London fire: Appeals for missing relatives

Twelve people have died and 18 people are in critical care after a huge fire engulfed a west London tower block on Tuesday night.

Many people are unaccounted for, and loved ones have appealed on social media for information.

Jessica Urbano Ramirez

 

Jessica, aged 12, is believed to have become separated from her family when the blaze broke out.

Her aunt Ana Ospina says they still haven't heard from her, but they have been calling hospitals as they believe she may have been taken in for treatment.

Actor Noel Clarke, who grew up in the area, is one of many social media users appealing for information on her whereabouts.

Mohamednur 'Mo' Tuccu

Mo Tuccu, a British national from Eritrea, was visiting friends or family at the Grenfell tower with his wife Amalahmedin and three-year-old daughter Amayah.

They had gone to break their Ramadan fast.

A colleague at the Red PR consultancy - where he has worked as a security guard for 10 years - said he was due to win an award for his service to the company.

The company tweeted an appeal for news of his whereabouts earlier today.

Khadija Saye and Mary Mendy

 

Artist Khadija Saye, 24, is a 20th floor resident of Grenfell tower.
Khadija had been filmed for a BBC documentary
Labour MP David Lammy was one of the many appealing for information about her whereabouts. His wife is her employer and mentor.
He tweeted: "If you have any information about Khadija Saye pls contact me. She is our dear friend, a beautiful soul and emerging artist."
Khadija's mother Mary Mendy is also missing

Begum Family

 One family from the 17th floor has five people missing. Husna Begum and four other members of her family were last heard of at 03:00 BST.

 

Tony Disson

 

The family of 66-year-old retired lorry driver Tony Disson told the BBC he lived on the 22nd floor of Grenfell Tower.

Mr Disson, who has lived in the property for eight years, phoned his son at 03:30 BST and said he was being told to stay in his flat.

He has three sons, four grandchildren, and another on the way.

His family say they have been calling hospitals to locate his whereabouts and posted an urgent appeal for any information.

Mariem Elgwahry

 

Mariem Elgwahry, 27, is a marketing manager who is believed to have last spoken to someone at 02:30 BST.
Her friend posted this picture with the message: "Seeking any information on our missing friend. She was on the 19th floor."

Ali Yawar Jafari

 

Ali Yawar Jafari.82, lived on the 11th floor of Grenfell Tower with his wife and daughter.
His son Hamid says his father had a heart condition and had difficulty walking.
His daughter Nadia was visiting on Tuesday evening, and when the fire broke out she got into the lift with him.
But they separated on the 10th floor, and the family have not been able to contact him since.
Mr Jafari has lived in the tower for 16 years. He is a father of six children and seven grandchildren.

Denis Murphy

 

 

The family of 56-year-old Denis Murphy say they last heard from him in the early hours of Tuesday morning sometime between 01:30 and 02:00 BST.
He called from his flat on the 14th floor and said he couldn't breathe because of the smoke.
His family say they have not heard anything since and have been frantically contacting hospitals and care centres.
By Rozina Sini and Chris Bell, BBC's UGC and Social News team

Egypt's parliament approves islands deal to Saudi Arabia

Egypt's parliament has given its approval to a controversial plan to transfer sovereignty of two largely uninhabited islands to Saudi Arabia.

The deal, to hand over the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, was agreed during a visit to Egypt by Saudi King Salman in April 2016.

It sparked rare protests in Egypt, with the president accused of "selling" the islands in return for Saudi aid.

The deal has been subject to challenges in court over the past year.

But parliament has insisted the issue lies in its jurisdiction. Final approval is now needed from President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Protesters gathered outside the press union in Cairo as news of parliament's approval became known. Several people, including some journalists, were detained.

Mr Sisi said the islands had always belonged to Saudi Arabia and that the Saudis had asked Egypt to station troops there in 1950 to protect them.

A court ruled in January that the government had failed to provide evidence that the islands were originally Saudi, although this ruling was overturned by another court a few months later.

Opponents accuse Mr Sisi of violating the constitution and handing over the islands to please Saudi Arabia which has backed him financially since he led the military's overthrow of his elected Islamist predecessor, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013.

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Why the Red Sea islands matter

 

• Sanafir and Tiran are islands that lie about 4km (2 nautical miles) apart in the Red Sea
• Tiran sits at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, on a strategically important stretch of water called the Strait of Tiran, used by Israel to access the Red Sea
• The islands are uninhabited, apart from Egyptian military personnel and multinational peacekeepers
• Egyptian troops have been stationed on the islands since 1950 at the request of Saudi Arabia
• Israel captured the islands in 1956 and 1967, subsequently returning them to Egypt both times
• Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi was criticised for "selling" Egyptian territory after deciding in April 2016 to hand the islands to Saudi Arabia.

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 BBC NEWS

Erdogan visit violence: Washington police arrest two Turkish men

Two Turkish nationals living in the US have been arrested in connection with violence outside the Turkish ambassador's residence in Washington.

Eyup Yildirim of New Jersey and Sinan Narin of Virginia face assault charges, police said.

The brawl involving protesters and Turkish security personnel happened during a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month.

Police called it a "brutal attack on peaceful protesters".

Mr Erdogan was in a car parked nearby and witnessed the fighting.

Mr Yildirim and Mr Narin were both identified as supporters of Mr Erdogan in a detailed New York Times report into the violence.

The newspaper said the men had travelled to Washington to support the Turkish president, but it was unclear if they had a formal connection to his security detail.

Video footage showed men in suits charging past police to kick and punch protesters. Two other men have previously been charged.

Eleven people were hurt in the fracas, nine of whom needed hospital treatment.

The US complained to Turkey about the incident and confirmed that Turkish security guards were involved.

However, the Turkish Embassy said protesters had provoked Turkish-Americans who were there to greet the president, and they in turn responded in self-defence.

BBC NEWS

London fire: Why are people told to 'stay put'?

After the horrendous fire that swept Grenfell Tower in west London, it has emerged that notices in the block instructed people to "stay put". Why is that advice given?

Fire action notices in the tower advised that unless the fire was in or affecting their flat, they should remain in their homes.

Guidance issued to tenants in a newsletter said: "Our longstanding 'stay put policy' stays in force unless you are told otherwise. This means that (unless there is a fire in your flat or in the hallway outside your flat) you should stay inside your flat."

This is fairly standard advice for people living in purpose-built blocks of flats

 

 

 In their general advice, the London Fire Brigade says if a fire breaks out in a block of flats, people living in the block - whose flats are not affected by the smoke or fire - are "usually safer" staying in their homes.
Elfyn Edwards, a fire safety expert and former firefighter, says the stay put policy is designed to stop residents in flats unaffected by fire from unnecessarily evacuating the building and blocking the stairways.
The key factor is how a fire spreads. The principles of fire safety in the UK are based on a fire being able to be contained. Usually the way tower blocks are designed means a fire breaking out in one flat should not spread throughout the rest of a building.
Each flat is designed to be separate and able to contain a fire.
Latest updates as fire rips through tower block

• London tower block fire: In pictures
• What we know so far
• Residents raised fire risk fears

But, Mr Edwards said, the Grenfell Tower blaze - because of the speed at which the fire had engulfed the block - was unprecedented.
Geoff Wilkinson, a fire and building inspector, told the BBC that one of his "major concerns" would be that smoke seems to have spread into escape routes. He also said the system of fire alarms in tower blocks was not exactly as might be assumed.
"The way these buildings work isn't for everyone to escape. With a single staircase, the intention is that the fire is contained within the individual apartment.
"So you don't have to have everyone escaping all at one point. What will happen is the fire service will arrive, they'll take command of it, and they will make a decision as to which floors should evacuate."
Fire safety expert Graham Fieldhouse said a "stay put policy" did not mean residents must remain in all situations.
"There are questions about the stay put policy and people's understanding of the policy," he said.
"If you're affected by fire or smoke, get out."
As an example, guidance issued by Harlow council, in Essex, says: "If you are in doubt - get out."

Image copyright PA

 

 

 The Local Government Association, which represents councils, reiterates that message in its 2012 guidance, which says a stay put policy does not imply those who wish to leave a building should be prevented from doing so if they feel "threatened".
One resident of Grenfell Tower, Michael Paramasivan, said that he had been told in the case of fire he must stay in his flat - advice he ignored.
"If we had stayed in that flat, we would have perished," he said.
This is not the first time the advice to stay put has been called into question.
In 2009, six people died after a fire broke out in Lakanal House, a tower block in Camberwell, south-east London.
But, in a report following the 2009 tragedy, the chief fire and rescue adviser, Sir Ken Knight, said the spread of that fire had been unusual.
He said a full understanding of how it had spread was needed to make sure the "stay put" principle was still sound.
Along with many others, that question may now be asked again.

BBC NEWS

Gunman dead after attacking congressmen at Virginia baseball field

A gunman who sprayed bullets at Republican lawmakers during baseball practice in a Washington DC suburb has died, US President Donald Trump said.

House of Representatives Majority Whip Steve Scalise was one of five injured in the early morning ambush at a park in Alexandria, Virginia.

The attacker, identified as Illinois native James T Hodgkinson, was killed after a firefight with police.

The injured included two officers with non-life threatening wounds.

• Reaction to the attack
• Virginia shooting: What we know
• A Washington baseball tradition in peril

President Trump described the attack as a "very, very brutal assault".

"We may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation's capital is here because, above all, they love our country," he added.

He also called Mr Scalise - who was shot in the hip and is in a critical condition after surgery - a "patriot and a fighter". 

What we know about suspect

• James T Hodgkinson is a 66-year-old man from Belleville, Illinois
• His wife told ABC News he moved to Virginia two months ago
• His Facebook account shows anti-Republican and anti-Trump rhetoric
• He volunteered on the campaign of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders
• He had a string of criminal convictions, including traffic violations and allegations of violence

What we know about James T Hodgkinson

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The lawmakers were practising for the annual congressional ballgame that organisers vowed would go ahead as planned on Thursday at Nationals Park, home of Major League Baseball team the Washington Nationals.

Alexandria police said the FBI was taking over the investigation into the shooting, which began shortly after 07:00 (11:00 GMT) on Wednesday morning at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park.

Sitting ducks'

As well as Mr Scalise, two police officers, Krystal Griner and David Bailey, lobbyist Matt Mika and Zack Barth, a congressional aide for Texas lawmaker Roger Williams, were injured.

Mr Barth, a former staffer for two Republican congressmen, was shot in the chest, according to witness Arizona Senator Jeff Flake.

Mr Flake told reporters he was at bat during the shooting and the victims were "sitting ducks".

Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, said someone at the baseball field had used a belt as a tourniquet on Mr Scalise, who is the number three House Republican.

South Carolina congressman Jeff Duncan said the suspect had asked him whether Republicans or Democrats were practising, before shots rang out.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul told Fox News: "I do believe without the Capitol Hill police it would have been a massacre.

"We had no defence at all. The field was basically a killing field."

He said they were lucky that Mr Scalise was present because he has a security detail owing to his congressional seniority.
Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, told CNN he was on third base during the baseball game when he saw Mr Scalise, who was on second base, shot.
He said Mr Scalise had a bullet hole in his leg, but was saying: "I'm OK, I'm OK."
Mr Brooks said everyone on the field scattered as 50 to 100 shots were fired.
He said a gunfight had ensued between the shooter and the congressmen's police security detail, who were armed with pistols.
Mr Brooks, who took refuge behind a batting cage, said the gunman was armed with a rifle and was "blasting away" from behind the dugout.
Mr Brooks said congressmen Chuck Fleischmann, of Tennessee, Ron DeSantis, of Florida, and Jeff Duncan, of South Carolina, were among 15-25 other lawmakers at the game.
Asked by a CNN host if the attack was deliberate, Mr Brooks replied: "Well, it sure as heck wasn't an accident!
He was going after elected officials, congressmen."
Mr Brooks continued: "The only weapon I had was a baseball bat and that's not the kind of fight you want to engage in."
Ohio congressman Brad Wenstrup, who served in Iraq as a combat surgeon from 2005-06, provided medical care at the scene.
He said the attack had lasted for at least 10 minutes, adding: "He had a lot of ammo."
Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown said his officers had responded and engaged the shooter within three minutes.
The last member of Congress to be targeted by a gunman was Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head as she met constituents in Tucson, Arizona, in January 2011. She survived, but six others died in that incident.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was elected to Congress in 2008

Ms Giffords‏ said in a statement: "This shooting is an attack on all who serve and on all who participate in our democracy."
The top Republican in the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan, was applauded on the chamber floor as he said: "We are united... an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us."

BBC NEWS

Raqqa battle: 'Staggering' civilian toll in strikes on IS

UN war crimes investigators say US-led coalition air strikes on Islamic State militants in the Syrian city of Raqqa are causing "staggering loss of life".

Hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed since March, as coalition warplanes support an offensive by a Kurdish-led alliance.

In the past week, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters have pushed into the west, east and north of Raqqa.

The battle for the city has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes.

• US-backed forces face fierce battle for Raqqa
• Inside 'Islamic State': A Raqqa diary
• Islamic State group: The full story

The coalition has said the capture of Raqqa will deliver a "decisive blow" to the caliphate proclaimed by IS in June 2014, months after it took control or the city.

Up to 4,000 militants are believed to be holed up inside Raqqa, including foreign fighters and various senior figures.

It is unclear how many civilians are trapped there with them, but UN officials estimated that there are between 50,000 and 100,000.

In an address to the UN Human Rights Council on Wednesday, the chairman of the independent commission of inquiry for Syria noted that IS had been losing territory at a rapid pace in the north and centre of the country over the past few months.

If successful, Paolo Pinheiro said, the SDF offensive on Raqqa "could liberate the city's civilian population from the group's oppressive clutches, including Yazidi women and girls, whom the group has kept sexually enslaved for almost three years as part of an ongoing and unaddressed genocide".

But he added that the offensive must not be "undertaken at the expense of civilians who unwillingly find themselves living in areas where [IS] is present".

"We note in particular that the intensification of air strikes, which have paved the ground for an SDF advance in Raqqa, has resulted not only in staggering loss of civilian life, but has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes and becoming internally displaced."

The UK-based monitoring group Airwars estimates that more than 600 civilians were killed in more than 150 coalition or SDF attacks between March and May.

Air and artillery strikes killed dozens more in the first eight days of June, it says.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned on Thursday that the assault was intensifying an "already desperate" situation in Raqqa.

Air strikes, shelling and clashes on the ground were killing and injuring civilians, and damaging key infrastructure, it said. There were also reports of increased shortages of essential commodities such as food, medicine and fuel, it added.

Separately, Human Rights Watch warned that the coalition's use of artillery-delivered white phosphorus in Raqqa and in the last remaining IS-held parts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was endangering civilians.
White phosphorus can be used for several purposes on the battlefield - as a smoke screen, for signalling and marking, and as an incendiary weapon.
However, international law prohibits its use in civilian areas because of its indiscriminate effects. On contact, it can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone.
"No matter how white phosphorus is used, it poses a high risk of horrific and long-lasting harm," warned Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. 

BBC NEWS

Wu Xiaohui: China 'detains' Anbang Insurance chairman

The head of Chinese insurance and financial giant Anbang is reported to have been detained by the authorities.

The company, one of the country's richest and most powerful, said Wu Xiaohui was stepping aside as chairman.

It gave few details but said he was no longer able to fulfil his duties for "personal reasons".

Chinese business magazine Caijing had reported that Mr Wu was detained by authorities last week, but later deleted its article.

An official source told the BBC that Mr Wu had been taken away from the Anbang Office Building on 8 June by police who arrived in two cars.

It is not clear where Mr Wu is now.

If Mr Wu's detention is confirmed by the authorities, he would be the highest-profile target of the government's attempt to re-establish state control of the financial industry, and target corruption.

Anbang is known for a number of high profile international acquisitions, like the purchase of New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel in 2015.

Anbang

Chinese insurance giant

$242bn

Value of assets managed

• $60m Starting capital in 2004
  
• 9.12bn Current capital
  
• 1.95bn Acquisition of New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel
  

The Economist

Reuters

The company, which manages some 1.65tn yuan (£190bn; $242bn) worth of assets, said in a statement that the chairman's duties would be managed by other senior executives.

Anbang did not comment on the report by Caijing that he had been detained.

Earlier, Anbang had denied a report by the Financial Times that Mr Wu had been stopped from travelling abroad.

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Is Anbang what it seems? Analysis by Celia Hatton, BBC News

In the past few years, high-level officials have often been detained for corruption in China. Found guilty of taking bribes, they're handed lengthy prison sentences and ushered out of public view.

The Wu Xiaohui case is very different.

Mr Wu masterminded the explosive rise of his company in just over a decade by selling relatively risky investment products - not traditional insurance policies. Still smarting about the collapse of Shanghai's stock market in 2012, Chinese regulators had warned about Anbang's "wealth management products".

Another respected magazine, Caixin, published unusually frank exposes on Anbang in April. Like the New York Times before it, Caixin probed Anbang's murky ownership structure and whether it had enough money in the bank to carry out large overseas acquisitions.

The articles addressed some of the greatest mysteries swirling around China: who really owns Anbang and who made way for its almost impossible rise from a tiny car insurance company to a global behemoth?

If Wu Xiaohui and Anbang aren't what they seem, the entire Chinese economy, including many ordinary people with Anbang products, could be in for a fall.

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• The politics behind China's stock market turbulence
• The mystery of a Chinese tycoon's disappearance
• Chinese tycoon Guo Guangchang detained

Anbang had recently been in talks with a real estate company part-owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner.

The two sides were reportedly negotiating a deal to redevelop one of Kushner Companies' Manhattan buildings. 

The possible deal had raised media speculation over a potential conflict of interest and was called off by "mutual agreement" without any reasons given.

Wu Xiaohui had long been considered one of the most politically connected men in China, having married the granddaughter of former leader Deng Xiaoping.

His company has in recent years been among the biggest players of Chinese firms pursuing high-profile overseas acquisitions and investments.

In 2016, Anbang paid private equity firm Blackstone $6.5bn for the ownership of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a portfolio of upmarket hotels and resorts.

That purchase added 16 luxury properties across the US to Anbang's holdings, including the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, and the Four Seasons hotels in Silicon Valley and Washington.

BBC NEWS