welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: calls for the sacking of guatemala's head of emergency services, after the agency failed to act on warnings of eruptions of the fuego volcano. the death toll rises to 99. president trump grants clemency to a grandmother serving a life sentence, after a plea from reality tv star, kim kardashian west. britain's grenfell tower inquiry hears from the man who lived in the flat where the fire started. and the salamander, the conservationists and some mexican nuns. we'll tell you about the unlikely alliance to save the axolotl. with 99 people now confirmed dead around the erupting fuego

volcano in guatemala, opposition politicians are calling for the head of the emergency response agency to be sacked. they believe the agency failed to respond to advance warnings. dozens of people are still unaccounted for. volcanologists monitoring increased activity from fuego say they warned officials to evacuate the area but it didn't happen. will grant reports from one of the worst affected areas, los lotes. the tiny community of los lotes stood no chance. flimsy shacks of tin and corrugated iron offered residents no protection when the awesome power of volcan de fuego thundered through their village. everything was buried under the river of lava and ash. homes, livelihoods, loved ones. some are still looking for survivors, but it is an increasingly forlorn task. instead, the desperate search has

turned to the morgues. wendy hernandez has lost everyone she held dear, her entire family gathered for her mother's birthday was wiped out in minutes. her mother, sister, nephews and what's breaking her heart most of all, her two teenage daughters. translation: alll could hear was screams. i begged her to tell me what was going on. but she did not respond. with each passing day, this disaster isn't easing, but worsening. it is now almost impossible that anyone still searching for lost loved ones will have any success, except perhaps in retrieving their bodies for burial. the emergency services are working around the clock, but barely coping. the president says in this poverty—stricken nation, there isn't a single extra peso available for the relief effort. and amid it all, fuego is still active. a recent alarm prompted fresh

panic among local people, who fled any way they could. they say in latin america, hope is the last thing you lose. but in guatemala, that hope is fading fast. will grant, bbc news, los lotes, guatemala. one of the world's most active volcanoes, kilauea, on hawaii, is also still erupting. but despite the almost constant eruptions, hawaii has seen no fatalities. andrew plant reports. it has been erupting for more than a month — hawaii's kilauea volcano, its molten rock boiling through multiple fissures here. the coastal communities on hawaii's big island are now largely evacuated. by tuesday, 117 homes had been destroyed. but overnight, the lava kept flowing. it is thought another 80 properties have now been lost. we are monitoring activity,

operations are still ongoing, as far as watching the vulnerable communities and the roads out there, assisting folks and recovering whatever they can before any more inundation takes place. the eruption started on may the 3rd, destroying homes and livelihoods here, but predictable, expected even, and so far, no—one has died. kilauea never builds up the violent pressure that has claimed so many lives in guatemala's explosive eruption. scientists say this eruption cycle started in the 1980s and cannot say when the molten lava will die back down. when it does, though, many here will need to rebuild their homes swallowed by almost five weeks of flowing lava. andrew plant, bbc news. we go live to an expert on

volcanoes. good to talk to you. can you tell us why it guatemala has been such a disaster and hawaii so much more contained? the biggest difference is they erupt in different styles. fuego volcano had an explosive eruption, clouds, volcanic ash, gas and rocks travelling and hundreds of kilometres per hour so people who lived around the volcano did not have a lot of time to get out of the way as opposed to hawaii where the molten rock is called cold honey, it looks like they are moving fast but they are really sticky and people can get out of the way of those eruptions. the russian of fuego volcano really catch people off guard. kilauea volcano never really

builds up the pressure. but fuego volcano is really nothing like on earth. they are movie through air but they carry a lot of debris and at high temperatures so if the debris does not end up bearing new oi’ debris does not end up bearing new or knocking down the building, the high temperatures will do you win instead. and it seems that difference is the speed of the lava flow? that is the big reason why at kilauea volcano that has not been any fatalities. people have been able to get out of the way and emergency agencies have been able to get people out of the way in places that may be in danger. what do you make of these calls in guatemala for the head of the emergency services.

that the agency failed to respond adequately? that is always a tough one. when you monitor volcanoes, the signs of all a big or small eruptions might be similar. earthquakes, releases of gases, information and you have to think you're trying to balance that the timing and size. this was an atypically large eruption for fuego volcano such it would be hard to say anyone could have predict that it was an eruption like this.” appreciate it's a tough one but what do you expect eminently from fuego volcano and kilauea volcano. kilauea volcano and kilauea volcano. kilauea volcano looks like it will be doing the same pattern. no signs of the lava flow will end any time soon. we can expect that for weeks and months. fuego volcano tends to have

these eruptions every once in awhile. i expect explosive eruptions, maybe not as big but it will continue that pattern. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: spain's new socialist prime minister has named his cabinet, and women are taking most of the posts for the first time in the country's history. there are 11 women, and 6 men. pedro sanchez, who took office on friday after unseating mariano rajoy‘s popular party, says his new government is pro—gender equality and cross—generational. the leaders of france and canada have reaffirmed their support for strong multilateral trade relations, ahead of the g7 summit. trade tariffs and protectionism from the us will inevitably be a main focus of the meeting. canada's justin trudeau, who's hosting emmanuel macron of france, ahead of the summit in canada, has said he expects difficult conversations with president trump. thousands of people have marched through the chilean capital, santiago, in protest at sexual harassment and sexist behaviour in universities and schools.

students burned a giant papermache stiletto shoe, chanted and beat drums. for the past month, female students have occupied dozens of chilean universities, calling for an end to institutionalised sexism, including harassment by male staff and sexist education. president trump has granted clemency to a 63—year—old grandmother who was serving a life sentence in prison for a first—time non—violent drug offence. it's just a week since the reality tv star kim kardashian west visited the president in the white house to lobby for alice johnson's release. our north america correspondent chris buckler gave me more details from washington. alice mariejohnson was involved in a cocaine conspiracy. what she effectively did is pass on messages between the drug dealers, those who we re between the drug dealers, those who were distributing and supplying the drugs. it is sometimes called a

telephone mural and she received a life sentence for her part in that conspiracy but her family and friends have been campaigning sank it was a harsh sentence and she was the first time offender and was not involved in a violent offence. she got the backing recently kim kardashian west who managed to get to the white house and inside the oval office to take the case directly to donald trump and it seems she simply became interested in the story after watching a video on social media. nonetheless, it doesn't seem her influence has had an effect on the president and within days of that meeting he has commuted her sentence. very publicly today, he did not get the backing of another senior republican? there are another senior republican? there are a lot of people talking about the use of pardons and clemency by donald trump and that is because of his comments earlier this week on

twitter when he took about whether or not he would have the power to pardon himself. he said he would and that has been backed up by his lawyer, rudy giuliani. these questions whether or not global trump could pardon himself has caught a lot of attention here, the media focus on these ongoing investigation into allegations of russian meddling and colluding in the elections. donald trump says he has done nothing wrong and therefore he would not need to use the power of pardon and he believes that enquiry is a witch—hunt at other members of his republican party are being asked that question including paul ryan, the speaker of the house and he believes it is not a question of whether or not he could but whether or not he should.” of whether or not he could but whether or not he should. i do not know the technical and sir to that question but obviously he should

because no one is above the law. you get a real sense of paul ryan and dismissing this. he has also been talking about some of the other things that donald trump has been tweeting about, specifically the idea that potentially there was a spy idea that potentially there was a spy sent by the fbi inside the trump campaign and whether or not the fbi we re campaign and whether or not the fbi were abusing their power by doing so. were abusing their power by doing so. paul ryan says there is no evidence for it, really contradicting what donald trump has been saying. you get a sense of the tensions in merger between the president and his party. —— emerging. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: remembering the life and legacy of robert kennedy — a memorial service is held to mark his death fifty years ago. the queen and her husband began their royal progress to westminster. the moment of crowning in accordance with the order of service,

by a signal given, the great guns of the tower shall be shot off. tributes have been paid around the world to muhammad ali, who has died at the age of 7a. outspoken but rarely outfought, ali transcended the sport of boxing, of which he was three times world champion. he was a good fighter and he fought all the way to the end, even through his illness. yes, he did. uefa imposes an indefinite ban on english clubs playing in europe. today is the 20th anniversary of the release of the beatles' lp sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band, a record described as the album of the century. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: calls for the sacking of guatemala's head of emergency services after the agency failed to act on warnings of eruptions of the fuego volcano. the death toll rises to ninety—nine. president trump grants clemency to a grandmother serving a life sentence after a plea from reality tv star kim kardashian. here in the uk, the public inquiry into the fire at a london tower block a year ago, has heard from the man who lived in the flat where the fire started. at least 72 people died in grenfell tower, behailu kebede's lawyer told the inquiry that, after the fire broke out, his client did the right thing from start to finish but had been made a scapegoat by parts of the media. tom symonds reports. it's nearly a year now. the tower is slowly being covered up. but there is an unwavering determination to remember those who called it home, with these words appearing today. one of those residents was behailu kebede.

his kitchen was where the fire started. fire brigade. i have a fire in my flat. this is him making the first 999 call. his lawyer said he fled barefoot, phone in hand, using it to film the first flames. but press reports, including this prominent article in the london review of books, reported that he had packed a suitcase first. elsewhere, it was suggested his fridge had exploded because it was faulty. garbage, said his barrister. he had been scapegoated. he is a good man. he did nothing wrong. on the contrary, he did the right thing from start to finish. now he wants privacy for himself and for this family. kensington and chelsea council has also been blamed and invaded by protesters...

we want justice! ..for commissioning the fatal refurbishment of grenfell tower. today we heard the council's early defence. without seeking to prejudge the evidence, i ventured to suggest that you will find that there was nothing unique about the royal borough of kensington and chelsea which meant that the fire was destined to take place within its boundaries rather than somewhere else. but the refurbishment was overseen by the independent tenant management organisation, which looked after council housing in the borough. so while tmo is a specialist in the management of social housing stock, it is not a specialist design or construction company and had no in—house expertise in these areas. so it contracted out to a string of companies,

including these four. but victims' lawyers say this is developing into a carousel of blame. passed between all the bodies and companies involved. the barrister wa nted companies involved. the barrister wanted the enquiry to take a shortcut and immediately improve safety for housing tenants. this man lived on floor 15. right now, we are talking, people are at risk in towers. they are at risk even in houses. the risk is not... it doesn't become the same as the grenfell tower. it's not about grenfell tower any more, it's about the uk. the families of those lost at grenfell and the survivors have been placed at the heart of this process, but they face a long wait for this inquiry‘s considered answers to their many questions. tom symonds, bbc news, at the grenfell inquiry. just days before before the summit between president trump

and the north korean leader, authorities in singapore have been giving some idea of the sheer scale of their security operation. large areas will be sealed off and restrictions will be in place for several days — it's going to cause major disruption. rahuljoglekar reports. the roads may look calm for now but singapore may soon be transformed into a fortress. we know that sentosa island will be the location for the meeting between donald trump and north korea's kimjong—un. the police have now revealed that the security blanket will extend to areas at the heart of the city state, blocking off some of the main roads and the waters off the coast as well. drones, signalflares, and flammable materials are just some of the things that police have banned. the summit has been declared as an enhanced security special event from june 10 untiljune 14. during this period, the public can expect heightened security measures to be put in place at the summit venues and areas around. security seems to be a major concern

in selecting the two hotels. the capella hotel on sentosa island and shangri—la in downtown singapore. capella, being on sentosa island, a resort island, makes it easy to cut it off without disrupting the rest of singapore. and even within sentosa island, the location of the capella hotel is separate from the other hotels as well, so you can really create a safe space for the summit to happen without creating much disruption at all. can these two very different leaders forge a long road to peace in singapore? the local security forces hope to ensure that there are checkpoints along the way. conservationists from a british zoo have formed an unlikely partnership with an order of mexican nuns — to save a critically endangered

amphibian from extinction. the axolotl is a salamander that is unique to mexico. but it has been almost wiped out by pollution and over—fishing. however scientists say the nuns could hold the key to saving it. our science correspondent victoria gill sent this report from lake patzcuaro in central mexico. lake patzcuaro, central mexico. the only place in the world where you just might find a critically endangered axolotl local known locally as the achoce. this vast lake used to be teeming with this species of axolotl, but now the scientists studying them have set out traps to catch them and this is a half kilometre long line with 100 traps and they're hoping to find just two or three that they can take some samples from. scientists are here on a mission to prevent these strange amphibians from being wiped out completely. deforestation, which is dragging down sediments to the lake, and we have as well pollution — we were talking now to make it

official that the species is close to extinction, so it was really we arrive right at the last minute. this emergency effort involves rearing the axolotls in captivity. and that's where some unexpected experts come in — the sisters of the immaculate health, who run a true sanctuary for this species. translation: it's a lot of work and a great deal of sacrifice. but it's worth it, to work with nature and to protect what god has given us. we're going to take another dna from rubbing the tongue... but while conservationists and their devout collaborators work together to save a species that's disappearing from the wild, axolotls are bred in their thousands in laboratories around the world. most people study them because of their ability to regenerate, and it's remarkable. so let's say the limb gets bitten off here, above the elbow. what will happen is, the limb willjust regenerate a perfect mirror image

of the limb on the other side. and so many people hope that we can identify some latent ability to regenerate in human tissues by studying and understanding how the axolotl regenerates. this is real good. does it work? for the cough? for centuries, these healing abilities have fuelled a belief that consuming axolotl can cure almost any respiratory element. and the original recipe for this remarkable medicine? developed by the sisters themselves. nuns here started breathing breeding the animals 30 years ago to sustain the supply of this ancient remedy‘s key ingredient. that's what makes them such axolotl experts. now, the quiet dedication of this religious community could provide a future for a creature from which we have so much to learn. victoria gill with that report from mexico. it's been announced that paul dacre, editor of britain's daily mail for the past 26 years, is to step down before his 70th birthday in november. he is one of the most influential and controversial

figures in british media, his paper both hugely admired and bitterly reviled. he'll leave his day—to—day responsibilities to become chairman and editor—in—chief. a huge fire broke out at a luxury hotel in central london just a week after major renovations had been completed. one hundred and twenty firefighters tackled the flames on the roof of the mandarin oriental hotel in knightsbridge. the 5—star hotel has just undergone its most extensive restoration in its iis—year history according to its owners. the huge plumes of smoke could be seen from miles around. the cause of the fire is not yet known. a service of remembrance has been held at arlington national cemetery to mark the assassination of robert kennedy, 50 years ago. family, friends and dignitaries paid tribute to the senator and former us attorney general — shot dead as he campaigned for the presidency in 1968. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. it was a moment when a different type of america seemed possible. robert kennedy had won the california primary and was closer to the white house.

moments later, he lay mortally wounded on the floor of a hotel kitchen. another kennedy brother killed by an assassin‘s bullet. 50 years later, his life and legacy were remembered by some who never knew him and some who miss him most. you share our deep sense of loss and our happy memories. your presence is deeply moving and a tribute to the love that my father inspired. thank you for remembering. it was at arlington, the place where he was buried just a few feet from the grave ofjfk, that this service took place. many here, convinced that the words of robert kennedy a more relevant than ever. we can do it all over again but we had to do it the way he did,

speaking to everybody, stating the same thing to everybody. with a heart full of love and an outstretched hand. this was a service dedicated to a life cut short, a legacy incomplete. but it was also dedicated to the ideas of robert kennedy, what his grandson called his belief in a truer, kinder tomorrow. tim allman, bbc news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbc mike embley. hello there.

good morning. the weather looks very sluggish over the next few days into the weekend as well. so it is going to be difficult to get the detail right. wednesday, most places had a warm, summer's day. not much cloud around at all. over the next couple of days, in the south, there will be more cloud around. maybe one or two heavy and thundery showers. on the whole, most places will be dry. a fair bit of cloud across eastern areas on wednesday but this is the cloud coming in from the near continent that threatens a few heavy and thundery showers, notjust overnight — perhaps into thursday as well into the southern parts of england as well — not many of them, most places will be dry. more cloud will fill humid southern areas and around the coast there could be patches of cloud on the cooler side but generally temperatures into the low 20s as they were on wednesday. we could scrape an isolated sharp shower across western scotland

and western northern ireland, if those fall they will fade overnight, still one or two showers into the south—west of england and south wales. again for eastern areas, turning misty and more areas of low clouds and patchy fog too. it will improve through the day on friday and again we have the risk of a few showers here and there. same sort of areas around southern england and wales and clipping the far north—west of the uk, but large parts will be fine and dry and it will feel warm in the sunshine again. always cooler around those north sea coasts because we have an onshore breeze, once again high pressure to the north of the uk and lower pressure to the south and it's around that that we are seeing storms, heavy rain, maybe over the continent through the english channel and the threat of one or two heading into england and wales on saturday. the risk is still there, across the western side of ireland, cooler along the north sea coast. during the second half

of the weekend this area of low pressure is closer and the weather front too, it threatens to bring with it heavy rain. still could be a few sharp showers across scotland and the chance of one or two for northern ireland but again some spells of sunshine and temperatures into the low 20s. looking ahead into monday and tuesday, again, most places will be dry. briefly we may see some high—pressure arriving on tuesday, but then we see atlantic winds after that. maybe a change. this is bbc news. the headlines: with 99 people now confirmed dead around the erupting fuego volcano in guatemala, opposition politicians are calling for the head of the emergency response agency to be sacked. they believe the agency failed to respond to advance warnings. dozens of people are still unaccounted for. an american grandmother serving more than twenty years in jail

on a non—violent, first—time drugs charge, has been released. she has been granted clemency by president trump, responding to a plea from reality tv star, kim kardashian west. she met him at the white house last week to lobby for alicejohnson‘s release. britain's grenfell tower inquiry has heard that the man who lived in the flat where the fire started was not responsible for the tragedy. behailu kebede's lawyer said his client alerted his flatmates and neighbours as soon as he saw smoke and that claims he left the building to burn were a nasty lie. now on bbc news, click.