17/03/2018 BBC Weekend News

Good evening.

Russia says it will expel

23 British diplomats

in response to Britain's decision

to throw out the same number

of Russian officials,

following the nerve agent

attack in Salisbury.

Theresa May says the government had

anticipated the Kremlin's move,

and is considering its next steps.

Our correspondent, Steve Rosenberg,

is live in Moscow now.

It is three days since Theresa May

stood in the House of Commons and

concluded that the Russian state was

culpable for the attempted murder of

Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Three days

since the UK announced sanctions

against Russia. And today Moscow

retaliated.

He had been expecting the telephone

call and today it came.

Britain's ambassador was summoned

to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

And in the skyscraper

that Josef Stalin built

as a symbol of a superpower,

the ambassador was told how Moscow

would retaliate to UK sanctions.

A note of defiance when he left.

We will always do what is necessary

to defend ourselves,

our allies and our values

against an attack of this sort.

Which is an attack not only

on the United Kingdom

but upon the international

rules-based system

on which all countries,

all countries including Russia,

depend for their

safety and security.

Thank you.

The ambassador headed into work,

to tell embassy staff

about the Russian sanctions.

Moscow says they are a response

to British provocation,

Russia has expelled 23

British diplomats.

The UK had expelled 23 Russians over

the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

The authorities here

are shutting down the British

Consulate in St

Petersburg and the British Council

which promotes UK culture abroad

will now be forced to end

all activity in Russia.

Moscow says the language coming out

of London was a factor in deciding

what sanctions to announce.

TRANSLATION: The British

Prime Minister insults

us and threatens us.

Her foreign and defence

secretaries insult us.

They talk to Russia

as if they are drunk in a pub.

So what the UK got from us today

is the result of this loutishness

and their groundless accusations.

Not so, said Theresa May.

Russia's response does not change

the facts of the matter.

The attempted assassination of two

people on British soil.

For which there was no

alternative conclusion other

than that the Russian

state was culpable.

Relations between Moscow

and London have not been this

fractured since the Cold War.

The expulsion of 23 British

diplomats, that was expected.

That is traditional tit-for-tat.

But the shutting down

of the consulate and the activities

of the British Council,

that feels like a challenge

to the British Government.

And the Russians have said that

if Britain responds with more

measures against Moscow,

then Russia will respond with more

sanctions against the UK.

The danger now is a spiral

of confrontation.

Steve Rosenberg, BBC News, Moscow.

And police in Salisbury have

renewed their appeal for witnesses,

following the poisoning

of Sergei Skripal

and his daughter Yulia.

Around 400 people have

been interviewed so far,

and investigators are trawling

through 4000 hours of CCTV footage.

Health officials say

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey,

who was exposed to the nerve agent,

is making progress in

hospital.

Duncan Kennedy has

the latest from Salisbury.

The tempo and scope of the police

operation across Salisbury remains

intense and widespread.

Today police issued their first

official photo of Sergei Skripal's

BMW whose movements

they want to trace.

In their most comprehensive timeline

to date, the police now say the car

was first seen at 9:15am on Sunday,

March the 4th, in the London

Road area of the city.

At 1:30pm it is spotted

on Devizes Road.

Ten minutes later the car arrives

at Sainsbury's and Sergei

and Yulia go to the Mill pub.

At 2:20pm they visited

Zizzi restaurant.

And then nearly two hours later

they're found violently

ill on a nearby bench.

It's nearly two weeks

since the Skripals left their home

here and today the police revealed

the full extent of

their investigation.

They've interviewed around 400

witnesses, gathered nearly

800 pieces of evidence,

and trawling through 4000

hours of CCTV footage.

Today the Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn was in Newcastle

and repeated his call for more

information on the nerve agent.

The origins of the nerve gas

appear to be Russian, yes.

That is why I have said

the issue should be referred

to the Chemical Weapons Convention

and we should challenge

the Russian government on it.

The nerve agent was identified

at Porton Down near Salisbury.

The Russians have

denied involvement.

But Downing Street has now invited

chemical weapons experts to carry

out independent tests.

It is likely that the team will come

over to Porton Down.

Theoretically they could do

the analysis at Porton laboratories.

I suspect what is more

likely is they will take

samples back to The Hague.

Health officials said today

they welcomed the progress

being made by Sergeant Nick Bailey

who was affected by the nerve agent.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal remain

in a critical but stable condition.

Duncan Kennedy, BBC

News, in Salisbury.

The Attorney General in the US

state of Massachusetts

is to begin an investigation

into claims that information

from millions of Facebook users may

have been used by a data company,

during the 2016 US

presidential election.

A former employee of the firm,

Cambridge Analytica,

claims that 50 million

profiles were accessed.

The two companies

deny any wrongdoing.

With me is our Business

Correspondent, Joe Lynam.

What is the background to this. All

a bit confusing, there with me. It

started with an app developed at

Cambridge University which harvested

Facebook profiles and that of all

Facebook friends and then at that

information to Cambridge Analytica

and Facebook over the company to

delete personal information a few

years ago. Facebook is that in the

past 24 hours that all that

information was not deleted. Now a

whistle-blower has come forward

saying that 50 million Facebook

profiles were used in the US

presidential election to target very

specific messages to specific people

in favour of Donald Trump and

against Hillary Clinton. So now we

have the Attorney General of

Massachusetts saying their residence

deserved answers immediately. In

parallel the Information

Commissioner office here has

launched an investigation and says

they may be circumstances in which

Facebook data may have illegally

been acquired and used for political

purposes. Facebook denies any breach

and say that its users knowingly

provided all that information.

Cambridge analytical also denied

wrongdoing saying it only receives

and uses data that has been obtained

legally unfairly put up - legally

and fairly.

Forecasters say snow could cause

further problems, across large parts

of the UK this weekend.

Amber weather warnings have been

issued in England and Wales,

and more than 70 flights have been

cancelled today at Heathrow.

The so called "mini beast

from the east," swept in overnight.

This was the scene in Yorkshire

today, and the Met Office says snow

showers will become more frequent

later, and weather warnings

will remain in place

until tomorrow afternoon.

Ireland beat England 24 points

to 15, to win rugby's

Grand Slam at Twickenham.

And in the other final Six Nations

games, there were wins

for Scotland and Wales.

Joe Wilson now reports

on a very happy St Patrick's

Day, for Irish rugby.

If you missed Ireland's progress

here is a recap.

A last-minute drop

goal and then we thrashed Italy.

Ireland and Wales in Dublin.

We

scored four tries to beat Scotland.

That just left Twickenham. And here

we where aiming for the grandson,

Arnott left the ball towards the

London snowflakes. Anthony Watson

was under the, or was he. Try for

Ireland and followed. England had to

respond. And here it came. The home

side had something. Something. But

watch Jacob Stockdale. The island

super-clean. He had to reach the

ball for the blue line, coloured in

case of snow. England had extended

the pitch, perfect for this.

Stockdale, his seventh try of the

Six Nations, and that is a record.

England added tries in the second

half and never got close to winning.

Ireland, their Grand Slam, a perfect

Six Nations completed here, never

better.

It is a special day for

everyone involved with Irish rock

and to be here and celebrate that

and to top it off with winning

somewhere like this. This is a

really tough place to go and it is a

sign of a champion team to coming

here and do this.

Irish Rugby union

is now the envy of Europe and not

just because of these scenes of

celebration at Twickenham. A

challenge for these players is to be

world champions next autumn.

Standing here right now, that seems

very possible. Joe Wilson, BBC News,

at Twickenham.