rescue efforts are continuing at the florida international university in miami, where a recently installed pedestrian bridge collapsed onto a busy highway. emergency crews have been working to free people from cars buried in the rubble. officials say four people have died. the us hasjoined france, germany and the uk in a joint statement demanding that russia explain the use of a military grade nerve agent in an attack on a former russian spy in england. moscow denies any involvement. president vladimir putin is said to be considering options in response to us and uk sanctions. in syria, thousands of people are fleeing the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta, as government forces intensify their offensive. it's the first medical evacuation since a massive assault began nearly a month ago. now, police investigating the fire at grenfell tower in west london,

which claimed the lives of 71 people, say tests on a front door from one of the flats showed it was far less fire—resista nt than intended. survivors of the blaze have described the finding as "shocking", as our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. could what happened here be the result of corporate manslaughter? that's what the police are investigating. highly technical work, including the test of a door from a grenfell flat — one that was undamaged in the fire. in this standard test, heat is applied to one side and the door must hold for 30 minutes. here there's some smoke, but this door easily passes the test. the sample from grenfell lasted 15 minutes. the police has informed the government, which has consulted its own experts. the response... there is no change to fire safety advice that the public should follow. i, nevertheless, fully appreciate that this news will be troubling for many people, not least all those affected by the grenfell tragedy.

that's why, based on expert advice, we have begun the process of conducting further tests and will continue to consult with the expert panel to identify the implications of these further tests. this picture's from before the fire. flats appear to have had a variety of doors, but they were fairly new. the doors were replaced in 2012, not as part of the major renovations of g re nfell tower. after that work, there was a safety inspection. the investigators will want to know were the doors properly assessed? for the survivors, understanding why it happened is vital. it's very important for grenfell survivors and the brave families to feel that we can honour the memories of those who have died, and one way we can bring justice is to make sure that regulations and progressive policies ensure that people feel safe in their homes once

again, and that means tightening regulations. but those questions will come later. for now, this is still the scene of a criminal investigation. tom symonds, bbc news, at grenfell tower. now on bbc news, time for the travel show. mauritius, a force of nature in the middle of the indian ocean. mauritius is marking the 50th year of independence from british colonial rule, but the intriguing, rich and sometimes dark story of this island nation goes back way before then. on myjourney, i'm going to explore the history of mauritius. see and taste how multiculturalism works here. mmmm, that is nice. go on a day to the races. 0h, did he win?

did we win? and visit a unique conservation project saving endangered species. this island is so often labelled as just a luxury beach paradise, but the reality is so much more fascinating than that. mauritius, gorgeous beaches, turquoise waters and lush vegetation, but the human story is just as awe—inspiring. le morne mountain on the south—west of the island faces in the direction of madagascar and stands 555 metres high. it's also at a 45—degree incline. no walk in the park. for the likes of me, this is a challenging climb,

i've got to say. in fact, i think for anybody it's challenging. near the top, ijoin a guide who's done this climb up to three times a day every day pretty well for 13 years. you can feel it's all, like, volcanic. this is volcanic rock? yeah, yeah, yeah. it's probably from the first eruption 10 million years ago. ten million years ago? yeah. and actually it's very good for climbing. yeah, there's lots of good grip. le morne marks a dark but symbolic chapter in the island's history, the days of slavery under dutch, french and british rule. this is where many escaped slaves, called the maroons, found refuge. they could have a look towards madagascar and for them...

that's home. that was home, you know, it was the sight and they expected one day maybe to build, like, a craft and go back home and just to escape from this prison. horrible. it's a world away up here from the beach resorts that populate the rest of the island but actually, this trek is almost a pilgrimage to get to the very heart of mauritian identity. and there's a particularly poignant tale told about the maroons in what should have been their moment of celebration. when slavery was abolished here in 1835, soldiers climbed the mountain to tell the maroons that they were free, but the escaped slaves thought that they were being recaptured and instead chose to jump off the mountain. why do you think this

is so important to the identity of people from mauritius? because i guess it's a unique story. it's part of our story here in mauritius and it's one 132255 e211 eelie ie ie£ ;;u;i:$; . .. . . nice to meet you.

hi. nice to meet you. so this is a food place here? yes. but you'd never know to look at it, it's pretty low—key. yes, but it's pretty famous as well. he's making some deep—fried cakes, mauritians are fond of deep—fried cakes, you can deep—fry almost everything. it's just — he has this batter that he made, it's with chickpea flour, some herbs and salt.

mauritius may seem isolated in the middle of the indian ocean, but it was actually nicely placed on the spice route, which linked asia, africa and europe. now he's adding all the herbs you need for the chilly bites. and the chillis. chillis. yeah. are they strong chillis? spring onions. there's a clear inference from gujarati traders whose forefathers came over from india in the 19th century, but there's a distinctive mauritian accent to the food too. coughing itjust hit me! now, this is a multi—ethnic, multicultural, multi—lingual, multi—religion country, so hinduism is the majority religion but you've also got christianity, islam, chinese religions,

buddhism, it's all here. where are we now? we are in a small market which is made up of street vendors. all these people, they used to be selling everything from clothes, to food to electronic gadgets on the street, but that was illegal so the state gave them some spaces. bonjour. ca va? so this is arthur, he used to be on a street corner in chinatown selling dumplings with his father. so now he's here. chinese—mauritian? yeah. this is the long fish? yes, the long fish. that is nice, that's really good. how many years have you worked here?

for myself, after schooling, near to 50 years. 50 yea rs! the sheer diversity of food is one benefit of the cultural hotpot in mauritius. another is language, french, english and creole are all spoken here. and then, there's music. sega is a rhythm and genre indigenous to this island. and this lady is known as the voice of the indian ocean. the distinctive drum is called the ravanne,

a home—grown instrument. on the tiny island of ile aux aigrettes, mauritius is playing host to a unique conservation project, which takes us back to a time five centuries ago, before mankind ever set foot here. the ecosystem of an island like mauritius is extremely fragile, and ever since mankind arrived in the 17th century, that ecosystem has been severely disrupted, and that has led to the extinction of some very important species like, for example, the dodo. the dodo lost the ability to fly through evolution because until man brought in predators, they didn't really need to.

today the one remaining native mammal to mauritius, the fruit bat, can fly with elegant ease, but it's not a great favourite for some, like fruit growers. so this is the mauritius fruit bat. it is a bat which is unique to mauritius. it can travel for 15 kilometres, 20 kilometres, a0 kilometres in one night. it's like man has got hands, but these hands here have been modified, amazingly, to become a wing. it's an animal that can see very, very well, despite what a lot of people think. they need to rest during the day to save their energy because it gets hot in the tropics, but at night, as it's getting dark, they leave their daytime roosts, as they're called, and they go out and they look for food.

they will first of all eat fruits to keep themselves alive, but also, they'll be dispersing fruits and they maintain their own survival by maintaining the forests. the larger project here is hugely ambitious and earning international acclaim. we're actually recreating the whole ecosystems. it's one of the few places on earth were we're notjust trying to save a few odd plants and a few odd animals, we're actually piecing together, as best as we can, it will never be perfect, but as best as we can, the whole ecosystem as it existed prior to the arrival of man. should we be frightened of this animal, should i be frightened being this close to this animal now? well, i'm not frightened of the animal, i don't know why

anybody should be. there are some countries where bats are dispersing — are carriers of diseases but in mauritius, that's not the case. of course where they are carriers of diseases, there are some precautions to be taken, of course, but that's not the case here. would you like to hold the bat? are you serious? really? oh my god. yes, it will probably nibble you a little bit if that's ok? nibble me? its claws are going to be quite sharp. you must take this. wow. i can't believe it. this is weird, is all i can say. this is a magic moment. i never thought i'd actually find a bat, or an animal like this, vaguely even cute, but you know what? it is kind of cute.

and luckily, not disease ridden... no. as it bites my finger. no! do you want to fly off, shall we get you to fly off? come on then. animals are central to mauritian identity in more ways than one. take this weekly ritual that has become tightly wrapped up with mauritian social life and culture — going to the races. the islands' independence from british rule was declared on this very racecourse, the champ de mars, in 1968. built more than two centuries ago, it's the oldest racecourse in the southern hemisphere.

and from the start, it's very aim was to bring disparate communities together. oh, and to satisfy the locals' love of gambling, of course. and today, there's one family who now dominate horseracing in mauritius. actually, it was my grandfather who introduced our family to horse racing. he was the first indian to be a member of the national assembly of parliament. and in 190a, he was a businessman. at the beginning, he was a milk seller, but then he started doing business, buying land and buying and selling land and property. he also realised that buying a racehorse would allow him who ran the economy then and loved racing. today is a very special day. it's the final classic race

of the season, the duke cup, and a chance for this elite family to great history in the country's national sport. what has happened is that we have been able, with a bit of luck, to win the first three classics, and if we win the fourth one today, we will be creating history. and we got a peek into the paddock to meet soun‘s cousin. this gentleman, i know him very well. i often see you on the bbc all over the world! this is very much a family affair. that's the cup that we are looking for. this one here? can i touch it? anyone can touch it before, but i want to touch it after. afterwards, yes...

this is fantastic. i'm getting a real insight behind—the—scenes with one of the most important men in racing. inside the jockeys' room, preparations are underway. down by the track, i can feel the sense of occasion here. here is where everybody gathers, rich, poor — everyone. whatever language or culture they're from, whichever ethnic group, this is the day, and this is the first race of the day. i wanted to get a feel for the passion for racing and gambling here, and so i approached a local punter. i'm from england, do you recommend any horce in any race?

i think this one. number three, rogue runner, in this race. i'm gonna bet. number three. but i'm not sure. there is my horse, number three, rogue runner, and if i put 100 rupees on it, it says i'll get 600 rupees back. hey, can i have 100 on number three, rogue runner? a lot of money going on rogue runner. you like rogue runner? is it a good one? and this is my horse, number three, rogue runner. go for it... i like his colours. 0h!

did he win? it was very close, who won? number three. number three won! at the last minute! at the last moment... yes! and now it is time for the climax to the season — the big one, the dukes cup, and a time for the gujadhurfamily to make history. they haven't left much to chance, they have three out of the 12 horses running, including the favourite, enaad, ridden by the most successful champion jockey in the race.

our man's in his lucky spot to watch the race next to his family. the favourite and their big hope ennad is struggling. it doesn't look good. ennad, get on, don't let him coax you back! until from the outside another horse from the gujadhur stable suddenly starts making ground. ready to attack is, well, ready to attack. come on ready to attack! cheering well done! idid it!

well done! well done, sir! well done! the family have done it and made history. cheering now this is over, what do you feel? a sense of relief, almost? frankly, i don't get worked up before a race. i watched you during the race, you do a bit... i do a bit, but you know, the people around, and the well—wishers, the supporters, everywhere you go around the island, you know, theyjust wish you well. i wanted to win that race for them. and in this 50th anniversary

year of independence, it seems the people of this island have plenty to celebrate. during my time here, i've seen a strong sense of nationhood amongst mauritians, and also realisation that precious wildlife must be protected. this is a relatively prosperous country, breaking free from its complicated and sometimes shameful colonial past. and what's exciting is that right now, its unique cultural identity is still evolving and making it so much more thanjust a high—end holiday hotspot. some of us will escape with a fine friday, even mild in some places but by the weekend it's much colder. you won't have a fine friday close to this weather front, north—east england into eastern scotland, cloudy, wet, outbreaks of rain, some snow in the scottish hills and that snow

level lowering later in the day. this is your cloudy, wet zone throughout the day. also got this area of cloud and rain nudging northwards from the midlands, wales, into parts of north—west england and fringing into northern ireland. to the south of that we see some sunshine coming through, but you may catch a shower, could be heavy and possibly thundery, not everybody will. it's here you have temperatures in double figures but it is a turning colder day through eastern scotland and north—east england, going into the evening and night, that snow level lowering and maybe into lower levels you could see a light covering into places going into saturday morning and a few of these wintry showers drifting westwards overnight and a developing and getting stronger eastern wind. a much colder start on saturday morning and temperatures are not going up very far on saturday. throughout the weekend, we have got high pressure in scandinavia pumping bitterly cold air our way and a strong wind too, so wind chill will be a factor and on that flow of air, some snow around too.

some snow scattered about eastern parts of the uk through saturday, there will be some accumulations in places. many north and western areas could avoid them and stay dry, some with sunny spells. it is all about the feel of the weather, though. significantly colder compared with friday and i have mentioned the strength of the wind, making it feel like it is well below freezing for many of us on saturday into sunday. it's going to be a bit of a shock to the system after what we have had in recent days. watching saturday night, we could see a longer spell of snow into sunday morning and again that risk of disruption, ice in places with a frosty start on sunday. that gradually edges away westwards, we see a risk of further snow showers coming into eastern parts, not everybody will see those and still, that brisk and very cold easterly wind making for a significant wind chill as well. so winter is roaring back this weekend. gradually turning

milder again next week. but for the weekend, much colder, that bitter wind with a significant wind chill and yes, some of us will see some snow and there will be some disruption in places because of it too. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. our top stories: a pedestrian bridge collapses onto a highway in miami, killing four people. we'll have the latest from florida. president trump joins the uk, france and germany in blaming moscow for the poisoning of a russian spy. as russia holds its presidential election on sunday — we find out why people in the country's "rust belt" find mr putin so popular. and in a special report, we speak to syrian civilians who escaped the conflict in eastern ghouta.