welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is gavin grey. our top stories: 4,000 residents from five london tower blocks are evacuated over safety concerns, following last week's devastating grenfell tower fire. i've got a young daughter, a wife, a cat and i do know what we are going to do. i've also got a job. qatar's neighbours call for the closure of aljazeera, as the gulf‘s political crisis escalates. the broadcaster says it's a bid to "silence freedom of expression". european leaders criticise the uk's offer to eu nationals after brexit. they say the plan is "below expectations". and the british and irish lions take on the all blacks in auckland, hoping to end 20 years of hurt. thousands of people are being

evacuated from five tower blocks in north london, so that urgent fire safety work can be carried out. the buildings in camden have the same type of cladding that contributed to a huge blaze last week at grenfell tower. at least 79 people are known to be dead or missing after the blaze, and authorities are now looking at criminal offences including manslaughter. tom symonds reports. there was no warning, just a request. we need you to move out because we can't be sure you are safe. i just don't want to go now. i feel bad to just suddenly i have to leave my flat. tonight, camden council's mobilising its staff, block booking hotels, opening a rest centre in an attempt to find somewhere to sleep, for 4000 people. individuals have been told to leave

for their own safety and it's down to them to make the decision. in the aftermath of the grenfell fire, the cladding on these towers had already been ruled unsafe, but on top of that residents raised concerns about other issues, including fire doors and gas pipes. camden felt it had to act. any area which wasn't completely up to the best standards was a deep concern, given the combination, and that was the message from the fire services today. the issue was the combination of the two factors and that's why we've taken the action we've taken the night. —— tonight. the shadow of the worst fire in decades now looms large over social housing. grenfell tower was destroyed from the bottom to the top. the fire started in a kitchen on the lower floor. now police have confirmed what eyewitnesses said, the origin of the inferno was a hotpoint fridge, like this one, in that kitchen. flames escaped through a window and began to race up

and across the outside of the building. which is why the focus right from the start has been on what was added to the tower during its refurbishment. aluminium cladding and foam insulation and, right from the start, police wanted to know how fire resistant was it. preliminary tests on the insulation samples collected from grenfell tower show that they combusted soon after the test started. the initial tests on the cladding tiles also failed the safety tests. such are our safety concerns on the outcome of those tests we have shared our data with the department for communities and local government. the cladding and insulation simply should not have burned so quickly. instead of a fire which devoured the tower, it should have been contained, like this fire, in camden, five years ago. this tower is now being evacuated. so the police tests have thrown up

a string of questions. how did it spread? the materials used are under suspicion, but was the design of the refurbishment also to blame? did the work, completed last year, breach building regulations? and are the laws governing building standards clear enough and tough enough? this is a criminal investigation. police are seizing documents from the companies that managed and refurbished grenfell tower. and they will consider potential criminal charges, breaches of health and safety, or even corporate manslaughter, though that is difficult to prove. for several decades now, councils have been putting up cladding to improve the look and insulation of their ageing tower blocks. now, in what amounts to a crisis for that strategy, some of it is being taken down. in islington, initially for testing, but next week, for good. i mean, everyone in the block is saying if you live in a tower block especially, you are thinking

oh my god, it could have been us. especially now they've said it's in our cladding, we are thinking oh my god. i'm quite tearful, actually. so far it's affecting high—rise residents in nine council areas. in wandsworth, where this fire broke out in 2010, 100 tower blocks are to be fitted with sprinklers. but there is grim, unfinished business back at grenfell tower. everyone has been accounted for in this flat, but the police need help to be sure they've identified all the victims. their message today — if you know someone who was there, for whatever reason, we need to know. tom symonds, bbc news. 0ur correspondent sonya jessup is in north london where the residents have been evacuated. this is actually a different block we are looking at. i want to tell you a bit about what's been happening behind me. at times we

have seen a steady stream of people coming through the doors behind me, carrying the few belongings. we've got a few people in yellow security jackets. we have had fire safety wardens talking to them. we've seen young children carrying pillows. elderly people with just one overnight small bag of belongings, as much as they can carry, and we've even seen a lady cradling a small baby. a lot of speed will —— people i've spoken to say they are very frustrated at the way this has been carried out. there's a lot of confusion and some people say they heard on the news that they were supposed to be leaving. some have said they actually don't want to leave. council officials are going around knocking on doors in taplow, telling people to evacuate. they aren't being clear as to where sheep —— people should go or for how long. there is a meeting at the moment at the sports centre, sol there is a meeting at the moment at the sports centre, so i am going to see what happening. they say the flats are safe but they are concerned. i'm not exactly sure

what. so it is chaotic and no one knows anything. you live your? yes, ina knows anything. you live your? yes, in a tower block. what's your reaction? iron going to stay put and go back in there. the council have to be seen to be doing something, but this isjust to be seen to be doing something, but this is just creating to be seen to be doing something, but this isjust creating chaos to be seen to be doing something, but this is just creating chaos and pandemonium. we've been happy there for years. there was a fire if you use ago and the building did what it was meant to do and the fire was contained. this seems excessive. now, people are being diverted just around the corner, to the swiss cottage leisure centre. we have been told they are being given stickers with a number on it and are being directed to mattresses on the floor. we are talking about 800 households being evacuated and people don't know how long they will be looking at staying in temporary accommodation for. we have been told between two and four weeks, while the safety checks are being carried out. camden council says it understands that this is incredibly

distressing for people, but it insisted that safety measures must come first. it says the grenfell tower disaster has changed everything. we have some breaking news coming m, we have some breaking news coming in, that more than 100 people are feared buried after a massive landslide that has swallowed up about a0 homes in south—west china. we've just got these pictures in and video posted by a daily newspaper shows the emergency rescue operation under way. debris from a collapsed amounted is said to be blocking a two kilometre stretch of river. emergency workers are obviously trying to find and relieve the situation as best they can. qatar says the list of demands presented by four arab can. —— states imposing a boycott on it is not " reasonable and actionable".

saudi arabia, egypt, the united arab emirates and bahrain want the qataris to close a turkish military base and reduce ties to iran along with shutting the aljazeera news network. well, david schenker is a senior middle east analyst at the washington institute for near east policy. he was previously responsible for advising the pentagon on the military and political affairs of the middle east. he told me the latest demands by the gulf nations are a limited escalation of the pressure on qatar. it is quite a bit but we must remember the souk, the marketplace, is about bargaining and i think this is an opening salvo. i cannot imagine that the qataris, even with these pressures, would be amenable to agreeing to the broad range of these issues but perhaps may make some compromise, ultimately, on a few of them. and why has the disagreement broken out now? was it the comments made earlier by donald trump?

well, no, not necessarily. i think these emerged after the visit of trump to saudi arabia. i think the saudis and the uae, our gulf partners, understood that there was a profound change from the 0bama administration which had this remarkable outreach to iran and saw iran as a force for stability in the middle east. and trump has reverted to, i think, what is the more traditional us view of our sunni allies in the region and i think these allies were emboldened and acted on this, so it is really a time of opportunity for them. and also, after years of being, sort of, provoked and needled by qatar, a state with only 200,000 citizens, they were fed up. and over the next few days and weeks, how well is qatar able to withstand a boycott?

qatar has, remarkably, despite the fact that they are an island and they are isolated, they have some remarkably good allies, particularly turkey, which is another state that is essentially a muslim brotherhood state that agrees with qatar and supports them with the muslim brotherhood. and also, oddly but not really, iran. qatar and iran share an enormous gasfield that runs under the persian gulf and have developed a great working relationship and they share this cooperation for these terrorist organisations that are sunni in the middle east. they have a similar worldview that seems to want to provoke incessantly

saudi arabia and the uae and kuwait, etc, all of the traditionally us allies. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. saudi arabia says it has foiled a terrorist plan targeting the grand mosque in the city of mecca. a suicide bomber blew himself up after security forces cornered him in a residential building. the building collapsed, injuring 11 people, including police officers. muslim pilgrims from around the world have gathered in mecca for the end of ramadan. five people have died after being electrocuted at a water park in turkey. the first three victims were children swimming in a pool. the park owner and his son died when they tried to rescue them, a sixth person was injured and two people received shocks. tropical storm cindy has left a trail of destruction in parts of the us. in alabama, four people were injured after tornadoes flattened a number of buildings.

roofs were torn off and vehicles turned over. in nebraska, two doomsday military planes, designed to withstand the heat from a nuclear blast, were grounded after being damaged by a tornado. the white house says president trump is not planning to fire robert mueller, the head of the inquiry into possible collusion between the trump election campaign and russia. mr trump's spokesman sean spicer said the president had the authority to dismiss mr mueller, but had no intention of doing so. he was speaking after mr trump questioned mr mueller‘s impartiality in a television interview. he is very, very good friends with james comey which is very bothersome, but he is also, we will have to see. we will have to see in terms... there has been no obstruction, there has been no collusion, there has been leaking by james comey but there has been no collusion, no obstruction and virtually everybody agrees to that.

stay with us on bbc news. still to come: calling time on climate change — arnold schwarzenegger and french president emmanuel macron forge a new friendship. of the members of the neo—nazi resistance movement stormed the world trade center armed with pistols and shotguns. we believe that, according to international law, that we have a right to claim certain parts of this country as ourland. i take pride in the words "ich bin ein berliner." cheering and applause chapman, prison pale and slightly chubby, said not a single word in open court. it was left to his lawyer to explain his decision to plead guilty to murdering john lennon. he believes that onjune 8th, god told him to plead guilty, and that was the end of it. the medical research council have now advised the government

that the great increase in lung cancer is due mainly to smoking tobacco. it was closing time for checkpoint charlie which, for 29 years, has stood on the border as a mark of allied determination to defend the city. this is bbc news. the latest headlines — a,000 residents from five london tower blocks are being evacuated over safety concerns following last week's devastating grenfell tower fire. qatar's neighbours have called for the closure of aljazeera as the gulf's political crisis escalates. the broadcaster says it's a bid to "silence freedom of expression". eu leaders have responded coolly to theresa may's opening move in the brexit negotiations — and her offer to protect the rights of eu citizens in the uk after brexit.

the president of the european council, donald tusk, described the offer as "below expectations", while the german chancellor, angela merkel, said it didn't represent a breakthrough. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg reports from brussels. goodbye to the flag, goodbye to this town. a year ago today, britain decided this place would be written out of our future. but what the picture outside will look like for millions who've made their lives around the continent is now starting to become clear. we've set out what i believe is a serious offer, a fair offer, that will give the reassurance to eu citizens living in the uk. 0ne—to—one attempts to sell her plans. but citizens who've lived in the uk for five years can remain for good. and until we leave the union, others could come. but her eu rivals have plenty of questions. what about spaniards now in the uk with family abroad, or anyone else? is the cut—off date when the brexit

process started, or the moment when we actually leave? not until monday will ministers at home be ready to give those answers. are you getting a clear idea of the kind of brexit that the uk government wants? no. translation: it's vague. we want to be sure the rights of citizens are protected. that's important for us. there are a lot of our citizens who are not covered with mrs may's proposal. she might not have gone far enough here, but for many at home is theresa may's plan tough enough? it gives those three million eu citizens in the uk certainty about the future of their lives, and we want the same certainty for the more than one million uk citizens who are living in the european union. you've always said voters gave politicians a clear instruction to control immigration. but under your plans, for nearly another two years, as many europeans as they like can still come to live in the uk. for many voters, do you think that will really sound

like taking back control? what voters voted for when they voted to leave the european union was to ensure that outside the european union, the united kingdom could establish our own rules on migration, on movement of people from the eu into the uk. away from home, there's relief that at last the uk's putting things on the table. but for europe's new power couple... translation: it's a good beginning, but not a breakthrough. we've understood the uk doesn't want to give eu citizens full rights. they, just as they left together, will decide together with the rest of the eu how they feel about that. my first impression is that the uk's offer is below our expectations and that it risks worsening the situation of citizens. reservations shared by the opposition, who, in contrast, their leader is loving his time in the sun. we should not be negotiating about this.

what we should be doing is unilaterally saying, as labour has said from day one after the referendum, that all eu nationals should be given permanent residence rights. concerns over these proposals reflects theresa may's three—way bind. a united opposing front here in brussels, clashing expectations among the public at home, and at her back inside her own party, different strands of thinking and demands. and even a leader at the peak of their powers would struggle to deal with all that. reporter: prime minister, did your proposals go far enough? relieved perhaps to be leaving, but relieved perhaps too to have been away from hostility at home. but governing is doing, notjust fending off enemies. theresa may, at least today, has been doing that. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, brussels. only a few hours to go before the first test match between the british and irish lions and new zealand in auckland.

the bookies make the all blacks firm favourites for the game, but many analysts think it will be tight — with the set piece being a key battleground area. the all blacks also have a formidable record at eden park and haven't lost there in over 20 years. patrick mckendry is a sports reporterfor the new zealand herald in auckland and joins me now. to the streets of auckland are awash with northern hemisphere tourists very keen on this match? indeed, yes. i was out last night in downtown auckland on the streets we re downtown auckland on the streets were awash in men and women of all ages are wearing red jackets and supporting the lions. they were enjoying the moment ahead of what is going to be an interesting and exciting test. you have had wet weather and everything could be

slippery. who does that benefit? you would have to say the lions. that will suit them a bit more. in terms of the pitch i think it will be a good surface. it drains quite well so good surface. it drains quite well so it will be hard and fast, i imagine. rain is coming through today and it will ease off by the time we begin. i think it will be perfect conditions, really, potentially for running rugby and i hope that is what we see. this tour has prompted more media coverage than anyi has prompted more media coverage than any i can ever remember. is that the case in new zealand? yes. this tour has been looked forward to bite the new zealand public and media for a long time. we love hosting the lions and what they are about. the unfortunate thing then is the america's cup happening at the same time in bermuda. the new

zealand boat is doing well over there at the moment and we are on there at the moment and we are on the brink of potentially bringing the brink of potentially bringing the america's cup back to new zealand. in terms of rugby, it is building up now. much more media has arrived from the uk and ireland for the test series and we are on the brink of something special, hopefully. the america's cup may not be your fortress, as hopefully. the america's cup may not be yourfortress, as it hopefully. the america's cup may not be your fortress, as it were, hopefully. the america's cup may not be yourfortress, as it were, but eden park are certainly is. not many people come away from anything positive there. yes. it is three yea rs positive there. yes. it is three years since we have lost their and thatis years since we have lost their and that is a game that everybody remembers, we lost to france in 199a. they like everything about the surface, the crowd that turns up so, again, that will play in their favour, it definitely does. but you need to also think about how the lions attending this match, reports

of about 20,000 fans will be there. they are a good voice already. and the fan zone, the lines then, they are charging already. it should be a good atmosphere, i believe. enjoy the evening they are. —— there. arnold schwarzenegger has warned that tackling global warming must not be seen as a political issue. the actor said that everyone breathed the same air — and it shouldn't be a question of right versus left. he met french president emmanuel macron — who will later give a speech proposing a global environment pact. laura westbrook reports. i'm here with president macron, we're talking about environmental issues and a green future. we will deliver together to make the planet great again. an undisguised dig at the man who pulled america out of the paris climate deal. the former california governor met with french president emmanuel macron, who will later announce a proposal

for a global environment pact. mr schwarzenegger, who has publicly sparred with donald trump, says tackling global warming must not be a political issue. this is not the right versus the left because there is no liberal air or conservative air. we all breathe the same air. in the mediterranean, a research crew has made a surprising discovery. they've found the rising temperature and acidity of waters here is faster and greater than anywhere else on the planet. that means species such as oysters are at risk of extinction. they say the cause is man—made climate change. what's happening here and in coastal areas around the world is year by year, bit by bit, the level of the sea is rising. it's why scientists say climate change is making a real impact and why many are worried about the us pulling out of the paris accord.

president trump says it's about us jobs but renewables like solar and wind are outcompeting coal on price and creating three times morejobs. donald trump may have fulfilled his promise, but america first might mean america alone, leaving a gap for other countries to take the lead. laura westbrook, bbc news. parts of the us have seen record temperatures over the past week — particularly in the southern states. in dallas a film of one resident trying to stay cool has gone viral. zola the gorilla likes his pool. and he loves to dance. he really loves to dance. well, let's see what the weather's got in store for this weekend

and it is looking a little mixed, not a completely dry one. there will be some showers around but sunshine too. it is going to be windy in northern parts of the uk, particularly scotland, and here it will feel fairly cool. this cooler weather's been rolling off the atlantic for the last couple of days. some beautiful pictures coming in, here's one from scotland. that heatwave we had in the south is now a distant memory. this is what the weather map looks like right now, there is a weather front crossing the country giving us a fair bit of cloud out there, some spots of rain too. to the south of the weather front it's actually a warm night, so temperatures by the end of the night will be hovering around 16 or 17 in places. to the north of the weather front, it will be a lot fresher, for example in scotland it could be down to single figures just outside of town. starting with scotland at 9am, a mixed bag, quite windy, especially in the north, winds freshening during the day, showers as well. further south across the country,

also a little mixed. you can see in places there is a bit of brightness and a few spots of rain and none of this rain will be heavy, just thicker cloud and fleeting dribs and drabs of rain and that's pretty much it, but not cold. first thing in the morning you'll see around 17 or 18. what about glastonbury? not looking soggy, there might be some dampness around, a little bit of light rain but actually most of the day it should be relatively bright, most the time overcast but bright, with temperatures just around 20 degrees or so. then in the afternoon they'll be a little bit of rain especially across the valleys there into north—western england, but blustery showers across scotland. winds could be up to gale force here and the best of the weather on saturday will be across eastern and south—eastern areas and here temperatures in the sunshine if it comes out for any lengthy period of time could get up to 23 degrees. how are we doing compared to the rest of europe? it has cooled off in paris, temperatures down to 26, it's been well in the 30s as well,

the real heat is just across the mediterranean, where it should be at this time of year. back to the uk, saturday night into sunday, low pressure still close to the uk. a lot of isobars here so a windy day in scotland, again up to gale force and very blustery through the lowlands especially in the morning, the winds will be buffeting those trees. to the south of that also breezy but actually in the afternoon after a cloud—ish morning, the afternoon is looking a lot brighter with temperatures of 23 in london and a cool 16 in glasgow. have a good weekend. this is bbc news. the headlines: thousands of people are being evacuated from five tower blocks in north london, so that urgent fire safety work can be carried out. the buildings in camden have the same type of cladding that contributed to a huge blaze last week at grenfell tower. qatar's neighbours have called

for the closure of aljazeera as the gulf's political crisis escalates. the broadcaster says it's a bid to "silence freedom of expression". the white house says the tension between qatar and other gulf nations is a family issue which should be resolved locally. europe's most senior official has criticised the uk's offer to eu nationals after brexit, claiming it could "worsen the situation" for them. european council president donald tusk said the plan was "below expectations," and german chancellor angela merkel said there had been "no brea kthrough". one of cricket's most recognised voices for over half a century is retiring after a5 years in the commentary box.