Grenfell Tower fire: Government staff sent in to Kensington and Chelsea Council

Government staff have been drafted in to bolster the official response to the Grenfell Tower disaster in west London.

The move follows widespread criticism of the local council's performance.

Residents condemned the relief effort as "absolute chaos" and complained that Kensington and Chelsea Council had provided little support or information.

The council said it would cooperate "in full" with the government's inquiry into the fire, in which at least 58 people are believed to have died.

• Latest updates as fire recovery continues
• 'Where is the council?'
• 'Outrageous' lack of help for victims
• What we know so far
• Who are the victims?

Many have been left homeless by the massive fire that engulfed the 24-storey block of flats on Wednesday.

Police fear the number of the dead could increase. The BBC understands the death toll could rise to about 70 people in total.

As part of the new move by the government, a team of civil servants has been embedded into the council office.

Other measures outlined by the prime minister following a meeting with residents on Saturday, included more staff covering phone lines and ground staff wearing high-visibility clothing so they could be easily found.

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At the scene

By BBC reporter, Mark Lobel 

 

The residents here are now telling us the volunteers are at breaking point.

There are expected to be government civil servants down here, on the ground, helping out.

Whether they are in hi-vis jackets or whether they are meant to be replacing the volunteers, there has been no sign of them so far.

I've been speaking to residents, speaking to people who've been here all morning, I've been speaking to the police and they haven't noticed a change yet.

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The Home Office said it was making arrangements for the family of civil engineering Mohammed Alhajali, who died in the fire, to travel from Syria to the UK for his funeral.

Questions continue to be asked about why the fire spread so quickly, with some suggesting new cladding fitted during a recent refurbishment could have been to blame.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said a criminal investigation would examine whether building regulations had been breached when the block was overhauled.

The public inquiry set up by the government following the tragedy would also examine if rules had been broken, he told BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

Asked whether the government had revised building regulations, as recommended by a coroner, following another deadly fire in south London tower block in 2009, Mr Hammond said the government had responded "correctly and appropriately" to the recommendations.

He said if the public inquiry found something needed to be done to make buildings safe, it would be done, he added.

Asked about his council's poor response, leader Nicholas Paget-Brown said staff were "working closely" with the government, charities, volunteer and resident groups and the emergency services to help re-house and assist those affected.

"People rightly have questions about the causes of the fire and why it spread so quickly and these will be answered," he said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told ITV's Peston on Sunday that the council seemed to "lack the resources to deal with a crisis of this magnitude", despite being the country's "wealthiest borough".

'Suspicion'

Meanwhile, Labour MP David Lammy, whose friend Khadija Saye is among the dead, has called for urgent action to make sure all documents relating to the refurbishment and management of the Grenfell Tower fire are protected.

After speaking to residents, he said: "Suspicion of a cover-up is rising.

"We need to make sure that the emails, minutes of meetings, correspondence with contractors, safety assessments, specifications and reports are not destroyed," he added.

Theresa May has also come in for a barrage of criticism over her own response to the disaster.

On Friday, she was jeered on a visit to the North Kensington estate, and protesters marching on Friday and Saturday called for her resignation.

First Secretary of State Damian Green defended the prime minister, saying she was as "distraught as we all are".

So far in the investigation:

• Six victims have been provisionally identified by police
• Three have been named so far, including Syrian refugee Mohammed Alhajali, 23, five-year-old Isaac Shawo, and artist Khadija Saye
• Of those killed, one died in hospital
• Eighteen people remain in hospital, nine in critical care
• A criminal investigation has been launched
• The government has committed £5m for clothes, food and emergency supplies for the victims
• UK councils are carrying out urgent reviews of their tower blocks, the Local Government Association says
• A British Red Cross appeal is launched to raise money for those affected
• The emergency number for people concerned about friends and family is 0800 0961 233

The fire broke out at the tower block, which contained 120 one and two-bedroom flats, shortly before 01:00 BST on Wednesday.

It tore through all floors of the building and took more than 200 firefighters 24 hours to bring under control.

Two neighbouring Tube lines are partly suspended until 14:00 BST on Sunday amid safety concerns of debris falling on to the tracks.

The Hammersmith and City Line has been suspended between Edgware Road and Hammersmith, and the Circle Line is also closed, Transport for London said.

 BBC NEWS

Iraqi forces attack Mosul's Old City

Iraqi forces say they have launched an assault on Mosul's Old City, the last district held by so-called Islamic State.

Special forces are advancing on the district from the west and federal police are on the southern front, a statement said.

The UN says as many as 100,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the densely populated Old City.

They have been told to leave the area if they can.

• Despair and death as civilians flee

• Battle for Mosul: The story so far

• Battle for western Mosul will be toughest yet

IS media outlets say the militants have foiled an advance by Iraqi troops to advance into one neighbourhood and carried out dawn attacks on federal police positions.

Iraqi forces have told the BBC that they do not know how many IS militants are holed up inside the Old City.

About 230 civilians have been killed in western Mosul in the past two weeks, the UN says, some in air strikes and rocket attacks, and others shot dead by IS snipers as they tried to flee.

Residents who have recently escaped from the area have described desperate conditions, with many people running out of food and water.

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The beginning of the end - BBC Middle East producer Joan Soley

Different parts of the Iraqi security forces have been creeping closer on all sides. They will not be able to stop now until they have taken back all of the Old City.

Although Iraqi and coalition sources have said there is a "humanitarian corridor" running out of the city along the river, the sheer number of people still inside means there will inevitably be significant casualties - civilians, Iraqi forces and IS fighters.

For the Iraqi government, retaking the Old City is akin to crossing the finish line. The powerful image of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaking inside its Nuri mosque three years ago is one they are desperate to replace with a picture of "victory" - whether that means Iraqi flags and forces taking selfies at that same spot or blowing the mosque to smithereens.

Afterwards there will still be fighting to be done. The area between Mosul and the Syrian border has to be secured and the town of Hawija, between Baghdad and Mosul, remains under IS control.

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Escape from west Mosul - Nafiseh Kohnavard, BBC Persian

 

We were in contact with three families inside a house right next to an IS sniper position. They had no more food or water. Among them were a woman who was nine months pregnant and elderly people.

They feared that their house would be bombed. A nearby house had already been hit. We passed their address to the US-led coalition, which located it on a grid to avoid striking it. Federal police worked on a plan to get them out.

Overnight the exhausted families told us they were on the point of giving up hope. But they used a nearby explosion and the smoke and dust as cover from the IS sniper and reached safety.

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The US-backed offensive to retake Mosul - Iraq's second city - is now in its ninth month. Iraqi forces retook the eastern part of the city in October.

Thousands of Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, assisted by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers, are involved in the offensive

IS overran Mosul in June 2014, routing the Iraqi army, and shortly afterwards declared it was establishing a caliphate over the territory it then controlled.

BBC NEWS

Portugal forest fires kill 57 near Coimbra

A catastrophic forest fire in Portugal has claimed at least 57 lives, officials say.

Most died while trying to flee the Pedrógão Grande area, 50 km (30 miles) south-east of Coimbra, in their cars, according to the government.

Several firefighters are among the 59 people injured.

"Unfortunately this seems to be the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires," said Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

The death toll could rise further, he said.

Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes said that 30 of those who died were found inside cars, with another 17 next to the vehicles, on one road leading on to the IC8 motorway.

Media in Portugal said the fire is no closer to being contained despite about 600 firefighters working to put it out.

Among the 59 injured was an eight-year-old girl with burns found wandering alone close to the fire, the Correio do Manhã newspaper reported.

In pictures: Portugal forest fire

Six firefighters are seriously wounded, national broadcaster RTP said, and two are reported missing.

The Correio do Manhã warned that many areas hit by the fire had not yet been reached by authorities, so the death toll was likely to increase.

About 60 forest fires broke out across the country overnight, with close to 1,700 firefighters battling them across Portugal.

The flames spread "with great violence" on four fronts near Pedrógão Grande, Mr Gomes said.

Spain has sent two water-bombing planes to help tackle the fires, and the European Union is co-ordinating an international firefighting and relief effort.

It is not yet known what caused the fire, however Mr Costa said thunderstorms could have been one possible cause.

 

Portugal has been experiencing a heatwave, with temperatures of more than 40C (104F) in some areas.

"This is a region that has had fires because of its forests, but we cannot remember a tragedy of these proportions," Valdemar Alves, the mayor of Pedrógão Grande, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press agency.

"I am completely stunned by the number of deaths."

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What happens next? Alison Roberts, BBC News, Lisbon

We have had large-scale fires before over the past couple of decades - this year is not unusual in that respect - but it is certainly unusual to have so many fatalities in one place. Portuguese officials are visibly shocked.

There were very particular circumstances with the lightning strikes here - this fire started with a dry lightning strike. There has been rainfall elsewhere but there was no rain there, and this is a heavily-forested area.

Getting it under control depends not only on temperatures, which do seem as though they will be high, but on the wind above all. It is very much in the hands of Mother Nature.

BBC NEWS

Otto Warmbier: How did North Korea holiday end in jail, and a coma?

Everyone in frame is smiling and laughing in the North Korean cold. Otto Warmbier, like the other tourists, launches a snowball, captured in slow motion on what appears to be a camera phone.

It's the kind of innocent fun you expect to be captured on a tour group holiday. Otto turns to his right, mouth wide open, laughing.

"This is the Otto I know and love. This is my brother," wrote Austin Warmbier, who released the video, which was shot during a three-night North Korea tour at the end of 2015.

Two months later, Otto would again appear on video, but in very different circumstances.

Head bowed and clutching a prepared "confession", the 21-year-old student walked out in front of North Korean TV cameras to speak, explaining why he had been arrested at the end of that tour, when everyone else had been allowed to leave.

Looming over him were the oversized portraits of North Korea's former supreme leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

He wore a cream-coloured jacket and tie. Before speaking, he got up an offered a low bow.

Otto thanked the North Korean government for the "opportunity to apologise for my crime, to beg for forgiveness and to beg for any assistance to save my life".

He said he tried to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel as a "trophy" for a US church with the "connivance of the US administration" in order to "harm the work ethic and motivation of the Korean people".

Later, he would break down in tears: "I have made the single worst decision of my life, but I am only human."

Otto is now back in the US after 15 months of captivity in North Korea. But he is in a coma, cannot understand language and has severe brain damage.

In the year-and-a-half since he threw that snowball, the life of a young man full of promise has been permanently altered.

Much remains unknown about how Otto's health deteriorated. Doctors at Cincinnati Medical Center say they have seen no sign he was physically abused but they and his family also don't buy North Korea's story that he contracted botulism and fell into a coma after taking a sleeping pill.

But how did a brilliant student from an Ohio suburb with hopes of becoming an investment banker end up imprisoned in a pariah state? And why was he released in a coma?

Homecoming king

The Warmbiers hail from a small suburb called Wyoming in Cincinnati, Ohio, where father Fred owns a small company.

Otto attended the best high school in the state, and was prom and homecoming king.

He was not only popular but also studious - he graduated as Salutatorian (the second-highest ranking student in his year) - and a talented athlete. His football coach has said he was a gifted player and a natural leader.

Otto went on to study economics and commerce with a minor in global sustainability at the University of Virginia and flourished there, according to the Washington Post.

The newspaper interviewed Otto's classmates at their graduation ceremony in May, where #FreeOtto stickers were handed out. The 22-year-old was in his third year of university when he was detained in North Korea. This should have been his graduation too.

Friends described him as a "sports fan who can reel off stats about seemingly any team, a friendly Midwesterner who can break down underground rap lyrics (and craft some of his own), a deep thinker who would challenge himself and others to question their place in the world, a guy from an entrepreneurial family who ate half-price sushi, an insatiably curious person with a strong work ethic and a delight in the ridiculous," the paper reported.

Otto is said to have known long before his college peers what he wanted to pursue as a career: investment banking.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he sat on the committee of a student investment fund and travelled to London in 2015 to complete a course in advanced econometrics at the London School of Economics.

His studiousness - and interest in travel - were what took him to Asia. Otto had been set to study at a university in Hong Kong on a study abroad programme in January 2016 and decided to stop in North Korea on the way.

He went through a China-based company called Young Pioneer Tours, which boasts of providing "budget travel to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from".

'They decided to take an American'

Danny Gratton, from Staffordshire in the UK, shared a room with Otto during the three-night trip - they were the only two members of the tour group who were there on their own.

"From the second I met him we hit it off. He was very bright, intelligent and likeable," he told the BBC.

The night Otto is said to have tried to take the sign from within a staff-only area of the 1,000-room Yanggakdo International Hotel was New Year's Eve 2015, the second night of the tour.

Earlier, the group had taken a trip to the border with South Korea before returning, having a meal and taking a coach to Pyongyang's main square, where there was a big fireworks display. They had food and drank beer, Mr Gratton said.

However there was no rowdy behaviour - "It wasn't that sort of holiday," Mr Gratton said. "We toed the line." He said there was "no indication at all" that Otto had taken the hotel propaganda sign and he had not mentioned it.

The North Korean government has released grainy video footage showing a dark figure whose face cannot be seen removing a sign in a corridor.

Otto was taken away by guards as the pair went through immigration control at Pyongyang International Airport on 2 January 2016.

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY

Image captionOtto is accused of stealing a sign from the Yanggakdo hotel, seen on the left - but Danny told the BBC it "wasn't that sort of holiday". "We toes the line," he said

"We were the last two people to go through passport control. We handed over our passports and the guy pointed at Otto and pointed to the door. Two security guards came over and ushered him away," said Mr Gratton.

"I made an ironic comment. I actually said 'Well we won't be seeing you again'. He sort of laughed at me and that was the last we saw of him.

"They made the decision to take an American. It was just his time, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

'Terrorised and brutalised'

Later, once the remaining group arrived in Beijing, one of the tour guides is reported to have spoken to Otto on the phone, who said he had a "severe headache and wanted to be taken to the hospital", the Post reports, citing another passenger.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionOtto is transferred from a medical transport plane to an ambulance in Cincinnati

The BBC has contacted Young Pioneer Tours for comment.

North Korea only confirmed that Otto had been arrested weeks later, on 22 January. He gave his televised statement in late February and was given 15 years' hard labour, for crimes against the state, in March.

Observers said the sentence seemed unusually high for a foreigner and could be related to deepening tensions between North Korea and the US over the former's nuclear programme.

It's unclear what happened to Otto between his sentencing and the announcement of his release on 14 June by the US government.

But his father Fred says he slipped into the coma "the day after he was sentenced" - well over a year ago.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionOtto's father Fred wore his son's jacket as he spoke to journalists

Speaking at a press conference wearing the same jacket worn by his son on the day he "confessed" in Pyongyang, he said the North Korean government had "brutalised and terrorised" Otto.

North Korea says it released him on "humanitarian grounds".

Intelligence agencies in the North might have kept the state of his health under wraps, including from top officials, out of fear, says Stephan Haggard, director of the Korea-Pacific Programme at the University of California, San Diego.

At some stage, someone would have realised "that the worst of all possible worlds is for the guy to die in custody", kickstarting a frantic diplomatic effort to get him out, he told the AFP news agency.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionLocal businesses in Wyoming have also show their support

Dr Daniel Kanter, one of those looking after Otto in Cincinnati says he is in "a state of unresponsive wakefulness". He has not spoken but has "spontaneous eye opening and blinking", he said.

Respiratory arrest is believed to be the cause of the brain damage, but it remains unclear what caused it. There are no signs that Otto was beaten.

He is breathing on his own but has not spoken and, at the request of the family, doctors will not disclose a prognosis.

His family are happy he is "now home in the arms of those who love him", Fred Warmbier said. When the plane carrying Otto touched down on Tuesday evening, people gathered at the airport cheered.

"It's just been so long that he's been there that to hear he is actually coming home was incredible," his college roommate Emmett Saulnier told CNN before Otto arrived.

He was carried out with a tube attached to his nose, and sent straight to hospital by ambulance.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionDr Kanter (C) says Otto is in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness"

The University of Virginia welcomed his return, but President Teresa Sullivan said the community was "deeply concerned and saddened" to learn of his condition.

"When I knelt down by his side and I hugged him and I told him I missed him and I was so glad he made it home," Fred Warmbier said of what he did when he first saw his son.

"These things are tough to process but he's with us and we're trying to make him comfortable and we want to be a part of his life."

BBC NEWS

Afghan soldier attacks foreign troops at base

An Afghan soldier has attacked foreign troops at a military base, with a number of US soldiers wounded.

The attack took place at a base in the north of the country on Saturday, an official confirmed to the BBC.

However, a spokesman for the US military command, based in the capital Kabul, dismissed earlier reports American soldiers had been killed.

They did say an unspecified number had been wounded when the Afghan soldier opened fire at Camp Shaheen.

The Nato-led Resolute Support mission said one Afghan soldier was killed and one was injured in the incident, which took place at about 14:00 local time (09:30 GMT).

The camp, in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, Balkh province, is the base of the 209th Corps.

The attack comes a week after an Afghan army commando shot dead three US special forces soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.

The Taliban claimed to be behind that attack.

The Taliban also said they were behind another attack in Mazar-e Sharif in April, when more than 100 Afghan soldiers were killed or wounded at the base.

The army said insurgents targeted those leaving Friday prayers at the base's mosque and others in a canteen.

BBC NEWS

Bill Cosby case: Judge declares mistrial after jury deadlock

A US judge has declared a mistrial in the Bill Cosby sex assault case after the jury remained deadlocked for days.

The seven men and five women were unable to reach a unanimous decision after some 53 hours of deliberations in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

Mr Cosby, 79, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. His lawyers had argued the sex was consensual.

The US comedian could now face new proceedings.

He walks away from court a free man, but the prosecution has already said they are pursuing a fresh trial.

Dozens of women say he assaulted them, but statutes of limitation rules mean he was allowed to be tried for Ms Constand's allegation only.

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• The ticking clock for rape survivors

The veteran entertainer could have faced up to a decade in prison if found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, which allegedly took place at his Philadelphia home 13 years ago.

Announcing the decision, Pennsylvania judge Steven O'Neill reminded Mr Cosby that he remains charged and on bail, despite the mistrial.

'Blinding power of celebrity'

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool, inside the courthouse, said Mr Cosby was expressionless when the decision was announced.

One of Mr Cosby's lawyers, Brian McMonagle, applauded the decision, saying: "The judge is right: justice is real."

"We came here looking for an acquittal. But like that Rolling Stone song says 'you don't always get what you want'. Sometimes you get what you need."

The district attorney who brought the charges, Kevin Steele, told reporters that the prosecution was seeking a retrial:

"We will evaluate and review our case. We will take a hard look at everything involved and then we will retry it. As I said in court, our plan is to move this case forward as soon as possible."

A lawyer representing many of Mr Cosby's accusers, Gloria Allred, said she was hoping the prosecution would try the case again.

"We can never underestimate the blinding power of celebrity but justice will come."

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A blow for women's rights campaigners - BBC Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, North America correspondent

For the most part, his defence team worked on undermining the credibility of the woman who brought the allegations against him, saying they had kept in contact many times after the alleged assault.

For women's rights campaigners who have been here throughout the trial, they say it illustrates how the American justice system fails women who have been assaulted. They already feel that they can't come forward because their credibility will be torn apart, as has been the case with this trial.

But his reputation has undoubtedly been tarnished. For many they will have seen all those other women who couldn't bring their cases to trial - nearly 60 - with word that there are many more who never spoke out because they don't want to disrupt their lives. There's no question those stories have been read and will have seeped into people's consciousness here in America.

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The jury had been instructed by the judge to work into the weekend to reach a verdict, after they first revealed that they were deadlocked on the case on Thursday.

But the panel returned again on Saturday to tell the judge they were still deadlocked on all three counts.

Some of the many women who accused Mr Cosby of drugging and assaulting them over a 40-year time span were present in court last week awaiting the verdict.

The accuser, Constand Andrea, took the stand during the trial, telling the court the assault had left her feeling "humiliated" by someone she considered a friend and mentor.

Mr Cosby, who faces at least four separate civil lawsuits, refused to testify at the trial.

BBC NEWS