this is bbc news, i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at lipm: a coroner has concluded that the deaths of seven young men who drowned in two separate incidents off camber sands last summer, were all due to misadventure. the chief executive of the organisation which manages grenfell tower says he is stepping aside. parts of president trump's controversial travel ban come into force, affecting people from six mainly muslim countries. funerals take place for 29—year—old martyn hett and 15—year—old megan hurley, who died in the manchester bomb attack. also ahead... washed up in wales, now having fun in the sun. a rare sea turtle found on a beach in anglesey is taken to gran canaria, to be set free. british world no.1 tennis player andy murray will begin the defence of his wimbledon title against a qualifier or a lucky loser on monday. and live cricket returns to bbc television for the first time in 21 years. good afternoon and

welcome to bbc news. a coroner has concluded that the deaths of seven men, including five young friends, who drowned off camber sands in sussex last summer was due to misadventure. the five died in august last year, just a month after two other men drowned in the same area. duncan kennedy has the background to the case. kobi saththiya nathan, his brother ken, nitharsan ravi, inthushan sriska ntharasa and gurushanth srithavarajah — the five friends who died on a summer's day out. their families came for the final time, to hear what happened to them and why they drowned. it was last august, they'd all gone for a day trip to camber to play volleyball in the water, when this emergency took hold.

today, a key expert on beaches and currents gave the fullest account yet of what probably happened; of how the five were playing far out to sea on these sand bars and were trapped when the tide turned. dr simon boxall said powering currents and water temperatures, 12 degrees cooler than a swimming pool, meant the men probably went into shock. the water was cold. they panic, if one of them got into difficulty, for example, the others would try and rush to help. you can see how what started off as a very enjoyable day on the beach could turn into the tragedy that it did turn into. rother council, which runs the beach, has put in life guards now, but said lack of money was partly the reason why there weren't any last summer, despite two recommendations from the rnli. the council said it had put in other measures to enhance safety, like beach patrols and signs. just a month earlier, on the same stretch of coast,

mohit dupar had tried to save gustavo silva da cruz, but both men had also drowned. the inquest heard that between 1974 and 2012, 50 million people had visited camber sands without any sea—based fatalities. yet in the space of one month last year, seven men died here. duncan kennedy, bbc news, at the camber sands inquest. in the past few minutes, a lawyerfor the relatives has been speaking to journalists and set out some of the family's concerns about the findings. we never heard who made the decision which was crucial. secondly, why was that decision to reject the rnli recommendation to have lifeguards, why was that taken? was it because

of the advice of robert cass who suggested the rnli had tweaked its risk assessment to get a foothold on the south coast. was it for that reason? was it because of money? the families would like to say no lifeguards in 2013. thirdly, why did they not deploy lifeguards after this second death in 2015? fourth, after the two deaths on the 24th of july, why didn't they make greater effo rts july, why didn't they make greater efforts to obtain lifeguards? we know the rnli could provide lifeguards at that time but we heard evidence they could have got lifeguards from elsewhere. the chairman of the local government association has criticised fire

safety tests being carried out on cladding from high—rise buildings, claiming the examinations are flawed. robert black said he wanted to assist with the public inquiry. it's emerged that the cladding used to renovate grenfell tower, which was consumed by fire two weeks ago, was changed to a type which cost nearly £300,000 less than alternatives. there is no suggestion a deliberate decision was made to cut fire safety, and kensington & chelsea council says safety would not have been compromised in order to manage budgets. our correspondent nick beake is in north kensington. what sort of reaction to what we are hearing? the level of mistrust and also anger with the powers that be, the council in particular, the feeling among people is not going away. why is that? because on one hand people are angry that last night the council wouldn't let journalists angry that last night the council wouldn't letjournalists in to listen to questions being asked of the people in charge, but also overnight this revelation that the council saved some £300,000 by choosing a cheaper form council saved some £300,000 by choosing a cheaperform of cladding,

which of course went up on grenfell tower. we know that back in 2014 decision was taken go for this cheaper option. for some people living here this confirms their suspicion that they feel they have been badly done by. the families of grenfell tower have long believed they were not valued. poor people living in a rich borough. now they say their suspicions have been confirmed, with the revelation the cladding used for the refurbishment of the block was changed to a cheaper version. this is like a coffin in the sky, and these children are deeply traumatised. the news has enraged those fighting for justice for grenfell. it is just further evidence of the, of how little value they attach to people's lives, people who live in social housing and the community, those affected and the wider community, are utterly sick of this lack of value ascribed to human beings who pay their council tax, who pay these people's wages.

i mean, it's unacceptable. planning documents from 2014 uncovered by bbc news, show that the council saved £293,000 by switching to a cheaper, less fire resistant option. so instead of the zinc panels with the fire retardant core that residents were first promised, aluminium panels with a plastic core were fitted instead. there's no suggestion a deliberate decision was made to cut fire safety. chaos at kensington & chelsea council last night. the authority had tried to ban journalists from a meeting, but the high court ordered they could come along. just minutes in, though, the council leader wound up proceedings, saying what they were discussing could prejudice the upcoming public inquiry, a move criticised today by downing street and others. the residents have a right to meet with the leaders of the council. the leaders of the council have been hiding from

the residents for the last week. they should have had the courage to meet with people and answer questions. the least that we can do is to face the residents face—to—face and they're not prepared to do it. testing of cladding on other tower blocks across the country goes on. every one of the 149 high rise buildings examined so far has failed a safety test. but some believe the process isn't working because the tests focus on the core of the panel, rather than the panel as a whole. they should have been fire tested. the information that we've got now is that they hadn't been fire tested. they've just tested the core of the panel. they haven't tested the whole panel. they haven't tested the insulation that sits in the cavity fill behind the panel. tests are too late for the victims of grenfell tower. for survivors, news that they were given a cheaper level of protection only compounds their sadness and anger. there is confusion as well, because

although the council chose ultimately that cheaper form of cladding, its fire safety rating with the famous some more expensive forms of cladding. for some it causes confusion, how can it be you have a regime that has the same sort of level of protection but everyone with their own eyes saw the rate at which the fire spread, and certainly the cladding here at grenfell tower has been blamed by many for the accelerating the way itjumped up the building. two weeks after this disaster, the council here remains in the spotlight from for many people. we had from the council leader yesterday saying he will stay on for now to finish the job. he has faced calls for his resignation from opposition parties. in a development today we have heard a senior conservative in london, a former chair of the council here,

explaining he thinks it's now time for fresh explaining he thinks it's now time forfresh leadership at explaining he thinks it's now time for fresh leadership at the council. we know that other boroughs within london have been assisting the operation here, but it was interesting that you heard someone within the conservatives here saying that enough is enough, that new leadership is needed. so certainly for the council, trying to rehouse people, trying to show that they are supporting people in any way they can, questions for them. and the wider context is, the metropolitan police are continuing their criminal investigation and we will await this public inquiry as well. thank you very much. the world's chemical weapons watchdog has said that the banned nerve agent sarin was used in an attack in syria which killed dozens of people. the gas was dropped in april in on a town in the north of the country, and drew condemnation around the world. despite denials of responsibility by syria's assad regime, the foreign secretary borisjohnson says there is "no doubt" that they were behind the attack: well, this is a first step on a process that the uk has

obviously been trying to lead, to hold to account the people who are responsible for dropping chemical weapons at khan sheikhun on april 4th, and i'm pleased, although i must say, not surprised, that the 0pcw, the chemical weapons inspectorate, in fact confirmed that this is indeed sarin. the exact responsibility for dropping the sarin will now go to a joint investigative mechanism to be confirmed, but i've got absolutely no doubt the finger points at the assad regime, and we've got a european council coming up where we will drive on with the uk campaign to impose sanctions on those responsible. the us has already brought out sanctions on 300 people as a result of this. people who drop chemical weapons on innocent people should be held to account.

an alliance of us—backed fighters is advancing on what was once islamic state's stronghold city in syria — raqqa. thousands more refugees are streaming out of raqqa as the terror group is reduced to a few hundred fighters. it comes as us and uk backed iraqi forces continue their offensive in the city of mosul, after the iraqi government announced an end to the so—called "caliphate" is declared three years ago. president trump's much delayed ban on people travelling to the us from six mainly muslim countries came into effect at 1am this morning. the trump administration says the ban is temporary and will stop terrorists from entering the country, but many people have argued that it's unconstitutional and racist. 0ur correspondent richard lister has the details. this was the response when president trump first imposed his travel ban. the courts struck it down but now it's been partially revived and the response looks like this. the travel ban is more limited and the protests are smaller

but this is an issue on which america feels deeply. we are in a political climate where muslims are being targeted by bigoted and discriminatory laws. if nothing else, it will make a psychological difference, you know, that we're actually going to do something to prevent terrorists. most muslims feel this isn't the best way to promote peace and to stop terrorism, which we all want to do. for the next 90 days, non—us visa holders from six predominantly muslim countries will be denied entry to the us but there are some exceptions. those with close family members already in america may be admitted but not grandparents or more extended family. those with us college places orjobs can be admitted, too, but the administration is struggling to explain how exactly these rules make america safer. this has been one of

the president's top issues. he has talked consistently about how he believes the united states needs to do more to enhance our screening procedures and to take a better look at people who will be coming into the united states. lawyers are talking to new arrivals at airports around the country to monitor the new arrangements. the rules include a 120—day ban on most refugees from anywhere. we try to gather the information so we can know for future travellers what to be on the lookout for. if we do need to file lawsuits or habeas petitions, we are also on hand to do so. the supreme court is due to consider the ban in october, by which time, in theory, some of the restrictions will have already expired. richard lister, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news: a coroner has concluded that the deaths of seven young men who drowned off camber sands last summer, were all due to misadventure.

the chief executive of the organisation which manages g re nfell tower says he is stepping aside. parts of president trump's controversial travel ban come into force, affecting people from six mainly muslim countries. and in sport... british no.1johanna konta has withdrawn from her semi—final at the aegon international with a back injury. whilst britain's heather watson has missed out on the final through defeat — beaten by sixth seed caroline wozniacki in eastbourne. world no.1 andy murray did manage to practice today at the all england club, but showed signs of the hip problem which led him to pull out of his final warm—up match ahead of next week's wimbledon. and live cricket matches will return to bbc television for the first time in 21 years, after a new free to air digital and radio rights deal was done with the ecb. i'll be back with more on those stories after 4.30pm. stars including the musician mariah carey have paid tribute to martyn hett, who was one of 22 people

killed in the manchester arena suicide bombing last month. friends, family and some of the stars of coronatoin street, were were among hundreds of mourners at the funeral of the 29 year old. martyn‘s body arrived in an entourage which included horses and a carriage, with his coffin adorned with pictures of characters from his favourite programme. 0ur correspondent judith moritz was there. there are 600 seats inside the town hall here. as you can see behind me, crowds now outside watching on a big screen. inside, the congregation, and it's not a funeral. his family have been very careful to make sure we understand that this is a celebration, that is how they are pitching this. they say a celebration of martyn‘s lie. he was a huge fan of coronation street, kym

marsh and antony cotton have come as well. that is because martyn hett said he was coronation street's biggest fan, a super fan. said he was coronation street's biggest fan, a superfan. his cough fiorentina is covered in images of coronation street as well. the congregation who were invited here today to be part of the celebration we re today to be part of the celebration were told to wear black and something fabulous. you can see amongst the crowd that some of them have really ta ken amongst the crowd that some of them have really taken that to heart. cheerleaders turning up, lots of sequins and so on. this is about a celebration. we just heard sequins and so on. this is about a celebration. wejust heard martyn hett loved being in the limelight and he would have loved every fabulous moment of this celebration. in fact we have also been told that at the age of 29, martyn planned this funeral. he decided some time ago that he wanted to make sure every detail of his life was organised and planned it down to the last detail. so those wishes,

including the horse—drawn carriage with two white horses that have come along here, and the way everyone is celebrating life, that is very much a part of martyn hett‘s character. nurseries in england say local councils are failing to provide enough money to fund more free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds. from september, children will be eligible for 30 hours of free nursery education if both parents are in work. but the national day nurseries association say the numbers don't add up. 0ur education correspondent, gillian hargreaves, reports. from september, all three and four—year—olds in england will be eligible for up to 30 hours free childcare to help working parents. it was a flagship conservative policy in the 2015 general election, and will cost the government an extra £1 billion. however, the national day nurseries association asked 128 local authorities how much they will pay nurseries for subsidised hours from september. the average hourly rate will go up from £3.97 this year to £4.37 next year,

an increase of 40p. despite a government proposal that no nursery should receive less than £4 per hour, seven authorities are offering less than that. the association says the rise is too low, and won't cover costs like heating, lighting and a rise in the national living wage, meaning some nurseries will opt out of extended free childcare. the current funding levels are totally inadequate, and if nurseries opt out of delivering the 30 hours' free childcare, that will mean 50,000 children, which is equal to the entire population of manchester, are going to miss out on this 30 hours of free childcare. parents dropping their children off at nursery this morning had strong feelings about the issue. it is disappointing because obviously, you know, other nurseries have got that 30 hours free, potentially, which is a bit of a shame. i can understand from their perspective but it is, actually,

from a parent's perspective, it will be a bit of a challenge. they should definitely request a bit more money from the government. but i know how difficult that is but it is the next phase. the government has committed an extra £1 billion to fund the extension of hours, on top of £6 billion already spent on early years education. gillian hargreaves, bbc news. germany has joined most other european countries in legalising same—sex marriage. parliament passed the measure by a majority of 393 votes to 226. it happened after the german chancellor angela merkel changed her position to allow a free vote on the issue — though she herself, voted against. earlier, our berlin correspondent jenny hill explained why had it had taken germany so long to legalise same—sex marriage, compared to other parts of the eu. i think that's largely due, actually, to angela merkel‘s long—term opposition to same—sex marriage. for a number of years now, the political left have been trying

to bring a bill like this before parliament, but mrs merkel has always opposed it. earlier this week, though, in a surprise move during an interview, she signalled she was softening her stance. mrs merkel had said that she had met a lesbian couple in her own constituency who fostered eight children, and they inspired a bit of a change of heart, if you like. mrs merkel said she was now willing to allow her conservative mps to vote with their conscience and not along party lines. her political opposition leapt into action immediately and scheduled this bill for the very last minute. today is the last legislative day before parliament goes off on its summer holidays. the bill went to the floor this morning, and mrs merkel‘s mps, sufficient numbers among them voted in favour of it that the bill was passed. as you say, mrs merkel herself voted against the law change. i think that's very interesting. i think what mrs merkel is doing here is keeping an eye out to the general election,

which is coming in the autumn. by voting against the proposal, she's really appealing to the more conservative among her electorate, but by in effect allowing this to happen, allowing the vote to take place in the first place, i think she's appeasing potential future coalition partners, who were very clear they would want same—sex marriage legislation as a condition of partnership in the future. but she's also cementing that reputation that she's really increasingly being labelled with, as the west's defender of liberal values. there's a lot of celebration going on here, certainly in berlin today. polls suggest that the majority of germans were in favour of this legislation. people celebrating what's widely being seen as certainly a victory for equal rights. but also perceived by very many people here as a bit of a political success story as well.

just to keep you updated with the terminally ill baby charlie gard, we have reported today his parents have said his life—support machine would be turned off later today. we have just heard from great 0rmond street hospital, who have said, and i'm quoting, together with charlie's pa rents we quoting, together with charlie's parents we are putting plans in place for his care and to give the more time together as a family. we ask the family and staff are given some space and river sea at this distressing time. this follows the decision by the european court of human rights concluding that further treatment would continue to cause charlie significant harm, and that was in line with specialists at great 0rmond street hospital. clearly a decision to give more time for the family to reconcile themselves with the inevitable decision that will be taken at some stage. more on that as we get it. china's president marked 20 years of

the handover from britain china's president marked 20 years of the handoverfrom britain in hong kong. hong kong police have released all 26 activists arrested for staging a protest calling for more political freedom. the president of china, xijinping, started the day with a troop inspection at the people's liberation army garrison in hong kong. since this former british colony was returned to china two decades ago, the military has kept a pretty low profile here and is only on show for special occasions. the city itself is also being dressed up for the 20th anniversary, with light shows and performances planned. strong development in the future is one of the key messages being pushed by the central government. in 1997, hong kong was handed back to the mainland, along with guarantees of an independentjudiciary, free press and freedom of expression. yes, this would be part of china but under the banner of one country, two systems, it would be a region with special privileges.

yet the last british governor says he now worried that beijing is not keeping its end of the bargain. the mood has got much more sour in the last few years because while president xi jinping has been in office, just as there has been a crackdown on dissidents on mainland china, so the chinese have been increasing their grip on hong kong's windpipe. a failure to introduce promised democratic elections for hong kong's leader brought hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets three years ago, paralysing the cbd. and more demonstrations are planned for this weekend, to mark xi jinping's historic visit. it would be a mistake to think that the bulk of this city's dissent now revolves around independence. far from it. on this 20th anniversary, if the opinion polls are to be believed, most people in hong kong still want to be part of china — as long as their freedoms are guaranteed. but wherever president xi is,

there will be no talk of misgivings or dissatisfaction. instead, he told a banquet with hundreds of selected guests that he remained confident in this city. steven mcdonnell, bbc news, hong kong. you're watching bbc news. fewer people are taking their own life on the railways, and that's thought to be because of a ground—breaking partnership between the charity, samaritans and network rail. one in six railway staff and transport police have now been trained on what to do if they see someone who looks vulnerable. 0ur transport correspondent, richard westcott, reports. every year, more than 200 people take their own life on the railways. people of all ages, from all backgrounds. the initial shock after 0scar died... you're just numb and then in the weeks and months after, you get hit with a tsunami of grief. carmel‘s son 0scar was just 16 when he took his life, in 2015. he was smart, fun,

popular at school. there was no clue as to how he was really feeling. you feel like your heart has been turned into glass, shattered. you're so vulnerable yourself and at that point you could take your own life. carmel‘s now starting a charity in oscar's name, going into schools, encouraging children to speak out about their feelings. what we do know is that many people who are suicidal, one of the things they are feeling... you can learn how to help prevent suicide. in recent years, nearly 15,000 rail staff and transport police have been on this ground—breaking samaritans course, showing them what to do if someone looks vulnerable. andy admits he was cynical before the lesson, but he soon relied on it to help a man in real trouble. i sat down, i spoke to him, asked him if i could help, asked him if he wanted to talk. he said to me he was a coward

and that he wanted to die. so i asked him if he would come and sit in the van and let me talk to him. at the time it was the only safe place i could think to get him. he says one thing in particular came back to him. i can remember the instructor actually saying, don't say "i know how you feel". that's always stuck in my mind because it's the type of thing i probably would have said, so that's in your mind, not to say it. rail staff stepped in to talk to a vulnerable person an average of four times a day last year and the number of rail suicides is now going down. if it was you that was stood there, in that vulnerable position, how would you feel if someone didn't come up and talk to you and you were allowed to go and take your own life? you know, it's horrific, isn't it? you would want someone... you would want to be able to thank someone one day.

richard westcott reporting. ijust want i just want to bring you ijust want to bring you some breaking news, confirming what we we re breaking news, confirming what we were suggesting in our business news a little earlier. we are hearing from the uk civil aviation authority on application by british airways to temporarily leased nine qatar registered aircraft has been approved by the department for transport. this will allow british airways to upgrade during a period of strike action. ba says it is committed to fly all its customers to their destinations during the strike which begins on saturday. ba had applied to use nine planes and staff in an arrangement with qatar airways, which has been a close partner of ba, staff in the mixed fleet crew planned to strike for 16 days over pay and sanctions on employees. it's called a wet lease, which means basically british

airways takes the plane, the crew, insurance and maintenance contracts from qatar during its duration. we have not heard a reaction from unions that this plan, which is clearly designed to break that strike. more on that as we get it. let's get a weather update now. things are improving day by day. not so things are improving day by day. not so much rain today. tomorrow, even less. pretty reasonable weather on the way. we have seen some sunshine in the south east. showers in kent and sussex. another area of rain creeping from the north sea. that will spread south this evening and overnight. nothing too heavy. a lot of cloud left behind. i dry end to the night. not particularly cold either. around 11 or 12 degrees.

drier and brighter at the weekend. particularly across england and wales. eddie rain clears. it brightens quite nicely for england and wales. light winds. variable sunshine. cloud and rain in scotland and northern ireland. it should be warm and aberdeen. 20 degrees. 23 degrees in the south—east. and as the decent day on sunday. variable cloud, good sunshine. fine and dry for most. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: a coroner has concluded that the deaths of seven young men who drowned off camber sands last summer, were all due to misadventure. even home there are lifeguards

everywhere. was nobody. —— there was nobody. i can't believe this is happening in the uk. the cladding fitted to grenfell tower during its refurbishment was changed to a cheaper version, saving nearly £300,000. documents seen by the bbc show that zinc cladding originally proposed was replaced with an aluminium type. downing street has strongly criticised kensington and chelsea council for cutting short a meeting to discuss the tragedy because of the presence ofjournalists. meanwhile, robert black, the chief executive of kensington & chelsea tenant management 0rganisation, which manages grenfell tower, says he is stepping aside from his role. funerals take place for 29—year—old martyn hett and 15—year—old megan hurley, who died in the manchester bomb attack time for the sport. hello again.

british number three heather watson has missed out on a place in the final of the aegon international at eastbourne, after defeat to sixth seed caroline wozniacki. wozniacki took the first set 6—2, before treatment to an abdominal injury in the second saw watson storm back to take it 6—3. the decider was the tightest set by some way, as both players dug in for victory. the dane eventually took it 7—5 with a break in the final game of the match. i'm disappointed with the lost today as i felt that i got myself back into the match and give myself opportunities win. but caroline is a great player. it was always going to be tough. she is a great mover and retriever. it has been a good week. now strayed onto the next one. she will play karolina pliskova mext. johanna konta should have been playing in the second semi final at eastbourne after the watson match, but withdrew this morning after a nasty fall

in her quarterfinal tie against angelique kerber yesterday. we were doing the best we could to recover today but it wasn't quick enough. i am still a bit sore through my thoracic spine. it is a big tournament next week for all of us. it is something i have to disregard when it comes to my health. my health has to come first. i am definitely doing everything i can to be ready for wimbledon by taking a day at a time, and whatever is best for my health. andy murray's preparation has also been hit by injury. he pulled out of his final warm—up match, an exhibition at hurlingham, due to a sore hip. he was unable to practice yesterday, but did manage to get out with his coach ivan lendl earlier — although he was showing some ominous signs, moving gingerly at the all—england club. after his session murray said he's hopeful he'll be fit for monday. live cricket will return to bbc television for the first time in 21 years after a new free to air

digital and radio rights deal was done with the ecb between 2020 and 2024. it includes tv highlights of england men's home tests, 0dis and t20s. ecb chief executive tom harrison believes it will attract more youngsters to the sport. it is a great dealfor the youngsters to the sport. it is a great deal for the game. game—changing for cricket in this country. the key elements are massively increased reach and revenue. and a complete transformation in the support and promotion of the game. a real focus on participation and a desire for us together to get as many children playing cricket as we can. an exciting moment. barcelona have activated their buy—back clause for everton‘s gerard deulofeu. he wasn't part of

everton‘s plans last season, spending the campaign on loan at ac milan. it is understood he will cost barcelona 10.5 mil. olympic champion jade jones has missed out on a gold medal at the world taekwondo championships in south korea. she took bronze in the under 57 kilos category. jones has won two 0lympic titles, but has never been world champion. she was beaten by korean lee ah—reum in the semifinal. damon sansum and bradly sinden also picked up bronze medals, to make it a record medal tally for great britain, butjones will have to wait for the next world championships in manchester to complete a career grand slam. it was my fault. i wasn't quite meet today. i didn't fight as good as i normally fight. sometimes you lose and you have to go away, train hard and you have to go away, train hard and get better. i am saving the big occasion for manchester.

more sport later. let's get more now on the world's chemical weapons watchdog confirming more news —— moeen ali is that the coroner has concluded the deaths of seven men at camber sands last summer seven men at camber sands last summer was caused by misadventure. 0ne summer was caused by misadventure. one of the family said it was unbelievable this could have happened in the uk. we keep thinking they are going to come back. thinking there will be some woody looking after the beach. there was no staff on the beach. there was no staff on the beach. there were only staff looking at people who lost their child. they say they are giving this warning to all 20 5000. that is false. how can aid staff warn 25,000 people? my

brothers were in the sea but there we re brothers were in the sea but there were no staff. what if somebody was in trouble? there were no lifeguards. there were no lifeguards. there were no lifeguards. even back in home there are lifeguards everywhere. there was no warning, there was no sign, i can't believe this is happening in the uk. let's speak to darren lewis of the rnli outside hastings coroner ‘s court. your reaction to the verdict? we wa nt court. your reaction to the verdict? we want to pass on our condolences to the families. of course this is tragic. from the point of view of a charity we are keen that everybody can be protected when they come to the seaside. we will continue to do as much as we can to work with the local authority to prevent these tragic losses of life. it is that

word recommend. you had previously recommended lifeguards should be on duty but ultimately it is not your call? no, that is right. there is no statutory requirement to have lifeguards on beaches in the uk. we asa lifeguards on beaches in the uk. we as a charity aiming to save lives at sea as a charity aiming to save lives at sea will make recommendations, will ultimately the decision lies with others. when you heard about these deaths, i can only imagine your reaction? yes, absolutely. u nfortu nately, reaction? yes, absolutely. unfortunately, i was there on the day and was directly involved with the incident. for me personally, it is something i would hope to never repeat. the lengths that we go to to try to prevent those, hopefully, and work with local councils, will prevent it happening in the future. there are no guarantees for this. i think as a nation we have to look at how we educate our children, the way

we look at going to the seaside, so we look at going to the seaside, so we can make it a happy and enjoyable time without those dangers being there for people. we just heard at there for people. we just heard at the news conference that the five men playing volleyball could all swim. it can turn very dangerous on a beach like that? absolutely. whatever the beach and however calm it might look, and certainly camber sands looks calm, there will always be inherent dangers. people's level of understanding of what the sea does varies. we would urge people to ta ke does varies. we would urge people to take precautions. 0ne does varies. we would urge people to take precautions. one of those is going to a beach that has lifeguards. is it a frustration that recommendations of yours are not necessarily upheld by whoever holds the purse strings? there has to be a decision made about the cost of these things? yes, absolutely. we know working with local authorities

that they have many different pressures upon them, of which this is one. we will work with them. it may not always be lifeguards that are recommended. there are other interventions, signage, education etc. we will try to build that with the local authority. ultimately they make the choice as to whether to spend the money in that area. make the choice as to whether to spend the money in that aream there is one lesson to be learned, and we are talking about the deaths of seven young men, what do you believe should be carried through from this? what is the one lesson councils and others need to have learned? you cannot take for granted that the environment you working will ever be safe. the education work we are continuing at the moment in terms of getting into schools to educate children, and also when people are at the beach, is a co nsta nt people are at the beach, is a constant task. we all have to look

at how we push that work forward to try to stop this happening in the future. the rnli is a charity. there are no beach guards present. there isa are no beach guards present. there is a cost. you are carrying that, are you? it is a split between the council, who pay a percentage towards the lifeguards‘ wages, and the rnli pic up the cost of the equipment and the infrastructure around that. our equipment and the infrastructure around that. 0uraim equipment and the infrastructure around that. our aim is to try to save lives at sea. we try to make it as attractive for the council is to get the right services in place. we achieve our aims as a charity.|j wasn‘t aware that you were there that they last summer. it must be quite distressing for all those to realise what has just happened in the hours before you get to an event like that? yes, indeed. from a personal professional point of view,

it will probably —— it probably clarified everything that i work for the charity for. it is extremely tragic. the thousands of people on that beach that day who saw and witnessed it, i wouldn‘t want anybody to go through that again. darren lewis, good of you tojoin us. darren lewis, good of you tojoin us. thank you. let‘s get more now on the world‘s chemical weapons watchdog confirming that the banned nerve agent sarin was used in an attack in syria which killed dozens of people in april. with me is diana drake, a middle east cultural expert who live in the syria before and during the uprising. are you surprised at the confirmation of the use of sarin? not at all. it has been known for a long time. having lived there, how will residents be feeling knowing, as the suspicion is, that their own government is doing that? they will

not be remotely surprised. and of course they also know that chemical weapons are being used as a sort of pretext, kind of bandied about between the opposition, the blame game, basically, the fake news game. already russia is accusing the opposition of preparing fake videos. claiming there is an attack. this is a smoke screen of war to cover the bigger picture of what is going on, that we are entering a very dangerous phase of the war with a looming confrontation between putin and trump, the us and russia, about what has gone to happen when raqqa false. that would appear to not be far away. how important is that? to river lee important. it is one of the big irony is that this area of syria, we are talking about the eastern desert, very little population. always considered a com plete population. always considered a complete backwater. but it has become the most important place in

syria. we mustn‘t forget it has got the euphrates river, the oil and gas fields, the hydro and electric power. it is an incredibly important geopolitical corridor leading to israel, while not israel, but haspolat, which iran desperately wa nts to haspolat, which iran desperately wants to follow through arms and weapons to hezbollah. the last thing israel wants is to have an arsenal of his ball up iranian supplied weapons on its threshold. this is why it is ratcheting up and becoming incredibly important who is controlling this area. it is boiling down to a confrontation between whether iran takes this area on behalf of assad, supported by russia, or whether the us stops that in order to save israel, in a sense. what is the significance of the reported demise of is? again, far too much importance is attached to that. just because mosul falls,

raqqa falls, that will not be the end of it. the reason that these groups even exist has not gone away. it is still there. yes, they are being physically bombed, but they will find other ways to resurface in other forms. will find other ways to resurface in otherforms. i‘m afraid it is going to be with us for some time to come. it isa to be with us for some time to come. it is a pretty pessimistic view. i'm afraid so, yes. thank you very much. and it has emerged that the cladding used to renovate grenfell tower, which was consumed by fire two weeks ago, was changed to a type which cost nearly £300,000 less than alternatives. earlier i spoke tojeremy leaf of the royal society of chartered surveyors . the royal society of chartered surveyors. it is timing. aluminium is lighter than sing. that may have had a bearing on footings are other materials that were placed next to it. we need to see the whole decision rather than in isolation. the attention is on the cladding. i

suppose the question has to be asked, what was wrong with the building in the first place? presumably a concrete building as we now see under the charred remains, that wouldn‘t have had the issues? no, certainly. when you examine these things, there is never won silver bullet. there are lots of issues. it may be the way the materials are kept in terms of not just the fire itself, but how rapidly it spread. whether it could be contained. it is all very well to test materials in certain circumstances, but every environment and situation is different. how it was installed is a big factor, how it was supervised, how long it took, what were the thicknesses etc? when a council decides we need to improve the installation of a building and make it look prettier, what other —— what are the decisions that need to be made? there is always the issue

of cost versus anaesthetics. we like to see nice buildings. but we also like to save money. the most important thing should always be safety. safety is paramount. those are the issues which need to be taken into are the issues which need to be ta ken into account. are the issues which need to be taken into account. 0therwise are the issues which need to be taken into account. otherwise we just have very great, sad looking buildings everywhere. safety should never be compromised. it is quite clear that many of the councils, possibly all of them, believe they we re possibly all of them, believe they were working within the law and not breaching regulations? no, nobody is likely to say that and it hasn‘t come out so far. last week it was something, the week before it was different. we are all fishing france‘s. it is very difficult to actually say it is one particular issue that is really relevant. i think what is becoming apparent as time goes on, there are lots of issues working together in that situation which caused the problem. learning the lessons from this will be crucial. from your point of view

as an engineer, what is the perfect tower block? what is the design, what is the structure, what is the build that his safest from all aspects? invariably, after the one thatis aspects? invariably, after the one that is the safest is not the prettiest. it is a question of finding something that is attractive, but most important that it passes the safety test. what is changing is the building regulations. people have said, does it complied? building regulations are evolving as well. as circumstances change, we learn all the time that they need to change as well. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour. but first, the headlines on bbc news: a coroner has concluded that the deaths of seven young men who drowned off camber sands last summer, were all due to misadventure. the chief executive of the organisation which manages grenfell tower says he is stepping aside. nurseries in england said councils

are failing to provide enough money to fund free childcare for three and four—year—olds. it is the time of the week when we look at the big business stories. joe lynam is here. we start with something that happened today, the gdp figures. good news but not good news? yeah. they kept the estimate for growth in the first quarter of 0.2%. the lowest in europe. that is not great news. it could be just one quarter. we hope it will start to grow a bit in the quarter we are in at the moment. the worrying thing is the savings ratio. this is the amount of money we set aside, a percentage of our disposable income we set aside. it is at the lowest ever, 1.7%. if you have got £100 at the end of the month, you spend all of it but £1 70. that is worrying. it could suggest that people are

burning through their savings in order to maintain their living standards. there are other aspects at play. interest rates and all that kind of stuff. it is worrying for some economists. google, as we have been reporting to hit by the hugest fine by the european union. remind us fine by the european union. remind us what they have done? if you type m, us what they have done? if you type in, for example, black tables... us what they have done? if you type in, for example, black tables. .. not something i would normally do! the first names you get our shopping options for black tables and they are sponsored by google. they are basically paid for by advertising and which people have paid google for. the european commission says thatis for. the european commission says that is not fair. if people were looking for black tables, they weren‘t necessarily looking for google tables. before you start worrying whether google can off—road

—— afford this, they made $20 billion profit last year. —— last month. it is all those black tables! a new law in germany which can make things worse for google, but not just for google? other sites are available as well. this basically means that if there is abusive, threatening her violent videos on social media websites, new german law says they have 24—hour is to ta ke law says they have 24—hour is to take it down, otherwise they face fines of up to 50 million euros. the real issue is you need a lot of manpower to monitor that. you‘d show —— youtube uploaded 400 hours of material every single minute. you would need a lot of software are human eyeballs to watch whether it is violent, abusive or a terrorist in nature. that is a big challenge. let‘s turn to russ mould who is in our bbc newsroom. good afternoon.

let me start by asking about the gdp numbers and the savings ratio of 1.7%. is that a genuine concern?” think it is. the 0ns put a gloss on it by saying the number was down to efficient tax collection. that will make her majesty's customs happy. you could argue that it is because consumers are feeling confident. they think the economy is on the up. it may also be because people are having to use their credit cards because they are just about managing. it is one of the few ways they can squeeze their way through they can squeeze their way through the month. that will be particularly worrying. in the short—term, it does make you wonder how sustainable consumer spending can be on this wage growth —— when this wage growth accelerates, and there is no sign of that. we have a situation whereby if consumers are potentially burning

through their savings, and they are loading themselves up with credit, we have a deadly cycle. and if consumption falls, as we all know, because it is such a huge chunk of uk economy, the entire economy would struggle? that would be very troubling indeed. consumer spending has been a key plank of the recovery since the financial crisis. that is one of the reasons why the bank of england has been moving very, very carefully when it comes to interest rate increases, and for all of the more hawkish rhetoric we have heard recently, i'm still not convinced they will move as quickly as the stock market is expecting. let me move to google. the fine of 2.4 billion euros by the european commission, should google just billion euros by the european commission, should googlejust pay it? well, as you said, they can afford to. it is not much more than afford to. it is not much more than a drop in the ocean to them. i'm not sure they will have too much option. i think they will nevertheless take the legal option. this may be the eu

commissioner's first move. she is also looking at the google system bed —— embedded on mobile phones. this may be the first of a number of moves by the eu which could get expensive for google in terms of fines and also force it to change how it works. when microsoft was faced with being broken up, internet explorer was moved from being the default browser and that affected their long—term profitability for a considerable period of time. i'm not sure about your danish name pronunciation. stay with social media. google and facebook could face 50 million euros fines if they don‘t take down offensive material within 24—hour is. do they have the manpower? the law in theory comes into place in october and january —— germany. facebook has 2 million

average monthly users. that is a colossal amount of traffic. it is notjust the law colossal amount of traffic. it is not just the law in germany that is bearing down on them. you have big international advertisers like unilever, procter & gamble. also, they don't want to be associated with some of the content where their advertisers have been placed. there are multiple pressures on these social media giants. thank you very much. that is russ mould. hopefully we will see the markets at the end of the week. i found ifound a i found a website. there is a summer sale on black tables! you can never have enough black tables. enough. you are watching bbc news. the full

round—up coming at fight weather. j winners on the other side of the newsroom. good afternoon. the weekend is most upon us. first of all, it is the last day ofjune. the met office have got some provisional statistics to suggestjim was quite warm. temperatures higher than the average. 34.5 last week. the hottest june day since 1976. also, quite wet. the wettest june june day since 1976. also, quite wet. the wettestjune on record in edinburgh. as we go to the weekend, it would be much drier and much brighter than it has been recently. particularly across england and wales. some sharp showers in kent and sussex. rain towards cornwall. spots of rain elsewhere. there is more coming in from the north sea. that is spreading south across northern england. some will get across into wells as well. that rain

will crop up in the south—east. a lot of cloud left behind. coverage is not dropping away very much. it is not dropping away very much. it is about 9 degrees in stornoway, 13 or 14 is about 9 degrees in stornoway, 13 or14 in is about 9 degrees in stornoway, 13 or 14 in london. into the morning, there is some rain in the western side of scotland. further east, we should see some morning sunshine. very first thing in northern ireland. essentially a dry start. we may well see some cloud at times in parts of england and wales in the morning. any early rain in the south—east won‘t last long. for the most pa rt south—east won‘t last long. for the most part in england and wales, a decent day. some breaks in the cloud. temperjust doing quite well. nine o‘clock in the morning already into the middle teens. light winds in england and wales will stop good spells of sunshine. further north and west, breeze. rain crosses northern ireland and western scotland. it doesn‘t quite get to aberdeenshire. heading out and about

on saturday night, the rain is moving southwards. it may well still be across the southeast first thing on sunday. it should last for too long. richard brighton—knight up nicely. —— richard brighton—knight quite nicely. this weatherfront will slowly drifted its way south and east on monday. a fair bit of light. the best of the brighter weather across east. the rain very patchy as it drifts south and east heading towards the south—east. temperatures in the low 20s. more typically, 15 or 16 degrees. today at 5:

it‘s emerged that cladding fitted to grenfell tower during its refurbishment was switched to a cheaper version. documents seen by the bbc show that planned zinc cladding was changed foran aluminium type, which was less fire resistant, saving nearly £300,000. downing street has rebuked kensington and chelsea council after it cut short a meeting to discuss the tragedy because journalists were present. an absolute fiasco — this is why i‘m calling for your resignation, not because of what happened with the fire but the sheer and ongoing incompetence that this council has shown ever since it happened. i‘ll be speaking to the labour leader at kensington and chelsea, who we heard there calling for the resignation of the council‘s leader. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: