>> this is "bbc world news america." tion is of this presen made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escapeat th is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. ndu can find it here in aruba. families, couples,riends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports.

more information for your vacation planning is available at arubaom. >> and now, "bbc world news." laura: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. a return to the cold war chill. britain's prime minister expels3 ussian diplomats in retaliation for the poisoning or a form russian spy in the u.k. prime minister may: they haveth treateuse of a military-grade nerve agent in europe with sarcasm, contempt, and a:fiance. caurcross this nation, u.s. students make the se for gun control, walking out of the classrooms one month after the parkland shooting. stephen hawking: sometime ago i discovered black holes were not black after all. laura:nd remembering a scientific genius.

how stephen hawking's discoveries changed our understanding of the universe. laura: welcome to our viewers on public television here in america and also around the ulrld. in the biggest eon since is to kickr, britain out 23 russian diplomats. theresa may has pointed the finger at moscow over the isisoning of a former russian double agent andaughter in england. in response, she is going to crack down on russian spies, criminals, and corrupt elites sheltering in britain. it is the most dramatic action against moscow in 30 years. here is political editor laura kuenssberg. prime minister may: it was right to offer russia the opportunity to provide an explanation, but

the response has demonstrated complete disdain f the gravity of these events. laura k.: the midnight deadline came and w with no new answers. nttheresa may we prepared to prime minister's questinns ready to aounce the biggest diplomatic action against russia since the cold war.e prnister may: they have treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in europe with sarcasm, contempt, and defiance. so, mr. speaker, there is no alternative conclusion other than t russian state is culpable for the attempted murder of mr. skripal and his daughter. this represents an unlawful use of force by the russian state against the united kingdom. laura k.: the u.k. will retaliate. prime minier may: the united kingdom will now expel 23 russian diplomatwho have been entified as undeclared intelligence officers. toey have just one wee leave. this was not just an active -- act of attempted murder in

salisbury, nor an act against of the u.k. it is an prohibition of the use of chemical weapons and an affront on the role-based system on which we and our intonal partners depend. laura k.: 23 diplomats have ven days to leave, or high-level contact between the u.k. and russia is being suspended, and no minister or meler of the royal family w go to the wod cup. some russian state assets could be frozen, with new laws to crack down on hostile states. in a tense house conference, -- tense house of commons, jeremy corbyn was not quite ready to accept the culpability of the russian state. . corbyn: our response must be both decisive and proportionate and based on clear evidence. laura k.: but listen to rising anger as jeremy corbyn turnsso of his fire on the tories. mr. corbyn: it is, as we on these benches have expressed before, a matter of huge regret

that our countries diplomatic capacity has been stripped back with cuts of 25% in the lastrs five y laura k.: it is tradition foro the in parties to stick together on foreign policy. not these two. prime minister may: this is not a question of our diplomacy, of what diplomatic support we have around the world. is is a question of the culpability of the russian state. laura k.: but if this bothered the russian strongman, vladimir putin approaching an election, campaigning in crimea, utter unapologetic. an official spokeswoman claiming on russian tv, "britain doesn't understand diplomacy or the law, and it is full of liars. fully fledged liars." this is not just arw

straightd foreign-policy clash, but a fight with agn country thates the norms. number 10 knows this may only be the start.s laura: that ura kuenssberg reporting there. at the united nations, u.n. -- u.s. ambassador nikki haley sided with britain, blaming russia for the poisoning. : russia mustley walk rate with the investigation and come clean about its chemical weapo program. russia is a permanent member of the security council. it is interested in the united nations charter with upholding international peace and security. it must account for its actions. laura: nikki haley speaking there. wiearlier i spok the bbc's nick bryant from the united nations. very tough words from the u.n. ambassador to the united

nations, tougher than her boss the white house. what has been the reaction from russia's ambassador? nick: what we heard from nikki haley was the first time a trump administration official has explicly blamed moscow for this attack. earlier in theeek, former secretary of state rex tillerson said it was likely redsia was invo donald trump said he probably agrees with the british finding but hasn't quite concluded yet that russia was to blame. nikki haley did say that, and she said that russia's crime has to be met with immediate and concrete measures from the security c international community, because if they didn't do something here then salisbury wouldn't be the last time we saw a chemical attack. it could happen in new ysak, she . the russian ambassador was very angry that this meeting was even held the british called this emergency session. the russians tried to hold it uw beforehah procedural rambling. -- frangling. thled. the russian ambassador saying they should not have been dragged before the security

council, and made the bizarre and trivializing observation that we needed sherlock holmes to solve the case. laura: can the usecurity council do anything, given that russia has a veto and can block any concrete action? nick: it is interesting that nikki haley said that, becse she knows like everybody else on the security council that russia would veto any move to take the concrete measures anshe was proposing for. the british in calling this meeting have much more limited ambitions for it. what they wanted to do was toov e a forum, the biggest diplomatic stage in the world, that horseshoe table at the security council, so the international community couldol showarity with britain and condemn russia's actions. for the most part, that happened today at the united nations in new york. laura: what is the un's secretary-general himself saying about the poisoning? nick: he said it is

unacceable, the use of chemical weapons is a violation of international law. what antonio guterres stopped short of doing, hover,as pointing the finger of blame and russia. he said it wasn't his job to assign blame for that. clearly most members on the security council this afternoon were prepared to do that, pointing the finger of blame at moscow. laura: nick bryant at the united nations, thank you.ud ts across the u.s. took part in a national school walkouton today to mark one since the florida school shooting. the event lasted 17 minutes, one minute for each life lost when e gunman opened n students and teachers. the walkout comes ahead of a major march on washington later this month. our north america editor jon pel reports. jon: the last time we saw childrenouring out of schools, it was with their hands up in terror after the florida shooting. today they came out across america, but ts time with fists clenched, demanding change on gun control. >> what do we want?

>> gun control! jon:wa iington at 10:00 on a bracing cold morning, with their backs turned on the white house with these students were silent for 17 minutes, a minute for o eathe children who died at the marjory stoneman douglas school last month. the extraordinary success these yng people have had in changing the whole terms of debate on the subject of gun control in america. their problem is that the n who lives on the other side of that fence seems to have got cold feet. when dald trump met youngsters from the florida school at the white house, he seemed to offer his support fotougher gun-control measures like raising to 21 the age in which you can buy a rifle. and he later chided lawmakers for being frightened of the national rifle association. president trump: some of you people are petrified of the nra. you can't be petrified.

jon: he has now backed off those proposals, and the young people are intensifying their campaignt >> we ommon sense gun control. we want to ban assault rifles. we should not be scared in school. it should be our safest institution. >> we are tired of being scared. we want actual change. we want it to happen with this protest. >> this is what democracy looks like! jon: this is a curtain raiser to unmask demonstration -- two a mass demonstration in washington in 10 days time. the powerf protest has gotten further than anyone could imagine. and they are not in any move to surrender. >> never again! never again! jon: jon sopel, bbc news, washgton. laura: in other news, donald a cable newsped commentator to be his top advisor. larry kudlow has been a fixture on financial tv for more than a decade. he also served in the reagan administration. he replaces gary cohn, who

stepped down lastes week in prt over the steel and aluminum tariffs. after six months of coalition talks, angela merkel has been sworn in for a fourth term as german chancellor. she will lead a coalition of her conservatives and the social democrats. in italy, 23,000 people have been evacuated from a town on the st coast after an unexploded world war ii bomb was found. officials say the 225-kilo bomb was british-made and there s panic when it was accidentally activated during construction of a train. the device w removed and lobbed into the sea. currencays the crypto bitcoin will be banned from being advertised on platform. the bbc understands that google decided to act because there was a lack of consumer protections for highly speculative and complex trades. democrat conor lamb has come to

victory in a ngressional race in pennsylvania. that was virtually a deaheat. these are joined by the former t--he strong showing by a former marine in a district donald trump won by 20 points has both parties rethinking their approach. earlier i spoke to josh kraushaar of "national journal ,." this seat was in the heart ofum country. why couldn't the republicans hold on? josh: number one, the democratic base is energized across the thcountry even in district are republican. you have an energized liberal base so angry at president trump they are willing to show up at elections from dogcatcher to a congressional race. conor lamb ran as a moderate democrat, centrist candidate,ve and he wonrepublican voters, independent voters, who were worried about dems going to the left but he had the message on key issues. laura: republicans are feeling , good about their tax cuthoping

they can sell it in an area like this. what changed between then and now? josh: trump, and his daily controversies, which drive the new cycle and distract republicans from talking about what they want to talk about, namely the state of the economy. one of the reasons this race is so significant is it is taking place in the middle om an ec boom where people say they are happy about the state of the economy, but nonetheless, a republican seat that trump won by 20 points was won by democrat even in the midst of a good economy. laura: so read the tea leaves for us, josh. what does this mean if you are r vulnerabublican in a seat ahead of the midterm elections? josh: there are over 100 houseor seats that arecompetitive than this pennsylvania congressional district. this map is going to be huge come november. 2democrats need to win on house seats to take back the majority, so they only need to win maybe half or one third of the races at are really in play.

the odds of democrats taking back house have never looked greater than after this election. laura: democrats face hurdles of their own, not least the math in the senate. josh: the senate is much tougher because the big battlegrounds in the senate are in very republican states like north dakota, west virginia, some of the most trump-friendly stateson he map. the battleground in the house is not like pennsylvania. it is more in the suburban battlegrounds, where donald trump has lost signindcant gr what made the race so significant is this is in trumpd country,emocrats still won a race on enemy lines. laura: what lessons will rimocrats learn from this -- that they can tract and do well with the right candidate, or do anything win regaless? josh: i think the former is the more important lesson, that if democrs can nominate moderate candidates who are not as liberal on guns or economically liberal -- conor lamb did not support a $15 minimum wage, for example -- ithey can appeal to business-friendly centrists who don't particular care for donald trump and his presidency

, that is the ticket to winning these suburban distric laura: josh kraushaar, thank you for joining us.jo : thanks, laura. laura:g you are watchbc world news america." wkfinding the stephen g of tomorrow. we visit a science fair in the u.k. to hear from students about how the physicist influence to them. influenced them. 30 years ago, they became the first all-female team in a round the world yacht race. now a new project is promoting girls education. reporter: almost 30 years since she was first converted into a yacht racing around the world's oceans, she is back. man in charge.me >> we did not know what we were ilarning until ahen we blasted all the paint and filler off theut boat inside and

there was a lot more -- once you get into it, find other jobs. reporter: in 1990, tracy edwards and her team sailed around the globe and into the record books as the first all-female crew in the race. last year it was rescued fesm the seychend brought back to her spiritual home. she made a sorry but welcome sight. >> is emotional, really. i've not seen the boat since 1990 when the race finish. last summer she reappeared again. reporter:on duncan also worked the yacht in the 1980's and had a personal link with her. >> one of the girls from the first cruise did not do the rather world trip -- round the world trip. i separated her and married her.

reporter: made it is being -- made is being restored for another round the world adventure. she will promote education for girls. with so much being refurbished or replacehem when she returns to the water in the summer, it will feele l her maiden voyage, but in my ways her mission will be the same, to oncete again promo challenge, adventure, an opportunity for women and for girls. laura: pouring in for stephen hawking, who reshaped the way we see the theor tical brought physics masses. the scientist died peacefully at his home in cambridge, england, early wednesday. his work on black holes and relativity made nam a household as he overcame physical challenges.

our science editor david shukman looks back on his extraordinary life. stephen hawking: there's nothing like theureka moment of discovering something that no one knew before. david: stephen hawking had a gift for inspiration. a powerful srit overcoming an ailing body to allow the mind to roam through the cosmos. it earned him a place as the most famous scientist in the world. been an hawking: it ha glorious time to be alive and doing research in theoretical physics. david: who else could draw crowds like this? the man who gazed at the starsbe me one himself. his story both poignant and uplifting.er his canvolved concepts so alien, so complicated, that fort most people s a struggle to keep up. but he was exploring the strangest features of e wiuniverse, black holes, d together the science of the largest things in space with of the science of the very small, part of our quest to come up

with a single theory of the universe. >> he maybe these -- made these inedibly original insights which set up the modern theory of black holes and made great contributionto cosmology. he was a huge figure. >> i was devastated, really upset. i only met him a couple of times, but he had a real impact on my life. i think it is the passing of a great scientist. he will be truly sorely missed. david: even as a young student, his intelligence stood out, bu h at that momewas given a warningne that mortar n disease would cut is like short. stephen hawking: when i was diagnosed at 21, i w told it would kill me at o or years. threedavid: b somehow he kept going, with a high-tech wheelchair and a synthesized voice. communicating first by touch, then by twitching a single

muscle in his cheek, a daunting burden for anye. his children saw him as an example. >> people who live inxtreme circumstances find something very inspirational in his example of perseverance and persistence and his ability s rise above hfering, and still want to communicate at a higher level. david: life was never straightforward. his first marriage ended in divorce, as did a second marriage. claims had emerged that he was physically abused. the case was dropped for lack of evidence. none of this held him back. his book "a brief history of time" sold at least 10 million copies, and everyone wanted to meet him, from the pope in the vatican to the queen to president obama, who awarded him a medal of honor. his fame reached beyond the world of science. rystephen hawking: your ths isa doughnut-shaped universe intriguing, homer. i may have to steal it. >> wow. david: even appearing on "the

simpsons stephen hawking: i didn't say that. david: in an episode of "star trek," he was given the chance to tease isaac newton. stephen hawking:orot the apple again. ounding to think that th lord created all this in seven days. stephen hawking: incorrect. 13.8 billion years. >> let's not get boggat down in all gain. david: most recently he was happy to play along for comic relief. he saw himself as an ambassador for scienc in this interview, he told me of his hopes for the large hadron ofllider. he had a real sens adventure. stephen hawking: as you can imagine, i'm very excited. i have been wheelchand for almost four decades, and the wance to float free in 0gill be wonderful. david: even braving a zero-gravity flight. no surprise, his death has prompted a flood of tributes. tim berners-lee, founder of the world wide web, tweeted, "we have lost a colossal mind and wonderful spirit.

rest in peace, stephen hawking." and nasa said, "may you keep flying like superman in microgravity," as he said to astronauts on the international space station in 2014. >> if you reverse time, the iuniversegetting taller. david: eddie redmayne played ephen hawking in the film "the theory of everything." today he said, "we lost a truly beautiful mind." a scientist who delved into the weird realm of black holesan offerengaging story that achieved something remarkable -- it touched a global audience. laura: that was david shukman reporting. professor hawking was clearly an inspiration to scientists the world over, and particularly to young people. the u.k. iin the middle of british science week. some of the kids taking part' have been talking to the bbc -- thbbc's jon kay.

john: stephen hawking woult've loved this -- 20,000 british scientists experimenti he told the young people to be curious, and today, as they trajectoriesndorce, many were thinking of their scientific superhero. how would you describe him? >> genius, pioneer, brilliant, ioinspirl, engaging, phenomenal. >> i read "a brief history of time." jon:al did you reaof it? >> i did actually read all of it. it did a lot for me. jon: on display at the fair, inventions from the scientists of tomorrow. physicist from north wales regard professor hawking as a modern-day genius. >> he is the intellectual forward of einstein and newton. these amazing figures th we read about -- he was getting to

that level. >> his legacy will live on. jon: inside, and inflatable black hole, teenagers studied hawking's space and time. while taking selfie -- space and time theory while taking selfies. >> i think people are more interested in science nowadays because of him. barron has invented an app that could help people is give a terrible fire aling virtual y. he admired hawking's courage. >> i'm inspired by that, because usually you see tried to do the same thing, but stephen hawking was really unique in the sense that heanted to do things differently and point things in a different way. i jon: perhaps the next stephen aywking was in this room t jon kay, bbc news, birmingham.

laura: h how stephking is inspiring the next generation. i am laura trevelyan. thank you for watching "bbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, ourid verticaleos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through the news of the day and stay up to date with the latests headlineu can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglted needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it he in aruba. families, couples, and can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny ys, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.

nonstop flights are availablefr most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles. o

captioningnsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, l udents across the nation walkout of schoo protest gun violence, one month after a mass shooting at a florida high school. then, britisthprime minister esa may expels 23 russian diploms after moscow refused to explain a nerve agent attack on u.k. so. and, remembering renowned physicist sthen hawking: how he captured minds and inspired generations to look toward the cosmos. >> he never let his motor ne hon disease hoim back. i think he's just an inspiration generay to all, whether they be scientists dr not. >> woouff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.