today at five: one of the victims of the salisbury poisoning, yulia skripal, releases herfirst statement since the attack. the daughter of the former russian spy, sergei skripal, says she woke up a week ago and that her strength is growing daily. it comes as russian state television broadcasts an unverified recording of a phone call — it claims yulia skripal tells her cousin in russia that "everything is fine". russia's ambassador to the uk continues to deny his country's involvement in the nerve agent attack, and questions britain's role. we have our little suspicions about britain, you know. if you take the, let's say, the last ten years, so many russian citizens died here in the uk under very strange circumstances. we'll have reaction to the day's developments and details of a meeting called by russia to discuss the incident the other main stories on bbc news at 5... a bbc investigation has found

cladding used at grenfell tower fell short of its claimed safety standard in fire tests — and a uk body that grades building materials wasn't informed. concern over the capital's growing murder rate, as two more men die in separate attacks in east london. the number of new car registrations falls as people continue to turn their back on diesels. gold to england! england win six golds on day one of the commonwealth games, jumping to the top of the medal table. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at five.

our top story: it's been a day of dramatic developments in the salisbury poisoning case. in a statement released via the metropolitan police, yulia skripal, who was poisoned alongside herfather sergei, has said that her "strength is growing daily". the news came soon after a russian tv station aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation between ms skripal and her cousin. meanwhile, russia's ambassador to the uk has denied his country had ever produced the novichok nerve agent used in salisbury. in a moment, we'll have the latest from salisbury and our diplomatic correspondent paul adams, but first, let's bring you up to date. in her statement, 33—year—old yulia skripal said: the statement was released by the metropolitan police just hours after russian state tv aired a recording of an alleged phone conversation which it says took place between ms skripal and her cousin. in the call, yulia skripal

is said to tell her cousin who is in russia that she and her father are recovering from the attack, and that she expects to leave hospital soon. the russian tv station also said it could not confirm the authenticity of the call. in a news conference in london, the russian ambassador to the uk, alexander yakovenko, wished the skripals well, and talked about the possibility of bringing julia's cousin viktoria over to the uk. i'm really happy, and i hope that sergei skripal will also recover. and i am sure that one day yulia will come back to moscow. first of all, we are not sponsoring her visit. she is coming on her own. i offered her the transportation.

so basically, i said that if she wants to stay on the premises of the embassy, not here, of course, because this is only for the ambassador, but we have a few places around london. if she would choose that, we would be happy to accommodate her. our correspondent lucinda adam is in salisbury. we are still talking about two people in hospital. bring us up—to—date with everything happening there? that's right, it isjust over a month since yulia skripal and her father were found collapsed on a bench here in the city and they were treated here at salisbury district council ever since. from what we know about the novichok nerve agent and the effect it has, this would seem to be a remarkable recovery. yulia today has been able to release

a statement saying she is getting stronger day by day and doing better. also from that telephone conversation that russian tv alleged that may be from yulia, she appears to say that her father is all right, that he is resting, having some sleep, but that everyone is recovering and there were no irreparable harm done and she had to be released from hospital soon. that is not verified. the official line from the hospital is still that sergei skripal remains in a critical but stable condition. let's get more now from our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, who's here with me now. what we saw at lunchtime was an extraordinary news conference. it went on for a long time on the part of the russian ambassador. yes, this is part of what is now a pretty co nsta nt, is part of what is now a pretty constant, relentless pr effort that

the russians have generally been leading, certainly in terms of volume. i was in moscow for a week oi’ volume. i was in moscow for a week or $0 volume. i was in moscow for a week orso and volume. i was in moscow for a week or so and every day brought fresh press c0 nfe re nces , or so and every day brought fresh press conferences, some of them very lengthy, in which the same points are made to — we didn't do it, this isa are made to — we didn't do it, this is a conspiracy, there are others who could have done this and we have nothing to do with it, and repeating things like "we demand conjugal access to yulia" and so forth —— consular access. at the moment, there is no sign that their pr effort is yielding a kind of results they want. we have a number of countries, almost 30, who agree with britain's view that the most likely reason for the poisoning is that russia did it. and at the same time, no obvious people standing up and saying "we agree with you, russia, that you did not do it". we have seen that you did not do it". we have seen an that you did not do it". we have seen an effort at the organisation

for the prohibition of chemical weapons yesterday by the russians to try and get an agreement on a joint investigation. that was rebuffed by the opcw. investigation. that was rebuffed by the 0pcw. now we are seeing an effort later today by the russians to go to the un security council to have a discussion about it there. it is not clear what they hope to achieve by that. perhaps they want to broaden the debate and have other countries involved and see if there isa countries involved and see if there is a coalition that they can assemble to support their case. at the moment, that is unlikely. but it is part of what is now an everyday pr effort. and for now, we wait to see what comes out of the un security council? yes. i don't think we should hold our breath. there is no resolution tabled, no decision likely to be made. for example, will the chinese, as one of the permanent members, voiced their support for russia, or will they take a neutral

position? what about the other members of the security council like kazakhstan? they will be looking to see if there is support to be had, but there will be a number of countries who have so far supported the british case am about six in all including britain, and i would have thought they will be vocally supportive of the british position again. so as a pr exercise, i am not sure how much it is likely to achieve. another issue is that of consular access. the russians have demanded access to yulia all along. today we had the statement from the foreign office saying that she is now ina foreign office saying that she is now in a position to choose if and when to take up this russian offer of consular assistance. but to date, she has not done so. given that she has been conscious and speaking now for the best part of a week, the fa ct for the best part of a week, the fact that she has not decided to ta ke fact that she has not decided to take upa fact that she has not decided to take up a russian offer of consular assistance speaks volumes about the way she sees this. thanks very much.

more from the un security council later today. let's talk more about the nerve agent itself. in his news conference, the russian ambassador to the uk denied the claim that moscow had stockpiled the nerve agent, novichok, and said that 20 countries could have produced the chemical. there are 20 countries, quite advanced countries, which have the capability of producing any, let's say chemical agents. and that country is quite developed. so any lab around the world could do this, i mean, if they have just the normal facilities for that. so it wasn't pointing directly to that. it could be any country, mostly, in europe. let's talk to the chemical weapons expert dr richard guthrie, who is in our bristol studio.

that point that there are 20 or so countries with the ability to produce it, is that accurate? that is probably not unrealistic in terms of laboratories that could synthesise the novichok in small quantities. you have to remember that when the first details of the novichok were made public in the early 1990s, part of the information that came out was that these were compounds that have been designed to evade detection by western detection equipment and possibly even to defeat western detection equipment. so of course, all of the western lads in the country that had the capacity, were attempting to look at the novichoks to understand them and try and replicate them from the limited information available in order to test their detection and protection equipment. that doesn't mean that they would be able to make

enough material to be used to something like an attempted assassination. is that the reason that britain and lots of other countries supporting britain maintain that in this instance, or are talking about something within russia? well, russia is the most likely source of this material, based on a range of contextual evidence. ignore anything being suggested about intelligence. if you look at the open source literature from the 1990s, it is clear that there was an extensive russian programme which has still not been declared internationally. that leaves you to look towards russia and because it has not been declared internationally, there are so many questions about it. so if you look at the context, you have a programme ina at the context, you have a programme in a country that has not been declared. that same type of material has been used in an assassination attempt. people will then look to

that and go, that is the first place we need an explanation from. that and go, that is the first place we need an explanation fromm that and go, that is the first place we need an explanation from. is it possible that in terms of the investigation in salisbury, enough evidence could be found to prove this categorically, by which i mean the level of proof that one could put into a court? absolutely. there isa put into a court? absolutely. there is a huge difference between evidence and proof. i don't think proof will come from any sort of simple scientific basis. there is a lot one can learn from the sample or any samples that are left over and have been analysed. and you can make some calculation that they are similarto some calculation that they are similar to samples that emerged after the cold war from russia or from former soviet union. but i think the level of proof will come from a variety of sources, not least from a variety of sources, not least from standard law—enforcement activities of tracking the movements of people. i speak as a novice, but

is there still a lot to be learned in terms of what sort of substance are talking about? is in powder or liquid, are there still those variables out that? there is a lot that has not been revealed by the investigators. to make an effective contact poison, a poison that lifts ofa contact poison, a poison that lifts of a surface onto the skin, the suggestion is that it came from the door handle of the skripals' house, you could have as a powder or a jail ina you could have as a powder or a jail in a substrate. they haven't published this information, probably for good reason, because that might give clues as to the direction the investigation is going. very good to talk to you. thanks for your time. we will turn to the rest of the day's news now.

some breaking news now — and a bbc investigation has discovered that fire tests of the brand of cladding panels used at grenfell tower revealed that they failed to meet the safety standards claimed by the manufacturer. the firm, arconic, knew its product had fallen short in tests carried out as early as 2014 — but it did not tell a uk body which issues certificates for the building industry. arconic says it did share the tests with some authorities and customers. the police and a public inquiry are now investigating why the panels were used on grenfell tower. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds has this exclusive report. it happened so fast, an inferno unstoppable. the plastic in the cladding panels fixed to grenfell tower court and burned. the night of

the grant forfar, i woke up for some reason and the telly was on. the grant forfar, i woke up for some reason and the telly was onlj walked past the telly and i noticed the fire. peter, not his real name, has worked on some of britain's biggest cladding projects. grenfell, but the fire horrified him. biggest cladding projects. grenfell, but the fire horrified himlj biggest cladding projects. grenfell, but the fire horrified him. ijust thought, oh, my god. i knew what material it was and ijust knew the material it was and ijust knew the material shouldn't react like that. the government was just as concerned. result — cladding stripped from towers like these in north london after 71 deaths. but our investigation reveals concerns about the fire performance of the cladding long before the disaster. if it had been made public, it is possible that panels of plastic sandwich with aluminium would never have been considered for a project like grenfell tower. but first, you need to know this, the standard european test of the materials‘ reaction to five give it a rating.

a1 is best effort is worst. the cladding used to grenfell tower had ab cladding used to grenfell tower had a b rating for about ten years and there was a certificate to prove it. this it, issued by the bba, a not—for—profit body based on technical data provided by the manufacturer. this document is relied on by the industry. but we have discovered that three years before grenfell tower ma a french testing body, the cst b, gave the cladding and eat classification, possibly because the testing process wasn‘t fully completed. another result was class c, again not the class b on the certificate. these tests of various configurations were commissioned by its manufacturer. so who did the company tell? after grenfell, pete tried to find out.|j structured all my people to search databases. i structured all my people to search data bases. i wanted structured all my people to search databases. i wanted any relevant information, e—mails between ourselves, to make sure we ticked

all the boxes. he said only then did he find a single letter sent in 2015. it appears to show that at this point the company regarded reynobond has having eat classification. to be blunt, you wouldn‘t put that on a dog kennel. peter believes there should have been a full product recall, and the bba which issued the certificate said it was not told about the tests and it is a requirement of the certification process that the bba is informed of information like this. another group of people would like to have seen those test results too, the building inspectors. we are very dependent on the manufacturer telling us there have been changes to that product. if there is a change to the results, that leads to be advised. the product's manufacturer is the multinational company arconic, which said: and on reynobond‘s product

information for the cladding, there is no mention of these tests, but the company agrees that its product is combustible. and this laboratory, prime solutions, near edinburgh, the majority for us what that might mean. within a minute of applying a flame... so the polymer is now melting and it is running down as a stream. it burns for another three minutes until there is almost no filling left. this is why the government and some experts now insist cladding for tall buildings needs to be not class d, thee or even class b, but class a. however, scottish regulations for tower blocks and the rules for some lower

buildings in england and wales to allow class b cladding, raising new questions about the use of reynobond pee given its past test results. the manufacturer would not tell us why it did the testing, but here is one possible reason. we can reveal that halfway through the grenfell refurbishment, the plastic used in the cladding was altered. in 2015, arconic changed the design of its cladding, replacing this clear plastic filler with a black version which performs better in sunlight. g re nfell tower which performs better in sunlight. grenfell tower has both types. the black version burns less fast. in our demonstration and in the manufacturer‘s testing, it performed better than the older cladding, but an opportunity appears to have been missed to replace the older cladding which had already been put on the tower. reynobond pe is no longerfor sale on buildings, but its manufacturer has stressed that customers should conduct their own

full systems testing or analysis of the entire cladding system. the police and a major public inquiry are now investigating why this product was used. this is bbc news at five — the headlines: one of the victims of the salisbury poisoning, yulia skripal, has released her first statement since the attack. she says she woke up a week ago, and that her strength is growing daily. it comes as the russian ambassador to the uk continues to deny his country‘s involvement in the events that happened happened in salisbury, instead squarely laying the blame on britain. and a bbc investigation has found that cladding used at grenfell tower in london fell short of its claimed safety standard in fire tests — and a uk body that grades building materials wasn‘t informed. in sport, england are on top of the

commonwealth games medal table in australia. aimee willmott with one of their six gold medals on the first day of competition on the gold coast. players on the web masters. rory mcilroy tees off in just over an hour in pursuit of the career grand slam. tiger woods is won over in his opening round. and uefa have charged liverpool after manchester city‘s team bus was attacked ahead of last night‘s champions league tie. liverpool have apologised and called the behaviour completely unacceptable. i will have a full update for you in the next 15 minutes. now let‘s talk about another of our main stories. two men have been killed in separate attacks within hours of each other in north—east london. one man died after a fight, the second was stabbed in hackney yesterday evening. the deaths follow two fatal shootings on monday in the north of the capital. the number of homicides

across london this year now stands at more than 50. 0ur correspondentjohn mcmanus reports from hackney. it was near this spotjust before eight o‘clock last night that police officers were flagged down by a motorist. here in link street, they found 18—year—old israel 0gunsola suffering from stab wounds. despite administering first aid and calling in the london air ambulance, they were unable to save him and he was pronounced dead at the scene just before 8.30. police say they‘ve arrested two 17—year—olds on suspicion of murder. meanwhile, on the same day, not far away, a 53—year—old man died outside this bookmaker‘s after what police suspect was a fight. another man fled the scene. police are searching for him and appealing for witnesses. but it‘s families that are being torn apart in this epidemic of violence. on monday, 16—year—old amaan shakoor was shot in the face in walthamstow, north—east london. he died the next day. and 17—year—old tanesha melbourne was also gunned down this week in what appears to be

a drive—by shooting. the latest figures on homicides make stark reading. 52 people have died in violent circumstances in the capital since the start of the year. 3a of those were stabbings. seven people died from gunshot wounds and amongst the victims, 11 teenagers, although many in their forties have also died. police have stepped up patrols, but some locals here in hackney are nervous. i don‘t really see much police presence. i think the police are just dealing directly with calls and incidents that they get, but with regards to actually seeing police officers walking down the street, i can probably count on my hand in the last four years since i‘ve seen that. the local mp believes that cuts in policing may have contributed to the problem. here in hackney, we have lost one in four police officers since 2010. it is impossible to deal with gang crime, knife crime, gun crime, unless you have the right level

of neighbourhood policing. but law enforcement can‘t solve things on their own. we also need to work with schools, with mental health services and social workers. i don't accept that the police have lost control of crime across london. i do accept that there has been an issue with crime across the country. there's been an increase in crime since 2014. it's a nationwide problem. the metropolitan police say they understand how alarmed the local community are, but they insist the only way to fully tackle violent crime is for the community to work with them. ken hinds is a youth worker in the tottenham area and also chair of haringey‘s independent stop and search monitoring group. of course, people want to try and

understand and the more you read about this, the more reasons people seem about this, the more reasons people seem to have. the home secretary and the head of the metropolitan police have been talking about social media. david lammy, who has been the mpfor media. david lammy, who has been the mp for tottenham for a long time, as taught about the prevalence of drugs. from all the work you do, how do you start to expect the people what you think is going on here?|j think what you think is going on here?” think social media does play a significant part in the extension of the violence. in my day, back in the ‘805 the violence. in my day, back in the ‘80s and 90s, if we had an argument with anyone, it was localised. now with anyone, it was localised. now with the invention of social media, it is now national or international. it gets spread to a wider audience and people have to react. these young people have a lot of ingenious ways of posting things which are very disrespectful and putting disrespectful comments on social

media. that heightens tension and goats people into doing something. asa goats people into doing something. as a result, we are finding people now stepping up to use violence. for one thing, the technology allows people to share videos very quickly toa people to share videos very quickly to a very large number of people. when you say people see that and have to react, what does that mean? credibility. for example, if you are a grime artist and you got robbed and they have taken yourjewellery or you got stabbed, and people are videoing the violence that was perpetrated on you, it means that you have lost your kudos. so you have to do something to get that kudos back, to get that credibility, because you become a victim and now

you have to show that you are a tough guy. and by showing that you area tough tough guy. and by showing that you are a tough guy, you get your mates together and go back and retaliate. and you‘re going to do that even though you might get hurt or someone else might get hurt, that is just what is going to happen? they say, i don‘t care, because i have lost face in my community. i can‘t show my face because of what has taken less. so asa face because of what has taken less. so as a youth worker, what do you say to people and how do you try to stop the cycle you have described? for the older viewers, i would say it‘s like writing a letter when you are angry. it comes out angry. so i say don‘t post things when you are angry. and be mindful who you are associating with. they are not only

posting these things, they are doing music and they have ingenious ways with slang. slang is changing very quickly. they no longer call it a gun, they have different names for it and that young people will know. u nfortu nately, it and that young people will know. unfortunately, when you have ten—year—olds coming up to me and saying, i do want to die, why would they say that —— i don‘t want to die. the parents have to be mindful of exactly what their child is looking at on social media or getting involved with. u nfortu nately, getting involved with. unfortunately, a lot of this is driving the violence. people mentioned drugs, but i would mention social deprivation. i would also mention austerity. and we no longer have community spaces where we can bring in the resources to help these young men, primarily, dealwith their emotional struggles like we do

us their emotional struggles like we do us part of the band of brothers. and what about those groups of people who go out there and try to talk to people in the communities you have described and on the estates that you work in and try to persuade them to do things differently, to not react to the videos? let‘s see a bit of what they do, for people who don‘t know. today, yeah, i didn‘t know if it was right for us to come out. you understand ? i didn‘t know if we had the mobilisation. the numbers, you understand? it‘s not as simple as saying put down the gun, put down the knife, because i know what grief feels like. i know what grief feels like, so i ain‘t going to come here with no simple solution to the problem, because there isn‘t one. what i can say is that if there‘s a start to the solution, this is it, you understand? yeah! a new generation! you were there on that particular

night. explain what is going on? that is men in our community saying enough is enough. it is no longer worth sitting in our comfortable surroundings and talking about what a bad thing this is, but actually mobilising and go into the streets and we claiming the streets for positive things. that was a very prominent person in our community. he has gone to the place where the young lady got shot, and he has reached out to the young people who may be involved in the violence and said to them, enough is enough. we are here to safeguard you. we are here because we love you, and they reached out and hope the guys who we re reached out and hope the guys who were goodies. these are guys who we re were goodies. these are guys who were probably setting up to possibly retaliate to the shooting. not only that, but the presence of having 100

primarily black men and women out there, saying, we love you and we ca re there, saying, we love you and we care about you and this has to stop, and we are here to safeguard all our community, has to be a positive thing. albeit, it is not conventional with the way they talk and the way they do things, but that is like a politician reaching out to the targeted audience. he is reaching out to his target audience, which is the young people who are at the butt end of this violence. and i believe it will make a significant difference in my community. really good to talk to you. we must take a look at a few other stories tonight. the suspected burglar who died after a struggle with a pensioner at his home has been named as henry vincent, 37, the

bbc understands. richard osborne brooks, 78, discovered two men in his house in south—east london in the early hours of yesterday morning and has been released on bail. research says about one third of the research says about one third.— ef the research says aboot one third.— of the start centres to sure start centres to help young and gage; sure start centres to help young .. and {egg-e. f’fez if. .. on is the is