this is bbc news. the headlines at 3:00 — the bbc understands cladding and insulation used in at least 60 tower blocks will be deemed to have failed a new fire safety test. the chancellor, philip hammond, says any transitional deal in the immediate period after brexit must end before the next general election. he says there is broad agreement in the cabinet on this matter. the us senate has rejected plans to repeal president 0bama's flagship health care reforms, delivering a major blow to president trump. rubbish piles up in the streets of birmingham, as workers step up their industrial action. collections have already been disrupted for weeks. also in the next hour — we're on patrol with the royal air force. four raf typhoon jet fighters have been deployed to romania as part of a nato mission to patrol the black sea region. and london's underground railways used to move post around the capital, but now it's visitors who can ride the mail rail. good afternoon, and

welcome to bbc news. the bbc understands officials believe at least 60 buildings have failed an official fire safety test, in which ininsulation and cladding, of the type fitted at grenfell tower, were analysed together for the first time. so far, just nine of the buildings which failed have been identified. they're in salford in greater manchester, where the local council is asking for help from central government to meet the cost of replacements. 0ur correspondent frankie mccamley reports. as those affected by the fire at grenfell tower wait to find out how and why the fire spread, across the country, others are anxiously waiting to find out if their homes are at risk, too. but for many, it's not good news. the bbc understands officials believe at least 60 tower

blocks have failed a new fire safety test. including nine in salford, where the removal of cladding began weeks ago. the thought of it not being safe and you're sleeping in bed of a nighttime, do you know, it's bad, isn't it? really bad. they should take the lot off. i don't care how much money it costs them. it's not money, it's people's lives. i think we're sitting on a tinderbox. costs to remove and replace cladding are expected to run into tens of millions of pounds. the concern now is who will pick up the bill. local authorities, housing associations, some of them have reserves. all of them have access to borrowing capacity and if there are any authorities that have difficulties, we will ensure that we make additional capacity available to them so that they can get the cash they need to do any urgent and necessary work. in the first round of tests, cladding from every building failed, but critics said this wasn't realistic. experts are now carrying out new, more thorough

tests, like these, combining cladding and insulation to find out which materials are dangerous when put together, like they were on g re nfell tower. yesterday, the metropolitan police said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the company that managed grenfell tower and kensington & chelsea council may have committed corporate manslaughter. it's very, very important that we now have a proper inquiry that finds out what happened, why that fire spread, whether the materials are the right materials and i and my colleagues will support that public inquiry. more than six weeks on, there's no escaping what happened here and with reverberations being felt across the country, there's clearly a lot of work to be done to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. our news correspondent, judith moritz, says the cost of re—cladding the salford blocks could run into the millions. salford council said they were not going to wait. they have conducted their own internal review, pretty

much straight after grenfell happened, and last month, they began the process of beginning to remove the cladding, because they know it is going to take a long time. there are nine blocks here, and it took two years to put the cladding up the first place. this is going to take a while. if i step out of the way and move the camera in, at the moment, if you look at this particular building, you can see that the grey and the red cladding, which is similar to that used at grenfell, that cladding is still there. we understand officials say it has failed these latest tests, so that cladding is going to come off. moving down, you can see that the work has begun to remove it, and it has revealed the silver installation that sits behind it. the council have told us they do not want to take that off as well, it is insulation keeping the towers warm, and it is important to keep heating bills low, but they cannot leave it exposed like that, so moving

across again, you will see that there is some lettering across that section of cladding. that is temporary, new cladding, consisting of concrete boarding. the council says that, by putting that on top of the insulation underneath, it is safe, but it is not a permanent fixture. it is something they will keep on these buildings temporarily and safely until they have decided what to do in the long term. in terms of what is going to happen, they say they are going to start tests next month, the middle of august, to look at different kinds of cladding which could be fixed as a long—term permanent solution. they are not ready to do that yet, though, so that concrete boarding is going to go up in the meantime. it will take a while and cost a considerable amount of money. we do not have a total figure, but it will run into the millions. the council has asked for help from the central government. there are more than 800 flats between these nine buildings. plenty of those disruption,

those we have spoken to have mostly said they have understand it, clearly they want to know they are living in safe towers. some of them have talked about disruption for years of having the cladding put on in the first place, and now having it taken off again. but in the round, they want to know that they are going to be safe, and they are telling us that at least that work is now underway. 0ur correspondent, tom burridge, is in west london. tom, just to be doubly clear, this isa tom, just to be doubly clear, this is a different type of test to the initial test. they have tested the former and the cladding in combination? that is exactly right. people can be forgiven for being slightly confused about all the different tests that have been happening since the fire here. initially, smaller scale tests on

samples, relatively small samples of cladding thomas muller that an g re nfell tower cladding thomas muller that an grenfell tower with that plastic or polyethylene combustible core. that type of cladding is used on around 200 tower blocks around the country. now, the government has commissioned a separate type of test, large in scale, and crucially, they do not delete just to the cladding with the plastic collar. they also believed to installation, so taken as a whole, and crucially, this first of six tests which the government has commissioned, both cladding and insulation similar to that an g re nfell tower, insulation similar to that an grenfell tower, and we understand that it has failed. is it important to point out to people that the foam on those towers in salford is of a slightly different variety to the tempt won in that tower behind you? yes, because of you would get types of cladding and types of insulation,

if you take cladding, for example. you have got the polyethylene colour, but you can add fire reta rda nts colour, but you can add fire retardants into that corner. it is extremely flammable, the actual core itself, but then you can have a fire reta rda nt, itself, but then you can have a fire retardant, you can get any degree of fire resistant core into that cladding, so there are lots of different types. but this does have huge implications. if it has failed, it is not surprising, but it does add credence to the idea that at least the combination of materials, the type of cladding an grenfell tower, and the type of insulation used together were not appropriate. and if that is the case, then of course, that will be a focus of the police investigation and the public enquiry about whether or not a test, a proper test, was carried out on that combination. it should have

been. so far, we have not found any evidence that it was. tom, thank you for being with us. the chancellor, philip hammond, has said there is broad agreement in the cabinet that there should be a transition period of up to three years after britain leaves the eu, but that it should be finished before the next general election, which is scheduled for 2022. the chancellor said a failure to implement a transition deal would sow chaos for business. 0ur political correspondent, leila nathoo, is here to tell us more. philip hammond is a key remainer among the cabinet, and this arrangement is to soften the landing, if you like, into our relationship with the eu. we have also heard from liam fox, and michael gove also warming to this idea as the practical, pragmatic way forward. today, philip hammond made it clear that he thought a transitional deal would have to be

over by 2022, when the next general election is scheduled to be. that seems to be the consensus, the compromise, emerging within the cabinet, but philip hammond has said, actually, on the day that we leave the eu, you might find that actually things look very similar. it is clear that this should be a time limited transitional period. so there is a general view that any transitional period would have to be finished by the time we get to the date set for the next general election, june 2022. it might be a shorter period, it depends on the technical requirements to put in place customs and immigration arrangements and so on, and of course, this is all subject to negotiation with the european union. but the overriding concern as we leave the eu, and the job will be done on the 29th of march 2019, we need to go through this process any way that avoids destructive cliff edges for

businesses and for individual citizens. liam fox will be watching this very carefully, the international trade secretary. he is off around the world at the moment, laying the groundwork for these trade deals, but he cannot do anything until march 2019. will he be able to do something in that three—year interim period ? this is where the differences still lie. what exactly will this transitional period look like? what will be the terms of that relationship with the eu? will we be able to do our own trade deals during this time? will there still be time given that transitional period to negotiate our future relationship with the eu? there are various sticking points still there about the idea of a transitional deal. what will be the role for the european court ofjustice? in philip hammond's version of this transitional deal, things in

2019, at the end of march, when brexit actually happens, will look very similar for quite a while. there will be a gradual move into this new relationship with the eu. but for many brexiteers, having even a temporary relationship with the eu that looks very much like the one we have now, may not be acceptable. so there is plenty to still be worked out in the cabinet about the nature of this transitional deal, and remember, this has to be negotiated with the eu as well. breaking news, coming from the taoiseach in ireland. the times reported today at the possibility of a sea border in the uk and ireland after brexit. some confusion as to what the irish position was, because

one mep said... the taoiseach has spelt out what he does mean. as far as this government is concerned, there should not be an economic border. this is leo varadkar we are looking at in your screens. the united kingdom has decided to leave, and if they want to put forward smart solutions for the border of the future, that is up to them. what we are not going to do is design a borderfor the we are not going to do is design a border for the brexiteers. we are not going to do is design a borderfor the brexiteers. some are on the brexit site have been angered by this, most notably, the dup, which is in a loose coalition with the government. ten of the mps supporting the government at the moment. they are not going to like that suggestion at all. more problems on the brexit from. we will try to get you some reaction to that later this afternoon. more than 50

people have been injured, one seriously, after a commuter train has crashed in barcelona. reports said the train did not move into the station in the city centre, hitting the buffers on the platform. companies working on the crossrail project have been fined more than £1 million after three sets of failures, one of which led the death of a worker. the companies pleaded guilty to offences following an investigation. the man died after being crushed by wet concrete in 2014. two other men were injured in separate incidents within six days of each other injanuary 2015. the headlines on bbc news — the bbc understands cladding and insulation used in at least 60 tower blocks will be deemed to have failed a new fire safety test. chancellor philip hammond says any transitional deal in the immediate period after brexit must end before the next general election. a major blow to president trump as

the us senate fails for the third time to repeal 0bama's health—care reforms. stir to come, while dollar bland, and boring might be the only way to describe your holiday destination. and in sport, ben stokes brings up his century with the second of 36s in a row at the 0val, but then out for 112 after helping england to 350 all out in the first innings against south africa. lewis hamilton finishes third and then fifth in practice ahead of the hungary grand prix, with red bull's daniel ricciardo quickest in both sessions. and james guy breaks the british record for the 100 metres butterfly. ——james guy. in a major blow to president trump, the us senate has failed, for a third time, to repeal president 0bama's healthcare reforms. in a dramatic late—night sitting, three republicans voted against the proposed legislation.

among the three was veteran senatorjohn mccain. he broke off brain cancer treatment to attend the session, and his "no" vote proved decisive, as richard lister reports. breaking news — a massive blow to the republican plan to repeal the affordable care act... americans are waking up to the news that 0bamacare lives on and seems, for now, unassailable. president 0bama's affordable care act required nearly all americans to buy health insurance and required insurance to cover eve ryo ne . republicans condemned it. momentum is building for the repeal of the health care bill... too invasive, too expensive, they said. for seven years, they've demanded it be replaced. but they can't agree on how and with a single vote margin on last night's repeal bill, all eyes were on one man. mr mccain... the self—styled maverick republican cast his vote with a thumbs down

to gasps in the chamber. and that killed the bill. cheering for 0bamacare supporters, this was a for 0bamacare supporters, this was a real victory, further repeal efforts seem unlikely for now. this is clearly a disappointing moment, from sky rocketing costs to plummeting choices and collapsing markets, oui’ constituents have suffered through an awful lot under 0bamacare. this repeal bill was highly controversial. it would have abolished the legal mandate to buy insurance, but increased the number of uninsured people by 15 million and increased some premiums by 20%. democrats said it was time for a new approach. every place in every corner of the world, of the country, where we go, the number one thing we are asked, and i know this because i've talked to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, is can't you guys work together?

let's give it a shot. this is a test of donald trump's presidency too. let 0bamacare implode, he tweeted. senator mccain was cheered outside congress but he's left his party chaos and his president humiliated, unable to overturn barack 0bama's health care legacy. president trump's new communications director has become involved in an extraordinary public feud with two senior colleagues, less than a week into the job. anthony scaramucci has launched a scathing attack on both the white house chief of staff, reince priebus, and mr trump's chief strategist, steve bannon. laura bicker reports on this, the latest episode in the white house saga. president trump's west wing is at war with itself. the appointment of the flashy financier, anthony scaramucci, as the new director of communications has prompted a bitter battle to win the ear of the president.

mr scaramucci has indirectly accused his colleague, the white house chief of staff reince priebus, of leaking information about the administration. he called a us network show to say that only mr trump could judge whether the tense relationship between the two was repairable. we have had differences. when i said we were brothers from the podium, that is because we are rough with each other. some brothers are like cain and abel. 0ther brothers can fight with each other and get along. i don't know whether this is repairable or not, that will be up to the president. in an extraordinary phone call with a reporter from the new yorker, anthony scaramucci described reince priebus as a paranoid schizophrenic. he also talked personally about mr trump's chief strategist, steve bannon. on twitter he said he would refrain from using "colourful language", but would not give up the passionate fight for donald trump's agenda.

mr scaramucci has been in the west wing just one week, and appears to have spent more time launching personal attacks than pushing the president's policies. he may also be forcing the chief of staff, and a key republican establishment figure, out the door. we spoke to laura is short while ago. she said that at anthony scaramucci's way of doing things are very similar to president trump's. we are all waking up, looking at the white house and wondering who will be there the end of today. you are looking at the white house chief of staff versus the new director of communications. there is one publication here in washington who describes anthony scaramucci as a mini me when it comes to donald trump. and that is quite an accurate portrayal of the character. they have very similar attributes when it comes to their style, and when it comes to their habits when it is speaking to reporters or on twitter. mr scaramucci says it himself, he is a straight shooter. when it comes to the chief

of staff, he is an administration figure, and if it comes to those two, which one of donald trump may opt for, you can see that reince priebus might be shown the door. but that is not the only problem with staffing in the white house. attorney generaljeff sessions is also facing increasing pressure. having gone from being donald trump's faithful servant, he has now been described as the president and self as beleagured and very weak. jeff sessions spoke out on fox news. do you think the president's criticism of you is fair? it is hurtful, but the president of the united states is a strong leader. he is determined to move this country in the direction he believes it needs to go to make us great again. and he has had a lot of criticism,

and the is steadfastly determined to get hisjob done, and he wants all of us to do ourjobs, that is what i intend to do. he has said again and again that you should have acted differently, you should have not accused differently, you should have not reccused yourself of overseeing the russian investigation. do you agree with that? i understand his feelings, because this has been a big distraction for him. plenty of twitter attacks onjeff sessions from the president, but republican senators are coming out to support him. i heard lindsey graham saying yesterday, if he sacksjeff sessions with the intention of then going after robert mueller, this would be the end of his presidency.

i have yet to hear a chorus of republican voices coming forward saying, hang on a minute, let's support reince priebus. so it will be interesting to see how the white house staffing over the next couple of weeks starts to either make changes or reorganise itself. when it comes tojeff sessions, one of the interesting things is he was one of donald trump's stalwarts, and many people in the west wing and the entire white house administration will be saying, ifjeff sessions can come under scrutiny and this kind of criticism from the president, then anyone can. four men have been arrested on suspicion of making an expose of the race in cardiff prison. it is not thought that anyone is heard. it came to light when a prison worker contacted came to light when a prison worker co nta cted a came to light when a prison worker contacted a member of the welsh assembly with concerns. there were concerns that the

situation could have been much more serious. he implied to me that prisoners could revolt, could take over the prison, because of the situation, potentially with the staffing. there are also other issues, and that is something that everybody needs to be aware of, sort that we can be sure these type of situations are not happen again. the prison officer who contacted mr jenkins said that staffing levels at the bell's capital's prison played a pa rt the bell's capital's prison played a part in this incident occurring. he said that staff morale is at an all—time low, and if things do not change, an event like this could happen again. it is not possible for staff to do searches on sells

everyday, they could be missing things. but that has been the case for the last five years. —— checks oi'i for the last five years. —— checks on cells. we need 7000 members of staff replaced. the ministry of justice said in a statement... south wales police have released all four individuals originally arrested, one without further action, but investigations continue in relation to the other three men. some breaking news from reuters. we are hearing that one person has been killed and others injured in a knife attack in a hamburg supermarket. the suspect has been arrested after the attack and as yet, they do not have any other information as to a

motive. the attacker is in custody, however. 0ne motive. the attacker is in custody, however. one person killed and several injured. more on that as we get it. council refuse workers in birmingham are stepping up their industrial action in a dispute that has left rubbish piling up in the streets. members of the unite union have been refusing to do overtime, and have been carrying out daily two—hour stoppages — which rose to three hours today. the dispute is about planned changes to working practices, as our correspondent, sima kotecha, reports. it looks bad, it smells even worse. piles and piles of rubbish strewn across some of birmingham's streets. on this road it's been three weeks since the rubbish was collected. we have seen a rat over there yesterday, absolutely disgraceful. four weeks now it's been here, absolutely terrible. so we pay all our money, council tax and they won't come and get it, give the binmen what they want. just get these bins gone. it's not fair on the kids, the kids can't even play out any more because of the vermin. it's disgusting, we come out of our house and it stenches

of rotten food, it's horrible. while the stench from this pile of rubbish here really is unbearable, not sure if you can see or not, but there are flies everywhere. and with this strike due to carry on until september, for people living on this street, the smell is going to get worse. since earlier this month, bin workers have been striking for two hours every day over changes to their shift patterns and plans to cut the number of supervisorjobs. from today, they'll be striking for three hours a day. they say the proposed changes will lead to staff being paid thousands of pounds less. i can talk about working patterns, i can discuss those with my members. what i cannot discuss is members who are low paid, losing money that they can ill—afford. they have mortgages to pay and food to put on the table, remove that, don't have those on the lowest wages pay for austerity and mismanagement of council accounts. the local council says budgetary constraints mean they need to adopt

a new way of working. in a statement, it says... with august around the corner, a mixture of hot temperatures and more rubbish is what many here are dreading. time now to take a look at the weather forecast. eastern parts of england have seen most of the sunshine today. it is pretty wet out there at the moment across a large part of wales, manchester, liverpool, and more of northern ireland going into the evening. much of england and wales, a spell of rain, moving eastwards

overnight. the showers will continue to affect parts of scotland and northern ireland overnight as well. wendy overnight, and low temperatures overnight. still breezy but showers for scotland tomorrow, a few popping up in northern england, wales, and the midlands. then the rain spreading back—up across southern england and south wales as the afternoon goes on. but some sunny weather, it will not feel too bad. then on saturday night, rain moving across large parts of southern inward. some heavy and thundery showers around on sunday, further scattered showers on monday. and no warmer. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines at 3.30pm: ministers are promising there will be no shortage of money for safety works on buildings like grenfell tower, where more than 80 people died last month. officials believe at least 60 structures have failed a fire safety test on both insulation and cladding. one person has been killed

and several reported to have been injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in hamburg. police say they have no information on the attacker‘s motive. the chancellor, philip hammond, has said a transitional deal after britain leaves the eu could take up to three years — but it would be completed before the next election injune 2022. a significant setback for president trump, as his bid to scrap the health care laws set up by his predesor president 0bama were rejected by the senate. at least three republicans voted against the bill, which needed a simple majority to pass. council bin workers in birmingham are stepping up their industrial action in a dispute that has left rubbish piling up in the streets. hundreds of thousands of people are affected and collections have been disrupted for weeks. now the sport. a brilliant century from ben stokes has put england on top on day two of the third test

against south africa at the 0val. the durham all—rounder came to the crease last night and was eventually out in the last half hour having made 112. stokes hit three sixes in succession as he passed three figures and his innings helped england to 353 all out. earlier alastair cook fell for 88 while debutant toby roland—jones made a handy 25. daniel ricciardo has finished quickest in both practice sessions ahead of the hungarian grand prix. the second session has just ended with the red bull driver ahead of sebastian vettel in his ferrari. lewis hamilton could only register the fifth best time in p2... afterfinishing third in first practice. the mercedes driver comes into the weekend just one point behind vettel in the drivers standings after winning the last race at silverstone. the build up to this weekend's race has been dominated by drivers comments concerning the new protective halo which is due to be introduced into cars' cockpits next season. there is no question,

i am happy to implement head protection for next year, if the fia study and develop the halo, and if this is the most effective way to protect the head of the drivers, it is more than welcome in my opinion. i don't like it but you have to respect the decision of the fia. since we introduced the virtual safety car, that reduced a lot of risk when you're speeding under the yellow flag in the race, and also the wheels thethers are quite strong at the moment, so you will not lose a wheel. but parts flying around the car, it won't really protect you so i don't really understand why we should need it. the mind games have begun ahead of england's quarter final against france in the women's european championship. coach mark sampson sez his french counterpart 0livier echouafni is "wet behind the ears" and says his record in tournaments is much better...

even though france have beaten england in the last three tournaments. with echouafni claiming they wouldn't be happy to face his team in the last eight. meanwhile england men's manager gareth southgate says he's not surprised to see the women doing so well. notjust in the euros but over the last few years, what mark sampson has done, we work closely at st george's park so we are supportive of what they do and have got to know the women's team and they are impressive characters, not only good players but they have a real good team spirit so i am not surprised to see them doing as well as they are. celtic have been fined just over £20,000 for crowd offences during their champions league qualifying round match against northern ireland champions linfield. uefa imposed the fine upon celtic for a banner portraying a figure in paramilitary uniform and also for fans blocking stairways. carl frampton has failed to make the weight for his fight with mexico's andres gutierrez...

which will no longer serve as a wbc featherweight eliminator for the northern irish boxer. the former two weight world champion came in one pound overweight at nine stone one pound... so he won't face wbc champion gary russelljr. as a mandatory title challenger should he win in belfast. it's six months since frampton‘s first professional defeat to leo santa cruz in las vegas. there's been more success for british swimmers in today's morning session at the world championships in budapest. james guy has broken the british record in the heats for the 100m butterfly. guy is the olympic champion in the 200 metres... but failed to win a medal in that event earlier in the week. world 50 metres butterfly champion ben proud also came through his 50m freestyle heat. gold on wednesday. that's all sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. the chancellor, philip hammond, has told the bbc there's broad acceptance in the cabinet that there would need to be a transition period while the new relationship

with the eu was negotiated. that could take up to three years after brexit — but it should be concluded before the next election, due in 2022. the chancellor said a failure to implement a transition deal would sow chaos for business. let's cross to westminster and our political correspondent, leila nathoo. we have always known that philip hammond has been one of the key proponents within the cabinet of this idea of a transitional deal. today, he signalled that he was prepared to see a transitional deal ends in 2022, around the time of the next scheduled general election. it's something the international trade secretary liam ‘s fox has said he wants a time limited transitional period, but philip hammond also gave an indication of what he would like to see during that period. he said on the day we leave the viewer the end of march 2019, actually our relationship with the eu would look much the same as it is now, before we have a chance to implement during

this transitional period the new relationship that is yet to be negotiated. i am joined relationship that is yet to be negotiated. iam joined by relationship that is yet to be negotiated. i am joined by the conservative mp nigel evans. a prominent leave campaign. nigel, this talk of a transitional deal, the consensus emerging within the cabinet, are you concerned this seems to be a bit of a fudge on brexit or a way of a slippery slope if you like not actually the eu? no. you can't have one foot in on one foot out, you are going to fall over otherwise we don't want that. we wa nt otherwise we don't want that. we want delivering on democracy, not self harm for ourselves british industry. there may be some practical reasons why we need transitional arrangements on things like immigration, for instance, if the bee 's regime is not ready then clearly we will need some transitional relationships. —— the visa regime. all that will have to be negotiated with the eu because if they are not happy then nothing will happen. pragmatism seems to be the new buzzword but as we heard from philip hammond today, he seized

transitional period as incorporating quite a long time of us having a very similar relationship with the eu as we do now. goods moving freely, for example, that suggests we could be in the single market in all but name. eu citizens coming to the uk, albeit having to register. doesn't that seem unpalatable perhaps too many of the people who voted to leave? no, and negotiations are going on at the moment so it's quite difficult to say exactly what transitional arrangements will be needed. as far as i'm concerned, we leave the eu in march of 2019 for practical, not ideological reasons, there may be some transitional arrangements on the single market or these arrangements on immigration. we need to know what those arrangements are, how long they are going to last and when they are all going to last and when they are all going to last and when they are all going to finish. there is talk of two years, three years, all that sort of stuff. as far as i'm concerned, once sort of stuff. as far as i'm concerned , once we sort of stuff. as far as i'm concerned, once we have our arrangements ready in place we can ensure that that chapter of that

transitional arrangement closes. this is not going to be seen as a ruse whereby some people who might have liked us to remained in their eu can see this as an opportunity to keep us sort of half end. that's not going to happen. we are all in apart from one or two transitional arrangements going to have left the eu by march of 2019. then we have to be absolutely transparent about what other arrangements are left in place, as far as i'm concerned as quickly as possible, i want to ensure notjust quickly as possible, i want to ensure not just desirable quickly as possible, i want to ensure notjust desirable by the european courts, we have full control of our immigration and no money we pay into brussels every year which is well over £10 billion a year, i want to see that spent on british public services. i don't wa nt british public services. i don't want to see it going to the european union. thank you. plenty still to be worked out about the nature of this transitional deal. even though it appears that the cabinet does seem to be united about the fact we will need one, an interim phase, before

oui’ need one, an interim phase, before our new relationship with the eu is worked out. as nigel mentioned that, this all has to be negotiated with brussels as well. thank you very much indeed. aid workers in greece have told the bbc they're dealing with hundreds of extremely vulnerable refugees on the island of lesbos. many have suffered torture and sexual abuse at the hands of so called islamic state in syria and iraq. the european commission has said such refugees should be moved to athens for specialist treatment, but charities say that's not happening. from lesbos, this report by our europe reporter, gavin lee. life inside moria migrant camp, lesbos. rare footage from a place journalists are banned. it shows tents have been replaced by containers, a reflection of europe's waiting room being made that little bit more long—term for the 4,000 being held on the island. violence, rioting and fires

are becoming routine. the camps are full and migrants, though smaller in number, are still making it here by boat. the people arriving here in lesbos are different now because of the ripple effect from the conflicts in iraq since so—called islamic state started to lose ground, many who've arrived in greece have escaped attention. men tortured by is fighters, women used as sex slaves, some are pregnant here, there's little support and it's worsening the problem on an already volatile island. we're very worried, we think we need to improve the healthcare given to these people. if they're vulnerable they need to be recognised as such and may need to move somewhere where they can get care. the reality is there isn't this care here on the island and they need to move to the mainland to receive it. scars from years of torture, 0sama was once a syrian policeman but was caught by rebel groups and sold to is. he said he was regularly beaten and sexually abused by his captors. "i've been in captivity for three years, two years locked in one room. i lost my family, i lost my wife,

i haven't seen anything about them. he tells me he was able to escape, hoping for a new life in europe. translation: detention will only rise here. i am here for one year. sometimes i feel if i had been killed in syria it would be better than this, pure humiliation. the greek refugee policy is clear that extremely vulnerable migrants should be taken off the island quickly for specialist treatment in athens. so why are they still here? i would like at this point to remind that 30,000 people have come through the island since march, 2016, so there can be individual cases, some individual cases, where they may not have been processed as quickly. the greek government is promising to ta ke the greek government is promising to take extremely vulnerable migrants off the island. those needing the most help, for the moment, are still waiting. russia has responded to new us

sanctions by announcing counter—measures, which largely mirror those taken by president 0bama last december in response to alleged meddling by moscow in the us presidential election. washington has been given until the end of august to reduce its diplomatic staff to 455, matching the number russia has in the united states. 0ur reporter 0leg boldyrev is in our moscow office and has more details. if they are reducing their staffing to 455, how many have to leave? that's actually a bit of a mystery. i called the us embassy first thing in the morning and they couldn't tell me, they would not tell me what the total amount of personnel right now. the speculation attributed the sources by russian news agencies beaks of hundreds of people, which isa beaks of hundreds of people, which is a much larger than the contingent which had to leave the united states at the very end of last year, because even if most —— moscow makes

no live how distressed and it is, the sanctions actually were signed by president barack 0bama. 35 people, 35 russian diplomats had to leave. of course we don't know what president trump is going to do with the sanctions that have been passed by the house and the senate. it comes to his desk and he is facing this rather awkward decision now whether he beat as it or not. people will be watching him closely, nonetheless president putin has decided to act. in the words of his spokesman, today, russia is basing on the technical understanding of the sanctions bill will be signed by mrtrump. 0f the sanctions bill will be signed by mr trump. of course the speculation is that even if trump decides to go against the will of the parliamentarians, he will be overriding them with a veto. russia understands the sanctions will go through and again it is saying, basically blaming the united states for all the ills in the current relationship between the two

countries. thank you for that update. raf fighterjets are playing a key role in a nato air policing mission in eastern europe. four typhoon aircraft from coningsby inlincolnshire have been based in romania since april. they're patrolling skies around the black sea amid tensions with russia. there have been increased fears of russian aggression since the crimea peninsula was annexed by moscow in 2014. almost 150 raf personnel have been deployed to the region. from romania, phillip norton reports. jet engines. a daily sight and sound at an airfield close to the black sea. raf typhoon fighter jets, armed and ready for a day policing the skies of eastern europe. just 250 miles away, more than 400 military aircraft have been amassed in crimea. working alongside the romanian air force, the raf‘s role in this nato mission codenamed 0peration biloxi is to reassure

the people who live here. this really is nato showing we are a force to be reckoned with. we are here to reassure, to deter, that is ourjob. we are peaceful, but we are secure in the skies. i have royal air force controllers working with remaining controllers in a bunker near bucharest. if they see something on the radar, they will tell skies to scramble and we will go on intercept and find out what i got this. this operation is taking place 24 hours a day, seven days a week. typhoons are flying every single day, as part of this policing operation. more than 140 airmen and women from medics to communications are here in support. there is no air power without ground power. it is true, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make sure that the squadron can do what they need to do when they need to do it. you get a feeling inside that you've done something towards the wider world.

normally when you are sat behind a desk you don't see much of the outside world. here you hear the typhoons going off and it helps taking off the ground, you get a feeling inside, a happy feeling. the possible threat the pilots could face is real. earlier this week a typhoon was scrambled to intercept two russian bombers, flying over the black sea. it's a busy part of the world, in security and military terms. it's common knowledge the russians are being very assertive, particularly in this part of crimea and the ukraine which is only 250 miles away. there's a lot of activity out there, hence in part our presence here to bolster the collective security. this five—month mission will be taken over by the canadian air force in september. but it's likely the raf will be back here next year. philip norton, bbc news. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour,

but first the headlines on bbc news: officials believe that at least 60 buildings have failed a fire safety test which analysed insulation and cladding — like those at grenfell tower — the bbc understands. one person has been killed and several reported to have been injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in hamburg. the chancellor, philip hammond, has said a transitional deal after britain leaves the eu could take up to three years — but it would be completed before the next election injune 2022. in the business news: more figures out on the american economy. it's pace of growth has increased dramatically over the last six months. for the first three months it was growing at a rate of 1.2% a year. in the second three months its grew at a rate of 2.6% a year. barclays has set aside an extra £700 million to meet compensation claims for mis—selling payment protection insurance. the news came as the bank said costs related to the sale of part of its africa unit had pushed it into a £1.2 billion loss

in the first half of the year. airline group iag, which owns ba and iberia, has reported an operating profit of £975 million up from £635 million during the same six months last year — that's a rise of 37.3%. it seems to have shrugged off the it meltdown — which grounded ba flights in may. the total cost of that was £58m. the broadband provider backed by the billionaire george soros says it has raised another £100million to help it build of its full fibre network. the company is hyperoptic. it's an ultrafast band provider, which offers full fibre networkws. these it says are more than ten times faster than the best possible on most of the infrastructure run by bt‘s network subsidiary 0penreach. the question is how much

of a difference will it make. dana tobak is chief executive of hyperoptic. tell me exactly what it is you provide. we provide a full fibre solution, we allow people to use different products depending on what they are interested in, so our headline product is a one gig symmetric service... what exactly is that? i'm getting a bit loss with the jargon. when i plug my computer in into your system, what will i get? what you will get on a fttc or what bt calls their infinitely fibre product is something around 30 megabits per second, what you will get the gas is 1000 mb per second. in addition, to the download speed which represents the data coming towards you, what is more important 01’ towards you, what is more important or part of the story is the fact that with us you will also get one gigabit or 1000 mb connection speed uploaded. if you want to share

pictures or back—up to the cloud, it will change what people fundamentally can do with their connectivity. how much will it cost? it depends which product you take with them at £60 for one gig and telephone line. you put the actual fibre optics into my house? we do indeed. at the moment we focus on fibres to buildings, blocks of flats in 20 cities nationwide. we bring fibre into the building and cabling into your so it bypasses the copper infrastructure that bt has been using for the last 100 years. flats, pretty easy actually debate fibre optic into a flat, relatively speaking. getting into houses, getting into the countryside is a lot more difficult. will you do that? we are an urban provider so we're not looking to get into the rural areas but we are looking to spread to more than just flats in cities. that is part of what the money we are looking at that we have just raised will help us to achieve.

even so, i know the virgin is trying to do something similar and has having a lot of problems getting the stuff through the roads. just physically getting it across even cities is hard and difficult. do you think you can scale up from about 350,000 you have got, you want to hit 5 million don't you? we do indeed we are confident we can. what makes you so sure? the team and the approach we take. we get things done, we focus on one step at a time. in 2011 we started with one building, and we keep going. we are tenacious, we know how to make things happen and we have customers that love us, which makes all the difference. thank you very much. let's have a quick look at the markets. but see falling steadily all day, dax down and the dow pretty much unchanged, even though a very strong gdp figure came out from the us. second—quarter really, big

increase in the first quarter. nasdaq down the touch as well. a bit ofa nasdaq down the touch as well. a bit of a down day. gains yesterday so not exactly a roller—coaster, but it is up and down. that's the business news. more in half an hour. dull, bland and boring — might sound like a bad review, but a perthshire village and its australian and american counterparts are turning the unexciting place—names to their advantage. afterforging a link with boring, 0regon, dull is welcoming the mayor of bland — a mining town in new south wales. sally mcnair reports. you will see the timely hamlet of goal behind me, dole by name but not by nature i am assured. five years ago, dull paired with a farming community in oregon called boring. that was such a success that a community called boring in south—west australia has asked to join it without relationship. i am joined now by the maher of boring

who has just arrived joined now by the maher of boring who hasjust arrived in dull. what are your first impressions? it's a beautiful scottish village. part of the real scotland that i believe that none of the tourists or none of the people who will travel outside an enormous tourist trails will not see. this is real scotland. it is how more people should see it and i'm sure we will have more people from boring coming here in the future. that is local councillor ian campbell, a bit of a serious side to this, because it does boost the profile of the place? it certainly does. essentially we now have something like 60,000 visitors a year come to dull, or around. a lot of them come from boring, they have actually ta ken to of them come from boring, they have actually taken to it with gusto, they come along and it's good to see them. it will be good to see people coming from boring new south wales over the coming years as well. we are looking forward to it. tonight there is a civic reception to welcome the mayor of boring and get

the communities crossing hands across the world. nothing to request though, after all, dull has its reputation to live up to! —— nothing to raucous though. for 75 years, an underground network of railways was used by royal mail to move post around the capital — but in 2003 the system was abandoned. well now it's reopening, as a tourist attraction — members of the public will be able to take a unique ride through tunnels previously travelled by only parcels and letters. tim muffettjumped on board. throughout its 500—year history, the royal mail's mission has remained pretty much unchanged. newsreel: now down the chute into the vans... to harness technology of the day to deliver letters and parcels as quickly and accurately as possible. this new postal museum shows how deliveries have evolved. but by the early 20th century, the mail system in london faced two big problems — heavy fog caused by smoke billowing from chimneys, and heavy traffic. the answer lay below ground.

in 1927, this underground rail network opened. newsreel: on the post office tube railway, 25,000 mail bags a day travel through 6.5 miles of tunnels below crowded city pavements... for 75 years, unmanned trains shuttled mail between six sorting offices and two railway stations, liverpool street and paddington. i guess it was designed for letters, not people. exactly right. passengers will soon be able to ride specially—adapted trains through the tunnels. it was a really important part of moving the mail and speeding up the process. it was essential to allowing that communication to happen quickly. in 2003, the service stopped. its running costs were deemed too high. transporting mail above ground

was considered more cost effective, even though some disagreed. this is one of the mail platforms, where the trains would have stopped and the mail would have been loaded into containers. it almost looks like it was abandoned. it pretty much was. the equipment was all left down here, newspapers and things like that still laying around, all the trolleys, the trains were still down here. soon to become a quirky visitor attraction, for some the mail rail has been underappreciated. the postal service is really the first social network, keeping people in touch, allowing people to stay in touch over distance and quickly, and it was important, the speed was important, and that's what mail rail was about, speeding the system up. tim muffett, bbc news, 70 feet below london. time for a look at the weather. it's all about the weekend forecast,

with low pressure close by you can guess what is following. it's a very u nsettled guess what is following. it's a very unsettled picture across the uk, very wet into this evening for some of us. especially in wales, almost across wales it is raining now. some heavy bursts of up to spread across more of england, even those plants that are still drive. much of england and wales getting a spell of rain tonight before clearing in all but kent later tonight. a feed of showers keeping going to scotland and northern ireland, but elsewhere it will turn dry and clear at about ten to 15 degrees philly overnight temperature. gusty winds, elsewhere drier, and it's a time. southern england sees cloud and rain coming back, that is going to list its way northwards going into tomorrow's evening. if you are dry and sunny for a period of time, you canjust get above 20 degrees tomorrow. here comes the rain pushing north across parts of england. that is gone by sunday, the time we get to sunday its sunshine and showers again one could be heavy, and on monday the

showers are still with us. and it's no warmer. this is bbc news. the headlines at 4:00 — the bbc understands cladding and insulation used in at least 60 tower blocks will be deemed to have failed a new fire safety test. the chancellor, philip hammond, says there should be a transitional period of up to three years after brexit, to avoid a so—called "cliff edge". the us senate has rejected plans to repeal president 0bama's flagship health care reforms, delivering a major blow to president trump. 0ne one person has been killed and several injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in hamburg. police say the most it is not clear. —— the motive is not clear. also in the next hour — we're on patrol with the royal air force. four raf typhoon jet fighters have been deployed to romania as part of a nato mission to patrol the black sea region. three new crewmembers will launch towards the international