

The difficulty in recruiting means

many classrooms around the country

now rely on agency supply teachers

to cover permanent vacancies.

The Government keeps missing

targets about recruitment

into the profession.

We've got about 4000 less teachers

than we need, and especially

in the shortest subjects,

Key subjects in the curriculum,

English, maths, science,

all those sort of things.

The issue isn't just

about recruiting new staff,

but stopping existing teachers

from leaving the profession.

Over the next five years in England,

the pupil numbers in England

are expected to increase,

along with pressures

and demands on teachers.

Jake Rusby left the profession

after three years.

I would work 65, 75 hour weeks,

with planning, marking,

the assessments you are doing,

the actual teaching part

of it probably took up

the least time of everything!

So that was one major factor.

For me, I got out of the education

system feeling that the whole thing

needed to be turned on its head.

Today at a conference

for headteachers, the Government

promised to address these issues,

but there was little talk

of extra funding.

For the rest of this Parliament,

there will be no new additional

statutory tests or assessments

for primary schools,

no further changes to the national

curriculum and no more reform

of GCSEs and A-levels.

Stability in schools

was the message.

The Government accepting it needs

to work harder to reduce

pressure in the classrooms.

Is it plus or minus 21?

But headteachers say funding

is the missing part of the formula.

Elaine Dunkley, BBC News.

The nephew of the actress Liz Hurley

has been attacked repeatedly in the

Street in London. Miles Hurley was

one of two men who was attacked on

Thursday. He remains in hospital.

Police say his condition is not

life-threatening.

Talks have been taking

place in Brussels,

between European Union and US trade

representatives,

over President Trump's plans to

impose higher tariffs on steel

and aluminium imports.

The EU described the discussions

as "frank," but said

it wasn't clear whether Europe would

be exempt from the proposals.

Further talks are planned next week.

Monitoring groups in Syria

say more than 1,000 people

have been killed,

since government forces stepped

up their bombardment

of Eastern Ghouta, three weeks ago.

Soldiers loyal to President

Assad, are reported

to have made significant advances,

and are believed to have cut off

the biggest town in the area, Douma,

and isolated another.

Our Middle East Correspondent

Martin Patience reports.

This is where the UN calls Hell on

Earth. Today, an injured man is

scrambled to safety. But warplanes

or overhead. There is no escape. The

Syrian army has now reportedly

surrounded the main

surrounded the main town of Douma.

Syrian jets are pounding the

besieged enclave. There are rebel

fighters, some extremists, but

hundreds of thousands of civilians

are trapped inside. The United

Nations calls these air strikes

collective punishment. Syria and its

back Russia are not listening. The

Syrian army is advancing. Eastern

Ghouta was the last major opposition

stronghold close to the capital.

This commander seems confident of

victory. The terrorists, as he calls

them, are on the run. But civilians

are caught. They have nowhere to

run. An aid convoy reached within

yesterday delivering food supplies.

The international organisations say

it is nowhere near enough. The

battle for Eastern Ghouta appears to

be entering the final stage. But the

end could be bloodier than what has

come before. Martin Patience, BBC

News, Lebanon.

The US Justice Department has moved

to tighten restrictions on guns,

with plans to ban so-called 'bump

stocks', the devices used to turn

semi-automatic rifles

into fully automatic weapons.

Bump stocks were used last year

in Las Vegas when 58 people

were killed by a gunman

at a concert.

There's been growing

pressure on President Trump

to tighten gun laws,

after last month's Florida school

shooting, in which 17 people died.

With news of Ireland winning

the Six Nations championship...

and all of today's sport, here's

Olly Foster at the BBC Sport Centre.

Hello. Hello, Clive. Thank you.

Ireland are Six Nations champions

for the third time in five years.

Their 28 points to 8

victory against Scotland,

coupled with England's 22-16 defeat

to France, saw them clinch the title

with a game to spare.

From Dublin, here's our Sports

correspondent Joe Wilson.

This afternoon we didn't

know how it would stop,

only where it would start.

Aviva stadium, Dublin -

Scotland waiting this way.

Scotland style - fast and loose -

when it fails, it can hand

tries to the opposition.

Jacob Stockdale for Ireland here,

and the gift was safely delivered.

Few players have ever

made a try scoring start

to a career like Stockdale.

Here came his sixth

of this Six Nations.

Early in the second-half a Scotland

move finally worked,

completed in the corner

by Blair Kinghorn -

young star, fine finish.

But Sean Cronin's dive over

the line for Ireland

was more significant,

their fourth try.

Which not only ensured victory,

Ireland had a bonus point too.

Ireland have done all they can do in

Dublin. England had to match the

performance in Paris to keep their

title hopes alive.

They needed four tries.

High tackle from Anthony Watson,

sin-bin for him and France

were awarded a penalty try to lead.

Things weren't going to plan -

under statement.

A try came, but what England

produced in the 74th minute

is what they needed in the first

- not enough.

France won, so did Ireland.

Saturday night in Dublin came with

the knowledge that Ireland could not

be caught and the belief that they

could beat England next Saturday.

Now, would that be sent Patrick's

Day? Joe Wilson, BBC News, Dublin.

We are going to win it, come on!

Said Patrick's Day!

Quite a night in

Dublin this evening.

Match of the Day and Sportscene

follow the news with Premier League

and Scottish Premiership goals

but if you want some of the results

then here they come.

West Ham lost 3-0 to Burnley

but pitch invasions and crowd

disturbances overshadowed the match.

The Football Association has

strongly condemned the incidents.

Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1

with two goals from Marcus Rashford.

Manchester City's lead

is down to 13 points

but they play on Monday night.

There were also wins for Everton,

Newcastle, Leicester and Chelsea.

There were wins for St Johnstone,

Hamilton and Kilmarnock in Scotland

and Aberdeen drew with Partick.

Leaders Celtic go

to Rangers tomorrow

Leaders Celtic go

to Rangers tomorrow.

Great Britain secured a medal

on the opening day of competition

at the Winter Paralympics in South

Korea.

Teenager Millie Knight

celebrated silver with her

guide in the visually

impaired downhill skiing.

Kate Grey reports from Pyeongchang.

The opening run of these Paralympics

fell in the hands of this

British debutant and her guide.

Their moment in the spotlight

did not last long though.

The unpredictability

of the downhill proving too much,

and they crashed out

on the first bend.

Luckily, no harm done.

Over to the reigning

world champions.

Millie Knight, who only has 5%

vision and her guide Brett Wild had

had their own experience of crashing

on the slopes last year.

But those demons were put to rest

today as they negotiated the course

and safely crossed the line to win

silver - Britain's first

medal of these games.

We are so excited to

have a medal under our belts.

It is the best result this season,

so we're peaking at the right time.

You've got a busy programme.

We are back up tomorrow at 4am!

To go again.

So we believe in celebrating

on the last evening.

The British action was not just

confined to the snow.

As we moved into the afternoon, a

fiercely contested match on the ice

with the wheelchair curling team.

Up against Norway

it was no easy task.

Over an hour of play came

down to the final stone.

Norway had to score two points

to take it to a deciding edge.

Norway had to score two points

to take it to a deciding end.

Not good enough!

It is a steal for Great Britain!

Britain's curling campaign

off to a winning start.

Don't forget, much more on the BBC

Sport website on the Winter

Paralympics from Pyeongchang and

also on there, details of England's

Cricketers one-day series win

against New Zealand.

Many thanks, Olly Foster.

That's it.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

But from me and the rest

of the team, have a very goodnight.