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London fire:? 17 confirmed dead as police expect tower block blaze toll to rise
Seventeen people have been confirmed dead following the Grenfell Tower fire, with the toll expected to continue to rise when firefighters can conduct a more thorough search of the building.
Police confirmed further fatalities on Thursday. More than 24 hours after the devastating blaze swept through the west London tower block, the London fire commissioner also said the building is "not structurally safe" for firefighters to conduct a full search, meaning a complete assessment of the number of dead could still be some distance away.
Prime Minister Theresa May has ordered a full public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster. May said the inquiry was needed to ensure "this terrible tragedy is properly investigated".
As the Lancaster West estate woke up in the shadow of the smouldering tower, Theresa May was onsite to meet Cotton and other firefighters. She apparently left the area without meeting residents. Jeremy Corbyn was expected to visit along with local MPs later on Thursday morning. The Queen also issued a statement offering her "thoughts and prayers" to the families who had lost loved ones.
U.S.-Led Airstrikes in Syria Killed Hundreds of Civilians, U.N. Panel Says
GENEVA — Airstrikes by the American-led coalition against Islamic State targets have killed hundreds of civilians around Raqqa, the militant group’s last Syrian stronghold, and left 160,000 people displaced, a United Nations panel said on Wednesday.
“We note in particular that the intensification of airstrikes, which have paved the ground for an S.D.F. advance in Raqqa, has resulted not only in staggering loss of civilian life, but has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes,” Mr. Pinheiro said in a report, presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The panel’s investigators found that 300 civilians had been killed in the airstrikes since March 21, panel member Karen Abuzayd told reporters in Geneva later. They included 200 civilians killed in a single incident in March when an airstrike hit a school in the town of Mansoura, she said.
The recapture of Raqqa would be a significant step in the drive to eliminate the Islamic State’s hold on Syrian territory, and in the wider battle between President Bashar al-Assad’s government, backed by Russia and Iran, and rebel forces supported by the United States and Arab regional powers to decide the future of Syria.
Airwars, a nonprofit group monitoring reports of civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria, has estimated that at least 3,100 civilians were killed in coalition airstrikes since the onset of the war against Islamic State in August 2014 up to March 2017, more than eight times the 352 civilian casualties acknowledged by the United States military.
The number of civilians killed in coalition attacks has raised questions among human rights organizations over whether the greater autonomy the Trump administration has allowed military commanders on the battlefield has diverted attention from protection of civilians. Those concerns were further underscored by reports last week that coalition forces attacking Islamic State positions around Raqqa had used munitions containing white phosphorus,（白磷） a weapon banned in populated areas under international law. United States officials said last week that the weapons were not being used against people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/world/middleeast/syria-airstrikes-civilians.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region?ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
Somalia restaurant siege: 17 dead as gunmen take hostages in Mogadishu
Two gunmen killed but hostages remain in restaurant siege
Gunmen posing as military forces held an unknown number of hostages inside a popular restaurant in Somalia’s capital in an attack that began when a car bomb exploded at the gate, police and a witness said, while the extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility. At least 17 people, including foreigners, were dead, according to police and an ambulance driver.
Two of the gunmen were shot dead and 10 hostages were rescued but five other attackers were thought to remain inside, cutting off electricity to complicate security forces’ efforts to end the siege, said Captain Mohamed Hussein, who reported heavy gunfire. Most of the victims were young men who had been entering the Pizza House when the vehicle exploded, Hussein said.
An ambulance driver said early on Thursday that they had carried 17 bodies and 26 wounded people. Police said the dead included a Syrian man.
The gunmen “were dressed in military uniforms. They forced those fleeing the site to go inside” the restaurant, a witness told the Associated Press.
It faces a new military push from the United States after President Donald Trump approved expanded operations, including airstrikes, against al-Shabab. On Sunday the US military in Africa said it carried out an airstrike in southern Somalia that killed eight Islamic extremists at a rebel command and logistics camp. Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed confirmed that airstrike and said such attacks would disrupt the group’s ability to conduct new attacks.
With a new federal government established, pressure is growing on Somalia’s military to assume full responsibility for the country’s security. The 22,000-strong African Union multinational force, Amisom, which has been supporting the fragile central government, plans to start withdrawing in 2018 and leave by the end of 2020.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/14/dozens-held-hostage-in-restaurant-in-somalia
Steve Scalise Among 4 Shot at Baseball Field; Suspect Is Dead
Gunman was leftwing activist with record of domestic violence
A lone gunman who was said to be distraught over President Trump’s election opened fire on members of the Republican congressional baseball team at a practice field in this Washington suburb on Wednesday, using a rifle to shower the field with bullets that struck four people, including Steve Scalise, the majority whip of the House of Representatives.
The suspect, identified as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Ill., was killed in a shootout with the Capitol Police.Hodgkinson, 66, died from injuries sustained during a shootout with police. He was previously based in Belleville, Illinois, but had been living in Alexandria, Virginia, the site of Wednesday’s shooting, for the past two months.
Steve Scalise's injuries are extensive, and he was in critical condition Wednesday night, MedStar Washington Hospital Center said in a statement. As the bullet traveled across his body, it broke bones, tore up internal organs and caused major internal bleeding.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/us/steve-scalise-congress-shot-alexandria-virginia.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region?ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
Their Own Targeted, Publicans want looser Gun Laws, Not Stricter Ones
WASHINGTON — Shaken and angry, Republican members of Congress seized on the brazen daytime shooting of their colleagues on Wednesday to demand that existing restrictions on gun access be loosened so that people facing similar attacks are able to defend themselves.
Past shootings have brought calls for more gun control, especially for restrictions on the kind of rifle used in Wednesday’s attack. But the ardent supporters of gun rights who came under fire this time were not about to change their views.
As Representative Steve Scalise, the third-ranking House Republican, had surgery for a gunshot wound to the hip, his colleagues complained that Washington’s restrictive gun laws had barred him and other lawmakers who live in the capital from bringing weapons to the baseball practice in Alexandria, Va.
“Had there not been a member of House leadership present, there would have been no police present, and it would have become the largest act of political terrorism in years, if not ever,” Representative Tom Garrett of Virginia said, pointing to legislation he has introduced to make it easier for people to carry a gun in Washington. That bill “would allow the most law-abiding among us to defend themselves,” he said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/us/politics/targeted-republicans-gun-laws-alexandria-virginia-baseball-shooting.html
Ireland's First Gay Prime Minister
The former GP, who came out as gay in 2015, is confirmed as taoiseach in Dáil ceremony in Dublin.
The son of an Indian immigrant has made Irish history by becoming the country’s youngest and first openly gay prime minister.
Leo Varadkar, 38, was formally elected taoiseach at a confirmation ceremony in the Dáil in Dublin after he won theFine Gael party leadershipearlier this month. Enda Kenny, who stepped down after six years, said his successor represented a “modest, diverse and inclusive Ireland”.
The former GP, son of an Indian father and Irish mother, faces a number of challenges as he takes over the only EU country that has a land border with the UK as it prepares for Brexit. The country may experience an impact on prosperity and trade across the open border as it works towards restoring a power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. Abortion will be another big issue for Varadkar, specifically demands for a referendum on the future of the eighth amendment of Ireland’s constitution.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/14/leo-varadkar-formally-elected-as-prime-minister-of-ireland]
