Qatar buys F-15 fighter planes in billion-dollar US deal

Qatar has signed a $12bn deal to buy F-15 fighters jets from the US.
The sale was finalised at a meeting in Washington between US defence chief Jim Mattis and his Qatari counterpart.
It comes days after US President Donald Trump accused Qatar - a major US ally - of funding terrorism "at a very high level" - a charge Qatar denies.
Other Gulf countries recently cut ties with Doha, accusing it of destabilising the region through its alleged support of extremist groups and links to Iran.
Qatar is home to the biggest US air base in the Middle East, Al-Udeid. It houses around 10,000 troops and plays a key role in the US-led operations against the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq.
Mr Trump's comments appeared at odds with the US Department of Defence, which had praised Qatar's "enduring commitment to regional security" just days earlier.
Saudi Arabia, another key US ally, has led moves to isolate the gas-rich emirate since earlier this month. Riyadh sealed its border, closed its air space to Qatari Airways and - along with Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt - severed diplomatic relations.
A Qatari official said the deal for the fighter planes was "proof that US institutions are with us but we have never doubted that," Reuters news agency reported.
"Our militaries are like brothers. America's support for Qatar is deep-rooted and not easily influenced by political changes," the unnamed official was quoted as saying.
A Qatari defence ministry source told Reuters Doha had bought 36 of the planes.
The deal comes just weeks after the US agreed to sell the Saudis more than $100bn-worth of weapons.
As tensions between Qatar and its neighbours escalate, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was due in Kuwait on Thursday as part of a shuttle mission to try to resolve the crisis.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has strongly backed Qatar, calling the Saudi-led measures "inhumane and against Islamic values". Kuwait has also been mediating.
Last week, the Turkish parliament authorised the deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar in what was seen as a show of support for the embattled emirate. Ankara has also sent planeloads of food to Qatar, which had been dependant on imports from Saudi Arabia.
BBC NEWS

London fire: First victim named as Mohammed Alhajali

The first victim of the fire at Grenfell Tower in London has been named by a charity as a Syrian refugee.
Mohammed Alhajali, who is reported to be 23, came to the UK in 2014 and was studying civil engineering whilst living in North Kensington.
Syria Solidarity Campaign said: "[He] undertook a dangerous journey to flee war and death in Syria, only to meet it here in the UK, in his own home."
At least 17 people died in the fire which started early on Wednesday.
The charity said he had been in a flat on the 14th floor with his brother, Omar, and the pair had tried to escape, but lost each other on the way downstairs.
Omar was rescued by firefighters, but Mohammed returned to his flat and tried to call family members back in Syria.
"Mohammed was on the phone for two hours with a friend in Syria, waiting to be rescued," said a statement from the charity.
"He was trying to reach his family... but he could not get connected to them due to the situation in Syria. He had not seen his family for four years.
"When the fire reached his flat... Mohammed bid his friend goodbye. He asked his friend to pass on the message to his family."
Both Mohammed and Omar had been due to join the charity with another brother on Saturday as part of The Great Get Together - celebrating the life of murdered MP Jo Cox - and Refugee Week.
Now the event will be used to pay tribute to Mohammed and the others who lost their lives in the fire.
The charity called for a "thorough investigation" into building regulations, adding: "Mohammed came to this country for safety and the UK failed to protect him."
Mohammed's family told the BBC that Omar was being treated in King's College Hospital and was improving.
They are trying to get UK visas for their parents so they can come from Damascus to see Mohammed's body.
BBC NEWS

'Monumental U-turn' on cancer drug

A pioneering and life-extending drug repeatedly deemed too expensive will now be offered on the NHS in England.
It is the result of a confidential deal between the health service and the drug company Roche.
Kadcyla, the undiscounted cost of which had been £90,000 per patient, adds an average of six months of life to women with a form of terminal breast cancer.
Campaigners have praised the "monumental" U-turn, which will benefit about 1,200 women a year.
"Tough negotiation and flexibility between the NHS and Roche means both patients and taxpayers are getting a good deal," said NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens.

Cost-effectiveness test

Kadcyla, a combination of two drugs, is used to treat people with HER2-positive tumours that have spread to other parts of the body and cannot be surgically removed.
Scotland decided in April to pay for the drug, but it had been deemed too expensive by the rest of the UK.
In order for a drug to be approved by the regulatory body, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), it has to pass a cost-effectiveness test.
The full price drug worked out at £166,000 for every "quality adjusted life year" of good health.
It is not clear how much of a discount has been offered, but it is understood the cost per quality adjusted life year is down to about £50,000.
That is in line with other drugs that extend the life of terminally ill patients.

Delighted

Richard Erwin, general manager at Roche, said: "Close collaboration between Roche, NHS England and NICE has resulted in NICE recommending Kadcyla as a cost-effective treatment.
"This is a positive example of how solutions can be reached when all parties show flexibility."
The Welsh government expects to offer Kadcyla as soon as an equivalent deal is agreed with Roche. And the decision could allow the drug to be prescribed in Northern Ireland too.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, the chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said: "This is exceptionally good news... we are absolutely delighted."
She added: "Today's landmark decision bodes well for patients looking for reassurances that modern cancer treatments can get through to NHS patients more quickly and can bring transformational improvements in patient outcomes for the future."
A petition by the charity to get Kadcyla funded had amassed more than 115,000 signatures in less than a month.
Gunes Kalkan, from Breast Cancer Care, said: "This U-turn decision is monumental.
"This proves innovative treatments can be made widely available, and it is hugely frustrating this agreement did not come sooner."
BBC NEWS

London fire: 'The working class aren't being listened to'



Maria Vigo has lived opposite Grenfell Tower for 11 years, and she's upset.
Not just with the fire that claimed so many lives in the block she can see from her kitchen window.
She's also upset with how expensive her local playgroup has become, and how the people of north Kensington can't afford the properties in the area.
But - most of all - she's upset that she's not being listened to.
"There was a lot of anger on the school run this morning," she says.
"There's a lot of separation between classes and people are telling me that it's down to social cleansing."
Maria says people are angry that things didn't work in the tower, and that there weren't any sprinklers.
"They need to train us how to get out of buildings safely, not just put up a fire notice," she says.
The mother of two, whose children both have special needs, talks of how, years ago, the affluence of Knightsbridge spilled into parts of Kensington, then Notting Hill, then Holland Park.
She puts her hands into a circle. "We feel like we're being surrounded."

How house prices compare

£1,369,708
Average in Kensington and Chelsea
£220,094
Average for UK
  • £66,384 Increase in average Kensington and Chelsea price since 2016
Getty Images
Maria was born in the area, and talks about how local playgroups have been privatised.
"If they were £2 and now they're £7.50, then no-one can afford to take their kids there."
She speaks without drawing breath, frustration spilling out.
"This area's always been working class. It's starting to become a bit less so now, and the working class are feeling that they're being left without a voice.
"The council isn't listening to us. We don't want a pretty building. They should ask us 'What do we need? or 'What would we like?'"
Maria also says a desire for profits is encroaching on the lives of working-class locals.


"Properties are being built in this area that aren't being bought by people in the local community."
The area around Grenfell Tower is busy, especially near Latimer Road tube, but voices are low and sombre.
People stand huddled in groups, looking downcast. Some don't want to talk to the press.
Others take photographs of the blackened block; a scar in the sky that dominates everyone's thoughts.
Young men in sports gear and oversized caps, old men in shirts and trousers, and women in hijabs, all pull out their phones to take photographs of the soot-stained tower, bits of which float onto the street.
People's faces screw up as they look up. No-one can believe what they're seeing.

Snatches of conversation can be heard in the streets.
"Can you imagine how desperate..." says one man to a woman as they walk.
People drive to various churches and buildings that are now refuge centres, trying to hand over bundles of clothes, but they're politely turned away.
One man pulls up to Latymer Community Church in a van, with two big bags of clothes. He's turned away as there are too many clothes being donated now.
He sticks them into his white van, explaining that he's from Essex but was passing and wanted to help. He grins, helplessly.
In the streets, it looks like a mass house move is under way - cars are stuffed with bin liners. Their drivers call out to pedestrians and police officers for directions to drop-off centres.
They too are told their kindness can't be accepted, that so much has been donated, but that nappies are still needed.
Father Bisrat Berhanu, 55, is an Orthodox priest and lives in Lancaster Way. He's been around here for 19 years.
He would visit people in Grenfell Tower, knew families there, and is shocked at what's happened.
"The community is dynamic, it's close," he says.
"The people in the tower blocks knew each other, they were like a family. I've met people who lived there. We've cried together.
"We're feeling shock and shock. Everyone's been ringing me, even people from overseas, asking just what has happened."
He too says that locals feel like they're being pushed out by affluence, that numbers mean more than people do.
"There are conspiracy theories but I don't get into that. We need love and kindness, to try and cure the wound, and cure people's hearts."
Christina Simmons, 56, lives in a street close to the tower and has been a local for 27 years. She's disabled and has difficulty walking.
"People are coming together and rallying together," she says.
"I didn't realise we had so many Eritreans and Somalians, they've all come out to offer support."
She too believes that "they aren't listening to us," a phrase she repeats several times.
"Roads were closed recently because of gas works apparently. Well, I didn't see any works. It creates chaos and I can't walk very far. No-one told us they were closing the roads.
"They don't listen to us. We're being neglected and ignored. I'm bloody angry."
But she does soften her tone, after expressing sympathy for the horrors for those caught up in the fire.
"I'd like to see some community meetings," she says. "Maybe this'll all bring us closer together."
BBC NEWS

London fire: Prime minister orders full public inquiry

Prime Minister Theresa May has ordered a full public inquiry into the fire that engulfed a west London block of flats, killing at least 17 people.
That figure is expected to rise, as fire chiefs do not expect to find any more survivors in the burnt-out Grenfell Tower, in north Kensington.
People have been desperately seeking news of missing family and friends.
The PM said people "deserve answers" as to why the fire spread so rapidly and that the inquiry "will give them".
Mrs May, who made a brief, private visit to the scene earlier, said: "[The emergency services] told me that the way this fire had spread and took hold of the building was rapid, it was ferocious, it was unexpected.
"So it is right that, in addition to the immediate fire report that will be produced and any potential police investigation, that we do have a full public inquiry to get to the bottom of this."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also visited the site, telling community leaders "the truth has to come out".
The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith said if the inquiry followed the course of previous inquiries, it "may well be headed by a judge".
"It will almost certainly hold its evidence sessions in public and those who will give evidence will include the local council, the builders, the contractors but yes too, I suspect the tenants and the relatives of some of the victims," he added.
More than 30 people remain in hospital - 17 of whom are in a critical condition.
The Queen earlier said her "thoughts and prayers" are with families
Firefighters were called to the 24-storey residential tower in the early hours of Wednesday, at a time when hundreds of people were inside, most of them sleeping.
Many were woken by neighbours, or shouts from below, and fled the building.
Fire crews rescued 65 adults and children, but some stayed in their homes, trapped by smoke and flames.

At the scene


By Lucy Manning, special correspondent, BBC News
For the families of the missing, grief is mixing with anger.
They are angry at the lack of information about their relatives. Many just don't know if they are alive, dead or injured.
I spoke to one man: His cousin, her husband and their baby are missing.
He is pleading for the police, the hospitals, the authorities to give him information about those who are injured or who might have died.
It's a complaint I've heard from families after terror attacks: that the system doesn't seem to help the families. That the wait is too long and agonising.
His relatives had to trawl round hospitals and, thanks to a nurse, found two missing children but they haven't found the rest of the family.
Although it's hard for the authorities to deal with these incidents his message to the police, hospitals, officials and politicians is "please please help us."

On Thursday morning, London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said her crews had identified a "number" of those killed, "but we know there will be more".
Asked how many were still missing, Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said it would be "wrong and incredibly distressing" to give a number.
"I know one person was reported 46 times to the casualty bureau," he said.
A brief search of all floors in the tower had been carried out, but the severity of the fire and amount of debris meant a thorough search would be "difficult and painstaking", Commander Cotton said.
Sniffer dogs will now be sent in to search for evidence and identification of people still inside, she said.

Temporary structures will be built inside the block in order to shore it up before more thorough work can begin.
The cause of the fire, which took more than 24 hours to bring under control, remains unknown.
Throughout the morning, only wisps of smoke were seen coming from the charred building, but flames were later seen flaring up again on a lower floor.
London-born Adele and her husband visited the scene on Wednesday evening, and the singer was seen comforting people.
Singer Rita Ora pitched in by helping to sort donations outside the tower.
Photographs and messages in English and Arabic have been left for loved ones on a wall of condolence near the tower block.
Alongside them are words of anger and calls for justice, with people saying their safety concerns were not listened to.
The local authority - Kensington and Chelsea council - said 44 households had been placed in emergency accommodation so far.
Throughout Wednesday night, people donated food, clothes and blankets for those left without homes.

By early morning some volunteers said they had been overwhelmed with donations and were turning people and vans away.
The government has said checks were now planned on tower blocks that have gone through a similar upgrade.
Construction firm Rydon, which carried out the refurbishment, initially said in a statement that the work met "all fire regulations" - the wording was omitted in a later statement.
Fire risk assessment in tower blocks was "less rigorous" since responsibility for it shifted from the fire brigade to the owner, Sian Berry, housing committee chairwoman of the London Assembly, said.

Plans showing the elevation of the tower
BBC NEWS

Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

  Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices. Before an image is stored on...