we have had to pass that on to our customers. while inflation is lower than last month, prices are still rising faster than the average worker's pay. the squeeze on living standards isn't over yet. it looks as if inflation might be dampened a bit by softer fuel price growth over the next few months. but underlying price pressures from post—brexit falls in sterling are still there, and they look set to continue to push inflation up a bit further as we move to the end of the year. for now, the pressure on the bank of england to tame inflation by raising interest rates sooner rather than later has eased. in the city, they are still betting a rise in interest rates will be needed, but not until next march. andy verity, bbc news. now on bbc news, it is time for newsnight. against the odds and against the experts, he managed to go from this... let's go, ladies! ...to this. and this week, he passes the six—month mark. we look back to ask — is he as bad as his critics feared,

or as good as his supporters hoped? has he settled into the job as a more conventional president, than he ever was as a candidate? we'll examine the record so far on domestic and foreign policy, and look at how the white house has been working. also tonight, banks beware — is consumer borrowing about to blow over the economy? it is an amber warning light for us. ourjob is to make sure the lenders are safe and the main risk to the wider economy comes through the lenders rather than the borrowers. and the allegations against r kelly. # bounce, bounce, bounce...# he's been dogged in the past by stories of underage sex. now he's accused of running some kind of abusive cult. we'll hear from the reporter making the claims. some never thought he'd make it this

far, but donald trump is still president and this week, he can say he is six months in. torrid months, with lots questioning his competence, his legitimacy and his conflicts of interest. but he's still standing and contrary to some predictions, so is the world. so how is he doing? how is he doing by the standards of those who never wanted him? and by the standards of those who did? from this day forward, it's going to be only america first, america first. the secretary of homeland security, working with myself and my staff, will begin immediate construction of a border wall. applause michael flynn, general flynn,

is a wonderful man. i think he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media. as i call it, the fake media. because he wasn't doing a good job, very simply. he was not doing a good job. no politician in history, and i say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. the united states will withdraw... ..from the paris climate accord. i got elected to serve the forgotten men and women of our country,

and that's what i'm doing. to really prosper, we must lower the tax on business. no—one can look back on the election campaign and see anything other than a trump victory that was remarkable, often a result of sewing anger and discontent and by setting up enemies to rail against. his was a victory by the ultimate populist playbook, but it is one thing to win an election with that kind of campaign, quite another to govern. at times, he's seemed more comfortable in election—type rallies with crowds of adoring supporters in front of him, than he has in the oval office.

his administration is an extreme experiment in populist policy making, and it has met challenges such as in the reform of the healthcare system. just this afternoon, the idea of repealing obamacare was dropped. the idea now is to let it fail, and then return to it. let's start by thinking a bit about the conduct and style of the presidency. joshua green is the author of devil's bargain: steve bannon, donald trump and the storming of the presidency. i spoke to him a little earlier from new york. is it right to say that there are two trumps — or at least that the one trump is pulled in different directions by those around him? i think that's exactly right. in the white house he's really split between two groups, the nationalist camp led by steve bannon, who have very hard right, aggressive, populist impulses. that is the donald trump that ran and won the presidency. but then on the other hand there is a trump who comes out of the world of new york real

estate, is very insecure, has always longed for the approval of the great power brokers on wall street and american government. trump has stocked his administration with many of these people, who generally fall under the rubric of globalists. so this would include his national economic council chairman gary cohn, formerly of goldman sachs. his treasury secretary, steven mnuchin, also formerly of goldman sachs. the war within the white house during donald trump's first six months has been a pitched battle between nationalists and globalists. and who is winning? well, nobody is really winning is the problem. trump's legislative agenda has all but collapsed with the death of the senate health—care bill. so while there have been some victories for bannon‘s nationalists, primarily cracking down on illegal immigration, taking a much harder line against immigrants generally, there haven't been a lot of victories for either camp and that's a subject of great concern to everybody around donald trump. because when things don't go well, president trump reacts very badly. one of the concerns was there

was a sort of fruitcake fringe who were tying themselves to trump. in fact, bannon was sometimes attached to that and in your book you talk about robert mercer, the hedge fund guy who financed bannon and breitbart, who certainly had some wacky people, let's say, who he was supporting beforehand. have the "grown—ups" mostly got a grip in the white house, would you say? no, i don't think that anybody, any of trump's camps of advisers ever have a solid grip on trump for very long. the cycle we've seen again and again, we saw this during the campaign, we've certainly seen it in the white house, is that for a time, advisers will be able to contain trump, to stop him from tweeting or saying or doing outrageous things but invariably, trump loses his patience and will go

off on a tweet storm or will do something like firing fbi directorjames comey, that plunges his administration back into chaos. and chaos has been pretty much the natural state of trump's white house these first six months. are there any forces there who think chaos is kind of a good thing to some extent? it wants to kick things around, it wants to change everything, is chaos part of the plan? bannon, steve bannon has always been a big believer that chaos is good, it helps trump. it was during the campaign where trump unleashed chaos day after day. the problem is that when you're in the white house, when you're the president, chaos doesn't actually work for very long. what trump needs to do and what he has so far been unable to do is organise a congressional coalition of his own party members to pass his legislation. tell us a little about egos in the white house. it was said that bannon and trump fell out when bannon made

the cover of time magazine. is that really true? it's absolutely true. donald trump is and always has been deeply insecure, especially about his public portrayal. and after he was elected and steve bannon entered the popular imagination as this kind of dark rasputin, pulling trump's strings, saturday night live referring to him as "president bannon," kind of a running joke, trump himself took great offence at that, cast bannon out of his inner circle. the only thing that's brought him back in is the russia scandal. the fact that has entangled so many of trump's senior advisers. do you think that by the end of four years there will be something which we will identify, be able to call trumpism that will be the trump doctrine or the trump way? i think trump would like there to be but it isn't exactly clear what that will be. i think steve bannon and trump the candidate had a pretty clear

idea of what trumpism would be, and it would be a different third way kind of populist. a populism that was less harsh, more geared towards working—class ordinary american voters than the typical republican agenda has been. the problem is as soon as trump got into the white house, he took up the same conservative agenda of the politicians who he'd just vanquished in the gop nomination fight, and he has wound up in a cul—de—sac where he can't pass the legislation that's not popular and so it's not clear that trump knows where to turn next. joshua green, thank you very much indeed. many of those who voted for trump, voted for change. they've got that. but is it working for them? we sent a camera out to alexandria

in virginia to see what trump supporters themselves cite as his biggest achievement to date — foreign and domestic. the best thing, i think he's really trying to like, tighten the borders and focus on security a little bit more. i'm a trump guy but i'm not a trump behaviour guy. but he's doing what he said he was going to do and the republican congress is not allowing him to do, you know, the health thing. but other than that, he's doing what no—one thought he could do and no—one expected him to do. we just like all of his stands in the middle east, all his opinions and sides and, you know. we stand by him not doing the france accord. we think that's great too. because we don't really believe in climate change. i'm100% trump. i don't know, starting work on the immigration thing and the tax, getting a new tax law started. well, obviously health—care. i think health—care needs to change drastically. of course foreign relations i think need to improve. and jobs, i'm happy that the stock market

is where it is today, of course. i think that might be one of the best things he's done in the last six months. voices from trump supporters in virginia. well, anne applebaum is a visiting professor at the london school of economics institute of global affairs and a washington post columnist. elisabeth bumiller writes on politics for the new york times. elisabeth, you're going to be our domestic affairs person and our international relations person. you were something of a critic, you were not a fan in the election campaign. has he settled into something more conventional than you expected ? no, the trouble with trump, as your previous interview alluded, is that he hasn't settled into anything at all. almost every statement he makes on foreign policy can be heard in two ways, he contradicts himself. on europe, if you listen

to the speech he made in warsaw ten days ago, you can hear the different strands of his administration in the speech. there was a nationalist almost apocalyptic stance, against dark forces, and something that sounded like an ordinary republican talking about nato. you can choose which of those strands you would like to hear. does that imply there is a state of paralysis? as someone described to me, the state department right now, it sounds like a child in a car who can turn on the windscreen wipers and so one but doesn't know how to make the car go. but he hasn't crashed the car. but also hasn't turned it on. we don't have people to do the foreign policy, he hasn't selected people to work for him and we don't have any clear direction. he has withdrawn from a few things, he isn't leading anywhere.

his policy in syria is no different from obama's. in europe he has said different things at different times and in china he appears to be directed by president xi. domestic policy, there has been this huge setback for his agenda today on health care reform. what do you think his supporters will feel about the domestic agenda and how far it's gone? i think they would say that he hasn't done much of what he promised to do and that they would blame congress for it, the democrats. he has, he's big domestic policies were immigration, building a wall, repealing health care, and he has, you know, he has not improved the economy. on health care it has been a big disappointment to him today because the senate bill failed and really there is no way forward. it failed in large part

because there were deep divisions within the republican party, a number of moderate republicans couldn't vote for it because of the deep cuts in medicaid in their states. at the same time, some conservative republicans were opposed because it did not cut medicaid enough. he's been a victim of the divisions within his own party as well as the fact that the democrats oppose him. but why hasn't he just built a semblance of war, a piece of the war? it can't take somebody that long to go in and just show them... —— wall. because we have a system where there is congress and the white house and the supreme court, and congress appropriates the money for such things and congress did not give him the money in the budget. they gave him just enough to repair about 70 miles of the wall, which is repairing a fence on the border.

the border is over 2000 miles long. so he keeps saying he wants the wall. in fact it's going to be very difficult financially to build it. right. is it the situation, elizabeth, that populism meets the complexities of government, and is that the way of characterising this experiment in populist policy—making ? well, i think that all so what happened is trump had no experience in government before. he ran a company and it was a family business and that kind of situation with the chief executives, he has discovered, and he said this publicly, is how difficult it is to get things done, because you have to bring along congress, you have an opposition party and you also have courts that go against you. that was the way our system was set up and he is finding

that there are checks and balances in the american government. ok, one of the fears was that somehow this guy with this rather chaotic way of doing things, very capricious, would undermine institutions, the great institutions of the world or the united states. do you see any of that going on? yes. there are some things he hasn't been able to undermine but we have ethics laws in the united states. this was a very small story but the head of the office of ethics in the us resigned this week because he said it was pointless to try to enforce the rules any more. a lot of these things were norms and rules and regulations rather than actual laws, but people conform to them and trump doesn't and his family doesn't conform to them. but in terms of leadership, was it...? we could almost say it was angular merkel that leads the west, but... he has made various different kinds of statements about nato and we have to assume... you know, we can take which ever one we want to believe. but the idea that the us

was the leader in trade and was the country that believed in more economic interaction with the world, that doesn't exist any more. the idea that the us was a convener of other nations and could reach mutual agreements, that doesn't work any more. so the idea that the united states was a power in the pacific, that could fall under question as well. so a lot of the assumptions made about american power have been undermined. it has only been six months and he's been very lucky in a way because there hasn't been a major crisis. well, north korea... well, that hasn't happened yet and nobody has invaded a country, nothing for him to respond to, so we haven't seen how an administration that doesn't have any foreign policy staff will react to a foreign policy crisis yet.

let's go back to the domestic agenda. this issue of undermining institutions and integrity and the things that have built up over hundreds of years in the us — tube eye that there's been some of that going on or not? sure, but in many ways i am more positive and i feel that this is a lesson in how the government is supposed to work. she's right about the ethics violations but look at what happened to health care. it did not get through congress. look at his two travel bans. they were struck down by a court and he had to come back. there was then a new one but the supreme court allowed a part of the travel ban but the courts were reacting the way they were supposed to. and then i would argue the press as well. obviously he's been very tough on the press but i also think this

has been a good run for the press because we have healthy administration accountable and we've written a lot of stories and exposed a lot of stories. there have been a lot of investigations and we've been on the russia story quite a bit, so i think that's working as well. i'm looking at it in a more positive way. a different perspective but an interesting one. thank you both very much indeed. the grenfell tower fire has naturally got everyone looking very hard at building design, not least local authorities worried about the stock of renovated towers on their estates. it's clear we need an audit of what we've got, with what materials bolted on the outside. and this is where it gets interesting working out where we are.

there are three ways to get a building signed off. the key words are "limited combustibility". one, you can clad a building in material that is all of limited combustibility, as that won't burn badly. two, you can use elements of combustible material, but it has to have been fire—tested to see that in its particular combination, it is of limited combustibility. and three, if the combination hasn't been fire—tested then you have to have a desktop study that shows it is materially the same as stuff that has been fire—tested. so if the material isn't all resistant to fire then it needs to have been tested one way or another. but guess what — councils cannot get the the test results. i'm joined by lord porter, gary porter, who is the chairman of the local government association. a very good evening to you. i hope i've summarised the position adequately. but, look, you want to know the results of different combinations of materials and how they have got through fire tests. yes, we've been arguing sincejust after the day of the fire that the whole thing should be tested and notjust the core of the panels, and those tests need

to be properly tested, and we are pleased the government has agreed they will do that, or the experts have, at least. once those tests have been done, they need to be made public, and more importantly, the result is done by the private sector, which are subject intellectual property rights, also need to be done. but they've done those tests before, haven't they? to be able to say, yes, we can use that combination because we've tested it. they have been done but we are yet to see the results. those companies are under no obligation to share the results with the wider public. had you asked them? we have asked them and we've asked members of the public require that the contractual basis means that is shared. so the testing companies or the cladding companies? the br east says they cannot share the results. they have said they can't share those results because they are subject intellectual property. so quite seriously, you want to know

which cladding combinations are safe and stack up in systems, and they simply say, we cannot tell you. because the tests they've done belong to the companies they've done the tests for. so you ask the company, then? that's what we're doing now. with putting pressure through councils, housing associations... but do they notjust send you the results? will they? i'm acting on the basis of this new story tonight and i expect companies will be rushing to tell the government, here, have access to all our data! but you find it slow and a bit lethargic. try to find somebody who has had access to them. there is a worry that the testing system, rather than as a way of stopping unsafe things, has become a system for, well, let's see if there's a way we can get this to pass. is that your one?

my worry is that the public will never have faith in what is done unless it is done in a transparent way. if we want people to feel safe in a tower block we have to convince them that all the information is out of the public domain, and for me as a council leader and representative of a council, that's what's important. i'm not looking for somebody to blame. i'm looking for somebody to reassure the public that it is safe to be in those buildings. presumably the government could instruct the labs, you will tell us what the results are of the tests you have had done. but they are not part of the government. well, emergency law... you would need to talk to a lawyer! i don't know what would be needed. it is notjust the cladding, it is the installation. we argued from the start

that the installation is almost certainly going to be a contributory factor in some instances. not at all, because there are some very good types out there, but there are some that like fire. it needs to cover the whole of that system. i used to be a bricklayer and i think all buildings should be clad in bricks and not any other material, but that is just a personal interest! thank you very much. if you weren't worried about enough things already, here's another one — consumer credit. for all the lessons of the financial crash that started ten years ago this summer, the western world has not really found a way to stimulate spending, activity and growth

without letting debt grow. in the 2000s, it was us sub—prime mortgages that kicked off the crisis, but it is unmortaged credit here that is now the immediate concern. cars and cards. credit cards in particular. they've supported spending and perhaps given a rather flattering impression of our economic performance. unfortunately, consumer credit has been growing much faster than consumer incomes, and that can't go on forever. if it can't, it won't. our business editor helen thomas has been looking at the data. # oh, the credit card blues sure will get you down # yes, it will debt. loans, leases, leverage — call it what you want, the uk is amassing more of it, and that raises questions about long—term stability. the bank of england is keeping an eye on lending to britain's plastic—happy consumers. what seems to be happening is that lenders are willing to make credit cheaper and expand the supply of it into new areas, and that's why it's an amber warning light for us, because ourjob is to make sure that lenders are safe and the main risk

to the wider economy here actually come through the lenders rather than the borrowers. the regulator has told banks to hold more capital, one way of cooling the market. it will also stress—test potential losses. a bit of history. this is british households‘ debt relative to their income. it rose before the financial crisis, fell sharply, and now it's starting to rise again. that includes mortgages, though, which have been pretty steady. the problem is consumer lending, here in red. that rose by about 10% over the last year, much faster than household income. credit card debt is growing quickly, here in yellow, but the real eye—catcher, this blue line, carfinance, has been growing at over 15% a year since 2013. the reason for that is a fundamental

change in how we are all buying our cars. well, we're not really buying them at all. it's boosted business here, a busy showroom owned by pendragon, a big dealership group. a whole generation of people has been brought up with a different mentality, and so if you look at a device like that, you know, my kids would think it very strange that you would go and buy one of those. what they're looking forward to is the end of the contract and when they can refresh it with the latest model. well, why would it be any different in cars? four out of five new cars are now financed with something called a personal contract purchase. that means a monthly payment for two orfour years, then you upgrade to the latest model or pay a pre—agreed lump sum and keep the car. making a decision to buy a car is now a smaller decision

psychologically because people are committing to make smaller payments for a shorter term, and whereas historically somebody would think about spending £15,000, now they're probably thinking about making payments of £240, £250, and then doing the same thing again potentially two or three years later but getting a fresh car at that time. it'sjust increased the cycle. but people actually tend to keep paying their car loans. they need their cars to get to work or to get the kids to school. a slump in used—car values could mean losses for lenders. but the central bank thinks even a 30% drop would only mean a small hit for the banks. but cars aren't all we've been shopping for. credit card debt is on the up.

with longer and longer interest—free periods, personal loans have been getting cheaper and cheaper. overall, credit has been more easily available as companies there are two big questions here. what does this build—up mean for the banking system, the financial stability, and what about the uk economy? would a slowdown in debt—fuelled spending mean hazards ahead? tim ballantyne used credit cards to start a business but his debts mounted after a serious accident left him unable to work. he's now tackling that with the help of the money advice service. i wish i could explain better what i haven't dealt with it sooner. it seems such an easy thing to do. when i contacted the debt change charity, they went through a budget for me and told me what i already knew, which was that it was unsustainable and there was absolutely no way i could pay these debts, and that

i should write to these people, and gave me a form letter to do so, and yet it's taken me three or four months actually to get round to doing that. it's just stupidity. i think burying your head in the sand is very common. more consumers are only paying the minimum balances on their credit cards and the bank of england last week reported signs that default rates are starting to rise. if you look back over the last few years, it's very typical for loss rates on consumer debt to be more than ten times those on mortgage lending, and that's why banks' exposures to consumer debt generally are a key driver of how strong they are, how resilient they are. as we've seen so many times in the past, lending standards in this market can go from the seemingly fairly responsible to pretty reckless fairly quickly, and that's why after a period of rapid growth, we're taking action to make sure this market evolves in a sustainable and prudent way.

is this house of cards already teetering? losses on consumer credit mount when unemployment rises. it's still at multi—decade lows for now. but tighter credit is only one pressure on households. real wages are falling, saving rates are at record lows. consumer spending, the powerhouse of the economy, is on shaky foundations. they'll keep sending them cards till you get into so much debt you can't get out. robert kelly, better known as r kelly, is undisputed as one of the most important r&b singers ever. # it's the remix to ignition. # hot and fresh out the kitchen. # mama rollin‘ that body...# he's sold tens of millions of albums, he's been at the top of the music industry for three decades. his most pop—y and familiar track, i believe i can fly, goes back to 1996.

# i believe i can fly # i believe i can touch the sky...# he's written for michaeljackson, collaborated with jay—z, played professional basketball and been a hero to many fans. # i believe i can soar # i see me running through that open door but his image has been more than a little tainted by persistent allegations of sexual predation of underage girls. the weird story of his annulled marriage in the ‘90s to the singer aaliyah — she was 1a. the lawsuits against him by women who say they had underage sex. in the 2000s, he was charged with videotaping sexual acts with minors, and was acquited. and then yesterday, buzzfeed'sjim derogatis alleged that he is keeping six women in a kind of abusive cult, in this case, not minors. he denies he has abused women, or had underage sex.

whatever the truth of the allegations, it's perhaps remarkable that his career has progressed as successfully as it has. i'm joined byjim derogatis and freelance journalist from chicago, jamie nesbitt golden. jim, let me start with you. take us through these allegations. one of the women today said she is fine and isn't being held against her will, nothing to worry about. yes, her parents say she is brainwashed, that is their work, and the victim of a cult, our world, and buzzfeed's report, which i worked on for nine months, has two sets of parents and three women who bravely spoke on the record, two who were involved in sexual relationships with kelly and one of whom worked as his personal assistant and saw this behaviour for a long time. they say that these women are mentally and physically

abused. they are told when they can eat, went to sleep, when two bays, that they must not before entering or leaving any room, and to turn and face the wall if any male friends are present and how to sexually pleasure him in encounters that he records and their cellphones are taken away, they are separated from friends and family and given a new cellphone that is only used to communicate with him or with his permission. it's an extraordinary situation you are describing. take us through the allegations. there is a lot of history here. take us through some of the allegations because you have worked on them in the past as well. i broke this story in 2000, of him consistently abusing his position of wealth and fame to pursue illegal sexual relationships with underage girls. in a video prosecutors allegedly

showed him having sex with and urinating in the mouth of a 14—year—old girl, it came to me at chicago sun times and he was indicted for making child pornography, it took six and a half years to go to trial and he was acquitted by a jury of his peers. i believe this is classic rape culture. the victim, the young girl on the tape, her mother and father never testified. the jury heard from 36 other witnesses, friends, basketball coach, teachers, who testified that it was the girl and that was her age, and she was acquitted. there have been numerous civil law suit filed that said that either kelly had illegal sexual relations with them when they were underage or he videotaped encounters without their knowledge. and he's always denied the allegations.

he has, but he's paid large cash settlements to the women who have sued him. you went to his school, jamie, and you saw the cult of personality that at least gave a kind of power that he had over people. idid. i was a freshman at the academy when i first saw r kelly. he would come to visit teachers, the music department's various teachers and we would always see him leaving with a girl. and i think it was one of the worst kept secrets. we didn't think much of it. we already knew that he had a fondness for young girls. i don't want to presume his guilt here, but obviously girls have said that they had underage sex with him. yep. what reaction is there when people come forward and say that? do people blame

the girls or the man? there is a tendency to blame the girls. when i read about this in 2013, we were taught that it is usually on the young girl to steer clear of the predator. if she puts herself in the line of danger then it is on her, if horrible consequences befall. it's so ingrained in us that we don't really...we don't really interrogate it. so when the story broke in 2000, you know, a lot of us were reading the times back then thinking, finally, someone is bringing this to light because no one ever talks about it. some would say that there is a race element to this, that society asks fewer questions about the welfare of black girls than white girls. is there anything in that or is it pure celebrity

culture, people think that celebrities are celebrities? i think there are a lot of things at play, including the fact that these girls are african—american. i think there is a georgetown... ..there is like, it was recently found that black girls are seen as older compared to white girls and are less vulnerable. that, coupled with r kelly's hometown hero status sort of made it easier for him to maybe take advantage of these girls. jim, can i ask, in some ways, i don't want to presume guilt, i want to be open—minded, but some would say that it is amazing that someone with so much said about him doesn't have a tarnished brand. in the uk there is a lot of concern about these issues right now.

and i think there is in the us as well, with someone like bill cosby and i know you're talking aboutjimmy savile. i'm mystified about this. i think it's very hard to walk far in the music amenities in chicago —— communities in chicago on the west and south sides and now in atlanta and not find young women who have been damaged by their associations with kelly, allegedly. there is a 25 year trail of lawsuits, the aaliyah marriage, the trial for child porn and the video tape is a horrifying documentary of a rape, i believe, and now these parents want their daughters home. thank you both very much indeed. that's all we have time for. we will leave you with the work of national geographic, capturing a hummingbird drinking in a wind tunnel, the work of anand varma. today was a glorious one up and down

the uk. plenty of sunshine. top temperatures of about 28 degrees. in the south this afternoon, starting in the south—west, further reports in cornwall and the cost —— cluster of thunderstorms push into southern england and into the midlands. now severe thunderstorms are pushing in the south coast and they will be working northwards. lots of weather watcher pictures of the lightning. some have been intense. squally winds, flash flooding and large hail reports. these thunderstorms will move into wednesday morning. not everywhere will get them. if you catch them you will know about it and there is likely to be some disruption, so keep tuned to bbc local radio. through the night thunderstorms move northwards across england and wales, eventually reaching the far south of scotland. a muggy night to come across the

board. on wednesday morning the showers and thunderstorms continue northwards into scotland. it dries up northwards into scotland. it dries upfor northwards into scotland. it dries up for england and wales for a time but in the western of showers and thunderstorms will move on. some sunshine, in england and wales it will be hot. 29— 31 in east anglia and the east midlands and feeling very humid. further west, and the east midlands and feeling very humid. furtherwest, cooler. cloudier skies, showers pushing into wales, north—west england and northern ireland. showers and thunderstorms into scotland. continuing to trundle northwards. a thundery and today in the north—west corner of the uk. those showers and thunderstorms continue to move northwards on wednesday night. again the possibility of some severe ones. gusty winds and even the risk of flash flooding. by the end of the night, something cooler getting on towards the far west. further east another warmer and muggy one with those showers and thunderstorms. they will be with us for thursday

morning in central and eastern areas. again the odd heavy one. eventually clearing into the north sea and then something dry and bright before more rain arrives in northern ireland. we feel the fresher difference. 16— 22 celsius and we will have lost the humidity. into the weekend the atlantic weather systems takeover, so it is going to be cooler and fresher across—the—board, with going to be cooler and fresher across—the—boa rd, with sunshine going to be cooler and fresher across—the—board, with sunshine and showers and it will be quite windy as well. watch out for the thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow morning. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: donald trump's

plans in disarray. the president falls short of votes in the senate to repeal and replace obamacare. ican i can tell you the republicans are not going to own it. we will let obamacare fail, and then the democrats are going to come to us, and they are going to say how do we fix it? how do we fix it? more trouble for the trump family, as the president's eldest son could be called to testify in congress over allegations of russian interference in the 2016 election. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: the philippines president, rodrigo duterte, asks for martial law to be extended in mindanao so he can crush a rebel uprising. and how a singaporean artist has to tread a fine line with his graphic novel about the city state's political past.