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IED used in London Underground terror attack, says Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer

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Emergency services tend to an injured woman following the IED attack. (Gustavo Vieira/via Reuters)
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Social media image: (Twitter/@ASolopovas via Reuters)
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Social media image: (Twitter/@Faizz)
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The suspect package that appears to be made up of an insulated supermarket carrier bag and a white bucket (Twitter)
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The suspect package from a different angle appears to show wires coming from it. (Twitter)
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London Fire Brigade officers walk within a cordon near where the incident happened. (AP)
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Police forensics officers works alongside an underground tube train at a platform at Parsons Green underground tube station in London on Sept. 15, 2017. (AFP)
Updated 15 September 2017
Arab News
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IED used in London Underground terror attack, says Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer

Updated 15 September 2017
Arab News

LONDON: British police said an IED was used in the attack on a London Underground station which injured 22 people in what officers described as a “terrorist incident.”
“We now assess that this was a detonation of an improvised explosive device,” Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said on Friday.
London’s police are being supported by Britain’s MI5 intelligence service, he said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has returned from her constituency to chair an emergency session of the Cobra committee, where she is being briefed on the full details of today's incident.
This will be her first opportunity to receive a full update on the live investigation underway and discuss any precautionary measures that need to be taken in the wake of the attack before making a statement to the British public this afternoon.
According to reports from Sky News, citing security sources, British security services have already identified a suspect involved in the attack, with the help of surveillance footage.
“Security sources say they’ve identified a suspect involved in the Parsons Green bombing, with the aid of CCTV footage,” Mark White, a home affairs correspondent for Sky News, said on Twitter.
The current threat level in the UK from international terrorism is “severe” according to the MI5 website.
But the BBC’s Frank Gardner tweeted that if the UK Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre concludes there is a bomber on the loose the national threat level would likely be raised to “critical.”
Police earlier said they believed someone who was not on the train at the time triggered the device with a timer.
Rowley said there would be an enhanced police presence on public transport services in London and asked the public to “remain vigilant but not be alarmed.”
He did not reveal whether any arrests have yet been made. Met police sources have revealed that the device used did not detonate fully.
Witness accounts 
Earlier witnesses described the scene, saying that commuters fled the area after the blast sent a “fireball” through the station in West London, leaving several injured and sparking panic.
Eye witnesses spoke of people being trampled as panicked passengers ran for the same door.
Some passengers appeared to have suffered facial burns.
One man said he heard a “whoosh” sound and saw the next carriage “engulfed in flames.”
An eyewitness on the train at the time of the explosion told Sky News there were “hundreds and hundreds of people running down a tiny staircase,” and described “blood curdling screaming.”
Ben Geoghegan, a Parsons Green resident who has been evacuated from his home, said “There was panic all over the place. People didn’t know what to do.”
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan confirmed on Twitter that he was in touch with the emergency services and advised people to check the Metropolitan Police Twitter account for updates and advice.
 

In a statement released on his Twitter account Khan said: “Our city utterly condemns the hideous individuals who attempt to use terror to harm us and destroy our way of life… As London has proven again and again, we will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism.”
He said he was in “close contact” with the Metropolitan Police, Transport for London (TfL), Government and other emergency services.
And he said he would be attending the “emergency COBRA meeting in Whitehall this afternoon with the Prime Minister.”
“My sincere gratitude goes to all our courageous emergency responders and the TfL staff who were first on the scene… I urge all Londoners to remain calm and vigilant, and to check TfL’s website for travel advice.”
Images apparently from the scene appear to show a charred white bucket inside a carrier bag on the train, although damage to the carriage does not appear to be extensive. 
The device
BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner described the device as “relatively small and relatively amateur,” adding that he believed the attacker probably intended to inflict a lot more casualties.
And a former Ministry of Defence counter-terrorism expert said the image “doesn’t look like a high-end explosive from IS,” using an alternative name for Daesh.
 

This tweet appears to show the burning remains of the suspect package.
 

Emergency services were called to the scene at 8:20 a.m. after reports of an explosion on the District Line train. 
London Fire Brigade confirmed that it had a number of appliances at the scene, as well as approximately 50 firefighters.
London Ambulance said paramedics were present.
In a statement London Ambulance Service said:  “Our initial priority is to assess the level and nature of injuries.”
Images posted on Twitter showed a women being attended to by emergency services sitting on a pavement.
Police said they were aware of reports on social media and would release facts regarding the incident once they could be sure of their accuracy.
Trump tweets "unhelpful"
Transport for London said on Twitter that there was no service between Earls Court and Wimbledon on the District Line which runs through Parsons Green.
An official source at the Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the Kingdom’s “strong condemnation and denunciation” of the attack.
The source added that the Kingdom maintained its solidarity with the UK and its stand against terrorism and extremism.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter later to blast the “loser terrorists” behind the attack.
“Another attack in London by a loser terrorist,” he tweeted.
“These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!” he added in what appeared to be criticism of how the British police are handling terrorism on its shores
 

He then added: “Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner,” without giving details of what that meant.
“The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!” he added, also giving no details.
 

It was not immediately clear if the people behind the bomb attack on Friday were indeed previously known to British law enforcement.

But if it were the case, then Trump has apparently revealed the detail before authorities in Britain made the information public themselves.

Trump’s comment was described as “unhelpful speculation” by London’s Metropolitan Police.

Nick Timothy, former chief of staff to British Prime Minister Theresa May also branded the US leader’s tweet “unhelpful.”

“True or not – and I’m sure he doesn’t know – this is so unhelpful from leader of our ally and intelligence partner,” he wrote on Twitter.
Community spirit

Meanwhile in typical British tea-loving form, local residents have been tweeting offers to “put the kettle on” for those caught up in the incident.
 

 

London’s latest attack happened around the same time as a knife-wielding man attacked a soldier in Paris, although no one has yet suggested that the attacks were coordinated.
The soldier, who was part of an anti-terrorism operation known as Sentinelle, rapidly tackled the man and was uninjured. The attacker was taken into custody. 
(Additional reporting by news wires)

Topics: London Daesh terrorism London attacks Donald Trump

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Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of government

Updated 6 sec ago
AP
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Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of government

  • A House Republican victory in Arizona and California gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. The GOP also controls the Senate
  • In 2016, the GOP also swept Congress, but many Republican leaders resisted Trump's policy ideas and the Supreme Court had a liberal majority. Not this time
Updated 6 sec ago
AP

WASHINGTON: Republicans have won enough seats to control the US House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on US government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.
A House Republican victory in Arizona, alongside a win in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans earlier gained control of the Senate from Democrats.
With hard-fought yet thin majorities, Republican leaders are envisioning a mandate to upend the federal government and swiftly implement Trump’s vision for the country.
The incoming president has promised to carry out the country’s largest-ever deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the US economy. The GOP election victories ensure that Congress will be onboard for that agenda, and Democrats will be almost powerless to check it.
When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress, but he still encountered Republican leaders resistant to his policy ideas, as well as a Supreme Court with a liberal majority. Not this time.
When he returns to the White House, Trump will be working with a Republican Party that has been completely transformed by his “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three that he appointed.
Trump rallied House Republicans at a Capitol Hill hotel Wednesday morning, marking his first return to Washington since the election.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s good, we got to figure something else,’” Trump said to the room full of lawmakers who laughed in response.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who with Trump’s endorsement won the Republican Conference’s nomination to stay on as speaker next year, has talked of taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, eyeing ways to overhaul even popular programs championed by Democrats in recent years. The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has pulled the House Republican Conference closer to Trump during the campaign season as they prepare an “ambitious” 100-day agenda.
“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver that ‘America First’ agenda.”
Trump’s allies in the House are already signaling they will seek retribution for the legal troubles Trump faced while out of office. The incoming president on Wednesday said he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fierce loyalist, for attorney general.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan, the chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, has said GOP lawmakers are “not taking anything off the table” in their plans to investigate Special counsel Jack Smith, even as Smith is winding down two federal investigations into Trump for plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Still, with a few races still uncalled the Republicans may hold the majority by just a few seats as the new Congress begins. Trump’s decision to pull from the House for posts in his administration — Reps. Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elize Stefanik so far — could complicate Johnson’s ability to maintain a majority in the early days of the new Congress.
Gaetz submitted his resignation Wednesday, effective immediately. Johnson said he hoped the seat could be filled by the time the new Congress convenes Jan. 3. Replacements for members of the House require special elections, and the congressional districts held by the three departing members have been held by Republicans for years.
With the thin majority, a highly functioning House is also far from guaranteed. The past two years of Republican House control were defined by infighting as hard-line conservative factions sought to gain influence and power by openly defying their party leadership. While Johnson — at times with Trump’s help — largely tamed open rebellions against his leadership, the right wing of the party is ascendant and ambitious on the heels of Trump’s election victory.
The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won tough elections by running as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will stay onboard for some of the most extreme proposals championed by Trump and his allies.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, is trying to keep Democrats relevant to any legislation that passes Congress, an effort that will depend on Democratic leaders unifying over 200 members, even as the party undergoes a postmortem of its election losses.
In the Senate, GOP leaders, fresh off winning a convincing majority, are already working with Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota won an internal election Wednesday to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest serving party leader in Senate history.
Thune in the past has been critical of Trump, but praised the incoming president during his leadership election bid.
“This Republican team is united. We are on one team,” Thune said. “We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump’s agenda.”
The GOP’s Senate majority of 53 seats also ensures that Republicans will have breathing room when it comes to confirming Cabinet posts, or Supreme Court justices if there is a vacancy. Not all those confirmations are guaranteed. Republicans were incredulous Wednesday when the news hit Capitol Hill that Trump would nominate Gaetz as his attorney general. Even close Trump allies in the Senate distanced themselves from supporting Gaetz, who had been facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Still, Trump on Sunday demanded that any Republican leader must allow him to make administration appointments without a vote while the Senate is in recess. Such a move would be a notable shift in power away from the Senate, yet all the leadership contenders quickly agreed to the idea. Democrats could potentially fight such a maneuver.
Meanwhile, Trump’s social media supporters, including Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, clamored against picking a traditional Republican to lead the Senate chamber. Thune worked as a top lieutenant to McConnell, who once called the former president a “despicable human being” in his private notes.
However, McConnell made it clear that on Capitol Hill the days of Republican resistance to Trump are over.

Topics: US Election 2020 Republicans Mike Johnson

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Global diabetes rate has doubled in last 30 years — study

Updated 21 min 38 sec ago
AFP
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Global diabetes rate has doubled in last 30 years — study

  • Diabetes affected around 14 percent of all adults worldwide in 2022, compared to seven percent in 1990
  • More than 800 million people are now diabetic, compared to less than 200 million in 1990, Lancet study says 
Updated 21 min 38 sec ago
AFP

PARIS: The percentage of adults suffering from diabetes across the world has doubled over the past three decades, the biggest rises coming in developing countries, a study said Wednesday.
The serious health condition affected around 14 percent of all adults worldwide in 2022, compared to seven percent in 1990, according to the new analysis in The Lancet journal.
Taking into account the growing global population, the team of researchers estimated that more than 800 million people are now diabetic, compared to less than 200 million in 1990.
These figures include both main types of diabetes. Type 1 affects patients from a young age and is more difficult to treat because it is caused by an insulin deficiency.
Type 2 mainly affects middle-aged or older people who lose their sensitivity to insulin.
Behind the global numbers, national figures varied widely.
The rate of diabetes stayed the same or even fell in some wealthier countries, such as Japan, Canada or Western European nations such as France and Denmark, the study said.
“The burden of diabetes and untreated diabetes is increasingly borne by low-income and middle-income countries,” it added.
For example, nearly a third of women in Pakistan are now diabetic, compared to less than a tenth in 1990.
The researchers emphasized that obesity is an “important driver” of type 2 diabetes — as is an unhealthy diet.
The gap between how diabetes is treated in richer and poorer countries is also widening.
Three out of five people aged over 30 with diabetes — 445 million adults — did not receive treatment for diabetes in 2022, the researchers estimated.
India alone was home to almost a third of that number.
In sub-Saharan Africa, only five to 10 percent of adults with diabetes received treatment in 2022.
Some developing countries such as Mexico are doing well in treating their population — but overall the global gap is widening, they said.
“This is especially concerning as people with diabetes tend to be younger in low-income countries and, in the absence of effective treatment, are at risk of life-long complications,” said senior study author Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London.
Those complications include “amputation, heart disease, kidney damage or vision loss — or in some cases, premature death,” he said in a statement.

Topics: #diabetes diseases Arab News Pakistan

Indonesian president says he will safeguard sovereignty in South China Sea

Updated 48 min 25 sec ago
Reuters
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Indonesian president says he will safeguard sovereignty in South China Sea

  • Indonesia's foreign ministry earlier stressed that Indonesia does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea despite signing a maritime deal with Beijing last weekend
Updated 48 min 25 sec ago
Reuters

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said he would “always safeguard our sovereignty” when asked about the issue of the South China Sea, adding partnerships are better than conflicts and that “we respect all powers.”
Prabowo’s comments, made while he was in Washington on Wednesday, came after his foreign ministry stressed that Indonesia does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea despite signing a maritime deal with Beijing last weekend.
Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian nations over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a “nine-dash line” on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries.
“We respect all powers, but we will always safeguard our sovereignty. But I choose to always find possibilities of a partnership,” said Prabowo, who has repeatedly said he will pursue a non-aligned foreign policy.
“Partnerships are better than conflicts,” he told reporters.
Prabowo, who is on his first trip since taking office last month, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on the weekend. A maritime development deal signed by China and Indonesia said they had reached common understanding “on joint development in areas of overlapping claims.”
That wording sparked concern in Indonesia, with analysts saying it could be interpreted as a change in Jakarta’s long-held stance as a non-claimant state in the South China Sea, and risked compromising Indonesia’s sovereign rights to exploit resources in its EEZ.
Prabowo did not directly refer to the joint statement in his comments to reporters, but said he had discussed the South China Sea with US President Joe Biden in a meeting the day before.
Prabowo will also travel to Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and Brazil for the G20 summit.

Topics: South China Sea dispute Prabowo Subianto Joe Biden

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Explosions kill 1 man outside Brazil’s Supreme Court and force justices to evacuate

Updated 14 November 2024
AP
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Explosions kill 1 man outside Brazil’s Supreme Court and force justices to evacuate

  • Local media reported that the blasts took place with 20 seconds between the first and the second explosions
Updated 14 November 2024
AP

SAO PAULO: Two explosions outside Brazil’s Supreme Court on Wednesday killed a man and forced the justices and staff to evacuate the building in the capital of Brasilia.
The court said in a statement that two very strong blasts were heard at about 7:30 p.m. local time, shortly after Wednesday’s session finished. It added that all the justices and staff left the building safely after the incident.
Local firefighters confirmed that one man died at the scene, but did not identify him.
Celina Leão, the lieutenant governor of Brazil’s federal district, recommended that Congress be closed on Thursday to avoid new risks. She said police believe the man who died caused the explosions.
“It could have been a lone wolf, like others we’ve seen around the world,” Leão said in a news conference. “We are considering it as a suicide because there was only one victim. But investigations will show if that was indeed the case.”
Leão added only forensics will be able to identify the body, which remained outside the Supreme Court for two hours after the incident.
Local media reported that the blasts took place with 20 seconds between the first and the second explosions.
The incident took place in Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza, an area where Brazil’s main government buildings, including the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace, are located.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was not in the neighboring presidential palace at the time of the blasts, said spokesman José Chrispiniano.
Police blocked all access to the area and the presidential security bureau was conducting a sweep of the grounds around the presidential palace.
Brazil’s federal police said it is investigating and did not provide a motive.
The Supreme Court in recent years has become a target for threats by far-right groups and supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro due to its crackdown on the spread of false information. In particular, Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been a focus for their ire.
Lula’s spokesman said the leftist leader is in a meeting at the presidential residence with federal police chief Andrei Rodrigues, and Supreme Court Justices de Moraes and Cristiano Zanin.
Earlier, another explosion was heard in the parking lot of Brazil’s Congress. Police said the blast apparently came out of a car, but no one was injured. Leão said authorities have already identified who is the owner of the car, but added the two incidents can only be linked after the investigations.

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A diminished Biden heads to APEC summit in Peru, overshadowed by China’s Xi

Updated 14 November 2024
AP
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A diminished Biden heads to APEC summit in Peru, overshadowed by China’s Xi

  • With the US seemingly headed back toward isolationism under Trump, “China will be seen as the alternative,” says analyst
  • President Xi’s first order of business in Peru is inaugurating a $1.3 billion megaport that will put China’s regional influence on stark display
Updated 14 November 2024
AP

LIMA, Peru: If things had gone differently last week, US President Joe Biden could have arrived at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru on Thursday projecting confidence and pledging his successor’s cooperation with eager Latin American partners. No longer.
Just as in 2016, the last time that Peru’s capital Lima hosted APEC, Donald Trump’s election victory has pulled the rug out from under a lame-duck Democrat at the high-profile summit attended by over a dozen world leaders.
The renewed prospect of Trump’s “America First” doctrine hampers Biden’s ability to reinforce the United States’ profile on his first presidential trip to South America, experts say, leaving China and its leader, Xi Jinping, to grab the limelight in America’s proverbial backyard.
President Xi’s first order of business in Peru is inaugurating a $1.3 billion megaport that will put China’s regional influence on stark display. Total investment is expected to top $3.5 billion over the next decade.
“This isn’t the way the US had hoped to participate in the summit,” said Margaret Myers, the director of the China and Latin America program at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington policy group. “All eyes are going to be on the port, what Xi says about it and how he articulates relations across the Pacific.”
With the US seemingly headed back toward isolationism under Trump, “China will be seen as the alternative,” Myers added.
Sitting 60 kilometers (37 miles) northeast of Lima, the Chancay megaport — once a serene fishing village — is perhaps the clearest sign of Latin America’s reorientation. The Chinese shipping and logistics giant Cosco holds a 60 percent stake in the project it developed with Peruvian partner, Volcan.
“With this port, we’re looking at the entire Pacific coast, from the United States and Canada all the way to Chile,” Peruvian Foreign Minister Elmer Schialer told The Associated Press in his office on Monday. “The shipping business is being transformed.”
Peruvian Economy Minister José Arista said in June during a visit to China that the country’s neighbors — Brazil, Colombia, Chile — are “making constant trips to and from to see how they can modify their supply chain to use this port,” which will cut shipping time to Beijing by 10 days.
China’s trade with the region ballooned 35-fold from 2000 to 2022, reaching nearly $500 billion, according to data from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of the region’s exports came from South America and were concentrated in five products: soybeans, copper and iron ore, oil and copper cathodes.
At the same time, China’s diplomatic engagement in the region has become more effective, with Xi visiting 11 Latin American countries since becoming president, according to Xinhua, China’s main state news agency. Brazil, host of the G20 summit, and Peru will bestow the rare honor of a full state visit to Xi this month, but not to Biden.
The misguided notion that Latin America must choose between its two largest trading partners is “a strategic defeat” for the US, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Washington-based Council of the Americas.
“The idea that China is somehow a better partner is increasingly being heard around the region and I think Xi wants to solidify that and amplify that,” Farnsworth said.
Roughly a decade after China poured billions of dollars into building power plants, roads, airports and other infrastructure that saddled some developing countries with unserviceable debt, few expect Beijing to direct more massive loans to Latin America through its Belt and Road Initiative. But deeper cooperation on other infrastructure is possible, particularly renewable energy and telecommunications, said the Boston University Bulletin.
The US has appealed to Latin American governments to reject telecoms investment, particularly opposing Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that it argues could open the door to Chinese government spying. Similarly, US officials have raised concerns over the Chancay port’s possible dual-use by Beijing’s navy in the Pacific — a prospect dismissed by Chinese officials.
China “is working to exploit insecurity in our hemisphere,” said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Southern Command headquarters in Florida this week, adding that the Asian giant is leveraging the need for investment in the Americas to advance its “malign agenda.”
Despite its objections to Chinese influence, the US hasn’t shown the ability or willingness to build infrastructure like Chancay’s megaport, experts note.
Even when the US government has worked to ensure competitive bidding in Latin American massive public works projects, American companies have refrained from participating, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program.
A Kamala Harris administration wouldn’t have changed that, but a Democratic victory would have enabled Biden to speak in Lima with authority about US collaboration to come, such as building regional supply chains, Gedan said.
In sharp contrast to Biden’s alliance-building approach, Trump has vowed to protect American interests and promised more of the same unilateralist action the world saw in his first term when he staked out a combative stance against foreign competitors and deepened the US trade war with China.
In 2022, Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to help integrate the economies of the region and enable the US to counterbalance China. But last year, on the campaign trail, Trump said he would kill the trade pact if he were to win the 2024 election and return to the White House — in the same way, he pulled the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership immediately after taking office in 2017.
In the years since, US clout in South America has diminished while China’s has grown, said Farnsworth, recalling how the last time Lima hosted APEC in 2016, the shock of Trump’s victory sucked the energy out of then-President Barack Obama’s delegation.
Peru’s top diplomat insists that the US hasn’t ceded its dominant voice guiding discussions about trade at gatherings such as APEC — and doubted that it will, even under Trump.
“I’m not sure that Trump will go against these types of multilateral contexts just because he is worried about the American people,” Schialer said. “He knows that the US is too important for the world. We have to sit down and have a nice dialogue and see how we can face these challenges together.”
Biden will hold talks Saturday with Xi on the sidelines of APEC, according to the US president’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The White House has been working for months to arrange a final meeting between Xi and Biden before the Democrat leaves office in January.
Meantime, in the wake of Trump’s win and China’s port opening in Peru, analysts expect the hard-nosed competition between the US and China to overshadow APEC.
“The Chinese love the idea of outmaneuvering the US in its near-abroad,” Gedan said. “Xi will luxuriate in this dynamic of being able to arrive with a big delegation, (...) to inaugurate this transformational port and suck all the air out of the room when his American counterpart is very weak politically. That is significant to China.”
 

Topics: APEC Peru Joe Biden Xi Jingping Donald Trump

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