hello. this is the briefing. i'm sally bundock. our top stories: the public inquiry into the grenfell tower fire begins today. 71 people died in the disaster lastjune. nicolas maduro has been re—elected as president of venezuela, in elections boycotted by most of the opposition. it's one of the world's toughest races, held on one of the seven wonders of the world. we speak to the runners taking on the great wall course. trade war on hold. the united states and china call a truce and agree to drop their tariff threats while they continue to talk. also in business briefing, i'll be talking to a man who knows italian politics only too well, as two populist parties form a coalition government. a very warm welcome to the programme —

we'll brief you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. also, the duchess of sussex has been given the palace‘s blessing to fight for feminism, as she takes her place in the royal family. the couple are reported to being going straight to work. so are you taken with the new royal couple? what do they represent? to send us your comments. —— do. use the hashtag, #bbcthebriefing. we begin with the first phase of the public inquiry into the grenfell fire, which starts today, with tributes from family and friends of the 71 people who died. during the next two weeks, the retired judge in charge of the investigation,

sir martin moore—bick, will hear from the bereaved about how the tragedy has affected them. tom symonds reports. we are approaching the end of a dramatic yearfor we are approaching the end of a dramatic year for the bereaved, we are approaching the end of a dramatic yearfor the bereaved, the survivors, and the residents of g re nfell tower. survivors, and the residents of grenfell tower. their fight for justice, the answers, and in some cases just somewhere to live is not over. the start of the grenfell enquiry is dedicated to those who lost loved ones, they will be able to speak and present pictures and videos of the victims. there is no time limits, two minutes or an hour or more, it is up to them. the process is expected to take it least two weeks and will be streamed on the internet. the enquiry will then begin taking evidence. on the fourth ofjune, the lawyers that the enquiry will begin making opening statements. in the 18th ofjune, evidence begins on the way the fire broke out. the enquiry he the accou nts broke out. the enquiry he the a ccou nts of broke out. the enquiry he the accounts of firefighters for four

weeks, starting on the second of july. in a month of hearings involving the bereaved, the survivors and residents, witnesses, begins in september. next year, phase two of the enquiry will examine the wider social issues surrounding the fire. the chairman, sirmartin surrounding the fire. the chairman, sir martin moore—bick, will be joined by two additional panellist. a decision made in a recent government u—turn. we'll be discussing that in more detail later the programme. in the meantime, let's focus our attention on venezuela. nicolas maduro has been re—elected as president. he received around 67% of the vote, but turnout was low at 46%. the main opposition candidate, henri falcon, rejected the validity of the election as soon as the polls closed, and called for a fresh vote. katy watson is in caracas for us. she has been following the story.

from the very start, he has talked about the fact that this has been a victory. he's been thanking people who voted for him for giving him another term. he's certainly come out sounding very victorious, but this of course, is a hollow victory given the fact that 46% of people voted. the polling stations were pretty deserted on sunday. some would say that number would be very high, certainly there were a lot of people here who knew this result would be coming, nevertheless probably quite disappointed by it no matter what. he has talked about the open dialogue, but the opposition and nicolas maduro have tried and failed to come to agreement. what that will lead to is anyone‘s guess. the opposition will need to come forward and tell everybody how they feel about this. but the opposition is very divided. we heard, interestingly, before nicolas maduro had claimed victory, his rivals conceded defeat,

which seemed a funny way of going about the election results. but they, you know, said they wouldn't recognise the results. henri falcon called for elections to be held in october, another round of elections. nicolas maduro says that, you know, he's so far not said anything about that. where does venezuela go now? at the moment, venezuela isjust deeply divided. from the very start, many people felt this was a sham. in terms of where it leaves venezuela, the next step for venezuela, nobody knows. it's a concern for a lot of people that every time the us imposes sanctions on venezuela, the government is more resolute in what it wants to do and therefore, the divide gets deeper. i think that's important in terms of mr maduro now strengthening, consolidating his power, despite the low approval ratings. that was katy watson. she has been following the elections

for us in caracas. so the official results from the venezuelan election are in. our americas editor candace piette assesses the challenges ahead. mr maduro mrmaduro and mr maduro and his second term of office, promising his hungry, tired and disillusioned electorate, that he will tackle an economy in freefall. it may be too late. inflation is running at around 13,000% in the government is set to run out of money soon. all production has dropped to levels not seenin production has dropped to levels not seen in half a century. dire shortages of medicine, food, water and cash may trigger popular backlash. and analysts are saying the crisis is so severe it could also create friction within the civilian and military branches of government. abroad, china is increasingly reliant than to lend money to venezuela, leaving russia one of its few financial options. and trump administration officials have warned that there may be

additional sanctions on venezuela and oil after the election. —— venezuelan. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. the us president is demanding an inquiry into whether his election campaign was infiltrated for political purposes. in a tweet, donald trump said he wanted to know whether the obama administration had ordered such a move. he says that on monday, he'll be putting in a request to the department ofjustice to open an inquiry. the fbi says it only launched an inquiry after being made aware of contact between the trump campaign and russia. a political breakthrough is expected in italy today as two populist parties, the anti—establishment five star movement, and the anti—migrant league party, are set to formally announce plans to form a coalition government. after a two and half month deadlock since the elections, party leaders are expected to meet the italian president this afternoon to ask for permission to form italy's 66th government in 70 years. and the authorities in cuba have

identified 20 bodies and recovered all human remains, after a passenger jet crashed on friday. vigils and church services have been held for the victims in towns and villages across the island, at the end of two days of national mourning. 110 people on board, including six crew, were killed in the crash in a field next to havana's main airport. officials on the big island of hawaii are warning people to stay away from molten rock flowing into the ocean from the eruption of mount kilauea. lava pouring into the pacific has created hazardous clouds, bearing acid and particles of glass. china and the us say they will halt imposing punitive import tariffs, putting a possible trade war on hold. the deal came after talks in the us aimed at persuading china to buy $200 billion of us goods

and services, and thereby reduce the trade imbalance. henry bonsu, broadcaster and international conference host, joins me now. good morning. good morning. nice to see you. the trade talks on hold that all the conversation overheard on the sidelines is not some that optimistic. well, this is going to be light in its detail. it is going to be fiendishly difficult to work out which sector you are going to the lease, which sector you are going to impose tariffs on. i rememberjust a going to impose tariffs on. i remember just a few going to impose tariffs on. i rememberjust a few months ago, donald trump was accusing china of raping the united states, being a currency manipulator, and the chinese were saying go ahead, you impose tariffs on us, how do you think you american soya bean farmers who voted for you in the election, a going to feel when we impose sanctions on them? we can impose far

more pain and pressure than you can. they are going to have to overcome the chinese desire on the self—reliance, the chinese consumer wa nts to self—reliance, the chinese consumer wants to buy local, wants to buy chinese. so even if people do change things at the top, will it change what is going on on the ground?m going to say that, is one thing to the chinese diet is the state will buy $200 billion worth of goods and services but it is another thing to make that happen. absolutely, you are about millions of visitors, a consumer base of over a billion people. you cannot just consumer base of over a billion people. you cannotjust force them to buy american if they want to buy local, and it is going to be very difficult to see how you're going to bring the two sides together to the of trump. maybe this is the art of the deal in operation but i'm not sure how it is going to work in real terms. all right, thank you for now. henry is going to head to the green room and get a strong coffee. he has a lot of stories to get his head around before we see him again. just

to say, there is a lot of detail on that story on bbc online. lots of analysis as well. treasury secretary steve mnuchin has been talking to the press, so do take a look when you have time. the authorities fighting an outbreak of ebola in the democratic republic of congo insist they're prepared for a worst—case scenario in which the deadly virus reaches the capital, kinshasa. at least 25 people have already died in a remote area, upstream on the congo river. as caroline rigby reports, a vaccination campaign begins in the city of mbandaka on monday. this is what authorities in the democratic republic of congo are hoping to prevent. so far, more than 25 people have died in this outbreak of the deadly disease. around 50 known to have been infected. the reaction has been swift since the first cases were reported on thursday. more than 5000 doses of an experimental vaccine have been shipped to the country — aimed at targeting medical professionals and people known to have been in contact

with those taken ill. 4000 to the north—west city of mbandaka, where the first cases in an urban area were detected last week. congolese authorities warn the number of people infected with ebola is likely to rise, but say but that doesn't mean the situation is out of control. we are expecting to have more cases in the next three weeks, and after that i think that the trend will go down, because we have taken all the measures to control the people, to follow the contact people. mbandaka is a port city on the congo river, and that's raised fears the disease could race downstream to the capital, kinshasa, a city of 10 million. residents are being encouraged to take preventative measures in order to prevent the spread of disease, instructed to avoid kissing or shaking hands. and at the city's airport, staff have been issued with pistol thermometers to check passengers for high temperatures.

on friday, the world health organization stopped short of declaring the outbreak an international emergency, but significant efforts are being made to ensure it is contained. in order to avoid a repeat of the ebola epidemic in 2013 to 2016, which killed more than 11,000 people in west africa. caroline rigby, bbc news. stay with us here on the briefing. still to come in the programme... regaining the world number one title. rafa nadal survives a stunning fightback to win a record eighth italian open. this morning, an indian air force plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield. ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage. in doing so, it's become the first country in the world to approve the change in a national referendum.

it was a remarkable climax to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. it's been a peaceful funeral demonstration so far, but some of the police are tear gassing the crowd — we don't yet know why. the pre—launch ritual is well—established here. helen was said to be in good spirits, butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world's newest nation. it was a bloody birth for a poor country, and the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now, at least, it is time to celebrate. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: the long—awaited inquiry into the fire at grenfell tower holds its first public hearings later. every bereaved family has the chance to make a statement. venezuela's president nicolas maduro

has won re—election to another six—year term, in a vote marred by an opposition boycott and alleged foul play. the newly married duke and duchess of sussex have left windsor castle after their wedding and following celebrations. more than 16 million people watched the service on british television, making it the most viewed tv event of the year so far. the designer of meghan markle's wedding dress has been giving more details about how it was created. clare waight keller said it had been important to the duchess that a british woman was behind the dress, and she had worked closely with her. by by head

—— i had worked with her before. she knew what she wanted. there are many ideas that go around. i truly believe we worked closely together on this. she had a vision and i brought more to that. i think with meghan markle, she is so modern and fresh. that is part of what she wanted. we wanted to represent her. i wanted her to in the dress and i wa nted i wanted her to in the dress and i wanted her to feel it was right for the occasion as well. this is more 01’ the occasion as well. this is more or less the final design. obviously, it shows the clean silhouette, the meticulously placed seams. a lot of the simplicity and modernity of the

dress is the fabric which is double silk. it gives you an incredible shape and cleanness and sharpness that we wanted to create for this look. from here you can see the beauty of the flora around the veil centred on the beautiful bouquet. every single aspect around here is not repeated. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello. i'm gavin ramjaun, and welcome to your monday sports briefing. coming up: we'll look ahead to game 4 in the nba's eastern conference finals series between the cleveland cavaliers and the boston celtics. rafa rules on clay again in italy just a week ahead of the french open. and we'll check out some fantastic football celebrations in germany. it wasn't looking great for the cleveland cavaliers, after two games of their eastern conference finals, but they've got the momentum heading

into their fourth game against the boston celtics on monday evening. lebron james was on fire on saturday. james scored 27 points, and had 12 assists as the cavs won 116—86. the cavaliers remember are trying to reach the nba finals for a fourth straight year. we'll keep you fully updated here on bbc world news. rafa nadal has won the italian open for an eighth time, beating alexander zverev in three sets. the win means the spaniard will regain the world number one ranking from roger federer. it wasn't straightforward at all for nadal despite taking the first set 6—1. he lost the second by the same score to zverev. and after two rain stoppages, the spaniard won five games in a row, to take the final set 6—3.

it's his 32nd masters title, and his third clay court title victory in four tournaments, which puts nadal in ominous form ahead of the french open. todayis today is the day to think like this. it is so special. ijust want today is the day to think like this. it is so special. i just want to enjoy this day. and in a couple of days i will think about that. elina svitolina thrashed world number one simona halep 6—love, 6—4 to win her second consecutive italian open. in a rematch of last year's final, the ukrainian world numberfour took the first set without losing a game injust 19 minutes. halep improved in the second set, but svitolina easily won her eighth final in a row. britain's simon yates stormed to a sensational solo win on stage 15 to take a tight grip on the overall lead at the giro d'talia. with one week to go, yates now has a lead of two minutes 11 seconds, over the reigning champion tom dumoulin. i don't know why, but i am emotional

after today. i gave everything. yeah. it is a good gap. he could ta ke two yeah. it is a good gap. he could take two minutes out of me in the next stage. i have been fighting since israel to have a good gap. i have a good one now and i am happy with it. but it could banish and 35 kilometres. we will see. —— vanish mo farah has claimed his first victory in the uk's 10 kilometre great manchester run. britain's olympic and world 10,000m champion, who finished third at the london marathon last month, outsprinted uganda's moses kipsiro with 100 metres left to win in 28 minutes 27 seconds. in the women's race, ethiopian tirunesh dibaba won her third straight title. now, before we go, as it's the end of the football season, we've had a lot of cup finals across europe. and in germany, eintracht frankfurt upset the odds to beat the mighty bayern munich to lift the german cup.

and this is how their fans celebrated when the team returned home. a sea of supporters packed out the city's main square. it was theirfirst cup win in 30 years, so they definitely deserved the celebrations! you can get all the latest sports news at our website. that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, gavin ramjaun, and the rest of the sport team, that's your monday sport briefing. voters in the republic of ireland are set to decide on the future of the country's abortion laws in a referendum on may 25th. the bbc‘s jayne mccormack and ciaran mccauley look at the background to the referendum and what the verdict may mean. on the 25th of may, people in the republic of ireland will decide whether or not to change the abortion laws of the country. they will be asked if they want to repeal

the eighth amendment of the constitution which was added in 1983. some people became concerned the same thing could happen in ireland. this gives women and the unborn equal rights to life, banning abortion. it intensified in 2013 when this woman died of infection when this woman died of infection when doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy. she was 17 weeks pregnant and ms carrying when she asked for an abortion. they want to allow a change to allow abortion when the mother is in danger, including suicide. if the results of the latest referendum is a no vote, there will be no change, and the procedure would remain illegal except when the mother's life is in danger. in all other circumstances an abortion can result in a

danger. in all other circumstances an abortion can result in 3111 year prison term. if they vote yes, the irish government says it will introduce legislation which will allow abortion up to 12 weeks in all circumstances. after 12 weeks it would only be allowed on the grounds of serious risk to the life or health of the mother or the fetus would not survive. we will be closely watching that referendum for you on the bbc, of course. the marathon is one of the toughest sporting events on earth. a 26—mile race that can push your body to the limit. it's hard enough when you're running on a relatively flat surface, but imagine having to contend with an undulating course and thousands of steps to climb. well, that's what was on offer in china, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. it is one of the modern—day wonders of the world, with an estimated 10 million visitors a year. but would you really want to run along the great wall of china? well, apparently, some people want to do exactly that. the annual marathon attracted competitors from more than 62 different nations.

and this is no ordinary race. there are plenty of ups and downs, the latter being easier than the former somewhat. i do not mind going slowly downhill. it's fun. i would go so quick if it was not for this. 5,000 or so steps to deal with as well. you might get a little local encouragement, but it is a brutal, brutal slog. it was hard, my 25th full marathon. my slowest. but amazing. translation: the wall was very tough. when you see it in a video you do not understand how the steps really are. they are high and there is a lot of them. it is beautiful, though. this marathon takes about twice as long to compete. winning—time this year, a little more than four hours.

exhausting, but quite an achievement, one you can see from space. tim allman, bbc news. the duchess of sussex, the wife of prince harry, meghan markle, will shortly announce the charities she will support as she takes on her new role in the royalfamily. we have asked you for your thoughts. she says she will fight for them and us in the big this —— feminism. good morning.

well, there's more dry and sunny weather to come this week. like we saw on sunday afternoon, there'll be areas of mist and sea fog around, especially the north sea. like we saw from a weather watcher in north yorkshire. there will be some rainclouds. a wet day today. more rain to come through the first part of monday. that's linked to the weather front developing further through the night. little pulses of heavy rain to take us into dawn. keeping temperatures up here. another fresh start to monday morning, especially across eastern parts of england. there'll be mist and low cloud becoming more dominant from the north sea overnight. that will go back to the coast for the day. one or two mist and sea fog patchs here. dry and sunny weather elsewhere. the north—west of england, scotland, and northern ireland, further rain. fizzling out in the afternoon. more detail in the south. the afternoon, sporadic showers. some thunder. south—east england. drifting away on a gentle easterly wind. most places will be dry.

sticking with the sunshine. temperatures in the low 20s. cooler with lingering sea fog. a pleasant day in southern scotland. eastern northern ireland are brightening up. fermanagh, derry, londonderry, damp here. for the orkneys and shetlands, a little bit on the cool side. that rain though will fizzle out through the night and into tuesday morning. a bit chilly to the north of that with clearer skies developing. further south, mist and sea fog rolling in. not as cold as it has been for many. showers in southern areas are linked to this broad area of developing low pressure in western europe inching north on tuesday. high pressure in the north. that's what's killing it off. bit of patchy rain and drizzle in the northern parts of scotland. for orkney, shetland, hebrides, a brighter day on tuesday. brighter and dry as well for northern ireland. feeling a little bit warmer. warmth in the sunshine for england and wales. though one or two isolated showers developing. into wednesday, high pressure has more of a hold. a mistier start across eastern scotland and the north—east of england. a struggle to brighten up for some.

most will have another dry day with lots of sunshine around and a few showers near the english channel later. i think most will stay dry on wednesday and pleasantly warm under that strong sunshine overhead. that's the story for the week. a few showers and thunderstorms very close to southern areas. for the rest of you, most places will be dry with a bit of sunshine and warmth. it is this is your business briefing. i'm sally bundock. trade war on hold — the united states and china call a truce and agree to drop their tariff threats while they continue to talk. two italian populist parties are set to formally announce plans to form a coalition government. but can they agree on an economic policy? the financial markets are riding

high on the news of progress in the trade talks over the weekend between the us and china.