tonight at ten — ministers are considering a ban on flammable cladding for high—rise buildings, after the grenfell tower fire. almost a year after the blaze in london which left 72 people dead, the government says it will now launch a consultation. having listened carefully to concerns, the government will consult on banning the use of combustible materials in cladding systems on high—rise residential buildings. it comes despite an official review which today stopped short of recommending an outright ban. we'll be asking why. also tonight. the gambling industry warns of big jobs losses, after the government decides to slash the maximum you can bet on high—stakes slot machines. a woman is acquitted of killing her former partner in an acid attack that left him in such pain he decided to end his own life. in windsorfor wedding rehearsals — meghan markle confirms her father will not be there when she marries prince harry on saturday. the syrian refugees leaving europe — a special report finds some illegally selling their eu passports and travel documents, prompting fears of a security risk.

here it is, i'vejust been here it is, i've just been able to buy a refugee travel document which the germans call the blue passport. i don't think i realised how simple this process is, until now. and balancing with dementia — the research to find out more about how the disease affects the body and the mind. coming up on sportsday on bbc news, gareth southgate defences young world cup squad. he says they may be inexperienced but they are the best in their positions. good evening. the government is considering a ban on flammable cladding for high—rise buildings in england after the grenfell tower fire, which left 72 people dead. ministers announced that

a consultation would take place, just hours after the publication of an official review into the grenfell fire, which had stopped short of recommending an outright ban. a year after the fire, survivors say they're disappointed that more hasn't been done. the labour mp and grenfell campaigner david lammy called the review a whitewash. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. this disaster triggered a housing safety crisis. residents turfed out of their homes, buildings stripped, with massive bills for putting them right. the realisation that the building regulations had failed. enter dame judith hackitt, the senior engineer called on to review the building regulations, under pressure for weeks to ban materials which burn tall buildings. but she didn't. if people look at this report and say it doesn't go far enough because it didn't ban cladding, then i will accept that as a criticism. that is the criticism.

i accept that. but what i would say in response to that is, what i've found is a problem with the building of high—rise buildings that goes far beyond people putting cladding on to the building that is not compliant. but she did say if the government bans it, she would support it. and sure enough, within a few hours, but 11 months after grenfell, the communities secretary rose to his feet in the commons. having listened carefully to concerns, the government will consult on banning the use of combustible materials in cladding systems on high—rise residential buildings. cladding is being removed from some buildings. but banning it completely would mean changing the complex system of guidance that the industry uses to meet the building regulations. and dame judith‘s report doesn't go there. instead, she takes aim at the culture of the industry. she says it's a race to the bottom, jobs done as quickly

and cheaply as possible, ignorant of the rules and indifferent to the safety aspects. she recommends a new authority to oversee safety, more rigorous enforcement, simpler rules. more power for residents, and the industry itself to lead the change. but that is a sticking point for the grenfell campaigners. we cannot have the industry self—regulate themselves. there needs to be an independent body looking at the industry, to make sure the regulations and the cosy relationships being formed are put under scrutiny. one area already being scrutinised — the use of studies on paper in place of expensive fire tests carried out for real to assess the safety of materials. damejudith hackitt‘s report has been criticised all day for lacking an urgent call to action. her response to mps this afternoon? the changes are needed and they are needed now.

i do not intend to wash my hands and walk away from this, having done what i said i was going to do. i too have become very emotionally involved in this. i care very much about seeing this through. but thousands of people like lucy hopkins are waiting to hear what will happen about the dangerous cladding on the outsides of their homes. i think at the moment there is so much uncertainty with me as a flat owner, and for the people on the rest of the block as well, we just have no idea what the financial impact of this is going to be. it looks like we are being left to sort out this problem by ourselves. the anniversary of grenfell tower approaches. repairing the wider damage it's done is an enormous task. tom symonds, bbc news. tom eaves with me now. we have this official review which stops short of recommending an outright ban on inflammable cladding and hours later the government says it is launching

a consultation. why? it's been a messy day and it hasn't reassured the grenfell families. the government has said it can't ban this stuff right now, it does have to have a consultation for legal reasons and dame judith to have a consultation for legal reasons and damejudith hackitt has said she didn't know the government announcement was coming but why wait 11 announcement was coming but why wait ii munster have that government announcement? she didn't put the barn in her report but she said she would have supported it, so why not put it in her report, because she would have had an easier ride today. we also have the architects' representatives saying this is effectively a review of building regulations that hasn't really changed the building regulations and we also have construction companies saying behind—the—scenes they want some kind of certainty, what can they do, what is safe, what is the bottom line in terms of safety. it's all very tricky and we are in the middle of this housing crisis and we still have people living in tower blocks where every night there's a fire warden walking around with a

megaphone in case the worst should happen. tom, thank you. there is a special edition of question time from st peter's church, near grenfell tower, after this programme, at 10:45pm on bbc one. the gambling industry is warning that tens of thousands ofjobs are at risk, after the government decided to reduce dramatically the maximum stake on high stake slot machines — like fixed odds betting terminals. currently, people can gamble up to £100 every 20 seconds on electronic casino games. but that's been cut to just £2 in betting shops across the uk. the terminals generate almost billion pounds in revenue for the betting industry. —— almost £2 billion in revenue for the betting industry. amol rajan reports. these high stake, high reward machines, featuring games such as roulette, are a key feature of the 8500 betting shops on british high streets. such shops employ over 50,000 people, and pay over £1 billion in tax. for over a decade they have allowed punters to bet £100 every 20 seconds. many victims have campaigned for the maximum stake to

be reduced to £2. sarah grant from cardiff lost everything on the machines. now in residential rehab, she lost herjob and became homeless. when i was using them i was in a really crappy time in my life. and to me, they were like somewhere i could go, that i was accepted, that there were people willing to want to speak to me, that they were offering me drinks and different things. and itjust felt like someone wanted to spend time with me. dominic ford owns raw betting. he built his chain of six shops over a decade, and spent the day visiting staff to talk to them in person. it's pretty catastrophic. it means the end of my business. we're a marginal business. the high street is tough at the moment. so, take away 50% of our income, we're not sustainable. everything about these machines is designed to excite and reward the senses. their defenders say in a free society responsible adults should be allowed to spend their money as they see

fit, provided they don't harm others. but the government is now persuaded that the harm caused is immense, notjust to individuals but to those around them. isn't there a point of principle here, which is that, in a liberal society, responsible adults should be able to spend their money as they choose? aren't you in danger of punishing the majority for the sins of the minority? all the evidence was that some of the people who could least afford to lose thousands of pounds at a time, were losing that sort of money on these machines. and when you find a social blight like that, i think it is our duty to stop it. i've been addicted to gambling since i was about 13. i'm bad. i'm really bad. i've lost relationships, kids — i've lost everything. i think it will help, because now you walk up this road in rochdale, it's mainly all betting shops. you'll never beat a bookie. as you can see, everywhere you go, the main streets is full of bookies, full of bookies.

but is the high street even the main problem? more than one in every £3 lost on gambling is now online. high street and on location betting, and the national lottery, are only around a quarter each. once upon a time punters had to go to the bookies. now the bets come to them, 21w, and through smartphones, children are exposed too. available from app store and now google play. the timetable for these changes remains unclear, and it is not obvious what the government thinks success looks like. while they clobber high—street bookies, campaigners want them to turn their attention to digital gambling. amol rajan, bbc news. a woman charged with killing her ex—boyfriend in an acid attack has been found not guilty of murder. mark van dongen was left with such catastrophic injuries that he decided to take his own life at a euthanasia clinic in belgium more than a year after the attack. berlinah wallace was acquitted of causing his death,

but she was found guilty of throwing a corrosive fluid with intent. jon kay reports. six foot five, athletic, a dutch engineer, but mark van dongen was left paralysed, blinded and suicidal when his jealous girlfriend attacked him with acid. these police pictures show how it burned the bed sheets. translation: when it happened and i first went to the hospital, i didn't even recognise him. mark van dongen's father told me his son was in agony for more than a year before he was granted euthanasia at a belgian hospital. he had no life left. we had explored every avenue. and in the end, ijust had to agree and accept his decision. as for the south african fashion student he treated like a daughter, and who's now been convicted of throwing the acid... to me, she's the devil incarnate. what happened to mark,

all that suffering. mark van dongen's pain can be heard in this 999 call, as neighbours rang for an ambulance. he'd staggered out of the couple's bristol flat, begging for help. is the attacker still there? berlinah wallace told police she thought it was water that she'd thrown. why didn't you call the ambulance? you know, i wasjust like confused about loads of things. this has been a highly unusual trial. berlinah wallace was charged with mark van dongen's murder, even though he chose to end his life more than a year after the acid attack. but the jury concluded

she was not responsible for his death, and guilty only of throwing the liquid. acid is one of the most deadly weapons out there and this case is proof of the devastation it can cause. translation: i don't want this to happen to anybody else, to any other father or mother. no one else should go through this pain and misery. berlinah wallace was told to expect a lengthy sentence when she returns to court next week. jon kay, bbc news, bristol. a brief look at some of the day's other other news stories. motherca re has announced it wants to close more than a third of its stores, putting 800 jobs at risk. the retailer says it's in a "perilous" financial position after posting annual losses of more than £70 million today. mothercare plans to close 50 stores. it has already almost halved its store numbers over the past five years. a man has beenjailed for at least 29 years for the murder of a barmaid in north london last christmas.

kasim lewis pleaded guilty to murdering 22—year—old iuliana tudos. she disappeared after leaving the pub in camden on christmas eve. her body was found three days later. a 16—year—old boy has died after a stabbing in the centre of sutton coldfield. west midlands police said several people were seen fleeing the area before the boy was confirmed dead at the scene. a murder investigation has been launched. the world health organisation is to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the spread of ebola through the democratic republic of congo. it's concerned that the new outbreak may spread beyond the country's borders. the prime minister has said she will soon reveal proposals to avoid a hard border between britain and ireland after brexit, if new trade arrangements can't be agreed and put in place as soon as was hoped. our political correspondent alex forsyth is in westminster. so should we expect to hear new ideas from the prime minister in the next couple of weeks? the prime minister has to come up

with something. this is not what the uk wants in terms of customs arrangements after brexit. this is about what might happen if a workable solution cannot be agreed and put in place in time. there is no formal proposal yet. everything has to be negotiated with brussels. but the idea ministers have come up with unsettled upon is that eu ta riffs with unsettled upon is that eu tariffs would be matched. people we re tariffs would be matched. people were worried about a hard border on the island of ireland. it would prevent a border in the irish sea. the danger is it will anger brexiteers will argue that the —— uk stays too closely tied to the eu. number 10 has dismissed that, saying it would be the same staying in the customs union, the uk could do it on trade deals. and they don't think the backstop idea will happen because they are confident the uk

can come up because they are confident the uk can come up with a good customs deal. what this really is is a small step on what remains a difficult, conjugated, long road. what it really shows is just how far there are still is to go. meghan markle has confirmed that her father will not be at her wedding to prince harry on saturday. thomas markle had been expected to walk his daughter down the aisle. in a statement she said he is staying in the united states so he can focus on his health. prince harry and his fiance were in windsor today our royal correpsondent, nicholas witchell is there. well, it certainly has not been the ideal lead into the wedding, but kensington palace —— that kensington palace had either planned or wanted. farfrom it in recent palace had either planned or wanted. far from it in recent days. palace had either planned or wanted. farfrom it in recent days. i understand thomas markle finally told his daughter he would not be attending the wedding on the basis of medical advice. whatever the full story, it does mean that the riddle of mr markle's attendance, or at the

wedding, has finally been resolved. time to end the uncertainty and focus on the wedding. harry and meghan were driven to windsor castle for a private rehearsal at st george's chapel, as it was confirmed that the bride's father, thomas markle, will not be at his daughter's wedding. kensington palace issued this statement from ms markle: in windsor, preparations for saturday. a rehearsal by 250 members of the three armed services who will be taking part. the most visible element will be the mounted escort provided by harry's old regiment, the household cavalry. they will accompany what, weather permitting on saturday, will be an open carriage procession through the centre of windsor. also rehearsing has been the choir of st george's chapel. and preparing for his role, presiding over the service, the dean of windsor.

my impression is that they love one another very much. they are very committed to each other. they are very serious about their relationship. and that's why, i think, they particularly want to see it grounded in a religious ceremony. the royal wedding can be said to be back on track after three days when even its most committed supporters may have felt a little bit bemused. but in thomas markle's absence, who will escort ms markle to the altar? the obvious candidate is her mother, doria ragland, who has arrived from california. she will meet the queen tomorrow. or might itjust be that the father of the groom, prince charles, whose marriage to the duchess of cornwall was blessed in st george's chapel, might he escort his new daughter—in—law to the altar? we should know tomorrow. nicholas witchell, bbc news, windsor. the bbc has uncovered a growing and illegal trade in eu passports and travel documents, many of which are being sold by refugees who've

decided to leave europe. german politicians have described it as a huge and worrying problem for european security, because such documents could allow access to europe's schengen zone, in which people can travel between countries with few checks. from the greek—turkish border, nawal al—maghafi has this special report. under the cover of darkness, once again syrians are starting a journey. families, together with all their belongings, hoping to make a new life. but these people aren't entering europe, they are giving up on it. they'd rather face poverty in turkey or the prospect of conflict back home in syria. translation: it's impossible for me to go back to germany. we're muslims, but they say we are terrorists. they look at us and they're afraid of us, like we're monsters, not humans. as these refugees leave europe we've

discovered some of them are selling their european ids to people looking for an easy route in. the next stop is here, in istanbul. the crossroads in syria's migration route, and now, as we've discovered after weeks of investigation, this is the centre of a lucrative trade in eu travel documents. as the syrians leave europe, some of them are now advertising their ids online. there are just so many facebook groups where people are buying and selling passports, travel documents and european residency ids. i've clicked on this one group and it has over 5000 active members. we've put up a post asking for a passport for someone who is around 30 years old and within just a few hours we've received a dozen responses. posing as a syrian couple hoping to go to europe, we're going undercover

to buy our eu travel document. we're meeting a smuggler who says he has dozens of passports for sale. it's not long before he pulls out german documents. he says as long as you look similar to the passport picture it's easy to travel. here it is. i've just been able to buy a refugee travel document, which the germans call a blue passport. i don't think i realised how simple this process is, until now. we went from talking to the broker on facebook,

to meeting him a few hours later, and now i'm holding the document in my hand. in theory this enables you to travel across the eu schengen territory. this new trade is worrying security services across the eu. we've come to germany to return the passport we purchased. a spokesman for angela merkel‘s party says he's worried that fighters from the islamic state group could get their hands on an eu passport. for us in germany it's a tremendous problem because our task must be to prevent terrorists to travel to germany by using stolen or lost documents, or false documents. every night more and more syrians are being smuggled through what they call europe's back door. while they turn their backs on the continent, militants in turkey are thinking about new opportunities. nawal al—maghafi, bbc news, turkey. police forces are warning

that they are struggling to recruit specialist firearms officers, because of the intense scrutiny they face if they use their weapons. the warning comes as the police watchdog said a firearms officer must face a gross misconduct hearing after a man was shot dead in north london three years ago. our home affairs correspondent, leila nathoo, reports. in december 2015, jermaine baker was part of a group trying to break out an inmate from a prison van. armed police were sent to stop them, and during the operation he was shot dead. it turned out he didn't have a weapon. but an imitation gun was found in the back of the car he was in. one—hour negotiation. explain that to me. his death stoked tensions in a community already wary of police. after an independent investigation, no criminal charges were brought against the officer who fired the fatal shot, and the met refused to discipline him.

but today, the police watchdog has directed the force to begin gross misconduct proceedings against the officer involved. once again, the police have been forced to bring misconduct proceedings. this family have waited two and a half years to get answers about howjermaine died. where the police use fatal force, there must be the highest level of accountability and scrutiny. this is where armed police moved in on jermaine baker and his two accomplices. they were parked here. one officer made the decision to open fire. he will now have to explain himself and could lose hisjob. but the union representing officers in the met police say the fear of going through that kind of process is putting people off the role. for these officers in birmingham, this is a routine training exercise. two years ago, in light of a terror threat, the home office provided extra money for hundreds more like them across england and wales. but today, police revealed that the target of a thousand

new recruits by this year, has been missed. senior officers are clear why. many worry about the level of scrutiny and the nature of post—incident investigations. in the very rare occasions where a police firearm is discharged, they worry about whether they will be treated as professional witnesses or some form of suspect of wrongdoing. this is one of the most demanding jobs in policing. they know that any wrong move could have fatal consequences. leila nathoo, bbc news. hawaii's most active volcano has explosively erupted, spewing ash more than five and half miles into the sky. residents have been told to take shelter, with geologists warning that blocks of rock the size of cars could be ejected over a wide area. hawaii's mount kilauea has ejected plumes of smoke and ash in its first eruption of this magnitude since 192a. our north america correspondent, james cook, reports. in the dead of night, mount can away

exploded. —— mind killer way. the cloud was rising 30,000 feet into the sky. the blast had been brewing for weeks if not years. it is one of the world's most active volcanoes. it has been erupting constantly since the 80s. it is a real dynamic situation up there. we could have additional events like this where they punch up and died down quickly. the one this morning was the biggest we have seen so far in terms of energy and how high into the atmosphere it got. on the ground, fishers continue to boom. parts of the island have been ablaze for weeks. there is no way to stop the laveau oozing from the cracks in the earth. it consumes everything in its

path, including at least 26 homes. and still, there is no end in sight. the seething magma in the crater is now draining into the water table, producing steam and more powerful and dangerous explosions at any moment. james cook, bbc news. britain's first anti—slavery commissioner, kevin hyland, has announced that he's resigning after four years in the post. in a letter to the prime minister, mr hyland suggested that he'd become frustrated by interference from the home office. the european commission is taking the uk and five other countries to court for failing to cut emissions of nitrogen dioxide produced by diesel engines. the poisonous gas causes thousands of premature deaths every year. the government has said its working on a new clean air strategy to address the problem. in less than ten years, a million people in the uk are expected to be living with dementia. it is one of the most feared diseases among adults. scientists and artists have been working together as part of the creative out of mind project,

to challenge the taboos around dementia and explore how it affects creativity. our medical correspondent, fergus walsh, is involved in the project, and has been looking at the research. this is music for life, a project where professional musicians play to care home residents with advanced dementia, often to people who have lost all other forms of communication. sometimes they're looking at very small and subtle things, which might be to do with just looking at somebody‘s facial expression, or it could be the way that their body posture changes in response to what's happening. people are really able to express themselves, and really show who they are in the moment. like, little snatches of personality that are expressed really, really clearly to us. they are all given a box of objects, and they are all given the same canvases, paints and brushes. art is another powerful way in which people with dementia can express themselves.

so, for example, this end, this is someone with a visual form of dementia affecting the back of the brain. you can see this person, for example, has great difficulty representing perceptually complicated things like like the bottle. creative out of mind is a project at the wellcome collection, which is challenging the taboos surrounding dementia. we are fundamentally trying to enrich people's understanding of the dementias. i mean, notjust the fact that there are over 100 different types of dementia, but that people's experience varies from person to person. and there will be questions and uncertainties which perhaps that person doesn't understand, that we the so—called experts don't understand. edward has a rare form of dementia which distorts his visual perception, even down to putting paint on a canvas, which this study at university college london is examining. like all those affected by dementia, he wants greater public understanding. talk to people who have got dementia as if they were human beings, and don't be frightened of them.

second, we need a lot more research to try and understand what these horrible diseases are about and what might be done. is this art or science, or a bit of both? we understandably focus on what is lost with dementia. but what is retained of the creative mind is also vital, and to be cherished. you are very photogenic. the world does not suddenly go dark for people with dementia. the deadline is gradual. this experiment is looking at how it affects balance. and there is still so much to learn about how dementia affects the body and the mind. fergus walsh, bbc news.