Russia pushes back as more evidence points to Kremlin in nerve-agent attack on Skripals

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TODAY:

• A year after the novichok poisonings of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, the evidence of Kremlin involvement in the failed assassination bid continues to mount.
• The resurgence of measles is fuelling the debate over childhood vaccinations.
• HBO's searing documentary series Leaving Neverland, which details claims of child sexual abuse against Michael Jackson, has many music fans rethinking their relationship with the late King of Pop.
• Missed The National last night? Watch it here.

Novichok poisonings

One year after the novichok poisonings of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, the evidence of Kremlin involvement in the failed assassination bid continues to mount.

The U.K. Press Association reports today that British intelligence services flagged "frantic comings and goings" from the Russian embassy in the days before and after the March 4, 2018, attack, suggesting a major spy operation was underway.

Skripal, a longtime double agent turned defector, and his daughter who was visiting from Moscow, fell gravely ill while out for dinner in the English cathedral town of Salisbury. Both survived after weeks intensive treatment in hospital.

But the nerve agent, originally developed by the Soviet military, did end up taking the life of Dawn Sturgess, a resident of the nearby town of Amesbury, in July.

The 44-year-old died after applying what she thought was perfume to her wrists. Her boyfriend had recovered a counterfeit bottle of Nina Ricci from a charity drop box. It turned out to be filled with the same novichok that had been sprayed over Skripal's front door in March.

British authorities have identified two Russian suspects in the case, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, both believed to be members of the GRU, the country's military intelligence service.  

And last month, the investigative website Bellingcat named another high-ranking GRU agent, Denis Sergeev, as a possible third conspirator. It noted that he arrived in the U.K., travelling under the alias Sergey Fedatov, two days before the poisonings and departed on March 4.

Sergeev is also a suspect in a 2015 incident in Bulgaria, where the owner of an arms factory became seriously ill after ingesting an unknown poison. The victim was hospitalized for a month, but survived.

British Prime Minister Theresa May travelled to Salisbury today to mark the anniversary, visiting a couple of shops in the company of the local MP and chatting with people on the main street.

The city was officially declared to be novichok free just last week, after months of decontamination work at Skripal's home and 11 other sites, with cleanup crews taking more than 5,000 samples.

Still, police admit that they can't be entirely sure that more containers of the deadly poison aren't still out there waiting to be discovered, or whether other locations might have been contaminated in the four months between the initial attack and discovery of the perfume bottle.

And many questions remain, not least of all for the victims and their families.

Yesterday, the Daily Mirror published an emotional letter that Ewan Hope, Sturgess' son, has written to Vladimir Putin.

"British police believe at least two Russian citizens were responsible for her death, but it appears they are being protected by your state," the 20-year-old wrote. "I am appealing to you as a human being to allow our officers to question these men about my mother's murder. The least she deserves is justice."

Today, the country's embassy in the U.K. released a statement offering its "sincere condolences" to the Sturgess family, alongside a report detailing what it calls dozens of "inconsistencies in the British narrative" about the poisonings.

Russia continues to deny any involvement in the attack.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, gave an interview to a Moscow newspaper today, saying that the country continues to search for the truth about what happened in Salisbury last year.

"If someone in the U.K., Washington or Brussels believes that Russia will put the issue on the back burner, they are grossly mistaken," she said. "I believe this story will be brought to its logical conclusion."

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Vaccine hesitancy

The resurgence of measles is fuelling the debate over childhood vaccinations, producer Perlita Stroh writes.

After a recent outbreak of measles in British Columbia — 15 confirmed cases this year alone, as well as cases in Quebec and parts of the U.S. — physicians are once again sounding the alarm about the importance of preventative vaccines.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified "vaccine hesitancy" — the reluctance by people to get themselves or their children vaccinated against disease — as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019.

"Measles is a disease of the past," says Dr. Lennox Huang, chief medical officer and vice-president for medical and academic affairs at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. "We went 15 to 20 years without seeing it, and the fact that it's popping up again now is very worrisome."

Measles is an infection that spreads quickly through the air from one person to another. Early symptoms include high fevers, body rashes and cold-like symptoms, but in some cases the illness can lead to more serious issues including secondary infections, meningitis and even death.

The worst part about the recent outbreak? It's completely preventable through a vaccine that was developed in the 1970s.

"These are dead diseases that are coming back, and they're coming back because we are becoming complacent," says Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals.

Although Canada's vaccination rates remain high, with more than 90 per cent of children receiving vaccinations for childhood diseases, anti-vaccination groups do still persist and some parents are swayed to either delay vaccines or forego them altogether.

Studies connecting vaccines to the development of autism are often cited as the No. 1 reason parents decide not to vaccinate their children, but doctors universally reject those studies as categorically false and are warning parents that vaccines save lives.

Tonight on The National, we've assembled our panel of medical experts to explore the recent outbreaks of measles and why parents should vaccinate. Joining us will be Dr. Danielle Martin, vice-president of Women's College Hospital, Dr. Lennox Huang, and Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals.

- Perlita Stroh

• LIVE: At 4 p.m. ET today, The National Health Panel will be taking your questions about measles outbreaks and debate around vaccinations, live on CBCNews.ca, Facebook, Periscope and YouTube. Moderated by Andrew Chang with panelists Dr. Danielle Martin, Dr. Samir Sinha and Dr. Lennox Huang.

• WATCH: The National's health panel on measles and vaccinations, tonight on CBC Television and streamed online

Michael Jackson by the numbers

HBO's searing documentary series Leaving Neverland, which details claims of child sexual abuse against Michael Jackson, has many music fans rethinking their relationship with the late King of Pop.

Ratings aren't yet available for last night's premier, but the audience for tonight's second installment is expected to be huge, given the intense publicity and the promise of a post-show Oprah Winfrey interview with the two alleged victims.

Here are some figures to keep in mind:

1 billion — Jackson's estimated worldwide record sales throughout his 40-plus-year career, including 105 million copies of Thriller, the best-selling album of all time.

13 — the number of Jackson's singles that topped the American charts.

$500 million US — the 2019 value of Jackson's estate.

$100 million — the amount that Jackson's family is seeking in damages over the documentary in a lawsuit filed against HBO last month.  

5  — the number of men who say they shared Jackson's bed as young boys and who have since accused the singer of sexual abuse.

$27.4 million — the amount that Jackson paid to settle civil lawsuits brought by two of the men.

10  — the number of felony counts that a jury acquitted Michael Jackson of in his 2005 trial over the alleged molestation of a 13-year-old boy.

$31 million — the new list price for Jackson's former Neverland ranch, which was last on the market for $100 million in 2015.

A few words on ... 

Letting the light in.

Quote of the moment

"China is a country with rule of law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security."

- The Chinese Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission accuses two detained Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, of spying and stealing state secrets.

What The National is reading

• 150 ISIS fighters surrender in Syria as final battle continues (Reuters)
• Searches resume after tornado kills 23 in Alabama (CBC)
• Fresh protests break out in Algeria over Bouteflika re-election (France 24)
• Trump claims Cohen hearing may have hurt his North Korea summit (Associated Press)
• Michael Jackson estate drops concert film on YouTube during abuse doc premier (Variety)
• Royal family issues social media guidelines after Meghan-Kate abuse (CNN)
• Volvo is limiting all of its cars' top speeds to 180 km/h (Driving)
• French poppy seed bread found to contain dangerous levels of morphine (NZ Herald)
• Women's cycling race forced to pause after lead rider catches men's race (Guardian)

Today in history

March 4, 1982: Finally, a woman on Canada's Supreme Court

Bertha Wilson blazed a lot of trails in her legal career; becoming the first female hire and then partner at a big Bay Street firm, then the first woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. But her place was cemented in Canada's history when the Trudeau government named her to the country's highest court, breaking a 107-year, all-male tradition. Nine women have been appointed since, and four of the current nine justices are female.

Finally, a woman on Canada's Supreme Court

43 years ago

Duration 4:15

Women's rights groups pop open champagne as Bertha Wilson becomes the first female justice on the Supreme Court of Canada.

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