:00:00. > :00:00.all the latest from the European challenge cup as Sale Sharks plague
:00:00. > :00:00.Newport Gwent Dragons. That is all in sports day -- as Sale Sharks
:00:00. > :00:23.played Newport Gwent Dragons. Welcome to our look ahead to the
:00:24. > :00:27.papers,. Penny Smith and Liam Hannigan are with us. Let's have a
:00:28. > :00:37.look at some of the This reverse to the road between
:00:38. > :00:40.Britain and Russia as a Republican enquiry concluded the former Russian
:00:41. > :00:46.spy Alexander Litvinenko was probably killed with the approval of
:00:47. > :00:50.President Putin. The same story year, saying the Kremlin views the
:00:51. > :00:53.verdict as blatant provocation. The Guardian has the same story as well
:00:54. > :00:57.but also reports that one of Britain's top gynaecologists advises
:00:58. > :01:03.that a fifth of maternity units should close to ensure mothers get
:01:04. > :01:07.better care. The FT's top story is that US and European stock markets
:01:08. > :01:12.have recovered a little after the European Central Bank prepared to
:01:13. > :01:17.launch a fresh stimulus package. The deliberate claims the Conservatives
:01:18. > :01:21.could snub UK steel firms and use cheap imports to build new Royal
:01:22. > :01:26.Navy ships. The Daily Telegraph front page, news that the murder
:01:27. > :01:27.rate in England and Wales has risen sharply for the first time in a
:01:28. > :01:33.decade. The big story that has dominated the
:01:34. > :01:43.headlines, nuclear fallout and in front of the Metro, not often that
:01:44. > :01:44.the head of state of a country that we are supposed to have diplomatic
:01:45. > :01:50.relations with is accused of being complicit in murder. Probably
:01:51. > :01:59.ordered the murder. He prominent critic of blood in your
:02:00. > :02:11.Britain, Litvinenko. -- prominent critic of Putin. Probably! The fact
:02:12. > :02:19.it was this radioactive Loney, which was put in a pot of green tea --
:02:20. > :02:25.radioactive polonium. It was served out at a London hotel, the other
:02:26. > :02:29.thing fascinating is that it is like something out of spy thriller, the
:02:30. > :02:33.two people perhaps did not know what they were handling since they left
:02:34. > :02:36.traces of it virtually everywhere. It was down the sink, all over the
:02:37. > :02:42.handles and it is still some confusion about why one of them made
:02:43. > :02:49.their son shake the hand of Litvinenko. A still don't know quite
:02:50. > :02:56.why that may have happened. Because he probably didn't know that it was
:02:57. > :03:03.radioactive polonium! Actually, you have to say hats off to the British
:03:04. > :03:08.police, and also those who found out that it was polonium because it was
:03:09. > :03:13.a very short time from ingestion to death in the ICU and meanwhile they
:03:14. > :03:16.find out what it was and then they could have just gone round and said
:03:17. > :03:20.we have to decontaminate everything because it could cause a danger to
:03:21. > :03:26.the public and instead they went round, found out where everything
:03:27. > :03:29.was undiscovered the situation. The Russians are not saying hats off to
:03:30. > :03:34.the British police, you are a scholar of all things Russia, the
:03:35. > :03:46.think this is all made up, part of a grand plot against the Kremlin. This
:03:47. > :03:59.verdict or semi-verdict will provide some comfort to Litvinenko's widow
:04:00. > :04:04.and son. 328 page report, what has happened now is the Russians have
:04:05. > :04:07.reacted publicly, calling it written provocation. We great that are
:04:08. > :04:10.purely criminal case has been politicised and darkened the general
:04:11. > :04:14.atmosphere of our bilateral relations, said the Russian Foreign
:04:15. > :04:20.Ministry. Of course, at the moment, there seems to be a thawing of
:04:21. > :04:24.relations between Russia and the West, conflict in eastern Ukraine
:04:25. > :04:32.has died down. The Russians are increasingly seen as key in fine to
:04:33. > :04:36.bring some kind of resolution, temporary or otherwise, to events in
:04:37. > :04:44.the Middle East and indeed the rapprochement with Iran involves the
:04:45. > :04:47.UN Security Council plus one, the so-called P five plus six plus
:04:48. > :04:55.Germany and the Russians are key in that. There are obviously a lot of
:04:56. > :05:02.high politics going on here, as well as the death of a man and a grieving
:05:03. > :05:07.widow and son. Given the fact that we have a report that labels
:05:08. > :05:12.potentially Vladimir Putin as complicit in murder, probably
:05:13. > :05:18.complicit in murder, is there anyway that Britain should be backing, or
:05:19. > :05:26.England should be backing Russia holding the World Cup in 2018? The
:05:27. > :05:31.whole thing spreads out, the worst thing... We all know from watching
:05:32. > :05:38.yes Minister and yes Prime Minister that there are all sorts of deals
:05:39. > :05:44.that are done despite whatever goes on. You can totally understand why
:05:45. > :05:49.Mr Litvinenko's family wants the government to expel all Russian
:05:50. > :05:55.intelligence officers based in London. They want retribution. The
:05:56. > :06:05.point is, as we know, is that unfortunately, Isis in particular,
:06:06. > :06:10.for example, it is global now. While the rhetoric to is strong, there is
:06:11. > :06:16.actually no talk of additional sanctions to Russia at all, it
:06:17. > :06:19.strikes me as Penny has intimated, that what Whitehall and the
:06:20. > :06:31.government really want to do is now draw a line under this case and move
:06:32. > :06:37.on. That was on the front of the i. The FT, European stocks and US
:06:38. > :06:40.stocks rebounding, it was a bit of a bloody day on the markets yesterday
:06:41. > :06:44.on the day before, fears over following oil prices and China's
:06:45. > :06:50.economy but things seem to be getting back the little bit. I've
:06:51. > :06:55.hope you would see dead cat bounce. LAUGHTER
:06:56. > :07:00.She just attacked me with a robot wrist! We have got the NHS story to
:07:01. > :07:11.come! We have had a very turbulent time on
:07:12. > :07:16.markets, not only this last week, in fact pretty much since before
:07:17. > :07:22.Christmas since the Federal reserve raised interest rates for the first
:07:23. > :07:27.time since 2006. This week the FTSE 100 hit a four year low, we entered
:07:28. > :07:31.what we call a bear market territory, it doesn't mean furry
:07:32. > :07:35.animals running around with little pots of honey, it means that the
:07:36. > :07:42.stock market has gone more than 20% below its previous peak, or there
:07:43. > :07:49.are proper fears and stomachs churning falls. What happened today
:07:50. > :07:55.is that Mariel ... He will do whatever it takes to save the euro,
:07:56. > :08:03.he was the European Central Bank, it is now printing money, 80 billion
:08:04. > :08:07.euros per month, the not printing physical knocks, they are expanding
:08:08. > :08:14.their balance sheet, take my word for it! Know what he is saying, we
:08:15. > :08:16.might see even more of that monetary easing, that money will eventually
:08:17. > :08:41.find... It is quantitative easing. If I could interject... Thank you.
:08:42. > :08:49.Dragi Is doing what the Bank of England and the Federal reserve have
:08:50. > :08:51.been doing. In the middle of the global financial crisis, the Federal
:08:52. > :08:59.reserve on by government picked up the quantitative easing pattern. The
:09:00. > :09:03.ECB mostly sat out for quite a few years on the bank of Japan came in
:09:04. > :09:08.and now the ECB is the main kind of liquidity providing service. You'll
:09:09. > :09:14.like a delicate dog that has been told you are a bad dog, there are no
:09:15. > :09:25.more bones. What does it mean for people? There are some people out
:09:26. > :09:30.there who think it will be all OK if the central banks keep expanding the
:09:31. > :09:38.money supply, but many people out there that think this cannot go on.
:09:39. > :09:42.What happens if it cannot go on? The markets collapse and we have 2008
:09:43. > :09:51.all over again. I'm not predicting anything. Mum, don't worry. A lot of
:09:52. > :09:58.people are talking about 2008 scenario over again with the proviso
:09:59. > :10:01.that last time we had a lot more room for the move for governments to
:10:02. > :10:06.increase spending and borrowing and cut interest rates. A lot less
:10:07. > :10:11.ammunition in the locker this time around. All the levers have been
:10:12. > :10:18.pulled, that's the phrase I've been hearing. Our banks are in a better
:10:19. > :10:21.place than they wear then to stand up? We won't have to bail them out.
:10:22. > :10:28.You're looking at me like it is my fault. It is your fault she has got
:10:29. > :10:34.a dodgy wrist! She tried to slap you. Will you not cause another
:10:35. > :10:45.crash! Oil rigs in the Financial Times.
:10:46. > :10:49.Running out of time. Good story. This is the rig standing idle as the
:10:50. > :10:54.oil price fall hits the North Sea. The number of operational rigs have
:10:55. > :10:59.gone from 57 to 27 and it could be 19 by summer and this is because of
:11:00. > :11:03.the price of oil, the price has fallen so much that we have noticed
:11:04. > :11:11.because our gas and electricity bills and our petrol bills have gone
:11:12. > :11:18.down! Oil is down 70% since mid-2014 and in mid-2014, the SNP put their
:11:19. > :11:23.budgetary plans together with the $110 per barrel, now it is at $30
:11:24. > :11:27.per barrel. Not just in the North Sea, and the US as well. You have
:11:28. > :11:33.the Iranian oil coming on tap as well. That will be an oil glut so
:11:34. > :11:38.prices will probably fall even further. I suspect we are from ugly
:11:39. > :11:45.pretty near the bottom now. In the end, the solution to cheap oil
:11:46. > :11:49.prices is cheap oil prices, what do I mean, when oil prices get really
:11:50. > :11:57.cheap as in the North Sea, production becomes an economic,
:11:58. > :12:02.which causes the eventual supply crunch which pushes prices back up.
:12:03. > :12:11.Onto the Guardian. Close fifth of maternity units. President of the
:12:12. > :12:14.Royal College of obstetricians and gynaecologists saying there should
:12:15. > :12:22.be a big expansion in the number of midwife led units, and shrinking the
:12:23. > :12:27.consultant led units, creating overly large baby factories. I was
:12:28. > :12:31.actually born at home and you wonder if we shouldn't go back to that
:12:32. > :12:38.point of having more midwives going to people in their own homes for...
:12:39. > :12:42.There can be problems but my mum, she had the first baby in hospital
:12:43. > :12:47.and the other three were at home. You have to find midwives for that.
:12:48. > :12:51.We need more. And the consultant shortage, which is the message from
:12:52. > :12:56.Doctor David Richmond of the Royal College. We will leave it there. We
:12:57. > :13:02.will look at more of the stories behind the headlines in an hour or
:13:03. > :13:03.so. Much more coming up on BBC News. Now it is sports