this is bbc news — i'm ben bland — our top stories: angry protests in london as residents demand justice for the victims of the grenfell tower fire and support for survivors left homeless. we are sent from hospital to hospital, to shelters, why is there no community help for family members why? why do we have to go there and actively look for them? theresa may is jeered as she visits displaced residents and promises a £5 million relief fund. government is making money available, we will ensure we get to the bottom of what happened, we will ensure people are rehoused but we need to make sure that actually happens. president trump cancels the deal barack obama made with cuba — he said it was one—sided and didn't help ordinary cubans. a posthumous honourfor the police officer who died confronting the westminster attacker — pc keith palmer to receive

the george medal in the queen's birthday honours. hello and welcome to the programme. protests have taken place in london to demand justice for the victims of the grenfell tower fire and support for survivors who've been left homeless. the number of people known to have died has risen to at least 30 — but the bbc believes that the total could be at least 70. anger boiled over at a demonstration at the headquarters of kensington and chelsea council, which owns grenfell tower, when protesters tried to force their way in. there were also demonstrations in central london. ourfirst report is from jeremy cooke. crowd chants: we want justice! the target is the council office,

the council which owns the tower. the crowd demands answers. we need to be heard! we all have things to say! we are in pain! i understand that the response we get from the council is not satisfactory. they want to hear from the local authority officials who they hold responsible. justice! how could this tragedy have happened on this scale in this city in 2017? the whole procedure is chaos. we are sent from hospital to hospital, to shelters. why is there not a community house for family members? why? why do we have to go out there and look actively for them, and then be told misled information?

we live in a modern world, why is this carried on like this? it does not make sense?! but today, again, in the shadow of grenfell tower, a different kind of response. sorry! it is an overwhelming community tragedy with an overwhelming community response. if we get all the missing people on the same window... a continuing grassroots mobilisation, doing all they can. and visited today by royalty. a time to reflect and to thank. you guys did a brilliantjob in unprecedented circumstances. but the queen and prince william left in no doubt of the agony and the grief here. royal protocol meets raw emotion. william, harry, come on here, please!

who are they in the pictures? family, friends. these are my family's friends. all of them they died and there. my family, friends and children. go to the media, show the queen you a nice. sorry to the policeman, sorry to the fireman, but you are not doing the rightjob. the rescue crews are still making their way through the building. it's hard to imagine a more challenging task. dangerous and slow work, it is why the official death toll remains so much lower than what the people here expect, and what they fear. the building itself is in a very hazardous state. it is going to take a period of time for our specialists, both from the police and the london fire brigade, to fully search that building to make sure we locate and recover everybody that has sadly perished in that fire.

we will be doing that as swiftly as we can. ido i do understand the need for those who have lost loved ones for us to do that as soon as we can. we are angry and frustrated. disappointed. there are people out here looking for theirfamily there are people out here looking for their family and friends. we have not seen anyone in the authority who we can give responsibility to because there is fio responsibility to because there is no one here to organise anything at all. i have friends who died in their but nobody is telling us. do you get what i am saying? they are not bringing out the truth. they need to bring out the truth. theresa may comes down here and doesn't see

any of us. at manchester, she was all about the place. the investigation konta inquests and enquiries will take months, perhaps yea rs enquiries will take months, perhaps years to complete. the people here believe they have a fundamental understanding of the tragedy. the fire swept through at a breathtaking pace and so many people from this neighbour would have lost their lives. the general belief you tonight, the hardest of troops, is that the dozens of missing are among the dead. three days later, the fire is out, london rumbles on. but the tower stands as a monument to the lives and families that have been lost. politicians from all parties — the prime minister in particular — are facing a barrage of criticism from local people over how they've

responded to the fire. all but hidden from view, the crowd of police protection told me this was theresa may. she had been meeting people from the neighbourhood, meeting volunteers inside this local church. she was ushered into her car afterwards and rage boiled over in the street outside as she left. the government failed. her coming over here trying to speak to who? who do you want to speak to? you had your chance. now everyone is going to be angry and go crazy. it's a pr stunt. i'm surprised the church let her in. it's a shame it came to this. more residents would have come out if they knew she was there, to protest. it's about what are you doing? where's the care? very cold not to meet with any victims. early today, unlike yesterday, the prime minister met casualties, people touched by the disaster. yesterday, she only met members of the emergency services,

and that went down badly in the area. she promised help. the government is making £5 million available for those emergency funds for people, who need just to get money to buy the normal things of everyday life. this morning, i was in one of the hospitals meeting some of the victims there, and one of the women said to me, basically, she ran out of this grenfell tower, basically, with a t—shirt and a pair of knickers. she has nothing. that is why the government is putting that funding in. there are other things we will do as well to provide support for people to ensure they are rehoused within three weeks. you misread the anger people feel about this. they shouted "coward" at you this afternoon. we have made sure the emergency services have the support they need in order to do the job they were doing in the aftermath. but making this kind of loss and

poorer, the last of its kind, means that thousands of must now be inspected. dashmac dashmac thousands of blocks must now be inspected, millions of pounds in work, who knows how many moved to safety. today, the government pledged action. we will do whatever it takes, take the expert advice, to make those building safe and make those people safe. whatever it takes, we have to be led by the experts, but there can be no short cuts to this. donations of clothing have been pouring in today. london's mayor demanded help, answers and justice for those hit by the tragedy. it's really important that we are not left waiting for two, three, four years before we get answers. we need answers now. what i'm asking for is an interim response to the enquiry this summer. tonight, anti—government protesters took up the issue and took to the streets. more anger on the streets tonight, hundreds of demonstrators marching past downing street

and into central london. the chant: may must go. the prime minister's authority was weakened by the general election, and now she is facing another defining test and it's come far sooner than theresa may could have imagined. expect more of this — demonstrations and this disruption. this tragedy has become a cause, and another reason for the government's enemies to turn up the volume. president trump appears to have acknowledged that he's under investigation as part of the inquiry into alleged russian interference in last year's american election. in a tweet, mr trump repeated his accusation that the examination being carried out by a special prosecutor was a witch hunt. let's get more from our north america editor, jon sopel. the ball has been set rolling now. largely because of mr trump's own actions in the way he has

communicated we all know there was an investigation going on into the trump campaign's links with russia. then donald trump fired the fbi director and the white house and the attorney general and the deputy attorney general and the deputy attorney general and the deputy attorney general gave a set of reasons for why he had been fired donald trump directly contradicted those reasons saying it was because of the rush of thing and was reportedly said to the russian foreign minister that he had been under huge pressure because of the investigation and that has now been relieved will stop that looks like donald trump fired james comey because of russia and that now emerges that trump himself is under direct investigation he confounded himself saying that he was being investigated for firing the director. by his own communications, by every tweet and every utterance in an interview, seems worth taking himself into much deeper and

treacherous waters will stop he has been under advice from everybody under the sun, stop tweeting about this. if you look at the restrained statement that was issued by the white house that the shall council was important that almost exactly one month ago it was, wejust was important that almost exactly one month ago it was, we just want this to happen swiftly. he was told to say nothing but donald trump has been unable to resist the temptation to tweet, to make noise, and it is having on sequences. jon sopel at the white house. president trump also laid out his administration's new policy towards cuba — re—imposing some of the travel and trade restrictions eased by his predecessor. however he's not altogether abandoned president obama's policy of engagement with the communist state. jose miguel vivanco is executive director of human rights watch‘s americas division. he's in our washington studio. looking at what president trump is doing, it seems as if he is going to

maintain, still, the embassy in havana, diplomatic and commercial ties, to allow commercial flights, how much is actually changing?” think the change will be significant. at least that is going to be the perception of the rest of the world. part of the problem is that the police —— policy promoted by washington so far is perceived as indiscriminate sanctions against the cuban indiscriminate sanctions against the cu ban people as indiscriminate sanctions against the cuban people as a whole. therefore the policy is rejected. there is not much support by the international community in europe, in latin america, for the policies promoted from washington and, therefore, the chances to have an impact of the deplorable human rights record of the cu ban deplorable human rights record of the cuban government is unlikely.”

am seeing that reuters news agency is rep or think that cuba is saying that donald trump is manipulating the topic of human rights for political purposes. you think that sense will be shared among people in cuba? probably most of the people outside cuba, in europe and latin america, will feel like that will stop there is indeed some manipulations or exploitation of the issue of human rights. the cuban people, obviously, are suffering the consequences of leaving a military did take the ship. there is no question that the cuban government's record is deplorable. but the key question is how do you change? how do you bring change and improvement of human rights in cuba? the solution, certainly, is multilateral pressure. no unilateral sanctions

from washington. thank you very much indeed. a us navy destroyer has collided with a philippine container ship off the east coast of japan. the uss fitzgerald hit the vessel in what is said to be a rare incident on a busy waterway. it happened close to 60 nautical miles southwest off the city of yokosuka. a big honour. billy connolly is made a knight in the queen's birthday honours. there was a bomb in the city centre. a code word known to be one used by the ira was given. army bomb experts were examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. the south african parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act, which for a0 years forcibly classified each citizen according to race.

germany's parliament, the bundestag, has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government from bonn to berlin. berliners celebrated into the night but the decision was greeted with shock in bonn. just a day old and the royal baby is tonight sleeping in his cot at home. early this evening, the new prince was taken by his mother and father to their apartments in kensington palace. the real focus today was valentina tereshkova, the world's first woman cosmonaut. what do you think of the russian woman in space? i think it's a wonderful achievement and i think we might be able to persuade the wife it would be a good idea if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: protests in west and central london as emotions run high following the grenfell tower fire. there are growing calls for answers

as to why the flames spread so quickly. president trump has revoked the obama administrations deal with cuba. he called it one sided, terrible and misguided. turkey's foreign minister visited saudi arabia on friday for talks to try and resolve the qatar crisis. qatar has accused its neighbours of imposing a siege on the emirate. airlines have been blocked, ambassadors withdrawn and borders closed leading to food shortages in the country. so why is it happening? the small oil and gas rich qatar has been cut off and isolated by sunni arab nations, among them saudi arabia, united arab emirates, bahrain and egypt. they have all accused it of supporting shia led iran, along with islamist extremists. they are also unhappy with tv news coverage

by the doha—based al jazeera network. qatar strongly denies supporting terrorist groups. but saudi arabia's rulers, encouraged by president trump's recent visit to riyadh think qatar is not taking a tough enough stance against terror groups and shia—lead iran. the united arab emirates has warned qatar to change its behaviour or face isolation from its neighbours. the uae, together with saudi arabia and two other states, last week imposed unprecedented sanctions against qatar over its alleged support for terrorist groups. it's led to the worst crisis in the gulf region for decades. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet spoke to the uae‘s minister of state dr anwar gargash, and asked him how he thought this crisis could be resolved. the main ask is an acceptance by qatar that it has to change course in its support of what is an extremist jihadist terrorist agenda. it is true that qatar has long been accused of backing groups linked to al-qaeda, in conflicts like syria, but saudi arabia has also been accused of propagating a more extremist form of islam. of course, there is a huge difference. qatar as a state is trying

to use this agenda to sort of promote its role in the region and beyond... saudi is not? the saudis are not. the sponsoring, financing of schools and mosques... the saudis are dealing with a legacy issue. the saudis have suffered a lot from al-qaeda—type terrorism, daesh—type terrorism, radicalization, and they are addressing it. it is really not a fair comparison. you have called for a monitoring mechanism of where the money is going — is this one of the new possible solutions to this crisis? in 2014, the gcc countries raised their concerns about qatar's support for extremist terrorists and this resulted in an agreement that was signed by the emir of qatar. unfortunately, words were not kept, promises were not kept. as a result, it is, i would say,

logical that any new solution, as it transpires, has to be monitored. we have to see where the money goes. is this about regime change? it is about behavioural change. it is about behaviour change, it is about taking out one of the major, major supporters of the extremistjihadist narrative in the region and one with a lot of financial resources to make a difference. these tensions have simmered for years. has the arrival of president trump emboldened you then? with the trump administration we see the prioritisation of the fight against extremism and against terrorism. 0n the macro level this is a big change, i would say. which message from washington do you listen to?

president trump's tweets urging you on or more sober statements from mhe secretary of state rex tillerson urging you to pull back, to ease the tension and, of course, at the same time signing deals with qatar? again, i think the message from washington has been great. we are pro—diplomatic solutions but want not an unconditional diplomatic solution but one where we can see that qatar is going to change its behaviour and its support of extremism and terrorism. president trump is voicing the frustration of many countries and many diplomats and has said in public what has been said for a very long time in private conversations and in closed rooms. do you worry that the gulf could be severed resulting in possibly the expulsion of qatar from the gcc? of course. it is time for wiser counsel

to prevail in qatar. to come and say that this sort of approach of denying qatar's fingerprints which is all over the place, does not serve them. what serves them more and serves the region is to address the issues that are besmirching qatar's reputation and that are effecting qatar's place in its natural habitat, which is the arabian gulf. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. a jury in minnesota has acquitted the police officer who fatally shot an african—american. philando castile's dying moments during a traffic stop were captured on a facebook video in a case which shocked america. jeronimo yanez was found not guilty on three charges, including second—degree manslaughter. the german chancellor angela merkel

has led tributes to one of her predecessors, helmut kohl, who has died at the age of eighty—seven. she said mr kohl had brought about the two greatest achievements in german politics of recent decades national reunification and european unity. the policeman who died confronting the westminster attacker in march, pc keith palmer, has been awarded a posthumous medalfor his bravery. he was one of a handful of officials acknowledged in the queen's civilian gallantry list, released this year alongside her birthday honours. i am going on record to say why it is there no algebra? i have no intention of ever going there! billy connolly knows it might have is likely to produce a strong response from fans. —— knows his

knighthood. i think there will be quite a big reaction to it. some of them will say high time and others will say, what the hell's that all about? i don't know what to prepare for! i'm a little embarrassed, but deep within me i'm very pleased to have it. the same honour too for terry and june and absolutely fabulous's june whitfield. i am still in shock, really, but it is wonderful to know that people have been good enough to appreciate what i've done. in the world of music, the 1960s eurovision winner sandy shore becomes an mbe. charttopping singer ed sheeran is also made an mbe. several people are being recognised for their bravery, among them pc keith palmer, killed as he tried to stop a man entering parliament in the westminter attack in march. he's been awarded a posthumous george medal. pcs craig nicholls and jonathan wright, who arrested the man who killed mp jo cox lastjune.

bernard kenny, who was with mp when she was attacked, has received the george medal. he just sano and tried to save her and we can't thank him enough. the two boys, similarly, unarmed, just went in, they knew he was armed, but not a thought. just went in. we are absolutely delighted. true heroes. just if you off more than the 1000 people being honoured. —— a few. you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. plenty more news on the website as well. headlines for you in a moment. we have got some very warm weather indeed coming up over the next few

days, with the high—pressure firmly in charge of our weather. that's going to bring very warm, if not hot, weather to most of the british isles. it will turn increasingly humid as we go on through the weekend, but it is going to be mainly sunny for most of us. the reason for this warm or hot weather is a jetstream has built this area of high pressure and the high tends to concentrate hot air near the earth's surface. these are the kinds of temperatures that you might see across western europe as we go on through the next couple of days. perhaps as high as 46 degrees across parts of iberia, unpleasantly hot weather here. well into the 30s for france and even here in the uk we should see temperatures peaking at 30 degrees or so as we head into the weekend. the hottest weather we have seen so far this year. it's going to be a warm start to the day. these are the kinds of temperatures

you might see as you are heading outside first thing in the morning. there will be plenty of sunshine, but i think quite a bit of cloud to start he day across the hills of wales and northern england. it should be quite thin so should clear quite quickly and then the sunshine will come out. weather fronts across far north—west of scotland will continue to bring some thicker cloud here. and it's here where we will have the coolest weather with outbreaks of rain on and off. just 15 degrees in stornoway. a brisk south—westerly wind. not the warmest of weather. away from that north—west corner, the rest of scotland enjoying some sunshine. northern ireland looking fine, with temperatures heading into the mid—20s. but it's across england and wales that we'll see temperatures fairly widely getting up well into the 20s. 28 degrees or so in london and the south—east. pushing into the 80s in terms of fahrenheit. but, as well as those relatively clear skies, a bit of fairweather cloud bubbling up. there will be some very high levels of uv. so it's one of those days you might want to take the sunscreen if you're out and about for any length of time. through saturday evening and overnight, after such a hot day, temperatures will be slow to fall.

quite an uncomfortable night for sleeping once again. 0vernight lows no lower than 19 degrees in the centre of town. there could be a few fog patches staring to develop around the irish sea coast. here's a picture then through sunday, a repeat for many of us although perhaps a little bit more in the way of cloud moving into the north—west. the best of the sunshine, again, england and wales, eastern parts of northern ireland and eastern parts of scotland. if anything those temperatures will get a little bit higher with temperatures peaking at 30 degrees celsius, making it the hottest day of the year so far. the heat is still with us on into monday as well. temperatures could reach 32 degrees early in the new week. it starts to get a little bit cooler across north—western areas as we get into tuesday. along with those cooler conditions, it will turn cloudier. this is bbc news, the headlines. there've been angry demonstrations in london calling forjustice for the victims of the grenfell tower fire, with some protestors demanding the resignation of the prime minister. the number of people known to have

died in the fire has risen to at least 30 but its expected the final total will be higher. theresa may says she's been deeply affected by the tragedy of the fire in west london. she's setting up a £5 million emergency fund for victims of the blaze. she made herfirst visit to meet survivors, after being criticised for failing to see local people on thursday. president trump says he is reversing some of the agreements between the cuban government and his predecessor, barack obama, which led to the restoration of diplomatic ties two years ago. key diplomatic and commercial ties will stay in place. us airlines and cruise ships will continue to serve the island. more now on our top story: police have said there was nothing to suggest that the fire, which broke out in the early hours of wednesday morning, was started deliberately.