17/03/2018 BBC Weekend News

Russia expels 23 British diplomats,

in the stand off with the UK over

the poisoning of a former

Russian spy.

After Britain's ambassador

in Moscow is told the news,

he defends No 10's decision

to earlier expel Russian

diplomats from London.

We will always do what is necessary

to defend ourselves, our allies and

our values against an attack of this

sort.

Police have issued this picture

of Sergei Skripal's car,

and renewed an appeal for witnesses

who may have seen it,

on the day he was attacked.

Following today's Russian

expulsions, Theresa May says Britain

will announce its next move,

after consulting with allies.

Also on the programme.

US officials investigate claims that

a political consultancy mishandled

the data of millions of Facebook

users, to support President Trump's

2016 election campaign.

And it's a perfect St

Patrick's Day for Ireland -

as they beat England

in the Six Nations to

as they beat England in the Six

Nations to win the Grand Slam.

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

reports from Moscow.

He'd 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 for 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

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 doesn't 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.

Our diplomatic correspondent

James Robbins is at the Foreign

Office for us tonight.

James, what do you believe Britain's

options are, in response to the

expulsions announced today by the

Kremlin?

While it is clear that

Theresa May and her ministers face a

dilemma. She has made clear they

will consider the issue of possible

further sanctions. Probably next

Tuesday when the National Security

Council has its regular weekly

meeting. The dilemma is, do they

interpret the expulsion of 23

Britons from Russia as a simple

tit-for-tat parody or do they think

the Russians have gone too far by

adding the closure

of the consulate of Saint Petersburg

and perhaps more significantly the

complete closure of British Council

operations in Russia. That is

significant because it is the way

Britain exports its rallies as well

as the English language into Russia.

It has a huge reach, lot of young

Russian teenagers and young adults.

It is seen ever way of appealing to

the post-beating generation, -- seen

as a way of appealing to them,

trying to export values they may

miss it on. So losing the Council is

a major blow, how will Britain

respond?

Indeed. Thank you James at

the Foreign Office.

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 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

the 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 are 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 a team will come

over to Porton Down.

Theoretically they could do the

analysis at the Porton laboratories.

I suspect what is more

likely is they will take

samples away back to The Hague.

Health officials said today

they welcome 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

Cambridge Analytica

claims that 50 million

profiles were accessed.

The two companies

deny any wrongdoing.

With me is our Business

Correspondent, Joe Lynam.

Joe what is the background to this?

This is fiendishly complicated, bear

with me. It started with the

creation of an app by the University

of Cambridge which harvested

Facebook profiles and friends of

people. Potentially millions of

people's data was passed to this

company called Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook ordered Cambridge Analytica

to delete all this personal

information but in the last 24 hours

they have said that not all that

information was deleted. This is why

they have suspended this company. A

whistle-blower has alleged that 50

million Facebook profiles were

harvested from this specific app,

used to target very specific

messages during the 2016

presidential election in a river of

Trump and against Hillary Clinton.

-- in favour of Trump. So the

Attorney General for Massachusetts

is investigating. She says the

residents of the state deserve and

is immediately. On this side of the

Atlantic the information

Commissioner's office has said it is

also investigating the circumstances

in which the Facebook data may have

been illegally acquired and used for

political purposes. Facebook has

flatly denied that there has been a

data breach. It says its new users

have knowingly provided all the

information, its systems had not

been traded. And Cambridge Analytica

says any information acquired by the

app is not used in the 2016 election

and that it only receives and uses

data obtained legally and fairly.

Thank you Joe.

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 one hundred flights

have been cancelled

today at Heathrow.

The so called "mini

beast from the east,"

swept in overnight.

This is the scene in Dartford this

evening where snow and ice alerts

are still in place.

The Met Office says snow showers

will become more frequent later,

and weather warnings will remain

in place until tomorrow afternoon.

The former FBI deputy director,

Andrew McCabe, has accused the Trump

administration of acting

with political malice

after he was fired just days before

he was due to retire.

An internal review said that

Mr McCabe leaked information

and misled investigators,

claims he has denied.

President Trump called his sacking

a great day for democracy.

Let's go live now to our Washington

correspondent, Chris Buckler.

Chris, clearly Mr McCabe has decided

he will not go quietly?

Yes, Andrew

McCabe was fired by the Attorney

General, not President Trump

directly. But he says it was a

direct result of presidential

pressure and intended not just to

take him but to discredit the FBI

law enforcement agencies and the

investigation of the special console

into allegations of Russian

interference in the presidential

election M26 Dean. Certainly

President Trump has been celebrating

his dismissal on Twitter. -- 2016.

His personal attorney has given a

statement saying that he feels,

after this firing that the special

counsel investigation should be

brought to an end. Although he did

make it clear that that was his view

and not part of his client.

Nevertheless the inquiry will

continue and we understand it now

has memos capped by Andrew McCabe of

conversations he had with President

Trump and indeed about events

surrounding the firing of his boss,

FBI director James Comey. This has

the potential to get nasty, with

that in mind I'll give you a quote

from the former director Joe

Brennan. He says, you may scapegoat

Andy McCabe but you will take your

place as a disgraced demagogue in

the dustbin of history. Fighting

words.

Thank you, Chris.

With all the sport, here's Karthi

at the BBC Sport Centre.

Good evening, Clive.

Ireland's head coach, Joe Schmidt,

praised his side for their class

and courage after beating England

in rugby union's Six Nations to win

the Grand Slam for only the third

time in their history.

Already Six Nations champions,

a clinical performance saw Ireland

win by 24 points to 15 at Twickenham

as Joe Wilson reports.

If you missed Ireland's

progress, here is a recap.

First there was France

and a last-minute drop goal.

Then we thrashed Italy.

Come on, the boys!

And then Ireland beat

Wales in Dublin.

Yay!

We scored four tries

to beat Scotland.

Four tries!

And I've just left Twickenham.

And here we were aiming

for the grand slam,

Ireland hoofed the ball

towards the London snowflakes.

England's Anthony Watson

was under it, or was he?

Whose hands put pressure

on the ball to the turf?

Ringrose's for Ireland.

Try for Ireland

and another followed.

14-0 down,

England had to respond.

And here it came.

Farrell's kick, Daley's finish.

The home side had something.

Something.

But watch Jacob Stockdale.

Ireland's super kid.

Kick and dash.

He had to reach the ball before

the blue line, coloured in

case of snow.

England had extended

the pitch, perfect for this.

Stockdale's seventh try

of this Six Nations,

and that is a record.

Eddie Jones could see his

first Twickenham defeat

with England coming.

England added tries in the second

half but never got close to winning.

Ireland's Grand Slam,

a perfect Six Nations

completed here, never better.

It is a special day for everyone

involved with Irish rugby

and to be here and celebrate it

and to top it off with winning

somewhere like this.

This is a fortress, a really tough

place to go and it is a

sign of a champion team

to come here and do that.

Right now Irish Rugby Union

is the envy of Europe and not

just because of these scenes

of celebration at Twickenham.

The 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.

Wales finish the Six Nations

in second place behind champions

Ireland, after just beating France

by one point.

Liam Williams scored the only

Wales try of the game

but their third home win earned

Wales a hard fought 14-13 victory.

Scotland won their final game

of this campaign but it took a 79th

minute Greg Laidlaw penalty to give

them a 29-27 victory over Italy.

It was Scotland's first away win

in the championship for two years.

This is the final Six Nations

table with Ireland as

champions at the top.

Wales and Scotland in

second and third place.

Eddie Jones' England in fifth place,

their lowest finish since

the Six Nations began.

Now, Match of the Day and FA Cup

highlights follow soon on BBC One

so it is time to pop out of the room

if you don't want to

know today's results.

Mohamed Salah scored

four goals this evening

as Liverpool beat Watford 5-0.

Salah is the Premier League's top

scorer with 28 goals so far.

Jurgen Klopp's side is now

in third place in the table.

At the other end of the table,

West Brom are edging closer

to relegation after a 2-1

defeat to Bournemouth.

Stoke City

are just above West Brom in 19th

place but they also lost today,

beaten 2-1 by Everton.

While Crystal Palace moved out

of the relegation zone with a 2-0

win over Huddersfield.

Tottenham have booked their place

in the semi finals of the FA Cup

after a 3-0 win over Swansea City.

Mauricio Pochettino's side

are targeting a first

trophy in ten years.

Kristin Eriksson scored twice and

Manchester United are also through

after a 2-0 win over Brighton.

In the Scottish Premiership,

second placed Rangers were beaten

1-0 by Kilmarnock.

Graeme Murty's side are nine points

behind leaders, Celtic.

Hearts were 3-0 winners over

struggling Partick Thistle.

All three of the Hearts

goals were scored in

the first half of the game.

Elsewhere Aberdeen beat

Dundee, while Ross County

and Hamilton drew 2-2.

The rest of the day's sports news

is on the BBC website

including the latest

from the Winter Paralympics,

with the British team one short

of their medal target and just one

day of the Games left.

Karthi thank you.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

That's all from me.

Goodnight.