06/03/2018 BBC News at One

The Foreign Secretary confirms that

a former Russian spy

and his daughter are the two people

believed to have been

poisoned in Salisbury.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found

two days ago slumped on a bench -

they are now in a critical

condition.

Sergei Skripal is a former double

agent working for MI6 -

friends of his daughter Yulia say

she was here visiting him.

Areas near the incident in Salisbury

remain cordoned off -

Boris Johnson told MPs

the government would do

what was necessary if Russia

is found to be involved.

I can reassure the house that should

evidence emerge that implies state

responsibility then Her Majesty's

government will respond

appropriately and robustly.

We'll bring you all the latest

from our correspondents here and in

Russia on this developing story.

Also this lunchtime...

The leaders of North

and South Korea have agreed to meet

for the first time in a decade.

Britain needs to go on a diet -

health officials urge food

manufacturers to cut the calories

in their products.

Six months after Hurricane Irma

swept through the Caribbean

flattening all in its path -

we return to the Island of Tortola.

It's been no mean feat

to clear this island,

if you remember the kind

of

damage that was created.

More than 80% of buildings

were badly damaged,

or completely destroyed.

And the former BBC presenter

Bill Turnbull has revealed that he's

been diagnosed with prostate

cancer.

And coming up in the

sport on BBC News...

After 14 months out and now

a mother, Serena Williams

makes her singles comeback

and she says don't expect

too much at first.

Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One.

The government has confirmed

that the two people suspected

of being poisoned in Salisbury

are a former Russian

spy and his daughter.

Sergei Skripal was found slumped

on a bench in the city centre

on Sunday, alongside 33-year-old

Yulia Skripal.

Wiltshire Police say both

remain in a critical

condition in intensive care,

after being treated for suspected

exposure to an unknown substance.

A restaurant and a pub in Salisbury

have been cordoned off,

and one member of the emergency

services remains in hospital

after the incident.

The Foreign Secretary says

the government will respond robustly

if any Russian state

responsibility is proven.

Richard Lister reports.

Two figures, believed to be Sergei

Skripal and his daughter Yulia

Two figures, believed to be Sergei

Skripal and his daughter Yulia,

caught on CCTV on Sunday. Within

hours they would be fighting for

their lives, poisoned by an unknown

substance.

There was a man slumped

on the bench, being sick. I was told

that there was a woman on the floor

but I could not see because she was

surrounded by paramedics.

The man

has a complex past, Sergei Skripal

is a Russian convicted of spying for

the West before coming to the UK.

Today, police are

focused on the area outside of a

shopping centre where he and his

daughter were found unconscious.

They have said emergency services

personnel at the scene were taken to

hospital for assessment afterwards.

All but one have been released.

Wiltshire Police are still trying to

establish whether a crime has even

been committed here but they are

being supported by counterterror

officers.

The critical thing is to

get to the bottom as to what caused

this illness as quickly as possible.

As you would expect, specialist

resources in the counterterror

network, and partners, working with

Wiltshire Police to get to the

bottom of this as quickly as

possible.

With a mystery poisonous

substance involved, tracing the

pair's movements is a priority.

After taping of the area around the

shopping

After taping of the area around the

shopping centre where they were

found, police secured the Zizzi

restaurant as a precaution. Today,

they said the Bishops Mill pub

restaurant as a precaution. Today,

they said the Bishops Mill pub in

the centre of Salisbury had also

been sealed off. Sergei Skripal and

Yulia Skripal are still in a

critical condition at Salisbury

Hospital. Public Health England has

stressed there is no wider health

risk from the incident. But

parallels with the 2006

parallels with the 2006 poisoning of

Alexander Litvinenko are hard to

ignore, a Russian dissident,

poisoned in London by a radioactive

compound.

It is thought he was probably

murdered by the Kremlin. The Russian

embassy complained of speculative

stories today, which it said were

demonising Russia. But the

government have now put Moscow on

notice.

While it would be wrong to

prejudge the investigation, I can

reassure the house that should

evidence emerged that implies state

responsibility, then Her Majesty 's

government will respond

appropriately and robustly.

The

first pictures have now emerged at

33-year-old Yulia Skripal, who was

visiting her father from Russia when

they fell ill. They may be able to

shed some light as to what happened

to them on Sunday, but they remain

gravely ill.

Richard Lister, BBC News.

The Kremlin says it is willing

to co-operate in the police

investigation but says Russia has

"no information" on what could have

caused the incident.

Officials are stressing that it's

too early to speculate

on what happened in Salisbury.

Richard Galpin takes at any motives

there might have been.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter

Yulia

Sergei Skripal and his daughter

Yulia, now fighting for their lives,

they are not the only Russians in

Britain who may have been targeted

for assassination by Moscow. It was

proved a former spy Alexander

Litvinenko was poisoned by

radioactive polonium in London 12

years ago. At an inquest, continuing

into the mysterious death in Surrey

of this whistle-blower.

This is the moment in 2004 when

Sergei Skripal was arrested in

Russia for betraying his country. He

was a military intelligence officer

who had been secretly supplying MI6

with information, and worse

convicted for high treason. But

after several years in prison he was

pardoned and able to fly to Britain

as part of a spy swap. But that was

never a guarantee that he would be

safe here.

The fact that he was a

British spy, a former member of the

Russian military, in the minds of

most Russians, they would categorise

him as a traitor. There would be,

and there are people there, who

would be delighted to see him dead.

From the Kremlin today, a guarded

response. They said what had

happened was a tragedy and they were

open to co-operating with British

authorities. But for many Russians

living here in the UK, who opposed

the Kremlin, it has been clear for a

long time that they are vulnerable

and they want greater protection.

We

need to be sure that people

receiving political asylum here are

completely safe, and the state that

provide this asylum need to be more

serious, particularly now after what

happened to this Sergei and his

friend or partner.

Meanwhile, back in Moscow, Vladimir

Putin is almost guaranteed to win

yet another term in office in the

presidential election later this

month. The British enquiry into the

death of Alexander Litvinenko

concluded that Mr Putin probably

ordered the assassination, something

the Kremlin denies. The question now

is whether there has been another

killing in this country ordered by

the Russian state.

Richard Galpin, BBC News.

In a moment, we'll

speak to our Moscow

correspondent Sarah Rainsford.

But first to our Home Affairs

Correspondent Tom Symonds,

who is in Salisbury.

Tom, bring us up to date with the

police investigation.

Well, I think

we are at a critical point in that

investigation for several reasons.

Firstly, I understand senior

officers are meeting about now to

discuss the future of the

investigation, will Wiltshire

Police, a relatively small force,

continued to lead it? As we have

seen, there are possible political

ramifications for international

politics. It may be the nation's

counterterror operation takes over

the lead in this investigation.

Secondly, what was the substance

that left a father and his daughter

in such a terrible state on a park

bench over there, covered by the

tent behind me. What was it? Police

will be looking at toxicology

reports but we understand several

members of the emergency services

were also admitted to hospital. I

understand two were cleared by

doctors and released but one police

officer is still in hospital. I'm

told the symptoms experienced by

some of those close to this include

wheezing, trouble breathing, and

also itchy eyes. What was the

substance? Another key question.

Finally, if it was an attempt to

take the lives of these two people,

how with the substance administered?

We have seen the restaurant cordoned

off for security, to ensure that as

safe as evidence, and we have also

seen a pub cordoned off. Was

something slipped into food or drink

during Sunday afternoon? A long way

to go in this investigation.

Sarah Rainsford is in Moscow.

Tell us more about Russia's reaction

to this incident?

Russia has been

pouring a fair amount of cold water

on what it calls a lot of

speculation and Russia phobia coming

from the UK at the moment. We spoke

to the Kremlin's spokesman for

Vladimir Putin earlier today and he

made the point that there is little

information about what has happened,

pointing out that it was a "Tragic

situation", as he described it,

suggesting here in Moscow the

Kremlin do not know what Sergei

Skripal was involved with, and who

he was involved with after he moved

to the UK. Suggesting that there

could be other explanations as to

what happened. As for the suggestion

is to some kind of Russian state

involvement, the spokesperson for

Vladimir Putin said that that did

not take long, did it? Speaking of

the response here, it has been what

they have called Russia phobia, and

scandalous.

Our Security Correspondent

Gordon Corera is here.

What was the focus of the

investigation, what will it be?

As

Tom said, identifying the substance

and how it was administered, and

seeing if other people were

involved. I'm trying to work out

why, if indeed, there is a link to

Russia. The tone of the Foreign

Secretary's remarks in the last hour

were interesting. He said he could

not prejudge the investigation, he

did not want to get ahead of it but

if suspicions that this has proved

well founded, there will be action,

that is what he suggested against

Russia. Clearly, despite

protestations from Moscow, you can

get the sense that the suspicions

within government, even if they are

not yet confirmed, are that there

may be a Russian link behind this.

Because of that issue that we heard

earlier, that this is someone who

the Russian government, and

intelligence services, may have

regarded as a traitor and therefore

someone they may target for that

reason.

We do not know that for sure yet,

but clearly that is the suggestion

at the moment that is being looked

at strongly by the government, even

as the police investigation goes on,

dealing with those specific details

as to why and how this may have

happened.

OK, Gordon Corera, thank you.

The Foreign Secretary,

Boris Johnson, has in the last half

hour been speaking to MPs

about the government's

policy towards Russia.

Our assistant political editor

Norman Smith is in Westminster.

Norman, it was a sharply worded

statement from Boris Johnson?

Very

strong words, and although Mr

Johnson sought to stress that it was

still an ongoing investigation,

details were still coming in. He was

not pointing the finger of blame, it

is absolutely clear that he and

others in government, and more

widely at Westminster, believe it is

highly likely that this involvement

did involve Russian state

did involve Russian state sponsored

attack. And Mr Johnson said it

carried clear echoes of the

Alexander Litvinenko case. And MPs

would draw their own conclusions.

There were strong words. Mr Johnson

said that the British government

would respond robustly to safeguard

British lives, values and freedoms.

Much less clear is what the British

government may do. It is under huge

pressure to make a much tougher

stand after accusations it was

guilty of appeasement, following the

killing of Alexander Litvinenko.

Now, Mr Johnson was asked repeatedly

what sort of measures the British

government may take. He suggested

that there could be targeted

sanctions against those close to

President Putin, in other words,

close political and business allies.

Mr Johnson also suggested that the

British government would discuss

with Nato allies how to respond.

That is interesting because it

suggests that the British government

may seek support of other countries

for a much broader range of

sanctions, to say to other countries

that East and needs to be made

against Russia in the wake of

allegations of interference in

western elections and cyber attacks.

What is absolutely clear though, is

that relations between London and

Moscow now appear to have plunged to

new depths, with Mr Johnson

describing Moscow as "A malign and

disorderly force". The chairman of

the foreign affairs select committee

accused President Putin of waging a

soft war against the West.

OK,

Norman Smith, thank you.

In other news now...

The Russian military in Syria has

offered rebels what it calls safe

passage out of the besieged enclave

of Eastern Ghouta.

It comes as UN investigators say

that all sides in the conflict

in Syria are guilty of war crimes.

Let's speak to Martin Patience who's

in neighbouring Lebanon.

Tell us more about this United

Nations report?

Nations report?

This was a UN

report, and it comes out every six

months. It singled out two series of

incidents in Syria. What we have

seen is a conflict intensifying,

they accused the Syrian government

of carrying out three chemical

attacks in that besieged area of

Eastern Ghouta, last July. Also

significantly, it accused both

Americans and Russians of carrying

out air strikes that resulted in

mass casualties. The latest that we

have from Syria is on that Russian

offer to the rebels that they could

leave eastern Gouda, to another

area, along with their families. We

have seen this kind of move before.

That was one year ago, when Syrian

troops retake the major city. In

fact, Syria's largest city of

Aleppo. Families bust out to a

nearby province. It shows that

Moscow wants to wrap up the

campaign, but in terms of the

opposition in eastern

opposition in eastern Ghouta, they

are trying to forcibly transfer the

population there.

Martin, thank you.

More than 780 civilians -

including 170 children -

are believed to have died

in the rebel-held enclave

of Eastern Ghouta since the Syrian

government started its latest

offensive over two weeks ago.

Yolande Knell has been

to a refugee camp in Lebanon,

where families are waiting

for news.

This refugee camp is deeply affected

by Syria's latest deadly battles.

Every family here comes from

besieged Eastern Ghouta. Relatives

back home constantly on their minds

to.

TRANSLATION: They cannot move

because of the attacks, they are

terrified. They spend day and night

in basements. This is a disaster. I

call on the world to save our

children.

She lost two brothers, one just days

ago.

ago. People come and give their

condolences and I am burning inside

as I mentioned my brother, she says.

Her husband is devastated by what he

sees. This was yesterday in Eastern

Ghouta.

TRANSLATION:

The news is terrible,

their strikes, bombings, massive

destruction of houses and people

being killed.

being killed.

It is protest songs

not cartoons that the children in

the camp watch online.

the camp watch online. How is the

camp?

Many refugees have spent five

difficult years here, it is a long

time to be living in a tent with

poor sewage and little water, she

tells me. Now these Syrians are

pessimistic about their future and

what is happening in Eastern Ghouta.

TRANSLATION:

Every minute is a

minute of pain for us, we cry over

every new loss, we just hope this

war and the bombing will soon be

over.

But there is no sign of that

and for now, for these children of

Eastern Ghouta, this camp will have

to remain home.

Britain is suffering

an obesity epidemic,

and the country needs to go

on a diet.

That's the message from

Public Health England,

which has told food companies

they must cut the calories

in their products within six years.

Our health correspondent

Adina Campbell reports.

They are firm family favourites but

too many processed foods and ready

meals do not do our way signs any

favours.

It is a personal choice if

they want to buy it.

I am very lazy.

Personally. I would not sit there

and look at the calories and think,

this has too many.

When you are

really hungry, you do not focus on

what you are taking in. Especially

if you have a lot of fast food

restaurants near where you work.

Now

supermarkets, food manufacturers and

fast food restaurants are being

urged to shoulder some of the

responsibility by reducing calories

by 20% over the next six years.

Public Health England says this can

be achieved in three ways. Changing

the recipes, using better quality

products, smaller portion sizes,

which would help control how much we

eat. Or steering us to buy lower

calorie products, making better

informed decisions.

We all need to

be part of this journey because it

is affecting us now and if we think

we have free choice in our

supermarkets, in our fast food

restaurants, we probably don't. We

are being guided towards the choices

we currently make by those

businesses.

Quite simply, as a

nation, we are getting fatter and

the sheer volume of high calorie

foods available to us is not

helping, not just bad for our

health, bad for the NHS and

taxpayers. To help us make healthier

choices, you could soon be seeing

more of these posters, a rough guide

advising us to eat 400 calories at

breakfast, another

breakfast, another 600 for lunch and

dinner.

But campaigners say the

advice goes too far. It is far too

low, people will look at that and

see how much a role in terms of

calories is and they will say, no,

we need to eat more.

It is estimated

some children are consuming up to

500 calories more than needed every

day. And around a third leave

primary school overweight or obese.

If the food industry fails to take

action, they could face tougher

consequences by the Government.

Our top story this lunchtime...

The Foreign Secretary confirms that

a former Russian spy

and his daughter are the two people

believed to have been

poisoned in Salisbury.

I can reassure the House that

should evidence emerge

That implies state responsibility,

then Her Majesty's government will

respond appropriately and robustly.

Coming up in sport in the next 15

minutes on BBC News...

Jack Nowell could be out for

England's next Six Nations match.

The wing is a fitness doubt

for the must-win game

against France on Saturday.

It's six months since the second

most powerful hurricane in Atlantic

history struck the Caribbean.

Hurricane Irma caused catastrophic

damage and killed dozens of people

as it passed through the region last

September.

One of the worst-hit places

was the island of Tortola,

in the British Virgin Islands,

where 85% of the buildings

were either damaged

or completely destroyed.

Aleem Maqbool has been to the island

to assess how life has

changed since the storm.

It is perhaps unsurprising,

given that Irma was the most

powerful hurricane ever to be

reported in this part

of the world, that six

months on, even though

people are trying to get

on with their lives, trying to get

on with their businesses,

if they can, that the reminders

of what happened when the storm

ripped through this island

are still everywhere you look here.

This site has been used

solely to dump debris

created by Hurricane Irma.

As you can see, piles

and piles of it.

Believe it or not, it is still being

added to to this day.

It has been no mean feat

to clear this island.

If you remember the kind

of damage that was created -

more than 80% of buildings

were damaged or completely destroyed

and hundreds of boats were lifted

out of the sea and dumped

on the shore.

So, how are things now?

Well, sadly, six months on,

we found that some people

are still living in shelters.

Most, of course, have gone home now,

but even though a lot

of construction work has taken

place, we have seen many,

many buildings still without roofs

or that are badly damaged.

One of the biggest hits

the British Virgin Islands took,

though, is in its tourism industry.

This is one of the main docks

and usually it would have cruise

liners coming in here and flooding

this place with tourists every day

and that is just not happening

on the same scale anymore and that

has had a devastating impact

on people's livelihoods here.

Given that this is a UK territory,

the question for many is,

did Britain do enough

after Hurricane Irma?

Certainly, there were British troops

here in the immediate

aftermath of the storm,

helping with the emergency

aid effort and also

helping restore security.

But those soldiers left

after a few weeks.

After that, we are told

by the British Governor

here that the UK has been working

very hard behind the scenes

to help restore power.

Most of this island does now have

electricity well ahead of schedule.

But that hasn't stopped

the perception among many

here on the British Virgin Islands,

particularly when they look

at the damage that remains

on their roads and particularly

their schools, that Britain

could have done much more to help

in the recovery effort.

Aleem joins us live

from Tortola now

What is life like now on the ground

for people?

We know that the British

Government is assessing whether or

not its readiness or its response

could have been better, but in the

meantime, life is still very tough

here. Facing the trauma of what

happened, still having to deal with

the impact of it, construction is

going on right across the island,

still a great deal of debris to

remove and they have had massive

blows in recent weeks, in terms of

the tourism industry, the big cruise

companies, Disney and others, they

are not bringing customers to the

island this season. Now people are

fearful again because less than 100

days' time, the next hurricane

season is due. More people are

worried about, having shot as they

can go to that time but they are

still dealing with the impact that

Hurricane Irma brought last year.

Thank you.

The leaders of North

and South Korea have agreed to meet

on the heavily-armed border

between the two countries next month

in the first such summit

for more than a decade.

Laura Bicker is in the South

Korean capital, Seoul.

This appears to be a very

significant development.

How has this come about?

It came about after a dinner hosted

by Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, the

first time he has met ministers from

South Korea, but the headlines to

come out of it are extraordinary.

Kim Jong-un has indicated to the

South Koreans he is willing to talk

about getting rid of his nuclear

weapons, something that would have

been unthinkable a few months ago.

He is also willing to sit down with

the US and he says there will be no

further missile tests while the

talks take place. Of course, there

will be the summit between the

leader of North Korea and the

president here from Seoul. When they

meet in April, the first time two

leaders have met in over a decade.

When it comes to sceptics, they

wonder whether this is straight out

of Pyongyang's playbook, that they

will walk up to the table and walk

away again while they buy time to

try to get rid of international

sanctions. Whatever way it goes, the

ball is now in the court of

Washington and it is up to Donald

Trump what may happen next.

Thank

you.

Packaging firms in England have been

accused of not paying enough

towards the cost of dealing

with plastic waste.

The waste consultancy Eunomia claims

the companies are paying only 10%

of the overall bill for dealing

with the waste.

The packaging industry

denies the claims.

Roger Harrabin reports.

Dealing with waste is expensive.

Under a government scheme, the firms

that produce packaging have to chip

in towards improving recycling. But

today's report says the packaging

industry is playing just one tenth

of the real cost of clearing up the

mess it creates.

We spent something

like 2.8 billion as councils each

year on waste collection and

disposal, but we only receive

something like 50 million from the

plastics industry that contributes

towards the cost. That is far too

low.

Today's report says the

packaging industry is also

overstating the amount it recycles

by about 30%. No one from the

industry was available for interview

on the issue. A spokesman said all

their figures on the cycling were

independently verified. But the

question of who pays how much to

recycle plastics is clearly up for

debate. This really matters to all

of us because we share the bill

through our council tax for getting

rid of waste. But is that Bill

shared fairly? Suppose I am the sort

of man who eats lots of takeaway

than drinks lots of fizzy drinks, I

am generating an awful lot of

rubbish. Suppose the neighbour does

not create much waste at all. Then

she is contributing the same amount

in council tax as me but causing a

small fraction of the problem.

Environmentalists say it is not

fair. Change is on the way, the

Government is reviewing waste policy

and councils want firms to pay much

more to fund recycling. The industry

of course wants to keep its bill as

small as possible. Environmentalists

think firms should pay 100% of the

cost of recycling the things they

produce. Roger Harrabin, BBC News.

The former BBC Breakfast presenter

Bill Turnbull has revealed that he's

suffering from prostate cancer.

The 62-year-old broadcaster says

he was diagnosed at the end of last

year and that he wants to encourage

people to get tested.

Our medical correspondent,

Fergus Walsh, reports.

There were some moments that I had

forgotten about entirely.

Bill

Turnbull on his last day on BBC

Breakfast in 2016 after presenting

the programme for 15 years.

the programme for 15 years. The star

of many shows, among them Strictly,

he treated the news he was diagnosed

with prostate and bone cancer last

November. He added, I am in good

spirits and I hope to be around for

some time yet.

I will place that

there.

The diagnosis came when he

was recording the special Great

Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To

Cancer which begins tonight. In an

interview, he said, I was getting

pains in my legs and my hips

particularly, and I thought, this is

old age. Eventually, they got so bad

I thought I'd better go and see my

GP. He said, I will give you a blood

test. The next morning, the doctor

said it is fairly clear you have

advanced prostate cancer. In an

interview in the Radio Times, he

urges men not to ignore symptoms

that might indicate prostate cancer

which will affect one in eight men.

The key symptoms are any very rapid

changes to how often you go to the

toilet to your innate, any pain when

you do or pain generally in the

pelvic area, though symptoms might

not be cancer, they probably are

not, but they would potentially

suggest there is an issue and men

should go to their GP if they have

any symptoms.

Bill says he's still

working and does not want to be

defined by his illness. He adds,

although cancer will shorten his

consultant's ambition is he will see

another 18 years. -- cancer will

shorten his life.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Matt Taylor.

This was the scene just outside

Glasgow this morning. The covering

of snow yet again. Across some parts

of Scotland, it continues to snow.

Big temperature contrasts. England

and Wales, ten, 11 degrees this

afternoon. A struggle to get to

four, five in Scotland. Here in the

Grampians and the eastern islands,

continuing to see snow on the hills

through the day, another 10-15

centimetres possible. Most will be

dry. A few showers to the west of

England and Wales, through East

Anglia and the south-east.

Overnight, the snow clears from

Scotland, a few more showers pushing

into the western half of the UK and

potentially the Channel Islands,

clear skies in between, it will be

colder, greater chance of frost just

about anywhere, and where the ground

is wet, on the icy side. Tomorrow,

for many, dry and bright. There will

be some showers, rain, sleet and

hill snow in the West, western

fringes of England and Wales, heavy

in Devon and Cornwall with hail,

through the day, we could see heavy

rain working from South to East, and

in between, most places dry with

sunshine. Low pressure still with us

into Thursday, clear skies, frosty

night again, just watch this weather

front developing across northern

France, it could bring rain to the

Channel Islands, it may skirt into

the far south-east. A lot of dry and

bright weather on Thursday. A few

showers. The further north, the more

likely to see snow over the hills,

but nothing compared to what we have

had of late. The sun is gaining

strength day by day. Still frost by

night, as we will see on Friday.

Snow returns at times across

northern Scotland, most having a dry

and bright day, during the day,

cloudier and wetter in the

south-west of England and Wales.

Some very mild air which will try to

push north through the weekend,

called air still in place over

Scotland, so England and Wales on

Saturday the rain spread north, it

will turn to snow in the northern

half of the country. The milder

weather will eventually win,

sunshine at times too. A weekend of

a little bit of everything but

finishing with milder and sunnier

weather for many.

A reminder of our main

story this lunchtime.

The Foreign Secretary confirms the

former Russian spy and his daughter

are the two people believed to have

been poisoned in Salisbury.

That's all from the BBC News at One,

so it's goodbye from me.

And on BBC One, we now join

the BBC's news teams where you are.