this is bbc news, and these are the top stories developing at 11. medics who treated the former russian spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter, yulia, reveal they feared the worst. when we first were aware of this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. a gunman has shot dead two police officers in the belgian city of liege. the man — who also took a woman hostage — is said to have been neutralised. police say it is not clear at this stage if it is terrorism related. one in 25 ten and 11 year olds are severely obese, leading to warnings of a "multi—billion pound ill—health time bomb". starbucks is closing all its us shops later, to teach staff how to avoid racial bias, after two black men were wrongfully arrested in a branch in philadelphia. italy's stop—gap prime minister attempts to form a government as the country's political crisis continues.

and a roof space in westminster abbey, unseen by the public for 700 years, is to open as a gallery. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. medical staff who treated sergei and yulia skripal after they were poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury, have told the bbc they didn't expect them to survive. some of the doctors and nurses who treated the former russian spy and his daughter have spoken exclusively to bbc newsnight‘s mark urban about their efforts to save them. we were just told that there's two patients down in the emergency department who were critically

unwell and they would be coming up to the unit. it was very quickly established that the victims were yulia skripal and herfather, one—time russian spy sergei, and that the police regarded it as suspicious. i made the phone call and i spoke to the nurse in charge who had been on that night, and it was a conversation that i really could never have imagined in my wildest imaginations having with anyone. at first, an opioid overdose was suspected, but as the skripals fought for their lives, the diagnosis changed to nerve agent poisoning. when we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. we would try all our therapies, we would ensure the best clinical care, but all the evidence was there that they would not survive.

when a policeman also fell ill, hospital staff started to wonder whether they too might be in danger. i suppose a key marker for me was when the pc was admitted with symptoms. there was a real concern as to, how big could this get? at first, it was simply a matter of keeping the skripals alive. heavily sedated, both of them were given big doses of drugs to protect them from the effects of the poison and help restart their bodies‘ production of a key enzyme. the human factor was vital too. excellent teamwork by the doctors, fantastic care and dedication by our nurses, i guess supported and supplemented a great deal by some input from really, really well—informed international experts, which very fortunately some of whom happened to be on our doorstep at porton down. the laboratory, internationally known for its chemical weapons expertise, processed

tests and offered advice on the best therapies. yulia was discharged in april, and last week made a statement thanking the hospital. but it took several more weeks before sergei skripal could follow her out of salisbury district. they have been brought back from the brink of death, but questions remain about the longer term. mark urban, bbc news, salisbury. there's a warning of an "ill—health time bomb", after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england, aged between ten and 11, are severely obese. the local government association has analysed data released by public health england earlier this year. it says child obesity will lead to serious health risks in later life, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. fergus walsh reports. the weight and height of children in reception aged four to five and in year six when they are 10—11, is measured each year in primary

schools across england. for children in reception, nearly 15,000, or around one in 40, is classed as severely obese. that rises to more than 22,000, or one in 25, for children aged 10—11. each year, more children are leaving primary school overweight, but this is the first time the national child measurement programme data has included the severely obese category. we are in the uk already the most obese nation in western europe and we have to tackle the youngsters, we have to tackle this at an early stage, if we are to make real progress in improving our nation. the local government association said the figures were a worrying wake—up call and warned that today's obese children risked having their years of healthy adult life cut short by a host of health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease. our health editor,

hugh pym, joins me now. extraordinary figures. the uk is already the most obese nation in western europe. what are the applications of this? it is confirming, although the figures are probably more bleak than many people expected, that there is a major problem across the uk for children and their diet problem across the uk for children and theirdietand problem across the uk for children and their diet and the mad of exercise they take, and a big challenge for policy makers. —— the amount of exercise. it is the first time this category of severely obese children has been done. the equivalent for adults is a bmi of more than a0. it is calculated in a different way for children. it is the first time we have seen these numbers for children. this comes ahead of a government strategy for england, a childhood obesity strategy. two years ago, when

theresa may became prime minister, the government unveiled a plan to tackle obesity that was seen as not impressive, theresa may had dropped various measures that had been conjured —— contemplated by david cameron. now it seems that the government, undertheresa cameron. now it seems that the government, under theresa may, cameron. now it seems that the government, undertheresa may, has come around to a more ambitious plan, focusing on how food is sold in supermarkets, focusing on promotions, and crucially, curbing advertising ofjunk promotions, and crucially, curbing advertising of junk food ad promotions, and crucially, curbing advertising ofjunk food ad prime times. a lot is riding on this strategy, particularly in the wake of this. that is obviously looking at prime consumption. —— food consumption. what the exercise? kids are doing less exercise than they are doing less exercise than they are used to? yes, there are various bits of data about that. anecdotally you hear about sports facilities being reduced. again, anecdotally the children are less likely to take pa rt the children are less likely to take part in sport. what policymakers

have focused on in england, scotland has a have focused on in england, scotland hasa similar have focused on in england, scotland has a similar strategy coming at the end ofjune, they are focused on what is sold through supermarkets, because what actually people eat is seen as because what actually people eat is seen as something that can be dealt with with policy. we have had the sugar tax dealing with sugary drinks. now there is a strategy to curb cut—price promotions of food in supermarkets could have an impact. many families want that. they say it helps if supermarkets can be deterred from selling things cheaply, which are not healthy for their children. thank you very much. a gunman has shot dead two police officers in the eastern belgian city of liege. police say the man has been neutralised, and that the situation is under control. let's get the latest now from brussels and simon wilson. tell us what happened ? tell us what happened? well, details

are not entirely clear but it is becoming clearer by the minute. this all happened within the last couple of hours. it was in the centre of liege, the biggest city in eastern belgium. we have heard witnesses described how there was a burst of gunfire, or several bursts of gunfire, or several bursts of gunfire, suddenly there were a lot of police on the scene. they were asked to get out of the way. a lot of tension around the centre. we know from an official police statement that two police officers, two belgian police officers, have been shot dead in this attack. another two officers are reported to have been injured. there are unconfirmed reports a passer—by may have been killed. we do not have confirmation of that. police say they neutralised the suspect. they are —— we take that to mean the attacker was shot dead. there was another unconfirmed report that he had taken or tried to take a hostage

ina had taken or tried to take a hostage in a nearby school before police came in and he was shot dead. we have been saying it is not clear yet whether this was a terror attack, what are the latest indications? certainly at the official level the office of the justice minister, the belgian prosecutor ‘s office, are saying to us it is too early to tell. they need to get on, begin their investigation on the ground. they will say to the media whether they believe it was a terror attack. it would seem from the facts we have at the moment there are two main possibilities. either the police we re possibilities. either the police were targeted, or they stop someone, perhaps they thought someone was suspicious and they were then fired on. we don't have further information. police say it is too early to say for sure if it is a terror attack. thank you. a policeman is in hospital with serious injuries after he was hurt while trying to stop and question three motorcyclists

in aldeburgh in suffolk. two people have been arrested after the incident which took place yesterday afternoon. starbucks will be closing all 8,000 of its coffee shops across the us this afternoon, to teach staff how to avoid discriminating against customers. the training follows the wrongful arrest of two black men in a branch in philadelphia last month. rajini vaidya nathan reports. handcuffed and led away by officers after the white manager of this starbucks called the police just minutes after they'd arrived. i have two gentleman in my cafe that are refusing to make a purchase or leave. entrepreneurs rashon nelson and donte robinson were simply waiting for a business associate to turn up for a meeting. what did they do? someone tell me what they did. they didn't do anything. don't accept the lies! starbucks was accused of discrimination. its ceo apologised, promising to take action. we are closing all 8000—plus us compa ny—operated stores in the united states for a mandatory training around unconscious bias. we're going to have a little

bit of conversation about what is diversity. this group charity workers in richmond, virginia, have signed up to the same sort of session starbucks staff will undertake. everybody ready? let's go. everybody is subject to having unconscious bias. everybody has to work hard to overcome it, to take... we need to take specific strategies so we are not affected by it. african—american, black american... those strategies include being painfully honest about what your prejudices are, so you can start to deal with them. it's been a great training so far because it's caused me to kind of step outside my comfort zone and my individual consciousness. i feel like a lot of times when you are bringing up equity and bias, that a lot of people think about it from a personal standpoint instead of thinking of it as something that is societal. changing people's biases will take more than a day's training. the case of starbucks is just the tip of the iceberg. in a country that is played by a history of racism, being profiled as a black american

is an all too common experience. darren martin worked for president 0bama for five years. he left washington a few weeks ago. can't go nowhere without the cops following me. while moving into a new apartment in new york city, a white neighbour called the police, thinking he was breaking in. oh, my god. somebody called the cops on me in my own building. there's about how many of y'all? about six of y'all showed up. crazy. i honestly wasn't surprised. 0ftentimes, when you're doing absolutely normal things like moving into an apartment or waiting in line at a coffee shop, you know, people can feel threatened by that. with phones and video now, folks are able to finally see that this isn't something we are just talking about. it's a reality. this video caused outrage and forced one of america's largest companies to take action, but for many black americans, being made to feel unwelcome in public spaces is part of a centuries—old problem that a few hours' training won't be able to fix.

rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. the headlines on bbc newsroom live. medics who treated a former russian spy and his daughter for poisoning with a nerve agent in salisbury, say they didn't expect them to survive. a gunman has shot dead two police officers in the belgian city of liege. the man — who also took a woman hostage — is said to have been neutralised. there's a warning of an "ill—health time bomb", after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england, aged between ten and ii, are severely obese. in a moment, the music videos being taken down from youtube — because of police fears they incite violence. and in sport... michael vaughan says stuart broad orjames anderson should be dropped for the second test against pakistan, which starts at headingley on friday, after a humiliating nine—wicket

defeat in the first test. saracens director of rugby mark mccall has signed a contract extension with the club. assistant coach alex sanderson has also agreed a new deal, ruling him out of being england's next defence coach. and british number one kyle edmund begins his french open campaign injust over half an hour, against the unseeded australian alex di manur. i'll be back with more on those stories after half past. the man asked to become italy's prime minister is trying to put together a government as the country's political crisis continues. carlo cotta relli is a former director at the international monetary fund, and was asked to take up the position until new elections can be held. however, the two main parties have promised to block anything he submits, and have called for peaceful protests. james reynolds has the latest from rome. the choreography is this. the new prime minister designate has to pick

a government line—up. he submits this to the president. it is undoubted that will be approved. when the new prime minister goes before parliament, parliament will say no. the populists have a majority. it is likely new elections will be triggered. this new prime minister designate may only have several months as a caretaker administrator while the country gets ready for elections, possibly, probably in september. joining me now is dr daniele albertazzi, senior lecturer in european politics at the university of birmingham. thank you forjoining us. new elections inevitable very soon? yes, i would say so. i will be very surprised indeed if mr cottarelli can geta surprised indeed if mr cottarelli can get a majority given that both the league and 5—star but the winners of the last election. they will obviously not support him. berlusconi's party said they will not support him. he needs a miracle to gain the confidence of parliament

and elections are inevitable in a few months. what is the likely outcome? is the dynamic likely to change in another election? no. in fa ct, change in another election? no. in fact, i think you will see more of the same. providing that the electoral law is not changed, because that is a possibility. the league and five star have a majority in this parliament. they could introduce some small quick changes that in the end might favour them. but providing the letter of the law is not changed, you may end up with another hung parliament. but both the league and five star are predicted to do even better than the last time. so, if they decide again to govern together, they would have certainly a very good chance of doing so, even after the next election, even with an increased majority. so, now you can find yourself in a situation with the

same parties going back to the same president three months later with the same list of ministers and saying again with a want a spy minister —— finance minister. saying again with a want a spy minister -- finance minister. what do the italian people make of this? the churning government in italy is well known. it has been a problem people have lived with for a long time. explain it to people who might not kind of know that history, as briefly as you can, just to give us a sense of what it has been like a? to be honest, until the beginning of the 90s, about a0 years after the second world war, it was very stable. it is true that the government were changing every six months. but the christian democrats we re months. but the christian democrats were in power. they had been in power for a0 years. so although the prime minister was changing, in the end very little was changing because it was always the same people in power. it was a game of musical chairs. since the mid—90s, with

berlusca me, —— berlusconi, we have had a period of alteration between left and right. now there are three major blocks that are trying to prevail. the left and right, and five star movement, which attracts about one third of the votes. this situation has created even more instability. the a0 years of the christian democrats were actually pretty sta ble. christian democrats were actually pretty stable. thank you very much indeed. thank you. youtube has deleted more than 30 videos, which police say are responsible for inciting a surge in violent crime across london. it comes after the metropolitan police commissioner cressida dick outlined so—called drill music as a weapon being used by gangs to taunt each other on social media. youtube said it was working with authorities to take action on gang—related content. andy moore reports. music like this is accused of not only glamorising violence but of contributing to real crime.

this video was used in evidence in a recent murder trial. hundreds of tracks are available on social media, some have been viewed over a million times. they often feature hooded and masked gangs making violent hand gestures. the met police commissioner cressida dick said the videos were used by real gangs to taunt each other and have been linked to at least one attack. she called on internet companies to show social responsibility. scotland yard has asked youtube to take down between 50 and 60 it believes raised the risk of violence. the company said it had removed more than 30 clips which were found to be in violation of its policies and broke the law. youtube, which is owned by google, said it shared the deep concern many felt about this issue and was continuing to work constructively with experts. a senior north korean official is

believed to be travelling to the united states to finalise plans for a possible meeting between resident donald trump and kim jong—un. a possible meeting between resident donald trump and kimjong—un. the summit was thrown into uncertainty last week after mr trump cult of the meeting, citing the north's hostility. both sides have since been working to get it back on track. earlier, rupert wingfield—hayes give us this update. it looks like diplomatic momentum is picking up. we have the talks near to seoul, near the de melo tries to zone. we have got two teams between the us and north korea on their way to singapore to do logistics and security arrangements for the possible summit. and perhaps the most important, this morning we have

learned that a man called tim young cholo is on his way to the united states. he was seen boarding an airport at beijing this morning, heading for the us. he is a very important person in north korea. he is considered to be kimjong—un's right—hand man. he is the former spy chief for north korea. he accompanied kim jong—un on chief for north korea. he accompanied kimjong—un on both of his recent trips to china. a very important guy. very close to kim jong—un. 0n important guy. very close to kim jong—un. on his way to the united states, clearly for some sort of meeting with senior us officials. rupert wingfield—hayes. youtube has deleted more than 30 videos which police say are responsible for inciting a surge in violent crime across london. it is called drill music. joining us from leeds is adeel amini,

editor of press play 0k, which is an online music platform. what is your perspective on this? i think banning or restricting any sort of music or art form is always a little bit worrying. i don't think in this particular case —— in this particular case it feels like a deflection from what the issue might be. the disenfranchisement of youth and the things we see around us. linking that to music videos is a little bit disturbing and set a dangerous precedent. i do wonder if there are other things that could be done that could address this problem a lot better, as opposed to young people trying to express themselves. it is part of a multifaceted approach to something which is not simple to fix. do you think, as part ofa simple to fix. do you think, as part of a broader approach, it is actually something that might make a difference? do you suspect there is, there could be any influence coming from these videos? are you saying there is absolutely none? it is hard to say. there is the report you

showed earlier saying there was at least a link to one attack. at the same time nobody talks about banning calvin harris or miley cyrus when there are drug deaths. it is interesting to see why this approach is being taken here as opposed to links with other crimes. so long as there is genuine examples of them reaching out to people, and to the youth especially, i think there is a danger at the moment that people are feeling a bit left out, or they are unwanted. particularly with the response to grenfell and things like that. there is a concern their voices are not being heard. maybe this is an expression of that. thank you. it was described as offering the best view in europe by the poetjohn betjeman, but the roof of westminster abbey or triforium has never before been open to the public — but that's about to change. a new access tower has been built into the galleries above the abbey floor, and created a large exhibition space which will contain more

than 300 treasures spanning its i,000—year history. the space will open to the public injune, but we are being given a sneak preview. joining us live from westminster abbey is the bbc‘s robert hall. so, robert, you are there. what is it like? good morning. iwill talk to you about the fantastic views in a moment. but look at this fantastic series of exhibits. there is not a timeline. it is an eclectic mix of objects that have been in the collection from hundreds of years. at least a third of them had never been seen before. these are effigies from the tops of royal tombs. as i make my way down here we have death masks from other royal deaths. all around me, different objects which tells the life of the abbey. what about the construction? i think it is fascinating how they have created this space. you had the vision. how

difficult was it to achieve?” this space. you had the vision. how difficult was it to achieve? i think if you start off thinking you are going to add an extension to westminster abbey you would just crawl back into bed and try not to wa ke crawl back into bed and try not to wake up again. much better to think what the building gives us and look what the building gives us and look what it gave us. look at this space. it is absolutely fantastic. we had an uneven floor. we had to make it level. we had to make a handrail. and we had no real means of access because they —— we had medieval spiral staircases. we had to put a new lived in the staircase tower. you also had bags of artefacts that builders had choked under the floor. rubbish to some but not to others! we have a marvellous archaeologist. we have a marvellous archaeologist. we found piles of dust, two metres high. we had it sifted out and we found 31,000 fragments of 1250 glass. we have used that in our new bridge structure. thank you. i'm

going to —— on. let's make our way down here. these are the replica regalia that are used for rehearsals of royal events. so, in other words, when they are doing the practice runs, these are the regalia... we have seen them used prior to big royal occasions. and finally, this is the effigy of charles ii. back in the day, royal families is the effigy of charles ii. back in the day, royalfamilies put is the effigy of charles ii. back in the day, royal families put these effigies above their graves, dressed them in the clothes, the actual clothes in this case... for weeks and months after the actual funeral. i have just given you a tiny glimpse here. we are having a few technical issues but we could see what it looked

like. that was robert hall. headlines coming up. right now, the weather. hello. it is a great start this morning in the east. plenty of low cloud, mist and fog. we have seen some heavy thundery showers in the south east. as we go through the day todayit south east. as we go through the day today it will brighten across england and wales. sunny spells developing. holding onto cloud, mist and fog to the east of england. potential heavy downpours in the south putting into wales, the midlands and east anglia. they could cause some disruption. it will be warm and fine in northern ireland and north—west scotland. temperatures reaching a maximum of 25 celsius. cloudier in the east tonight with further heavy downpours pushing into the south—east. a fairly mild night with temperatures in double figures. heavy showers on the way as mean move into tomorrow.

—— as we move into tomorrow. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. doctors who treated the former russian spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia, say they feared the pair would never recover. when we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. an armed man has shot and killed two police officers in the belgian city of liege. the man, who also took a woman hostage, was shot dead by police. officials said a nearby driver was also killed. we are hearing belgian prosecutors in charge of terrorism have taken over investigating the shooting. they say there are elements that point toward it being a terrorist act. new data shows that one in 25 of primary school children, aged between ten and 11, are severely obese, leading

to warnings of a "multi—billion pound "ill—health time bomb". starbucks closes 8,000 us stores today, to teach staff how to avoid racial bias. it follows the wrongful arrest of two black men in a branch in philadelphia. in a moment... the growing demand for recreational cannabis in the world's biggest legal market. radio 5 live's anna foster reports from california's coachella valley. time for a look at the sport with damian johnson. good morning. the former england captain michael vaughan is calling for a major shake—up of the team before friday's second test against pakistan at headingley. vaughan wants either stuart broad orjimmy anderson to be dropped after the nine—wicket defeat in the first test. england haven't been winning for a long time. do you just keep going with the same old, every single week? you know, this isjust a kind of, a think tank that i hope people actually within the team and within the actual management, could itjust make

a little difference? you know, you never know. you know, are they winning with them at the minute? no. are they as good as they were three or four years ago? no. i want to see more in terms of mentality of how to play test match cricket. and you just never know, it might trigger the team into thinking, none of us are safe. the saracens director of rugby mark mccall has signed a contract extension with the premiership champions. 0ur rugby union reporter is chrisjones, and this is a significant signing for sarries, with a knock—on for england? yes, big news, it has ramifications for the club and the international game. if we start with saracens, they won their fourth premiership title under mark mccall at the weekend. he's been phenomenal since taking charge around about 2010. this ties into saracens until 2022. it isa this ties into saracens until 2022. it is a coup for the club but it potentially has knock—on effect for

england and maybe ireland because mark mccall would have been in the frame to succeed eddiejones as england boss or even joe frame to succeed eddiejones as england boss or evenjoe schmidt as ireland head coach. this seems to have put paid to that although of course the rfu and the irish rfu could play out big —— pay—out big compensation if need be and as well as mark mccall, a host of his backroom staff has signed saracens extensions including defence and forwards coach alex sanderson which again may rule him out of replacing paul gustard as england defence coach. it certainly makes it highly unlikely. big news today for both saracens and england. raheem sterling has defended his decision to have a rifle tattoed on his leg. some anti—gun campaigners have criticised the manchester city forward calling it "totally u na cce pta ble". but sterling says the tattoo has a deeper meaning and refers to his father who died when he was a child. the former england goalkeeper rob green says the liverpool ‘keeper loris karius might have to move abroad to get out of the spotlight after his mistakes cost liverpool in the champions league final.

green himself made a big mistake in the 2010 world cup, and says premier league crowds can be unforgiving. i think moving out of the spotlight is no bad thing. going outside of this country, for example to spain, people would have been interested but they were not have had the avid passion of the game and i think if he went back to germany or that chance came up, you know, it wouldn't be forgotten but it would have less of a spotlight on it. i remember playing, i think one of the first games after the 2010 world cup we played way at stoke and debris, got the ball, 30,000 people were whistling and you stand there and you think, blimey, they remember! it is nice to be remembered and get the attention but yeah, it is like that. i think once the dust settles, they may want to assess it and see how he comes back and how he is but it's a long summer for him comes back and how he is but it's a long summerfor him now, that is for

sure. tributes continue to be paid to the former aberdeen midfielder neale cooper who died yesterday after collapsing at the weekend. cooper was a member of sir alex ferguson's aberdeen side that won the european cup winners' cup in 1983. more recently, he managed hartlepool, gillingham and peterhead. former team—mate and current scotland coach alex mcleish said it was a privilege to play with him. and the british number one kyle edmund has just started his french open campaign. edmund is playing the unseeded australian alex di manur. heather watson and cameron norrie are already through to the second round at roland garros. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. thank you very much. let's go back to the breaking news we are getting out of belgium, the shooting that has seen two police officers killed and the man who shot them dead has been shot dead himself by police. we are hearing from belgian prosecutors, the prosecutors in

charge of terrorism have taken over looking at what has happened because they say there are elements that point in the direction that it is a terrorist attack. the details just unfolding in the last hour or so. the latest we are getting from a belgian newspaper website has reported that the man had taken hostage, a cleaning lady at a school in the centre of the city. shots we re in the centre of the city. shots were heard at 8:30am gmt, 9:30am our time and the man was reported to have shouted allahu akbar before being shot dead. we have not got those details from anywhere else but we are hearing that belgian prosecutors in charge of terrorism have now taken over investigating what has happened as they say there are elements pointing in the direction of this being a terrorist attack so we will keep you updated

and as soon as we get any attack so we will keep you updated and as soon as we get any more on that we will let you know. it's the start of the second week of commemorative hearings at the public inquiry into the grenfell tower fire. 72 people died in the fire which took hold in the early hours of 1athjune 2017. 0ur correspondent tom burridge is outside the inquiry in west london. good morning. good morning. good morning, well, all last week we heard incredibly moving tributes to many of those people who were killed ina many of those people who were killed in a grenfell tower fire many of those people who were killed in a grenfell towerfire in many of those people who were killed in a grenfell tower fire in the summer in a grenfell tower fire in the summer of last year. this morning, i think we heard one of the most powerful tribute so far from ahmed elghwary, who was speaking about his mother, eslah elgwahry and his sister mariem elgwahry who died together will stop he said he was not prepared to give many details in public about his mother but he spoke very movingly about his sister who was clearly an incredible person. he said she was glamorous, had lots of banter, was the sort of person who

had the drive to excel in everything she did. she was happy, with a ray of sunshine and positive energy and she was beautiful and ambitious and she was beautiful and ambitious and she had a marketing career of her, in fact, she had a job interview for her dream job the day after the fire. this is some of the tribute that ahmed made this morning. i know now mariem was protecting me by not telling me the fact she was already trapped in by fire on the top floor, even before i arrived on the site. she had become very selective in the information she told me and did not display her true emotions. she was protecting me by not telling me the fact where she took refuge had quickly become a death trap. lots of smoke, thick, black smoke and coughing, but she never mentioned she could see fire. but it was clear she knew it was coming. i can only presume, based on the person i knew her to be, she was trying to keep...

my mum calm. trying to keep my mum calm, doing what she does best, which is to help others and be the selfless person we all knew we all knew and loved under these horrifying circumstances. that was ahmed elgwahry speaking about his sister, mariem, who was killed in the grenfell tower fire and he spoke really movingly about the final phone call he had with his sister and mother ultimately, as they slipped away, after he had rushed down to the grenfell tower. he also spoke incredibly poignantly about his perceived failings, the catalogue of allegations that are against those people involved in the construction and refurbishment of g re nfell tower construction and refurbishment of

grenfell tower and the impact the refurbishment had on the spread of the fire, the spread of the visor rapidly through the building which claimed so many lives. he made a direct message to the head of the public inquiry, sir martin moore—bick, saying there'd been a catalogue of errors, there were warnings about week building regulations, ahmed said, a financial conflict of interest, in his words, lack of compliance. instead, he said there was a complete nonexistence of compliance in terms of the building itself. as i said earlier, he didn't speak at length about his mother. he said he wasn't ready to do so in public. but he paid tribute to eslah briefly towards the end of his statement this morning. my mum touched many hearts and was a strong woman who raised mariem and i on our own since my father passed. she was very youthful both inside and out. she was also a great authentic egyptian cook. in fact, we started recording her recipes only several months before the fire. infact... it was so important to continue

those egyptian, our egyptian culture and tradition. my mum lived in grenfell tower for approximately 3a years. she loved to cook for people, including neighbours, friends and family. we all loved her cooking and we always remember and miss the taste of her food. ahmed elgwahry, remembering his mother. we also heard cruces money to run the ibrahim who died alongside her two daughters, we heard from her husband, hassan, who paid a moving tribute this morning and also there was a video put together by the family, paid tribute together by the family, paid tribute to the three, including the daughters who were four and three, we saw really into the details of their lives together, family videos

of rania, fettiah and hania's birthdays and the wedding of ronnie and hassan. it has been moving and handling listening to the tribute again because it is incredibly brave to come in front of the public enquiry, to remember the loved ones that were killed in the fire in the summer that were killed in the fire in the summer of last year. of course, these are the final days now these tributes which are setting the tone for the beginning of the public inquiry, which itself could last for two years and then after in the coming weeks, it will get into the technical details, the facts need to be established of what happened that night first and that process, stage one of the public inquiry, is expected to last until november and then after that, the public inquiry will consider the questions, the questions that linger in the air for the relatives who are giving their tributes this morning. the fire spread so quickly, what impact did those the most of all materials that we re those the most of all materials that were put onto the building in the refurbishment of grenfell tower have on the spread of the fire so

quickly, claiming so many lives? thank you forjoining us. let's bring you the latest on the will it happen north korea summit? donald trump has just tweeted about what is going on behind the scenes. so various meetings are being convened behind—the—scenes which all comes convened behind—the—scenes which all co m es after convened behind—the—scenes which all comes after donald trump called off the summit last week and a day later said he would reconsider and officials from both countries are meeting to work out the details. that is the latest, donald trump confirming those meetings are going ahead. let's ta ke ahead. let's take you live to brussels after the shooting in liege. these are the live pictures coming from

the city after three people were killed there. a man shot dead two police officers and civilian in liege in belgium. police then shot him dead. in fact, liege in belgium. police then shot him dead. infact, it liege in belgium. police then shot him dead. in fact, it is unclear, i think whether there are three people including the gunman who have been shot dead or if there is a third victim. but we are getting initial reports through, and as you can imagine, immediately in the aftermath, the full picture is not clear. what we are hearing is that terrorist prosecutors are now taking over the investigation of this because they have said there are elements that point in the direction that this was a terror act. it is being reported on one news website that the gunman reportedly shouted allahu akbar before being shot dead. in terms of what unfolded, two police officers were shot dead in

this belgian city, which is in the east of the country. and officials have also said that in nearby driver was also killed —— a nearby. the government took a hostage at a school, a cleaner, before he was shot dead by police. —— the gunman took a hostage. the prime minister has been speaking about it. he said, "my first reaction if it is important to express our condolences to the victims and families. the information is not clear at the moment. we are following the situation closely. i'm in touch with the ministers of justice situation closely. i'm in touch with the ministers ofjustice and the interior as one as with the crisis centre. we will have more information in the next few hours but for now i remain cautious because we don't have all of the fa cts because we don't have all of the facts yet". that is the latest we have and we will keep you updated, of course. california has become the world's biggest legal market for recreational cannabis, with anyone over 21 able to buy, consume or even grow and sell it. while many in the us remain opposed to legalisation, others are considering it as an exciting business

opportunity, as radio 5 live's anna foster reports from california's coachella valley. it's been called the green rush, the race to grow profits from california's newest legal industry. in the past, entrepreneurs rushed to the desert to make their fortune from gold but the vast coachella valley is now home to facilities like this, where growers develop their own strains of marijuana. the people behind these huge indoor farms want to really try and nurture the new breed of cannabis entrepreneurs. it's notjust about having high—tech growing facilities. it's about teaching them how to sell what they make. they want coachella to be to cannabis what napa is to wine, a brand that is known right around the world for its variety and quality. one of the hard parts about cannabis before was you would go and buy it from some random guy, and you know, maybe he sold you something and you had no idea where it was grown and how it was grown, even really what it was. now with new testing and quality control and state compliance, we are going to make sure

that the product we are putting out there is the top—of—the—line. nine states and washington, dc have legalised marijuana for recreational use, and the legal cannabis industry in the us is worth nearly £7 billion a year. so far, president trump appears happy for states to follow their own rules, putting him at odds with his attorney general, jeff sessions. now there are dispensaries like this opening up across california, copying the look and feel of a high—tech gadget store. so i often get asked this question, who is a typical cannabis buyer? and i like to ask back, you know, who is a typical chair buyer? who is a typical soda buyer? yes, the people who are coming into the stores reflect mainstream america. despite this mainstream look, you still can't smoke cannabis in public and there are those who question the health message that legalising it sends out. in downtown la, i met a man once jailed for dealing cocaine, making $3 million a day in the 1990s. now ricky ross wants to get back

in the drugs game, legally. yeah, i want to be totally involved. i want to dispense, i want to manufacture, i want my own brand. you can smell it now. somebody smoking on the streets! canada is set to join california in legalising cannabis later this year but for now, the uk remains a long way from joining the green rush. anna foster, bbc news. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first, the headlines on bbc newsroom live: medics who treated a former russian spy and his daughter for nerve agent poisoning say they didn't expect them to survive. a gunman has shot and killed three people — including two police officers — in the belgian city of liege, before police shot him dead. anti—terror police are now investigating. there's a warning of an "ill—health time bomb" after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england,

aged between 10 and 11, are severely obese. thanks, joanna, i'm alice baxter. in the business news... shares in dixons carphone have dived after it warned of a sharp fall in profits this year. the mobile phone and electrical goods retailer also said it would close 92 of its more than 700 carphone warehouse stand—alone stores this year. more on this injust a moment. starbucks stores in the us will be closed today so its 175,000 us employees can receive training on how to avoid racial bias. it follows the arrest last month of two black men in a branch while waiting for a business meeting. uk sandwich and coffee chain pret a manger is to be sold by its private equity owners bridgepoint to luxembourg—based jab holdings.

the two firms did not say how much jab was paying, although one report put the value of the deal at £1.5 billion. so dixons carphone shares have sunk by nearly 20%. the company says it expects pre—tax profits for 2017 to 18 to be £382 million, but it predicts profits will fall to £300 million in 2018—19. the chief executive alex baldock has said that "nobody is happy with our performance" but assured that the problems were all "fixable". he blamed "challenges" in the market for mobile phones and mobile services, including a declining market for long—term mobile contracts and people not renewing their handsets as frequently. weaker demand for computers has also been cited as a drag on profits. is simon french, chief economist at panmure gordon.

good to talk to you. what went wrong for the shop this time? 0range ragga good morning. look, this is a story probably in three parts, first and foremost, the new chief executive wa nts to foremost, the new chief executive wants to get all the bad news out early in his tenure. he has been there for a couple of months so he wa nted there for a couple of months so he wanted to do the shop closures because of the second factor which is the way we are consuming particularly electronic goods is changing. we are more and more doing it online and therefore bricks and mortar retail space is just not required. but then the third part of it is why we have had this profit guidance down in 2018—19 because margins are being squeezed particularly in the uk, the increasing of the national living wage and the underinvestment in the business means shareholders responded quite negatively this morning to the downgraded profit guidance. 60% of morning to the downgraded profit guidance. 6096 of the business is conducted in the uk so weak economy

here is important. as you mention, alex borg, the new ceo is very new to thejob so alex borg, the new ceo is very new to the job so he is still in the so—called honeymoon period at the retailer? that's right he's been there a couple of months and had a strategic review of the business, looked at the amount of retail space that he has at his disposal but he's also looking at those structural changes in the type of contracts that people are taking out on their mobile phone business and also declining pc sales and realising that he has got to invest notjust in the type of retail experience that we are having but crucially, if you look at the wordings of the release today, in data and analytics and he's got to understand his customer base a bit better and how they go about consuming in order to provide a better offer. you said that shoppers are changing their habits, perhaps changing their mobile phones less frequently than they used to and perhaps spending less tha n they used to and perhaps spending less than they used to on their devices. ultimately what is the retailer going to look like from

here on in? once the new boss has had time to take stock of this profit warning and review. a much more streamlined business and one that had to keep pace with the fact that had to keep pace with the fact that a lot of people, bluntly, are going into stores, seeing what is on offer and then going on their mobile phones and other devices and finding a more competitive price offering. he has got to compete against that and this is part of a wider malaise affecting uk retail right now, not just on the demand side and squeezed consumer incomes but on the supply side, cost pressures, bricks and mortar premises not being viable at the scale they had previously been. simon, good to talk to you. a 5.5% rise in in british gas prices comes into effect today, which is likely to cost customers an extra £60 a year. a total of a.1 million british gas customers are expected to impacted by the price hike. earlier we spoke to claire 0sborne, head of commercial at u—switch energy.

it is certainly true that the thing that makes up about a0% of the energy bill, wholesale prices, has increased dramatically recently. that is driven by things like conflict in the middle east, the effect of exchange rates changing but also the beast from the east used up a lot of energy that we were expecting to be able to use next winter. so all of those things are pushing up prices at the moment. claire 0sborne there. british gas announced this price increase about six weeks ago. at the time, the ceo of centric consumer, mark hodges said the company is reluctantly increasing the standard ferrie bodde tariff, british gas understands that any price increase adds extra pressure on customers' household bills and it is encouraging existing customers on this tariff to choose one of the new fixed term deals and

by the end of 2018, it hopes over1 million more customers will have switched onto one of those alternative deals. let's have a quick look at the markets. british stocks fell on tuesday, joining a europe—wide sell—off triggered by worries over a political crisis in italy, while that profit warning at dixons carphone wiped a fifth off the retailer's market value. so the uk's top share ftse 100 index is down 1.3% to its lowest level in nearly three weeks, shrugging off a fall in the pound as it resumed trading after the bank holiday weekend. the ftse 250 midcap — more representative of the uk economy — is also down around 1.3%. top fallers on the ftse are banks royal bank of scotland and barclays, both down more than 3%, as financials in europe come under pressure on worries the next italian election could turn into a referendum on the euro. that's all the business news.

back to joanna. police in north yorkshire stopped a stolen golf buggy after it was spotted trying to go through a drive—through restaurant. the vehicle was spotted in the early hours of this morning at branch of mcdonald's in catterick. police arrested a 19—year—old man on suspicion of theft and driving while unfit through drink. 0n social, media north yorkshire police quipped it was the "most unusualjob of the night", adding that officers managed to "avoid a high—speed pursuit." have you heard of an event called "slacklining"? it involves walking in high—heels between two points along a suspended line of webbing — at 1,300 metres in the air — with nothing to help with participants' balance. this competition was held in central china. this is mimi who won the competition in a time of nine minutes and 2a seconds. noidea no idea why you would do that! the headlines are coming up on the bbc news channel. first we leave you with for a look at the weather... hello. staying warm as we move

through the next couple of days but with the warmth, the risk of further downpours which could be fun to read and we've seen a few already today in the south—east, some heavy, boundary showers, a fair amount of cloud and missed and merck in the east to begin with today but they have been some blue skies across scotla nd have been some blue skies across scotland and into northern ireland. that means some of us have seen beautiful blue skies like this in stornoway. but cloudier and some missed in this photo from one of our weather watchers in structure. as we go through today, most of the mist and fog will retreat to eastern coastal areas so brightening up for most with further sunshine on the cards and it is warm again, not quite as warm as yesterday when northern ireland and north—west scotla nd northern ireland and north—west scotland saw the warmest day of the year so far scotland saw the warmest day of the yearso farand scotland saw the warmest day of the year so far and there is the potential for some heavy, thundery downpours in the south. particularly for southern england as we move through this afternoon, perhaps some for wales, the midlands and east anglia. if you catch one of them, they could be quite heavy and cause

disruption. a bit more low cloud and missed and merck lingering for eastern coastal areas but a fair amount of sunshine for north—west scotla nd amount of sunshine for north—west scotland and across northern ireland as well. here we will see the warmest temperatures, 2a25 degrees, and through tonight, cloud will increase from the east with missed developing again, and some fog as we start to see heavy, thundery downpours pushing into the south and east into the early hours. temperatures in double figures, fairly humid, holding on clear spells in parts of north—west scotla nd spells in parts of north—west scotland and northern ireland. tomorrow starts with a fair amount of cloud around and some mist and fog to begin with which should burn back to the coast as we go through the day. some heavy potentially thundery showers could be around through rush—hour, gradually working north and west as we move through the day, pushing into northern england and south—east scotland. again, the best of the sunshine in the north and west and here we will see temperatures at a maximum of 23 or 2a celsius. as we move into thursday, we are still in the warm

and humid air mass so we hold on to warmer temperatures and again with the warm air, there is the potential for some heavy and thundery downpours. a fairly cloudy day on thursday, particularly for scotland and northern ireland where we could see some light rain and drizzle. there will be some showers as well across england and wales and you could see one or two moving further north. the showers could be quite heavy and cause some disruption. not eve ryo ne heavy and cause some disruption. not everyone seeing one, heavy and cause some disruption. not everyone seeing one, of course. again, warm with highs of 23. this is bbc news — and these are the top stories developing at midday. a gunman has shot and killed three people — including two police officers — in the belgian city of liege. this is the scene live — prosecutors in charge of terrorism have taken charge of the incident. medics who treated the former russian spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia, reveal they feared the worst. when we first were aware that this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive.

starbucks is closing thousands of us shops later, to teach staff how to avoid racial bias, after two black men were wrongfully arrested in a branch in philadelphia. italy's stop—gap prime minister attempts to form a government, as the country's political crisis continues. and a roof space in westminster abbey, unseen by the public for 700 years, is to open as a gallery. good afternoon. welcome to bbc newsroom live. anti—terror officers are investigating a gun attack

in beligum, after a man shot dead two police officers and a civilian. the incident happened in the centre of the eastern belgian city of liege. armed officers responded to the attack. police later confirmed the man has been neutralised, and that the situation is under control. let's get the latest now from brussels and simon wilson. simon clarke talk us through what has happened ? simon clarke talk us through what has happened? things are becoming clearer now. the attack happened around two and a half hours ago. it looks from the pictures that it was in new residential part of liege, the biggest city in eastern belgium. what we have seen from what people ca ptu red what we have seen from what people captured on their camera phones was a burst of at least one, possibly more, bursts of gunfire. witnesses reported the police were very quickly on the scene. we know from official police statements that two police officers are dead and two

other officers have been injured. it has been confirmed within the past have an error that a passer—by was also killed. now the gunmen, by all reports, tried to get away. there is a report he tried to take a hostage from a nearby school. but that some sort of an elite armed unit from the belgian police was quickly on the scene. the attacker himself has now been shot dead and the situation is under control. is it looking like it was related to terrorism? certainly the belgian prosecutor's office is saying there are some elements that would point in that direction. the belgian prime minister has been slightly more guarded in his public comments. he says it is too early to tell. that is often the case on these occasions. there is a swirl of information coming out on social media in belgium. we cannot confirm any of it. but there are reports that a 36—year—old man is under

suspicion. he may have been released recently from prison where he was on a drugs charge. there are reports in several of the belgian media that they may have been an arrest operation that went wrong, and that the suspect grabbed a police gun and the suspect grabbed a police gun and the shooting happened after that. i do stress we don't know that. that is confirmed by authorities. that would be a credible version of events. as i said, the prosecutor's office are investigating that terror may have been a motive. thank you for bringing us up to date. medical staff who treated sergei and yulia skripal after they were poisoned by a nerve agent in salisbury, have told the bbc they didn't expect them to survive. some of the doctors and nurses who treated the former russian spy and his daughter have spoken exclusively to bbc newsnight‘s mark urban about their efforts to save them. we were just told that there's two patients down in the emergency department who were critically unwell and they would be coming up to the unit.

it was very quickly established that the victims were yulia skripal and herfather, one—time russian spy sergei, and that the police regarded it as suspicious. i made the phone call and i spoke to the nurse in charge who had been on that night, and it was a conversation that i really could never have imagined in my wildest imaginations, having with anyone. at first, an opioid overdose was suspected, but as the skripals fought for their lives, the diagnosis changed to nerve agent poisoning. when we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. we would try all our therapies, we would ensure the best clinical care, but all the evidence was there that they would not survive. when a policeman also fell ill, hospital staff started to wonder

whether they too might be in danger. i suppose a key marker for me was when the pc was admitted with symptoms. there was a real concern as to, how big could this get? at first, it was simply a matter of keeping the skripals alive. heavily sedated, both of them were given big doses of drugs to protect them from the effects of the poison and help restart their bodies' production of a key enzyme. the human factor was vital too. excellent teamwork by the doctors, fantastic care and dedication by our nurses, i guess supported and supplemented a great deal by some input from really, really well—informed international experts, which very fortunately some of whom happened to be on our doorstep at porton down. the laboratory, internationally known for its chemical weapons expertise, processed tests and offered advice on the best therapies.

yulia was discharged in april, and last week made a statement thanking the hospital. but it took several more weeks before sergei skripal could follow her out of salisbury district. they have been brought back from the brink of death, but questions remain about the longer term. mark urban, bbc news, salisbury. there's a warning of an "ill—health timebomb", after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england, aged between 10 and 11, are severely obese. the local government association has analysed data released by public health england earlier this year. it says child obesity will lead to serious health risks in later life, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. fergus walsh reports. 0ne

one in a0 is classed as severely obese. each year, more children are leaving primary school overweight. this is the first time the national child measurement programme data has included the severely obese category. we are in the uk already the most obese nation in western europe. we have to tackle the youngsters. we have to tackle this atan youngsters. we have to tackle this at an early stage if we are to make real progress in improving our nation. the local government association said the figures were a worrying wake—up call and warned that today's obese children risked having their years of healthy adult life cut short by a host of health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease. our health editor, hugh pym, told me that medical professionals

are deeply concerned about the findings of this study. these figures are probably more bleak than many people had expected. there is a major problem across the uk here for children and their diet, and the amount of exercise they take. and a big challenge for policymakers. and these figures, and it is the first time these calculations have been done using these —— this category of severely obese, it is the first time we have seen obese, it is the first time we have seen these numbers for children. this comes ahead of a government strategy for england due very soon. a childhood obesity strategy. the government, two years ago, when theresa may became prime minister, unveiled a plan to tackle obesity that was really seen as pretty unimpressive, that theresa may had

dropped various measures that were cultivated by david cameron. now it seems the government has come around toa seems the government has come around to a more ambitious plan and will focus on how food is sold in supermarkets, marketing promotions, and also, crucially, curbing advertising ofjunk and also, crucially, curbing advertising of junk food at and also, crucially, curbing advertising ofjunk food at prime time to audiences. we have been built up towards this strategy and a lot is riding on it. baddies obviously looking at food consumption. what about the exercise aspect of it? —— that is obviously looking at food consumption. kids in primary school are doing less sport and exercise than they used to? yes, there are various bits of data about that. you hear about sports facilities being reduced. again, anecdotally, children are less likely to take part in sport. what policymakers have focused on, into england with this strategy, scotland has a england with this strategy, scotland hasa similar england with this strategy, scotland has a similar strategy at the end of june, they are focused on what is

sold through supermarkets because what actually people eat is seen as something that can really be dealt with by policy. we have had the sugar tax big —— dealing with sugary drinks. now if there is a strategy to curb cut—price promotions of unhealthy food in the supermarkets, thatis unhealthy food in the supermarkets, that is seen as something that could have an impact. many families want that, we are told 0mid just talking to people, it helps if supermarkets can't be deterred from selling things cheaply, which are not healthy for their children. hugh pym. a policeman is in hospital with serious injuries, after he was hurt while trying to stop and question three motorcyclists in aldeburgh in suffolk. two people have been arrested after the incident which took place yesterday afternoon. the sandwich chain, pret a manger is to give all of its employees an extra one thousand pounds. this comes after the store's boss announced it's being sold for 1.5 billion pounds to a company controlled by a family of germain billionaires. pret‘s chief executive, clive schlee, says all of it's twelve thousand employees will be given the bonus when

the sale is completed. starbucks will be closing all 8,000 of its coffee shops across the us this afternoon, to teach staff how to avoid discriminating against customers. the training follows the wrongful arrest of two black men in a branch in philadelphia last month. rajini vaidya nathan reports. handcuffed and led away by officers after the white manager of this starbucks called the police just minutes after they'd arrived. i have two gentleman in my cafe that are refusing to make a purchase or leave. entrepreneurs rashon nelson and donte robinson were simply waiting for a business associate to turn up for a meeting. what did they do? someone tell me what they did. they didn't do anything. don't accept the lies! starbucks was accused of discrimination. its ceo apologised, promising to take action. we are closing all 8000—plus us compa ny—operated stores in the united states for a mandatory training around unconscious bias. we're going to have a little

bit of conversation about what is diversity. this group charity workers in richmond, virginia, have signed up to the same sort of session starbucks staff will undertake. everybody ready? let's go. everybody is subject to having unconscious bias. everybody has to work hard to overcome it, to take... we need to take specific strategies so we are not affected by it. african—american, black american... those strategies include being painfully honest about what your prejudices are, so you can start to deal with them. it's been a great training so far because it's caused me to kind of step outside my comfort zone and my individual consciousness. i feel like a lot of times when you are bringing up equity and bias, that a lot of people think about it from a personal standpoint instead of thinking of it as something that is societal. changing people's biases will take more than a day's training. the case of starbucks is just the tip of the iceberg. in a country that is plagued by a history of racism,

being profiled as a black american is an all too common experience. darren martin worked for president 0bama for five years. he left washington a few weeks ago. can't go nowhere without the cops following me. while moving into a new apartment in new york city, a white neighbour called the police, thinking he was breaking in. oh, my god. somebody called the cops on me in my own building. there's about how many of y'all? about six of y'all showed up. crazy. i honestly wasn't surprised. 0ftentimes, when you're doing absolutely normal things like moving into an apartment or waiting in line at a coffee shop, you know, people can feel threatened by that. with phones and video now, folks are able to finally see that this isn't something we are just talking about. it's a reality. this video caused outrage and forced one of america's largest companies to take action, but for many black americans, being made to feel unwelcome in public spaces is part of a centuries—old problem that a few hours' training won't be able to fix. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. the headlines on bbc newsroom live.

a gunman has shot and killed three people — including two police officers — in the belgian city of liege, before police shot him dead. anti—terror police are now investigating. medics who treated a former russian spy and his daughter for nerve agent poisoning, say they didn't expect them to survive. there's a warning of an "ill—health timebomb" after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england, aged between 10 and 11, are severely obese. now the sport with will perry. good afternoon. the former england captain michael vaughan is calling for a major shake—up of the team before friday's second test against pakistan at headingley. vaughan wants either stuart broad orjimmy anderson to be dropped after the nine—wicket defeat in the first test. england haven't been winning for a long time. do you just keep going with the same

old, every single week? you know, this isjust a kind of, a think tank that i hope people actually within the team and within the actual management, could itjust make a little difference? you know, you never know. you know, are they winning with them at the minute? no. are they as good as they were three or four years ago? no. i want to see more in terms of mentality of how to play test match cricket. and you just never know, it might trigger the team into thinking, none of us are safe. saracens director of rugby mark mccall has signed a contract extension with the premiership champions. is previous deal was due to expire next year. he has often stated his desire to stay with the club rather than move to an international role. saracens won there fourth international title last weekend, beating exeter at twickenham. all four have been masterminded by mccall. assistant coach alex

sanderson has signed a new deal. raheem sterling has defended his decision to have an assault rifle tattooed on his leg. some anti—gun campaigners have criticised the manchester city and england forward, calling it "totally unacceptable". but sterling says the tattoo has a "deeper meaning" and refers to his father who was shot dead when he was a child. tributes continue to be paid to the former aberdeen midfielder neale cooper who died yesterday after collapsing at the weekend. cooper was a member of sir alex ferguson's aberdeen side that won the european cup winners' cup in 1983. more recently he managed hartlepool, gillingham and peterhead. former team—mate and current scotland coach alex mcleish said it was a privilege to play with him. he was a fantastic footballer and he helped aberdeen to win the european cup winners cup in 1983 against real madrid. and he will never be forgotten. we hope that we can do

his memory very well in the game against peru tomorrow night. and the british number one kyle edmund starts his french open campaign today. edmund is playing the unseeded australian alex di manur — they'll be on court this afternoon once the rain eases off. heather watson and cameron norrie are already through to the second round at roland garros. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. let me bring you a line from belgium. the prosecutor in liege has said they are investigating the attack as a terrorist incident. two police officers shot dead. a civilian also shot dead, and the gunman himself. all unfolding in the last few hours in liege in the east of belgium. we are hearing confirmation this is being treated asa confirmation this is being treated as a terrorist incident. we will keep you updated. financial markets

in europe by taking a battering as the political crisis in italy continues. carlo cotta relli is a former director at the international monetary fund, and was asked to take up the position until new elections can be held. it is not clear whether he will be able to form a government. the two main populist parties have promised to block anything he submits, and have called for a peaceful process. james reynolds is in the wrong. this market is full of expert shoppers, tourists and residents. if you stay in this country for about a week or so, you're likely to rack up at least one or two potential by ministers are governments. the idea of this country faces right now is about its money. the euro. which people here are using to pay for their products. populist to won majority in the march general election say they should be free to

have their own government and be able to negotiate with europe anyway they please. the president said you have do stick in the euro. you cannot even discuss leaving the euro without a proper national debate. as a result of this stand—off, all these italian voters here may have to go to the polls again in september, where there will be a very clear choice. they will have to choose between parties who stick with the president, who say that italy should respect all of its current arrangement with the european union. and the populist, five star, and the league, who say that italy should be free to make up its own mind about the kind of relationships and alliances it once with the european union. so, that potential vote, that early election, maybe, an unofficial referendum on italy's position in the european union. james reynolds. let's talk more

about the financial issues. the euro has been falling on the currency market. andrew walker is here. where is this going? how serious could this be? potentially, quite serious. james was talking about the possibility that we will have an early election, perhaps as soon as september, which could turn into effectively a referendum on membership of the euro zone. that is really what is unsettling market is profoundly at the moment. the euro is down significantly. we have seen falls across europe in stock markets, particularly in the case of italy. most marked the wall has been the movement in the costs of government borrowing in the bond market. essentially markets are saying when italy next goes to the markets to borrow money, it will have do pay significantly more than it was doing before. what could potentially be the knock—on effects

of this? i suppose ultimately the markets are worrying about whether, when we get to september, we will have a government, and there are certainly some signs the populist could well expect to get a significantly increased mandate, that we might have a government that is committed to, with some popular backing, the idea of leaving the euro zone. that really is unsettling news. some argue that leaving the euro may have some benefits over the longer term. in particular in the case of italy, they feel, the populist feel very strongly that the rules on managing the government's finances are excessively restrictive. i think there is no question that in the short term you would be looking at a situation of significant disruption to the italian economy, the banking system and it will become much more difficult for the government to raise the money it needs to finance its public spending. thank you. a senior north korean official is believed to be travelling to the united states, to finalise plans for a possible meeting between president donald

trump and the north's leader kim jong—un. the president tweeted: the summit on 12thjune was thrown into uncertainty last week after mr trump called off the meeting citing the north's "hostility". youtube has deleted more than 30 videos which police say are responsible for inciting a surge in violent crime across london. it comes after the metropolitan police commissioner cressida dick highlighted so—called drill music as a weapon being used by gangs to taunt each other on social media. youtube said it was working with authorities to take action on gang—related content. andy moore reports. drill music like this is accused of not only glamorising violence but of contributing to real crime. this video was used in evidence in a recent murder trial. hundreds of tracks are available on social media, some have been viewed over a million times.

they often feature hooded and masked gangs making violent hand gestures. the met police commissioner cressida dick said the videos were used by real gangs to taunt each other and have been linked to at least one attack. she called on internet companies to show social responsibility. scotland yard has asked youtube to take down between 50 and 60 it believes raised the risk of violence. the company said it had removed more than 30 clips which were found to be in violation of its policies or broke the law. youtube, which is owned by google, said it shared the deep concern many felt about this issue and was continuing to work constructively with experts. adeel amini is the editor of press play 0k, an online music platform. he gave us his thoughts. i think banning or restricting any sort of music or art form is always a little bit worrying

for several reasons. i think in this particular case it feels like a deflection from what the issue might be. with the disenfranchisement of youth and the things we see around us, linking that to music videos is a little bit disturbing and sets a dangerous precedent. i do wonder if there are other things that are being done or could be done that could address this problem a lot better, as opposed to young people trying to express themselves. obviously, it is part of a multifaceted approach to something which is not simple to fix. do you think, as part of a broader approach, it is actually something that might make a difference? do you suspect there is, there could be any influence coming from these videos? are you saying there is absolutely none? it is hard to say whether there's none. it's hard to talk in extremes and absolutes in that way. but the report you showed earlier said there was at least a link to one attack. at the same time, nobody talks about banning calvin harris or miley cyrus when there are drug—related deaths

as there have been at festivals pretty much every year. it is interesting to see why this approach is being taken here, as opposed to with links with other crimes. so long as there is genuine examples of them reaching out to people, and to the youth especially, i think there is a danger at the moment that people are feeling a bit left out or they are unwanted in certain sections of society. particularly with the response to grenfell and things like that, there is a concern their voices are not being heard. maybe this is an expression of that. it is a cry for help. let mejust bring let me just bring you some breaking news, the latest breaking news out of liege in belgium. we're getting more detail about what has happened after two police officers were shot dead and a civilian was also shot dead. a gunman was apprehended by police and has also been shot dead himself. belgian prosecutors are confirming the incident is being

investigated as a terror incident. a bit more detail coming out of that. a news conference by the local public prosecutor. he said the man attacked the officers from behind with a knife, took one of their guns and shot them dead with a knife. he shot dead a young man who was a passenger in a parked car, and took refuge in a school where he was killed in a subsequent gunfight. 0ther police were wounded. we will keep you updated on details on that. we are also hearing aboutjob losses in the uk at the danish dairy group. it will cut around 350 jobs globally. most of the jobs are in denmark. 15a are in britain. the company will concentrate its cheese production had fewer sites in britain. no detail of the breakdown of where those jobs will go. 15ajob losses at a la. that is in britain.

cheese production is consolidated into fewer sites. we will keep you updated. it was described as offering the best view in europe by the poet, john betjeman, but the roof of westminster abbey, or triforium, has never before been open to the public — but that's about to change. a new access tower has been built into the galleries above the abbey floor, and created a large exhibition space which will contain more than 300 treasures spanning its 1,000—year history. the space opens to the public next month. but robert hall is already there to give us a preview. hello. this is a loft conversion on a grand scale. it forgotten space turned into something which tells the story of the abbey in a unique way. let's deal with the view. john betjeman talked about it being the best in europe. there, hopefully on your screens, is the view from up there. looking right down at the

abbey. that famous shot that has appeared in some the big royal and national occasions. back to the gallery and that exhibition. 300 objects. quite an eclectic mix. that is intentional. this one is a model of what sir christopher wren would've liked the abbey to look like. it would have had a large steeple on top of the tower, whether by lack of public interest or lack of funds, it never got built. whether the abbey understood it, we will never know. all the way down every inch of this gallery, different objects telling the story. a painting from 300 years ago. down here, manuscripts. the domesday book. the original, or at copy produced by monks, charter. royal charters. a section from the magna ca rta . charters. a section from the magna carta. and away from the documents, these objects are really interesting. . these are effigies that royal families, nobility, interesting. . these are effigies that royalfamilies, nobility, had carried in their funeral processions and then laid on the tombs. this is the duke of albemarle. some of them

we re the duke of albemarle. some of them were in cases like this one. this chapis were in cases like this one. this chap is still in his original robes. as he was when he was alive. and then up here, these are wax. they we re then up here, these are wax. they were originally would. these figures, very sadly, a three—year—old child died. this is his mother. and again, the robes, as they work for the original people prior to their deaths. i think what would have been really odd was that after the funerals, these figures, whilst they were carried in, were left standing beside the graves as a memorial, if you like, a reminder to people of the people are that lay beneath and all the figures up here are originally from an exhibition, a much smaller exhibition, elsewhere in the abbey, but now at last they can be properly later, put properly on display. what the abbey has tried to do here is to tell a story

through the object is not necessarily in a timeline where, but dipping out of the abbey, the life of the church, the life of the people that came here that were remembered here and elsewhere, as we will see a little later in the day. a gallery devoted to royal occasions, coronations, royal weddings. it is a remarkable space. given that it was completely forgotten and that it has today com pletely forgotten and that it has today completely rebuilt within a structure which hadn't been touched for so long, it is remarkable. it is going to get very busy injune. that is when it opens. the advice from here is really to book early if you wa nt to here is really to book early if you want to come and see it. thank you forjoining us. time for the weather with stav danaos. good afternoon. a grey and dismal start to the day but tolls are appearing ina to the day but tolls are appearing in a cloud now across central and eastern parts of england and the sunshine will break through like in nottinghamshire, and always the best of the sunshine across scotland and

northern ireland and west and its committees of wales in south—west england. thunderstorms across southern and eastern parts of the country which will continue to rattle on during the evening and overnight, we could see further showreel bursts pushing into the eastern side of the country and some of these could be thundering. —— further showreel bursts. further north generally clear but generally one. wednesday with a rather wet start for central and southern and eastern parts of england, maybe some thundery bursts, some rain into eastern scotland and also for the northern isles possible but again, the best of the sunshine in scotland and northern ireland, feeling warmer temperatures of 23 or 2a. warm and humid across the south—east with sunny spells later in the day. for the rest of the week, staying pretty warm and humid with sunny spells and the continued risk of thundery downpours. this is bbc newsroom live. our latest headlines: a gunman has shot and killed three people — including two police officers — in the belgian city of liege. doctors who treated the former

russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia say they feared the pair would never recover. when we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. starbucks is closing thousands of us shops later to teach staff how to avoid racial bias, after two black men were wrongfully arrested in a branch in philadelphia. italy's stop—gap prime minister attempts to form a government as the country's political crisis continues. anti—terror officers are investigating a gun attack in belgium after a man shot dead two police officers and a civillian. the incident happened in the centre of the eastern belgian city of liege. armed officers responded to the attack. police later confirmed

the man had been neutralised and that the situation was under control. let's get the latest now from brussels and simon wilson. in the last few minutes we have had significant new details about what happened this morning in liege. there has been a news conference with the mayor alderley edge and the local prosecutor who gave the following details. —— mayor of liege. they gave more details we had not known before. at about 10:30am, a man came up behind two police officers in liege armed with a knife and started attacking the two officers. as the prosecutor described, whilst the police officers were disabled, he took a gun from at least one of them and continued the attack. we take that to mean he shot the two officers although that was not exquisite. he then ran off into the grounds of the school and was cornered by armed police. —— that was not explicit.

there was a shoot out and two other police officers were injured in the incident and the attacker himself was shot dead. reportedly after trying to take a hostage in the school. the whole incident lasted about 30 minutes and during that at some point, a 22—year—old passer—by, a man ina some point, a 22—year—old passer—by, a man in a car, was hit bya some point, a 22—year—old passer—by, a man in a car, was hit by a stray bullet and killed. those are the latest details from the news conference in liege. and actually, we arejust conference in liege. and actually, we are just hearing that the police officers shot were women and the passer—by was a woman, are you getting any more detail on those who have been caught up in this?” getting any more detail on those who have been caught up in this? i don't have been caught up in this? i don't have that level of detail but the news co nfe re nce have that level of detail but the news conference is unfolding and it is possible the further details are coming out. and just a word on the recent history of terror attacks in belgium? it has been a troubled part of europe. you will remember that the cell that was behind the attacks in paris in 2015, a significant part of it was based in brussels and

during the phase where the cell was broken up, a number of the members we re broken up, a number of the members were cornered and in march 2016, they carried out twin attacks in brussels at the airport and on the metro. there have also been isolated shooting attacks, knifing attacks, and although in recent months the terror alert was lowered somewhat in belgium, it is still a common sight to see armed soldiers as well as police officers on the street. thank you forjoining us. some breaking news from the courts, we are hearing from leeds crown court that the couple who lowered their 19—year—old daughter to bangladesh in an attempt to force her to marry her first cousin and have a baby with him have been convicted of forced marriage charges. they reportedly looked emotionless as the verdicts were read to them. they were also convicted of using violence, threats

or coercion to force their daughter into marriage. they will be sentenced at the same court at a later date. thejudge sentenced at the same court at a later date. the judge said, sentenced at the same court at a later date. thejudge said, "i am mindful of the victim in this case and she should be given the opportunity to provide a victim impact statement". it was actually the first court conviction last week ofa the first court conviction last week of a parent over forced marriage. two significant rulings in two weeks. it comes as well as campaigners are calling for tougher penalties on forced marriages after more than 3500 cases were reported to police in just more than 3500 cases were reported to police injust three more than 3500 cases were reported to police in just three years, more than 3500 cases were reported to police injust three years, new data has come out revealing the scale of the issue. a national helpline was contacted 22,000 times between 201a and 2016. so we will bring you more from the court as we get it. it's the start of the second week of commemorative hearings at the public inquiry into the grenfell tower fire. 72 people died in the fire which took hold in the early hours of 1a june 2017. 0ur correspondent tom burridge is in

west london watching the proceedings. all last week we heard incredibly moving tributes to many of those people who were killed in the g re nfell tower people who were killed in the grenfell tower fire in the summer of last year. this morning we heard i think one of the most powerful tributes so far from ahmed elgwahry, speaking about his mother, eslah elgwahry, and his sister mariem, who we re elgwahry, and his sister mariem, who were living in flat 196 and die together. he said he was not ready together. he said he was not ready to give too many public details about his mother but he spoke very movingly about his sister, who was clearly a n movingly about his sister, who was clearly an incredible person. he said she was glamorous, had lots of banter, was the kind of person who had the drive to excel in everything she did. she was happy, with a ray of sunshine and positive energy and she was beautiful, ambitious, and she was beautiful, ambitious, and she had a marketing career ahead of her. in fact, she had a job interview for her dream job the day

after the grenfell tower fire. this is some of the tribute ahmed made this morning. i know now mariem was protecting me by not telling me the fact she was already trapped in by fire on the top floor, even before i arrived on the site. she had become very selective in the information she told me and did not display her true emotions. she was protecting me by not telling me the flat where she took refuge had quickly become a death trap. lots of smoke, thick, black smoke and coughing, but she never mentioned she could see fire. but it was clear she knew it was coming. i can only presume, based on the person i knew her to be, she was trying to keep... my mum calm. trying to keep my mum calm, doing what she does best, which is to help others and be the selfless person we all knew and loved under these horrifying circumstances.

that was ahmed elgwahry speaking about his sister, mariem, who was killed in the grenfell tower fire. he spoke really movingly about the final phone call he had with his sister and his mother, ultimately, as they slipped away after he had rushed down to grenfell tower. he also spoke incredibly poignantly about his perceived failings, the catalogue of allegations that are against those people involved in the construction and refurbishment of g re nfell tower construction and refurbishment of grenfell tower and the impact the refurbishment had on the spread of the fire, so rapidly through the building, which claims are many lives. he made a direct message to the head of the public inquiry, sir martin moore—bick, saying there had been a catalogue of errors. there we re been a catalogue of errors. there were warnings about week building

regulations, ahmed said, a financial conflict—of—interest, in his words, lack of compliance, in fact, he said there was a complete nonexistence of compliance in terms of the building itself. as i said earlier, he did not speak at length about his mother. he said he was not ready to do so in public. but he paid tribute to his mother, eslah, briefly towards the end of the statement this morning. my mum lived in grenfell tower for approximately 3a years. she loved to cook for people, including neighbours, friends and family. we all loved her cooking and we always remember and miss the taste of her food. ahmed elgwahry remembering his mother, eslah. we also exhibits turani ebrahim who died alongside her two daughters, fethia and hania. we heard from her husband, hassan awadh hassan, who paid a moving tribute this morning and also there was a video put together by the family to pay tribute to run it and

her two young daughters, always, who we re her two young daughters, always, who were four and three. we saw really intimate details of their lives together, videos of granny, fethia and hania's birth date and the wedding photos of rania and hassan. it has been another movie experience listening and has been humbling listening and has been humbling listening to the tributes and incredibly brave for these people to come here in front of the public inquiry, to remember the loved ones that were killed in that fire in summer that were killed in that fire in summer last year. of course, this, remember, are the final days of these tributes which are setting the tone for the beginning of the public inquiry, which itself could last two yea rs inquiry, which itself could last two years and then after, in the coming weeks, it will get into the more kind of technical details, the facts first to need to be established of what happened that night and that process , what happened that night and that process, stage what happened that night and that process, stage one what happened that night and that process, stage one of the public inquiry is expected to last until november and after that, the public inquiry will consider the questions that linger in the air for the relatives who were giving their tributes this morning. the fire spread so quickly. what impact did

those combustible materials that we re those combustible materials that were put onto the building in the refurbishment of grenfell tower have on the spread of the fire so quickly, claiming semi—lives? more now on the political crisis in italy where attempts are under way to form a stop gap government, with an expectation of fresh elections. but the uncertainty in rome, and the populist party questioning of italy's membership of the european single currency, have prompted sharp falls on european stock markets. joining me now from rome is ferdinando giugliano, economics commentator at bloomberg 0pinion. thank you forjoining us. . a stopgap government is in place but it does not sound like it will be able to achieve anything so there will be more elections. what is your analysis of the issues facing italy right now and potentially the knock—on impact on them? right now and potentially the knock-on impact on them? indeed, we have a government which may start today, maybe formerly in charge

today, maybe formerly in charge today but investors are already looking ahead at the likely election which will come in the autumn so what happened was that the italian president vetoed the appointment of a eurosceptic finance minister because he feared this person, paolo savona, had said he was in favour of having a plan b to leave the euro secretly. now this was seen as too much, the president asked the five star movement and the league, the two antiestablishment parties, backing paolo savona, to give a new name and they refused. so this attempt to form a government collapsed and now the president as last carlo cottarelli, a former senior official at the international monetary fund, to lead a government. but the antiestablishment parties command a majority in parliament and they have already said they want to have a new election and so that is what we are heading for in italy. as

isaid, what we are heading for in italy. as i said, investors are already at looking at this new election, it is likely the antiestablishment forces will dojust as likely the antiestablishment forces will do just as well if not better than they did in the last election and so now, investors are selling italian assets, dragging down the stock markets around europe. how would you assess the chances of italy leaving the eurozone? well, it's actually, the mechanics are quite hard because at the moment, you don't have any parties formally advocating leaving the european union so it is different from the brexit referendum in britain where you had politicians making the case foran you had politicians making the case for an exit. what will happen now is that, you know, we will get close to the election and we really need to see what the reaction by investors is. the fear here is of course is that one day we may end up with a failed option on the bond market, italy not being able to borrow money from investors. we are far from that at the moment. at the moment, investors are at the moment. at the moment, investors a re purely

at the moment. at the moment, investors are purely asking for a premium when they lend money to italy but investors will be watching very closely what happens. as long as the antiestablishment parties retain positions which are ambiguous on the euro, i think this confusion and these fears are likely to persist. thank you forjoining us. the headlines on bbc newsroom live: a gunman has shot and killed three people — including two police officers — in the belgian city of liege, before police shot him dead. anti—terror police are now investigating. medics who treated a former russian spy and his daughter for nerve agent poisoning say they didn't expect them to survive. there's a warning of an "ill—health time bomb", after a new study suggests that one in 25 primary school children in england aged between 10 and 11 are severely obese. california has become the world's biggest legal market for recreational cannabis with anyone over 21 able to buy, consume or even grow and sell it.

while many in the us remain opposed to legalisation, others are considering it as an exciting business opportunity as radio 5live's anna foster reports from california's coachella valley. it's been called the green rush, the race to grow profits from california's newest legal industry. in the past, entrepreneurs rushed to the desert to make their fortune from gold but the vast coachella valley is now home to facilities like this, where growers develop their own strains of marijuana. the people behind this huge indoor farm want to really try and nurture the new breed of cannabis entrepreneurs. it's notjust about having high—tech growing facilities. it's about teaching them how to sell what they make. they want coachella to be to cannabis what napa is to wine, a brand that is known right around the world for its variety and quality. one of the hard parts about cannabis before was you would go and buy it from some random guy, and you know, maybe he sold you something and you had no idea

where it was grown and how it was grown, even really what it was. now with new testing and quality control and state compliance, we are going to make sure that the product we are putting out there is the top—of—the—line. nine states and washington, dc have legalised marijuana for recreational use, and the legal cannabis industry in the us is worth nearly £7 billion a year. so far, president trump appears happy for states to follow their own rules, putting him at odds with his attorney general, jeff sessions. now there are dispensaries like this opening up across california, copying the look and feel of a high—tech gadget store. so i often get asked this question, who is a typical cannabis buyer? and i like to ask back, you know, who is a typical chair buyer? who is a typical soda buyer? yes, the people who are coming into the stores reflect mainstream america. despite this mainstream look, you still can't smoke cannabis in public and there are those who question the health message that legalising it sends out. in downtown la, i met a man once

jailed for dealing cocaine, making $3 million a day in the 1990s. now ricky ross wants to get back in the drugs game, legally. yeah, i want to be totally involved. i want to dispense, i want to manufacture, i want my own brand. you can smell it now. somebody smoking on the streets! canada is set to join california in legalising cannabis later this year but for now, the uk remains a long way from joining the green rush. anna foster, bbc news. a privately—funded search for the missing malaysian airlines flight mh370 is due to end today. the plane disappeared in 201a, while flying from kuala lumpur to beijing. there were 239 people on—boa rd, 227 passengers and 12 crew members. the original search was one of the largest in aviation history, but was suspended in january 2017 when nothing was found. the american firm

0cean infinity resumed the search in january of this year but that comes to an end today, with no plans for it to continue. 0ur correspondent jonathan head sent this report. well, it's very disappointing, obviously, most of all for the relatives but also for this company, 0cean infinity, who were very confident that with their more extensive equipment and with some refined views about where the wreckage might be, as people have analysed in particular drift patterns for the debris that has been found on the east african coast, that there was a higher chance, a much higher chance of finding it. they managed to search 80,000 square kilometres injust three months, whereas the previous search area was a bit larger than that but over a period of two years, so they covered a great deal more ground. they say their equipment worked very well in extremely challenging conditions, both high seas and very mountainous terrain on the sea bed where they looked. but they are clearly looking in the wrong area and it simply opens up even more the mystery

surrounding what happened, particularly the end of mh370. there are conflicting theories about whether the plane was under the control of the pilot and might have glided a long way or whether he flew it until he lost consciousness or ran out of fuel and it plunged into the sea. the difference in those theories makes a huge difference in the areas that people can look. so the possibility, and many people have theories, is that there are other areas close to the ones where they have been looking where it could still be located. while the malaysian government has said that for now it will not renew the contract it has with 0cean infinity and remember, this is a no find, no fee contract so the company does not get paid unless it finds the wreckage, they are not renewing that for the moment. but this is a new government in malaysia, and they pledged to look again at the way mh370 was handled, to publish for the first time an absolutely full report into their own handling of the accident and the disappearance and in that sense, the option is still being left open that new evidence and new thinking could restart a search at some stage in the future.

twojournalists have been killed while reporting severe weather conditions in north carolina. mike mccormick and aaron smeltzer, from news outlet wyff, died when a falling tree crushed their car. subtropical storm alberto is the first named atlantic storm of 2018. it's expected to bring heavy rains and flash flooding to more of the south as it makes its way through alabama and georgia. caroline rigby reports. not the memorial day weather they had been hoping for. barbecues on the beach abandoned due to blustery conditions and dangerous surf. hurricane season has not formally started here, but despite what the calendar says, the stormy weather has already begun. it is very unusual to have an early named storm in may. the hurricane season is about to start on the 1st ofjune. there's been about 1a

named storms since 1951. it is very unusual. having gained strength in the gulf of mexico, alberto made landfall along the florida panhandle with winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour. as it moves inland, it will lose energy. the main threat now is rain and flooding, with up to 30 centimetres forecast as it travels north. residents spent much of the weekend preparing for the worst, swapping memorial day commemorations for sandbags. it is a reminder that we live in an area that gets threatened by hurricanes, and rain is a big factor when it comes to tropical systems, so you need to be prepared. this storm comes just a day after another caused flash flooding in maryland. and in cuba, the clean—up is already under way after alberto dumped ten centimetres of rain in less than eight hours. so with hurricane season yet to officially begin, residents across the us

and caribbean will be hoping this early visitor isn't a sign of things to come. caroline rigby, bbc news. some breaking news to bring you, we're hearing police have arrested two more people on suspicion of supplying class a drugs at the mutiny festival in portsmouth after two people died after falling ill on saturday night. tommy callan, who was 20, and georgia jones, 18, both from haven't in hampshire, died after falling ill at the festival. —— ava nt techno after falling ill at the festival. —— avant techno hampshire. a woman from waterlooville and the man from havana has been arrested on the submission —— and the man from havant have submission —— and the man from hava nt have been submission —— and the man from havant have been arrested on suspicion of supply drugs, after the arrests of three other people, from

havant, waterlooville arrests of three other people, from hava nt, waterlooville and arrests of three other people, from havant, waterlooville and gosport in portsmouth, all under suspicion of racing class a drugs. everybody remains under investigation according to hampshire police. wizkid is a nigerian superstar with a sound that is taking him around the world. collaborations with the likes of drake and tinie tempah have pushed afropop to a wider audience, which is why we sent our reporter daniel henry to catch up with him in london. he was made in lagos. but now the wizkid sound is global. thank you guys for coming. i love you guys. his one—day pop—up shop was packed, which means you don't get much time with him. not that these fans seemed to mind. i try as much as possible to always pass positive vibes in my music, through who i am as a person. like, when i'm passing the message to the people, through my social media accounts or when you see me in person, i'm all about positive vibrations. life is hard for everyone,

even me myself. so ijust like to pass positivity among people and everyone. wizkid was flying the nigeria flag in london, the headline act of yet another sell—out show. there's no limit to any goal. i feel like you can achieve any goal. like, you if you set your goals, you can make it happen. like, if you set your goals, you can make it happen. like, i feel like the african music scene is like, is going to be one of the biggest, biggest, biggest in the world. this collaboration with drake in 2016 went on to be the most streamed track on spotify that year. it introduced wizkid to an international audience. but surprisingly, he says worldwide recognition is not a priority. i don't really care about international appeal, you know? it's not like i don't care about my international fans but, like, whoever listens to my music, listens to my music. whoever comes to my shows, comes to my shows. ijust keep it easy and simple. i'm not trying, there's no

goal to whom i'm trying to let listen to my music. i'm reallyjust enjoying life and just putting my music out there and spreading love and positivity. daniel henry, bbc news, london. in a moment, the news at one with reeta chakrabarti. hello, the rest of this week is looking pretty samey. we will hold onto the warm and humid air. there will be some sunshine but also further thunderstorms. the day started off rather graham clark before many but holes in the cloud appeared and some good sunny spells red, the best of the sunshine, unbroken in places, will be across more northern and western extra matt dayes. across the south—east, we have seen thunderstorms breaking out once again from east anglia through south—east england and in towards southern and south—western areas. torrential downpours in places and they will continue to the end of the day. we can see good sunny spells to

end the day, particularly across scotland, northern ireland and north—west england where it will be warm again, temperatures in the low to mid 20s. this evening and overnight, scotland and northern ireland should stay largely dry with clear spells but low cloud and mist will roll back into many eastern areas and a cloudy into the night for england and wales. an area of showery rain pushing into southern and eastern parts and some of it could be heavy and boundary. this is the weather front responsible for the weather front responsible for the shari raine in southern and eastern areas. as we headed wednesday, it pushes a bit further north. we could start pretty wet across central and southern and eastern areas on wednesday morning. could be some pretty hazardous conditions on the road with lots of standing water. further north and west, a better chance of seeing the sunshine once again. some of the shower is pushing towards eastern scotla nd shower is pushing towards eastern scotland and maybe the northern isles but we could see some sunshine developing across the south—east and if that happens, it will feel very warm and humid and we could see further boundary showers. 0n into thursday, some showery buzz of rain

across scotland and northern ireland, that is the remnants of wednesday's weather front. further ‘s showers and storms may develop across southern and eastern parts of the country and they will trundle northwards as well. a lot of low cloud and missed and merck around the coast but sunny spells inland and again feeling warm and humid. 0n into friday, the pastoral showers will continue to journey northwards to parts of northern ireland, central, southern scotland, northern england, maybe into wales. some sunny spells in between as well, ha rd to sunny spells in between as well, hard to pinpoint where the showers will break out but again another warm and sultry day particularly across southern warm and sultry day particularly across southern areas warm and sultry day particularly across southern areas in the sunshine, temperatures of 22 or 2a. this weekend will stay pretty warm and humid, some sunshine around but also the risk of further thundery downpours pretty much anywhere by the end of the week. two policewomen and a passer—by are shot dead by a gunman in belgium in what's being treated as a terrorist attack. the gunman attacked the two police women with a knife before taking their guns and shooting them dead. police sources say the gunman who was shot dead had been released

from prison yesterday. we'll bring you the latest from the scene. also this lunchtime... hospital staff who treated the poisoned russians sergei and yulia skripal say they didn't expect the pair to survive. when we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. we would try all our therapies, we would ensure the best clinical care, but all the evidence was there that they would not survive. i have two gentlemen in my cafe, they're refusing to make