LONDON: A public inquiry into a fire that killed at least 80 people at London’s Grenfell Tower will get to the truth about the tragedy, its chairman pledged on Thursday, but critics said survivors of the blaze were still being failed.
The 24-story social housing block, home to a poor, multi-ethnic community, was gutted on June 14 in an inferno that started in a fourth-floor apartment in the middle of the night and quickly engulfed the building.
Grenfell Tower was part of a deprived housing estate in Kensington and Chelsea, one of the richest boroughs in London, and the disaster has prompted a national debate about social inequality and government neglect of poor communities.
The inquiry started with a minute’s silence to honor the victims, whose exact number remains unknown because of the devastation inside the tower.
“(The inquiry) can and will provide answers to the pressing questions of how a disaster of this kind could occur in 21st century London,” its chairman, retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, said in his opening statement.
He said the inquiry was not there to punish anyone or to award compensation, but to get to the truth. A separate police investigation is underway, which could result in manslaughter charges. There have been no arrests.
The inquiry will examine the cause and spread of the fire, the design, construction and refurbishment of the tower, whether fire regulations relating to high-rise buildings are adequate and whether they were complied with. It will also look at the actions of the authorities before and after the tragedy.
But critics warned of a disconnect between the technical, legalistic inquiry process and the ongoing ordeal of traumatized former Grenfell Tower residents still awaiting new homes.
Prime Minister Theresa May pledged that all families whose homes were destroyed in the fire would be rehoused within three weeks, but three months later most still live in hotels.
Just three out of 197 households that needed rehousing have moved into permanent homes, while 29 have moved into temporary accommodation.
“We lost everything. It’s difficult for the other people to be in our shoes,” Miguel Alves, who escaped his 13th-floor apartment in Grenfell Tower with his family, told the BBC.
“Now I’m without anything, I’m in the hotel, I have to cope with my family. My daughter, she just started school. They need some stability and that I cannot give to my family,” he said.
“BALLROOM DRIPPING WITH CHANDELIERS“
Emma Dent Coad, a member of parliament from the opposition Labour Party who represents the area, said the inquiry’s remit was too narrow and would fail to address the blaze’s deeper causes such as failings in social housing policies.
She also criticized the choice of venue for Moore-Bick’s opening statement, a lavishly decorated room in central London.
“We were sitting in a ballroom dripping with chandeliers. I think it was the most incredibly inappropriate place to have something like that, and actually says it all about the us-and-them divide that people see,” she told the BBC.
Many of those affected have also expressed disquiet about the fact that Moore-Bick and the other lawyers appointed to run the inquiry are all white and part of a perceived “establishment” far removed from their own circumstances.
“The experience of many residents of that tower is that they were ignored because of their immigration status,” lawyer Jolyon Maugham, who is advising some residents, told the BBC.
“We need someone on the inquiry team that can speak to that experience and at the moment on the panel we have a bunch of white privileged barristers,” he said.
One of the difficulties facing the inquiry is that it needs former residents to give evidence but some fear possible deportation.
The government has said it would grant a 12-month amnesty to anyone affected by the fire who was in Britain illegally. Supporters say only permanent residency rights will persuade people to come forward.
London fire inquiry starts amid anger, despair of survivors
London fire inquiry starts amid anger, despair of survivors
US and foreign leaders praise Jimmy Carter’s legacy
Joe Biden led US presidents and other world leaders in paying tribute to Jimmy Carter, who died aged 100.
“America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Sunday.
He added later in a televised address that Carter “lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.” “We’d all do well to try and be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”
President-elect Donald Trump said Americans owe
Carter “a debt of gratitude.” “The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” he said on social media. Among former US presidents, Bill Clinton said his predecessor had “worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.”
George W. Bush said Carter “dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency.”
Barack Obama hailed Carter for teaching “all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service.”
Researcher in Kenya boasts ‘Africa’s largest butterfly collection’
- By the age of 5, Steve Collins started building a collection that has grown to more than 4.2 million, representing hundreds of species
NAIROBI: What began as a childhood hobby more than six decades ago has led to what might be Africa’s largest butterfly collection in a suburb of Kenya’s capital.
Steve Collins, 74, was born and raised in western Kenya. By the age of 5, he was fascinated by butterflies and started building a collection that has grown to more than 4.2 million, representing hundreds of species.
“My parents encouraged us to look for butterflies after visiting the Congo and were gifted a trapping net by some friends,” Collins said. “By the time I was 15 years old, I was already visiting other countries like Nigeria to study more about butterflies.”
During his 20-year career as an agronomist, Collins dedicated his free time to research. He established the African Butterfly Research Institute in 1997.
Now, running out of space and time, he hopes to hand it over to the next generation.
On his 1.5 acres of land, hundreds of indigenous trees and flowering bushes form a well-knit forest. Hundreds of butterflies dance from one flower to another, at times landing on Collins’ hand.
His collection is private, although it was initially open to the public when he ran it as an education center between 1998 and 2003.
Collins has 1.2 million butterflies from across Africa delicately pinned in frames and stored in rows of shelves, with another 3 million in envelopes.
“They need to be kept in dark spaces,” he said. “The form of storage also ensures the dried butterflies are not eaten by other insects, parasites and predators. We also ensure we apply insecticides once a year to keep them safe.”
Julian Bayliss, an ecologist specializing in Africa and a visiting professor at Oxford Brookes University, said he has collected butterflies for Collins over two decades.
“There is a large part of that collection that is completely irreplaceable because a large part of Africa’s habitat is being destroyed,” Bayliss said.
Africa is vulnerable to climate change, with periods of prolonged drought and serious flooding destroying forests and other butterfly habitats.
Bayliss suggested digitizing the collection to make it accessible worldwide.
Whoever takes it over “needs to be an institution that is well-founded, well-funded and secure,” he said.
Scott Miller, an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution, met Collins almost 30 years ago. He said such collections provide critical information that could show environmental changes over 60 years.
“These physical specimens, you can actually keep going back to them to get new layers of information as you learn more or you get a different technology or you get different questions,” he said.
Collins is concerned that soon he will no longer be able to sustain his research. He said his most prized butterfly costs $8,000 — which he keeps from sight, concerned about possible theft — and hopes to sell the collection to an individual or research institution.
The costs of running his institute are high. An annual budget posted in 2009 on the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa website was $200,000.
Collins estimates that the specimens and other assets are worth $8 million.
“This has been my hobby for decades, and I can’t put a price on what I have done so far. I’m currently seeking to ensure the species are in safe hands when I’m out of this world,” he said.
India launches its first space docking mission
- The mission lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s PSLV rocket
- The mission is seen as pivotal for future space endeavours, including satellite servicing and India’s planned space station
BENGALURU: India launched its first space docking mission on Monday, on an Indian-made rocket, in an attempt to become the fourth country to achieve the advanced technological feat.
The mission, called Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Andhra Pradesh state at 1630 GMT aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) “workhorse” PSLV rocket. After around 15 minutes, the mission director called the launch successful after the spacecraft reached an altitude of around 470 km.
The mission is seen as pivotal for future space endeavours, including satellite servicing and the operation of the country’s planned space station.
In-space docking technology is crucial when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve shared mission objectives.
The Indian mission involves deploying two small spacecraft, each weighing about 220 kilograms, into a 470-km circular orbit. It will also demonstrate the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, a capability vital for applications such as in-space robotics, composite spacecraft control and payload operations following undocking.
Each satellite carries advanced payloads, including an imaging system and a radiation-monitoring device designed to measure electron and proton radiation levels in space, providing critical data for future human spaceflight missions.
ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said the actual testing of the docking technology could take place in about a week’s time and indicated a nominal date of around Jan. 7.
“The rocket has placed the satellites in the right orbit,” he said. A successful demonstration would place India alongside the United States, Russia and China as the only countries to have developed and tested this capability. In a first for India, the rocket and the satellites were integrated and tested at a private company called Ananth Technologies, rather than at a government body.
“Display of this technology is not just about being able to join a rare group of countries who own it, it also opens up the market for ISRO to be the launch partner for various global missions that need docking facilities or assembly in space,” said astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhary of Ashoka University.
The fourth stage of the PSLV, which usually turns into space debris, has been converted into an active un-crewed space laboratory. The last stage of the rocket has been repurposed to become an orbital laboratory and will be used for various experiments.
“The PSLV Orbital Experiment Module (POEM) is a practical solution deployed by ISRO that allows Indian start-ups, academic institutions, and research organizations to test their space technologies without the need to launch entire satellites. By making this platform accessible, we are reducing entry barriers and enabling a wider range of entities to contribute to the space sector,” said Pawan Goenka, chairman of India’s space regulatory body.
Signs Christmas market attack suspect mentally ill: German minister
- Saudi Arabia said it had repeatedly warned Germany about, and demanded the extradition of, Abdulmohsen, who came to Germany in 2006
BERLIN: The German government, under fire for failing to prevent a deadly car-ramming attack on a Christmas market, argued on Monday that the tragedy would have been hard to prevent and said that the suspect appeared to be mentally disturbed.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser along with security and intelligence chiefs faced questioning by a parliamentary committee about the attack that killed five people and wounded more than 200, and on whether there had been missed clues and security lapses.
Faeser said no motive had yet been established for the December 20 attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where a Saudi man was arrested, but that “there are striking signs of a pathological psyche.”
She added that lessons must be learnt on how to track potential attackers who don’t fit conventional threat categories and who “are psychologically disturbed and... driven by confused conspiracy theories.”
The minister argued that “such attackers do not fit any threat profile” — such as far-right extremist or Islamist — and warned that German security services will need “other indicators and action plans” to deal with them in future.
Police arrested Saudi psychiatrist Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen after the assault that used a motor vehicle as a weapon, a method previously used in extremist attacks including in Berlin and in the French city of Nice in 2016.
Abdulmohsen, by contrast, has in the past voiced strongly anti-Islam views and sympathies with the far right in his social media posts, as well as anger at Germany for allowing in too many Muslim war refugees and other asylum-seekers.
Faeser said there were “tens of thousands of tweets” Abdulmohsen had sent over the years that were yet to be fully examined.
“That explains why not everything is on the table yet... who knew about which clues and what was passed on when must be carefully clarified,” she said.
Abdulmohsen, 50, is the only suspect in the attack in which a rented BMW sport utility vehicle plowed through the crowd of revellers at high speed, leaving a bloody trail of carnage.
According to media reports citing unnamed German security sources, he has in the past been treated for mental illness and tested positive for drug use on the night of his arrest.
Abdulmohsen has been remanded in custody on five counts of murder and 205 counts of attempted murder, prosecutors said, but so far not on terrorism-related charges.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces a general election in February, vowed to news portal T-online on Friday to “examine very carefully whether there were any failings on the part of the authorities” and whether any clues were missed in the run-up to the attack.
German media investigations of Abdulmohsen’s past and his social media postings have found expressions of anger and frustration, and threats of violence against German citizens and politicians.
Saudi Arabia said it had repeatedly warned Germany about, and demanded the extradition of, Abdulmohsen, who came to Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later.
Abdulmohsen also had a history of brushes with the law and court appearances in Germany, media have reported, including for threats of violence.
German police have said they had contacted Abdulmohsen in September 2023 and October 2024, and then repeatedly tried but failed to meet him again in December.
Ahead of February’s election, the Christmas market bloodshed has reignited heated debate about immigration and security, after deadly knife attacks this year blamed on extremists.
After Monday’s hearing, lawmaker Konstantin Kuhle of the liberal Free Democrats said “the federal and state authorities knew this perpetrator.”
But Kuhle said no authority had connected all the dots and that “we do not have a complete list of all contacts with the authorities as of today.”
Faeser said that having a fuller picture of all the data would have been good, but would likely “not have prevented” the attack.
Lawmaker Gottfried Curio of the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party was most scathing in his criticism.
“Everything was foreseeable for everyone,” he charged. “We have hundreds of dangerous people in this country, we let them run around.
“What we need are deportations, instead we get naturalizations. What is needed now is a change in security policy in this country.”
Five years on, WHO urges China to share Covid origins data
- “We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of Covid-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the WHO said
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Monday implored China to share data and access to help understand how Covid-19 began, five years on from the start of the pandemic that upended the planet.
Covid-19 killed millions of people, shredded economies and crippled health systems.
“We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of Covid-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative,” the WHO said in a statement.
“Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics.”
The WHO recounted how on December 31, 2019, its country office in China picked up a media statement from the health authorities in Wuhan concerning cases of “viral pneumonia” in the city.
“In the weeks, months and years that unfolded after that, Covid-19 came to shape our lives and our world,” the UN health agency said.
“As we mark this milestone, let’s take a moment to honor the lives changed and lost, recognize those who are suffering from Covid-19 and Long Covid, express gratitude to the health workers who sacrificed so much to care for us, and commit to learning from Covid-19 to build a healthier tomorrow.”
Earlier this month, the WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the issue of whether the world was better prepared for the next pandemic than it was for Covid-19.
“The answer is yes, and no,” he told a press conference.
“If the next pandemic arrived today, the world would still face some of the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities that gave Covid-19 a foothold five years ago.
“But the world has also learnt many of the painful lessons the pandemic taught us, and has taken significant steps to strengthen its defenses against future epidemics and pandemics.”
In December 2021, spooked by the devastation caused by Covid, countries decided to start drafting an accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The WHO’s 194 member states negotiating the treaty have agreed on most of what it should include, but are stuck on the practicalities.
A key fault-line lies between Western nations with major pharmaceutical industry sectors and poorer countries wary of being sidelined when the next pandemic strikes.
While the outstanding issues are few, they include the heart of the agreement: the obligation to quickly share emerging pathogens, and then the pandemic-fighting benefits derived from them such as vaccines.
The deadline for the negotiations is May 2025.
