this is bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: the search for the missing continues after a huge fire swept through a west london tower block. police say the number of fatalities is likely to rise. it's confirmed at least 12 people died. the washington post claims president trump is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice in relation to investigations of alleged russian interference in the presidential election. taking on all callers: the russian president, vladimir putin, will be holding his annual television phone—in later today. betting on brighter days ahead. the fed raises interest rates and says it will start unwinding its $4.5 trillion stimulus programme. but is the us economy really out of the woods? plus — roam if you want to. the eu scraps extra mobile charges for travellers from today after a decade long battle. but will users end up footing the bill anyway? hello and welcome to the programme.

the fire burns on at grenfell tower this morning more than 2a hours after this west london tower block was engulfed in flames. 12 residents are confirmed dead, but police expect that figure to rise significantly as scores of people are still unaccounted for. fire crews have simply not been able to search every floor of the 2a—storey building yet. 78 people are in hospital, 18 of them critically ill. andy moore has the latest. the official death toll is expected to rise, but even so, it is

outstripped by the number of the missing. these are some of their faces — whole families are unaccounted for. many of them lived on the top floors. this woman was searching local hospitals for her friend and three children. we don't know if they are alive or dead or in hospital or not. we don't have any clues. just waiting and hoping. as dusk fell nearly 18 hours after the blaze started, there were still pockets of fire inside the tower block. the prime minister promised there would be a full enquiry into why so many lives were lost. of course, once the scene is secure, once the recovery is complete, an investigation will take place into the cause of the fire, and if there are any lessons to be learnt. witnesses say the fire spread rapidly, apparently through the new cladding on the outside of the block installed only last year. this fire expert showed how the foam insulation used in some cladding can

catch fire. the actual rigid board insulation, that i believe is most likely to have been used, is made from the same material, polyuria train. this is the rate at which it burns. that is very, very rapid, and this is a typical material used for insulating external buildings. the firm that carried out the refurbishment said it had met all building control fire regulation and health and safety standards. a later statement removed the statement about meeting fire regulations. the government is sufficiently worried to order any checks on tower blocks that have gone through a similar refurbishment. some residents of the tower have had to resort to ropes made of blankets and sheets to escape the burning building. there are many questions to be answered — why was there no sprinkler system? did the fire alarms work? is the

state put policy the right advice? there are 4000 tower blocks in the uk. this terrible fire will cause a fundamental rethink about the safety of high—rise living. live now to the scene. 0ur reporter, sarah corker, is there. daybreak again, still smouldering, i see. yes, it is an eerie seen in north kensington as london wakes up to the smouldering tower block behind me. fire crews have been working through the night and every now and again a flicker of orange comes through one of the windows. the fire is still burning 28 hours on. we've seen fire ci’ews on burning 28 hours on. we've seen fire crews on top of a crane, and they've been shining lights, floor by floor, into the building. yesterday we also saw them using drones to check the integrity of the building. 0bviously

some areas are too dangerous for them to get into, and those images they will presumably used to formulate a plan about what to do nextin formulate a plan about what to do next in this long recovery operation. and after the horror of the fire, hundreds of people are now homeless and spent nights in evacuation centres, but one message that's been coming through loud and clear is the community response. it's been described as overwhelming, and one man who's been here all night helping with donations is bupinderfrom a night helping with donations is bupinder from a sikh night helping with donations is bupinderfrom a sikh temple nearby. how have you been co—ordinating the effort? we've had a busy night. the plan was just to guard the stuff that we already had. we've had several, four, five van loads of stuff, but then we have more arriving. some with co—ordinator for the morning to arrive. 0thers, we've

actually had more volunteers arriving through the night, so we started off doing food, just serving hot food for everybody, the volu nteers hot food for everybody, the volunteers and emergency services staff and that, and then that became an operation into collecting stuff because there was so much stuff arriving. we've seen furniture, nappies, bottles of water, all sorts of stuff. yeah, prams, cops, some quys of stuff. yeah, prams, cops, some guys drove down from bedford with nappies and formula milkjust for the children. what do you make of the children. what do you make of the fact that so many who come down to donate don't know anyone who's been affected, they just to donate don't know anyone who's been affected, theyjust seen these horrendous images and just want to do something? it shows the positive community spirit we have in england, and also the vibration of london, being one big community, and it shows that in times of need we all come together, and it becomes a

mutual team effort. nobody knows anybody but it's just the coming together, knowing that people have lost their homes, their belongings, lost their homes, their belongings, lost everything, and it's nice that everybody is just helping out. there wasn't any volunteers because we we re wasn't any volunteers because we were going to go home last night. there weren't any volunteers to guard the stuff so a few of us decided it would be the right thing to do to look after the stuff. thank you very much. there's just a sense of one volunteer of many hundreds we've seen through the night, and a scene that's been repeated at evacuation centres across this borough. ijust evacuation centres across this borough. i just want to show you one last thing. if we look over here, this is a residential area in the shadow now of this tower block, and you can see the charred debris of parts of this building. it's been scattered over quite a wide area, and it's all over this lawn here, and it's all over this lawn here, andi and it's all over this lawn here, and i think that really reflect the severity of this fire. and the priority yesterday, of course, was

getting people to safety, making sure they had somewhere to sleep, but now the question for this investigation — what caused this fire — that is still unknown. why did it spread so quickly? i witnesses said it engulfed the building within 30 minutes. and one line of investigation is perhaps the renovation project that was only completed last year — did the new cladding on the outside of the building mean that the flames travelled upwards externally very quickly? these are just some questions for investigators in what will be a very long and complex enquiry. before you go, very heartening to hear the sort of community spirit that builds up at a moment like this. but there is this awful reality — firefighters and crews cannot even get in and up to the top stories to work out what the true toll might be from this. absolutely. we haven't had any

updates through the night in terms of the numbers of people that are missing, or in terms of the true number of those who have died and are injured. that is still to come. and i think that's one of the reasons why the firefighters have been going floor by floor in the crane behind me, just to check, is there anyone still in those apartment blocks, and crucially to check which floors are still on fire? 0n the right—hand side we have still seen flames coming throughout the night. just about 200 metres away from where i am on one of the community centre walls, a memorial wall has sprung up. it says simply, we pray for the community, and through the course of the night, people have been coming to light candles and to leave their own messages, and rather poignantly and sadly, there are some images now being put up saying missing, and pictures of loved ones, so it really

is quite a sad sight, but hopefully that wall with pictures of encouragement and tributes will also bring some comfort for people in a very difficult situation. let's hope so. thanks for bringing us let's hope so. thanks for bringing us up to date. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. discussions to try to bring the main parties in northern ireland back into a power—sharing government are taking place in london later. representatives are to meet the british prime minister, theresa may. some have expressed concern that a possible deal between her conservative party and the dup, the biggest unionist party, means the government cannot be an independent voice in the talks. at least 11 people have been killed following a suicide car bomb attack in the somali capital, mogadishu. the latest reports say the gunmen are still holding out in the pizza house restaurant. militant islamists from the al—shabab group have claimed responsibility for the assault. police in california say three

people have been killed in a shooting at a ups parcels depot in san francisco. the gunman, dressed in company uniform, also died. police say he shot himself when they approach. two other people were wounded. the jury in the trial of bill cosby has asked to hear a repeat of some of the testimony. it's the fifth time they've made a request since they started deliberating three days ago. bill cosby denies sexually assaulting a woman at his home president trump is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice, according to the washington post. if confirmed, the move by special counsel robert mueller would mark a turning point in the fbi investigation into russian interference in last year's presidential election. mr trump's lawyer has called the leak of information outrageous, inexcusable and illegal. live now to our north america correspondent, david willis. david, whatever he calls it, the

bottom line is, is it true? good question. we don't know, is the simple answer to that, but i can tell you that both the washington post and now the wall streetjournal are reporting that president trump is under investigation for alleged obstruction of justice. is under investigation for alleged obstruction ofjustice. it's all pa rt obstruction ofjustice. it's all part of any enquiry by the special prosecutor, robert millar, who was appointed to take on the fbi enquiry into whether russia meddled in the outcome of last year's us president election, and which has seen his remit expand quite considerably in the last couple of weeks. this all goes back to the testimony of james comey, the fbi director who donald trump sacked unceremoniously just over a month ago, and he told congress last week that president trump had effectively tried to lean

on him to get him to drop the fbi investigation into donald trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn, who resigned under pressure after it was revealed he hadn't been wholly forthcoming about his links to the russian ambassador, and he has contacts with the russian ambassador, but we heard very robust rebuttals of these newspaper allegations by donald trump's personal lawyer earlier today. refutation is a difficult word, isn't it? thanks very much for that. we will wait for confirmation of those details. we can confirm one thing, though. iwill let those details. we can confirm one thing, though. i will let sally do it, but it is to do with the fed. interestingly, it isn't moving markets as much as that story you we re markets as much as that story you were discussing. the snp futures, which indicates how wall street. the trade later today, pretty wobbly in the light of those allegations that

are being discussed in washington right now. we start in the us where the central bank, the federal reserve, has raised the cost of borrowing, as was widely expected. that's why markets haven't reacted that much — it was already priced it's the second increase in three months, and comes despite some fairly mixed data on the health of the us economy. let's show you the details. the fed has raised its main interest rate by a 0.25%. that takes its target range to between 1—1.25%, the highest it has been since before the 2008 financial crisis. and it's set to go higher — the fed is forecasting one more increase this year. it's also announced plans to begin selling off this, the $1.5 trillion worth of bonds and mortgage backed securities it's bought up in the wake of the financial crisis, effectively pumping money into the financial system under so—called quantitative easing. that's something we became familiar

with, didn't we? there's no word on the timing of this, though. a full report in 20 minutes' time. also coming up: a good day for you if you live and travel within the european union. as of today, june 15th, so—called roaming charges for using mobile phones abroad are being outlawed by the eu after a decade—long battle between brussels and telecoms companies. eu mobile users will now be able to use their allowance of calls and data in any member state without incurring those often hefty extra charges. experts are warning, though, that phone companies may try to recoup lost earnings by increasing tariffs. lots more in 20 minutes' time. they are cheeky monkeys, aren't they? they find other ways of making money. stay with us on bbc news —

still to come — a community still in shock and the remarkable acts of kindness. we'll have more from streets of north kensington. the day the british liberated the falklands and by tonight british troops had begun the task of disarming the enemy. in the heart of the west german capital, this was gorbymania at its height. the crowd packed to see the man who, for them, had raised great hopes for the end of the division of europe. michaeljackson was not guilty on all charges. the screams of the crowd testament to his popularity and their faith in his innocence. as long as they'll pay to go see me, i'll get out there and kick 'em down the hill. what does it feel like to be

the first man to go across the channel by your own power? it's pretty neat. feels marvellous, really. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: many people are still missing a day after the fire that engulfed grenfell tower in west london. the official number of dead stands at 12 — though police say they expect that to rise significantly. the washington post claims president trump is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice by special counsel robert mueller. it's turned into one of those annual traditions — gunmen who opened fire on a group of

politicians in washington was strongly opposed to the republican party. he is also a supporter of bernie sanders. during the attack itself a senior member of the house of representatives was shot in the hip. he is in a critical condition. 0ur correspondent has more from virginia. the area here is still a crime scene. behind me there is still police tape and a number of vehicles as the fbi continue their investigation. we have had update from the fbi, issuing a clarification and confirmed that five individuals were shot today at the game. that includes the gunmen. they also confirmed reports that the gunmen was james they also confirmed reports that the gunmen was james hodgkinson, a 66 from illinois who died from gunshot wounds to the torso. more information was also issued. he was from illinois but moved to this area

in march last year, perhaps where he had been living, avocado van. they did not provide us with more information about whether or not he was on the radar of the authorities. the fbi said they will not talk about the character or the nature of the case. one thing that local police here say they are doing is canvassing people door—to—door to reassure them that the incident is now worth around this community is now worth around this community is now safe stop and at the moment that is one of the concerns people have here. while this investigation is still ongoing. it's turned into one of those annual traditions — the russian president, vladimir putin will be holding his once—a—year television phone—in later. this time it comes just days after anti—government protests across the country. 0ur moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, has more. for foeradimir putin, for vladimir putin, this annual call the president show is all about presenting himself as father of the nation and mr fix presenting himself as father of the nation and mrfix it. in the run—up to the live programme the leader has

been inundated with questions and requests the cause in a country like russia where there is only one man making all the key decisions, many russians believe he is the only person who can solve their everyday problems. what kind of problems? if you look at the official programme website we can see some of the request that people have already been sending in from across russia. some in video form. this one, this is from a village where the people are asking vladimir putin to build them a new school. and if we go further down we can see another video request from another russian village. they complain about the quality of their roads with the potholes and asked the president to do something about that. this year's question—and—answer programme comes three days after anti—government protests across russia. vladimir putin is yet to comment on the process. he may use of this you's

programme to do so. —— comment on the protests. he may use it this yea r‘s the protests. he may use it this year's programme to do so. now to sport and starting with cricket. pakistan stunned england, thrashing them by eight wickets in their champions trophy semi final. eoin morgan's side had been the favourite for the tournament but struggled on a slow pitch in cardiff. jonny bairstow who came into the side hit 43 but wickets tumbled quickly including ben stokes who went for 34 without hitting a single boundary. england madejust 211 which pakistan knocked off in less than 38 overs. they play either india or bangladesh in sunday's final at the 0val in london. it's been confirmed former multi—division boxing world champion floyd mayweather and ufc lightweight champion conor mcgregor will meet in a bout in las vegas on the 26th of august. the 40—year—old mayweather who was undefeated announced his retirement after winning his 49th straight bout against andre berto also in las vegas in september 2015, while mcgregor, the first fighter in the ufc to have held two belts has never boxed,

either amateur or professionally, with the fight to take place under normal boxing rules after sitting out the clay court season, roger federer made a disappointing return to action, going out in the second round of the stuttgart tournament. the world numberfive has been resting as he aims for an eighth wimbledon title and took the first set against tommy haas 6—2. but the australian open champion was soon on the ropes and the 39—year—old german wrapped up the match taking the next two sets 7—6, 6—4 for what was only federer‘s second defeat of the year. let's return to our main story: within a few hours of the london tower block fire, people arrived on the scene carrying food, clothes, water to help families caught up in the blaze — and the emergency services trying to save them. graham satchell has been looking at how the local community responded.

you may find some of the details distressing. it earned all day. the smoke visible for miles. 0n the street, people reliving the stuff of nightmares, the horror of seeing peoplejump, seeing them trapped at windows. the horror of seeing peoplejump, seeing them trapped at windowsm was terrible because i saw people at the top floor moving around, screaming for help and you knew it the fire just engulfed that part. you can imagine what happened. it is terrible. terrible. some of those missing have now been identified including 12—year—old jessica who lived on the 20th floor. we met sophie, one of her school friends. lived on the 20th floor. we met sophie, one of her school friendslj have sophie, one of her school friends.” have a friend called jessica. she is still missing. she was on the news. it is horrible for media here that they are missing or dead or in hospital or something. the grief is

very public as some received terrible news. but with the grief, a truly heartwarming response. everyone seemed to be carrying bags and boxes of water, food and bedding. churches, mosques and community centres inundated with people wanting to help. everybody here is a volunteer. none of us know each other. we just got stuck in and it has been fantastic. real community spirit. it has been good. this was a spontaneous response but as the day wore on a sense of anger that the local authority was nowhere to be seen. it isjust the community doing it by themselves. we are co—ordinating it ourselves. doing it by themselves. we are co-ordinating it ourselves. there is growing anger as well about the fire, anger that poor people in a council owned block could have perished and anger that warnings we re perished and anger that warnings were ignored. i don't care what

anyone says. there is no way that that fired should spread that quickly on a newly refurbished yalding. we went with residents and said that someone needs to look at it will stop david collins says concerns it will stop david collins says concerns he raised about fire safety at the block were brushed aside. people trapped in a tower knowing that the people who were supposed to look after them did not care about them. are you a cane? -- 0k? debris is everywhere on the ground here as questions hang in the air. how could this fire have spread so quickly and why did so many die? they are massive questions. this is bbc news and we will keep across the story for you. hello.

the weather will turn cooler and fresh from the west during thursday that those fresh conditions will not last for long. it looks like he will return once again on the weekend. wednesday brought some heat up from the near continent. 27 degrees was that doctor bridger at heathrow at first they will a different day. cold front moving in from the west behind with fresh air sweeping in. ahead of the front, particularly, a muqqy ahead of the front, particularly, a muggy start to thursday morning. 16, 17, 18 degrees and as the sun comes up 17, 18 degrees and as the sun comes up in will turn very warm very quickly across east anglia and the south—east. here is the cold front, a band of cloud with patchy cloud clearing its way through and we will get into the pool fresh conditions. a lot of sunshine around with south—west england seeing sunny skies through thursday afternoon. temperatures are a few degrees down. some walls of warmth up into east

anglia will stop final across the midlands and wales but into northern england we could catch one or two showers. for northern ireland scotla nd showers. for northern ireland scotland there will be cloudy periods of time was showery rain. equally still some sunny spells in between. we will all be integral fresh airfor between. we will all be integral fresh air for thursday night and that means a more comfortable night for sleeping, i suspect. that means a more comfortable night for sleeping, isuspect. these that means a more comfortable night for sleeping, i suspect. these are the big towns and cities. a little cooler than that in the countryside. fresh start on friday, a bright start with sunshine but changes on the way. more cloud comes in across northern ireland, scotland, northern england and wales, patchy rain at times and you will to notice the temperature rising again. that is because of the warm front ringing patchy rain into the north—west but bringing also warm air across the british isles. high pressure builds in from the south so not only will

it be warm during saturday, it will be sunny across england and wales. 28 degrees in london. cloud and patchy rain to northern ireland, western scotland. 18 degrees in glasgow. 0n western scotland. 18 degrees in glasgow. on sunday the wet weather is confined to the far north—west. further south and east with sunshine as the temperature really climbs all the way to 30 or 31 degrees. this is bbc world news. the headlines: 12 people are now known to have died in a huge fire which engulfed a residential tower block in london. police have said they expect the number of dead to rise as fire crews carry out their recovery operation. grenfell tower housed over 500 residents. some of them had repeatedly raised concerns about fire safety. they said their warnings over a recent refurbishment and possible safety risks were ignored. president trump is being investigated for possible obstruction of justice — that's according to the washington post. the move by special counsel robert mueller,

if confirmed, would mark a turning point in the investigation into alleged russian interference in the us election.