News/Nachrichten

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Image copyright Staffordshire Police Image caption Keeley Bunker was reported missing after a night out to celebrate her 20th birthday A man has been convicted of raping and murdering his childhood friend on the way home from celebrating her birthday. Wesley Streete, 20, had claimed he had "accidentally killed" Keeley Bunker during sex. Her body was found hidden under branches in a brook in Tamworth, Staffordshire, on 19 September 2019. Streete was also convicted of two further charges of rape and three counts of sexual assault relating to three other female victims. In a statement following the verdict, Ms Bunker's friends and family described her as the "the kindest, most beautiful young lady that you could ever wish to meet". "The world was hers and Keeley was just beginning to live a happy life," they said. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption CCTV footage shows Keeley Bunker at the same venue as the friend who would be convicted of her murder It took a jury at Stafford Crown Court just over eight hours to convict the former warehouse packer, who will be sentenced on Friday. The previous evening Ms Bunker had been to a concert with a friend in Birmingham to celebrate her recent 20th birthday. After the show, the group met up with Streete in a city nightclub as arranged, and on their return to Tamworth she had "trusted" the killer to walk her home safely, but Ms Bunker was not seen alive again. By the following evening, searches were under way involving her family, close friends and police and Streete claimed to have left Ms Bunker to walk home alone. Image copyright Staffordshire Police Image caption Wesley Streete claimed to have "accidentally killed" Keeley Bunker He was taken by police in a marked patrol car to retrace their movements, consistently claiming that when he and Ms Bunker parted she was still alive. At that time he told officers "I feel like you're blaming me" after they took his phone as part of the investigation. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage shows Wesley Streete telling police during inquiries 'I feel like you're blaming me' The court heard her body was discovered that evening by her uncle Jason Brown, who was in a search party combing a park near a telephone box where Streete told police Ms Bunker and he parted ways. Mr Brown found his niece with her underwear pulled down over her trainers. The court heard how he let out a "horrendous scream" at the sight. A post-mortem examination found she had been strangled and Streete's DNA was on her body. Streete was arrested shortly after and, asked if he had any questions as he was being driven to the custody block at Cannock, he replied: "Not really." Jurors were told how later in the journey Streete complained of being hungry, and "asked if there was food to eat when he got there". Image copyright PA Media Image caption Floral tributes to Keeley Bunker were left close to Wiggington Park where she was found. The court heard he changed his account of the events at least four times, which he told prosecutors was because he was "scared" and "embarrassed" by her death - a killing, he said, that happened during sex that began with mutual flirting in the park. "I put my arms around her neck and accidentally killed her," Streete told the prosecution. "We were having sex." He added he "started to panic" when Ms Bunker "went floppy". He said he checked for a pulse, but did not think to call police. However, Ms Bunker had scratch marks on her neck, most likely inflicted as she tried to prise herself from Streete's grip. Added branches He also admitted in court putting the body "in the pond" and covering it up, before going home to sleep. The court heard he would later return to the scene several times to add more branches. Prosecutor Jacob Hallam QC said the separate allegations of sexual offences were brought independently by a number of young women who were, like Ms Bunker, friends or acquaintances of the defendant. "Taken together they show that the defendant has a long history of committing non-consensual sexual acts on young women," he said. In a victim impact statement, one of the women said hearing about what happened to Ms Bunker had given her the "courage" to come forward about her own assault. Image caption Det Insp Cheryl Hannan said Streete was a "devious and manipulating character". Det Insp Cheryl Hannan, senior investigating officer on the case, said Streete was a "devious and manipulating character". "He was obviously trusted by Keeley, he was trusted to walk her home that night," she said. "He has manipulated a situation where he has preyed upon her and ultimately raped and murdered her. "He has then gone on to put himself at the centre of the investigation, to lie to the police, to her family, to her friends that she was safe and well. "Then he has changed his lies as the evidence has been put to him." Image caption People lined the streets of Tamworth to pay respect to Ms Bunker at her funeral in October Ms Hannan also praised the people of Tamworth for the "love" they had shown to Ms Bunker, with pink ribbons tied in tribute to her around the town. In their statement the budding classroom assistant's relatives said: "As Keeley's family, the outcome of this trial will never be enough, in terms of justice." Her mother, Debbie Watkins, said: "Keeley was the kindest, most caring, innocent young lady you could ever meet and was only just starting out in her life." "Such is the hell we feel we are incapable of showing any forgiveness." Marc Ensor, partner of Debbie Watkins, said the family had been "destroyed" by her death and thoughts of "trying to visualise and understand just how such a dreadful thing could have happened to such a beautiful person". Mr Ensor said Ms Bunker would "do anything for anybody" and "she didn't have a bad bone in her body". Christopher Bunker, Ms Bunker's father, said her sister and brother were now "a shadow of how they used to be". Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption China's legal system is trying to stamp out the use of forced confessions A man in eastern China has been acquitted of murder and freed after spending 27 years in prison. Zhang Yuhuan maintained he was tortured by police and forced to confess to the murder of two young boys in 1993. He was China's longest-serving wrongfully convicted inmate, after having served 9,778 days in the prison in Jiangxi province. Prosecutors who reopened the case said his confession had inconsistencies and did not match the original crime. He walked free after a high court found there was not enough evidence to justify his conviction. Observers say China is growing more willing to quash wrongful convictions, but only criminal not political. Footage on Chinese media showed Mr Zhang in an emotional reunion with his 83-year-old mother and his ex-wife following his release on Tuesday. China cracks down on forced confessions Analysis by Celia Hatton, BBC World Service Asia-Pacific editor It is an open secret in China that the police use various kinds of torture, including sleep deprivation, cigarette burns and beatings, to force suspects to confess to crimes. In the past, entire cases might then be pinned on that "confession". In 2010, a serious effort began in China's legal system to stamp out the use of forced confessions. Death sentences must now be approved by China's Supreme Court and there is a growing drive to eliminate cases that are pinned solely on a suspect's confession. However, China's legal reform has clear limits. Police in many provinces remain under heavy pressure to "solve" cases, often by producing suspects and there is little appetite to improve the treatment of dissidents and some ethnic minorities, including Muslim Uighurs. The authorities regularly detain individuals in politically sensitive cases and interrogate them outside of the normal detention system. Behind those closed doors, almost anything can happen. It is far more likely that China will reform its treatment of criminal suspects than those who appear to threaten the dominance of the Communist Party. His former wife, Song Xiaonyu, had two sons with Mr Zhang before they divorced 11 years ago. She remarried but continued to help her former husband with his appeal. "I was so excited when I heard the court's announcement," said Ms Song. Mr Zhang was told by the court that he was entitled to compensation for wrongful conviction. "I'll negotiate the exact amount of compensation with my client," Mr Zhang's lawyer, Wang Fei, told China Daily. "We're also planning to ask for those who committed judicial miscarriages in the case to be held accountable." Mr Zhang's ordeal began in October 1993 when the bodies of two boys were discovered in a village reservoir in Jinxian, a county of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi. Mr Zhang was a neighbour of the victims and was identified as a suspect and detained. In January 1995, a court in Nanchang found him guilty and sentenced him to death but allowed the sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment after he served two years. Mr Zhang said he was tortured by police during interrogations and continued to maintain his innocence. Despite this, his appeals were unsuccessful. Then, in March 2019 the high court agreed to retry the case and in July provincial prosecutors recommended Mr Zhang be acquitted based on insufficient evidence. In a statement, high court judge Tian Ganlin said: "After we reviewed the materials we have found there is no direct evidence that can prove Zhang's conviction. So we accepted the prosecutors' suggestion and have declared Zhang innocent." The killer of the two boys in 1993 remains unknown. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Image copyright Mark Harrison/BritBox/Avalon Image caption PM's Spitting Image puppet A puppet of Boris Johnson has been unveiled ahead of the return of satirical TV show Spitting Image this autumn after 24 years. The programme, made famous in the mid-1980s, is due to be recreated by the BBC and ITV for their Britbox streaming service. Puppets of the prime minister's senior adviser Dominic Cummings and Prince Andrew have also been revealed. The show originally ran for 18 series from 1984 until it was axed in 1996. The new series is also set to mock politicians around the world, including US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Mr Johnson, depicted with unkempt blonde hair and a badly knotted tie, is the latest prime minister to be depicted in rubbery form by the programme. Mr Cummings, known for a more informal dress sense, is depicted wearing a blue hoodie and black gilet, with a large silver collar. Image copyright Mark Harrison/BritBox/Avalon Image caption Mr Cummings, a former director of the Vote Leave campaign, became the PM's adviser last July. The show memorably featured former Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher in a man's suit berating members of her cabinet, known as "the vegetables". Her successor John Major, who was in No 10 between 1990 and 1997, was caricatured as a dull, grey puppet with a penchant for peas. Prime ministers serving after him - Labour's Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as well as Conservatives David Cameron and Theresa May - escaped the experience of being regularly parodied on the show during their time in No 10. Image copyright Alamy Stock Photo Image caption Mrs Thatcher, often shown in a suit, was addressed by her cabinet as "sir". The original show, which was watched by 15 million viewers at its peak, also took aim at several other politicians during its twelve years on air. Douglas Hurd, a cabinet minster in Mrs Thatcher's government, was depicted with "Mr Whippy ice cream" hair. Image copyright Shutterstock Image caption John Major's puppet was cast to give the former Tory leader a grey complexion. Meanwhile Labour figures that were regularly mocked included former leader Neil Kinnock and deputy leader Roy Hattersley. The new version will be produced by production company Avalon. Roger Law, co-creator of the original, is on board as executive producer. He has previously promised the new Spitting Image will be "more outrageous, audacious and salacious than the previous incarnation." Image copyright Mark Harrison/BritBox/Avalon Image caption As well as politicians, Prince Andrew will be among the famous faces recreated as puppets. BritBox is a subscription video streaming service from the BBC and ITV. The broadcasters joined forces to set up the subscription service as a rival to the likes of Netflix. It was launched in the UK in November 2019 and subscribers pay £5.99 per month in HD. The anarchic show that packed a punch Spitting Image was created by caricaturists Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn It was originally broadcast on ITV from 1984 to 1996, until it was axed due to declining audience numbers It was nominated for nine BAFTA Television Awards (winning two) and four Emmys World leaders stereotyped included Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev, whose forehead birthmark was redrawn as a hammer and sickle Meanwhile, lockdown measures enforced due to the Covid-19 pandemic saw a surge in TV watching and online streaming, according to media watchdog Ofcom. Its annual study into UK media habits suggested adults - many stuck indoors - spent 40% of their waking hours in front of a screen, on average. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Caroline Flack was found dead at her home in Stoke Newington TV star Caroline Flack left a note before her death saying she had wanted to "find harmony" with her boyfriend Lewis Burton, an inquest was told. The ex-Love Island and X Factor host had been hounded by the media and faced a "show trial" after being accused of Mr Burton's assault, the court heard. Mr Burton told Poplar Coroner's Court the last time he had seen Ms Flack "she was not in a good place". "The media were constantly bashing her character," he said in a statement. "[They were] writing hurtful stories... generally hounding her daily." Ms Flack was found dead at her home in Stoke Newington, London in February, while she was facing trial accused of assaulting Mr Burton - a charge she denied. The hearing was told the Crown Prosecution Service had initially pursued a caution against Ms Flack, but withdrew it after the Metropolitan Police said they believed it was in the public interest to bring the assault charge. That evidence to the hearing came after Ms Flack's mother Chris had made it clear she thought her daughter was "seriously let down by the authorities and in particular the CPS for pursuing the case". Image copyright PA Media Image caption Witnesses and lawyers are listening into the hearing at Poplar Coroner's Court remotely On the day Ms Flack was found dead, a paramedic found a note that said "I hope me and Lewis can one day find harmony," the court heard. The 40-year-old had left her role presenting Love Island, the ITV2 dating show, in the wake of her arrest last December. She had been charged with assaulting Mr Burton with a lamp, after police were called to a disturbance at her home. In her statement, Ms Flack's mother described the case as "a show trial". "Being well known should not allow special treatment, but should not allow making an example of someone," she continued. But Lisa Ramsarran, deputy chief crown prosecutor, told the hearing there was by then "significant evidence to support a charge" of actual bodily harm (ABH) against Ms Flack. The evidence included a 999 call made by Mr Burton, a number of body-worn footage extracts and the injury to Ms Flack's boyfriend, the prosecutor said. She added the CPS initially planned to caution Ms Flack but senior Met Police detectives, acting on behalf of colleagues who were investigating the case, had asked to review the evidence believing a caution was not appropriate and the assault charge was in the public interest. Image copyright PA Media Image caption In a statement, Lewis Burton said the media were "constantly bashing" Ms Flack's character This came on top of the fact Ms Flack thought Mr Burton had sent a picture allegedly showing the scene of the assault to an ex girlfriend that had then been released to the press, her mother outlined to the court. "This devastated her," her mother said. Ms Flack's twin Jody also said her sister had tried to take her own life the night before she appeared in court, and paramedics had been called on four separate occasions. 'Sad all the time' In a written statement, she explained sections of the press were "hounding" the 40-year-old and paid her neighbours to inform them of her movements. "The press and the public found this a very entertaining angle, and was spiralling out of control," Jody said. "I believe the shame... was too much to deal with." Image copyright PA Media Image caption Flowers were left outside Caroline Flack's former home after she died in February Mollie Grosberg, a friend of Ms Flack, said the presenter's mental health deteriorated as she got more famous. She said her friend had been "very sad all the time" and the assault case had made things worse. "She was so scared to go to prison, of the police, the press," she said. A post-mortem examination of Ms Flack's blood found no traces of alcohol, but found traces of Zopiclone - used to treat insomnia - at just above therapeutic levels. She had complained of sleeplessness and anxiety to a wellness doctor days prior to her death. The inquest will conclude on Thursday. You can find information and support for issues raised in this article on the BBC Action Line website. 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Image copyright Luton Borough Council Image caption Waheed Akbar, Asif Masood and Tahir Malik apologised for their lockdown breach A mayor who broke Covid-19 lockdown rules to attend a party has resigned. Luton mayor Tahir Malik was pictured at a gathering in a garden, along with borough councillors Asif Masood and Waheed Akbar. It came shortly after the town had been designated as an "area of intervention" by Public Health England. Mr Malik said: "There is no excuse for what I did - I should have known better and I accept full responsibility for my actions." Pictures of Mr Malik, Mr Masood and Mr Akbar had emerged on social media following the gathering in July. In a statement on Luton Borough Council's website, Mr Malik said his actions had been "below the standard of my position". He said standing down was the "best thing I could do for the town". He added he hoped his actions would serve "as a reminder to the people of Luton of the importance of following the Covid-19 guidelines as it remains a real and serious threat". Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Coronvirus: Video shows Luton mayor breaking lockdown rules Borough council leader Hazel Simmons (Lab) said Mr Malik had made a "mistake which he deeply regrets" and that "he and his family are really hurting right now". She added: "What has happened is unfortunate, and I think it is right for him to step down at this time, but it's important to recognise the fantastic contribution he has made to Luton." Opposition Liberal Democrat leader David Franks said the matter was not over. "It would help if the local Labour Party would make it clear what action it is taking," he said. "This period of silence raises suspicions of an attempted cover-up." The borough council said it had received complaints about the three Labour councillors, which would be addressed through its Standards Committee. It added a new mayor would be appointed on 29 September. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Anger and dismay has been building in Beirut as officials admitted that a massive port explosion that killed at least 135 people, injured thousands and left many more homeless was foreseeable and had been the subject of repeated warnings. With Lebanon’s capital still smouldering, an emerging paper trail linked the blast to a mammoth stash of ammonium nitrate that was once described as a “floating bomb” and housed at the port since 2014. As recently as six months ago, officials inspecting the consignment warned that if it was not moved it would “blow up all of Beirut”. The revelation that government negligence may have played a role in the worst explosion in Beirut’s history fuelled new anger towards Lebanon’s political class among a population already seething at an ongoing financial crisis that has sunk half the country into poverty. Demonstrators in downtown Beirut attacked the convoy of former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri and brawled with his bodyguards in the most overt display of wider anger that is building against Lebanese politicians in the wake of the disaster. The government said on Wednesday evening it was putting an unspecified number of Beirut port officials under house arrest pending an investigation into how the highly explosive materials came to be stored less than 100 metres from a residential neighbourhoods. The national cabinet also declared a two-week state of emergency, effectively giving the military full powers in the capital. Play Video 1:03 Before and after: drone footage shows devastation caused by Beirut explosion – video The death toll climbed to more than 135 people according to the Lebanese Red Cross with another 4,000 wounded. Up to 300,000 people had suffered damage to their homes, leaving some uninhabitable, Beirut’s governor, Marwan Abboud, said. Dozens of people are still missing, feared buried under rubble. Residents across the city were sweeping shattered glass and other debris from their homes on Wednesday morning as blame for the tragedy started to be apportioned on social media and Lebanese TV channels. The Lebanese prime minister on Tuesday night had blamed the explosion on 2,750-tonne store of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in bombs and fertilisers, that had been stored at the port. Media reports from 2014 claimed a Russian-owned vessel carrying that load was impounded at Beirut’s port that year, after making an emergency stop in the city and being denied permission to leave by customs authorities because it was deemed unseaworthy. The former captain of the vessel, the Rhosus, alleged in an interview with Russian journalists six years ago that the owner of the ship, reported as Igor Grechushkin, had abandoned it along with the crew, who were being “held hostage” by customs authorities. “The owner has abandoned the ship. The cargo is ammonium nitrate. It is an explosive substance. And we’ve been abandoned. We’ve been living for 10 months on a powder keg.” The Guardian has not been able to verify the claims Grechushkin was the ship’s owner and has attempted to contact him for comment. In another letter published by a journalist in touch with the crew, the ship was described as “a floating bomb and the crew is a hostage aboard this bomb.” The mostly Ukrainian crew were held onboard the ship for nearly a year before they were released, their lawyers said in a 2015 note, and the ammonium nitrate was confiscated and held at the port in a warehouse. In an interview with Radio Free Europe on Wednesday, the ship’s captain denied there were problems with the ship and said it was detained for failing to pay port fees. The International Transport Workers Federation, which sought back wages and repatriation for the crew, confirmed that the ship was being held in part because it owed the port $100,000 in unpaid bills. In an interview with Radio Free Europe on Wednesday, the ship’s captain at the time, Boris Prokoshev, said he had been in direct contact with Grechushkin, whom he called the ship’s owner. Badri Daher, the director-general of Lebanese Customs, told broadcaster LBCI on Wednesday morning that in the years that folllowed, his agency had sent six documents to the judiciary warning that the material posed a danger. “We requested that it be re-exported but that did not happen,” he said. “We leave it to the experts and those concerned to determine why.” The news agency Reuters quoted an anonymous source close to a port employee saying a team had inspected the ammonium nitrate six months ago and warned that if it was not moved it would “blow up all of Beirut”. Another source said several committees and judges had been warned about the chemicals was “nothing was done” to dispose of it. Play Video 1:37 'It's a catastrophe': Beirut residents and mayor react to deadly blast – video Still unclear was what set off the ammonium nitrate, which requires extreme heat to ignite. Abboud said on Tuesday that the Beirut municipality had dispatched firefighters to the site in response to reports of a blaze, and that they were missing after the explosion – suggesting the fire had burned long enough for the crew to arrive at the scene. Several pieces of footage from the moments preceding the blast also showed thick grey smoke billowing from port, along with a series of small explosions that gave off red fumes, and then a massive blast involving more than 1,300-times the amount of ammonium nitrate used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Reuters quoted an anonymous source on Wednesday claiming the fire had started at a warehouse number nine, before spreading to warehouse 12 where the ammonium nitrate was stored. The source of the initial fire is not publicly known. Aerial and drone photographs showed a deep crater of blasted land where warehouse 12 stood, next to a row of destroyed grain silos and the surrounding area almost entirely razed. The Lebanese economy minister, Raoul Nehme, said damage to the silos had left the country with less than a month’s grain reserves, but claimed there was no risk of food shortage. “There is no bread or flour crisis,” he said. “We have enough inventory and boats on their way to cover the needs of Lebanon on the long term.” Abboud said damage from the blast extended over half of Beirut, with the cost of damage likely above $3bn. Much of East Beirut is no longer inhabitable, something that the few residents and shopkeepers picking through their wrecked businesses tacitly acknowledge. “I don’t know how we’re going to get through this,” said Issam Nassir, the manager of a tyre shop that stood incongruously amid what used to be a travel agent, a pizza parlour, and an upmarket bar - all destroyed. “Do you really think Hiroshima could have been worse than this?” The sound of mountains of glass being swept from balconies and cascading onto roads was a soundtrack to the day. Tired emergency workers trudged through the streets, some holding sledgehammers, others carrying water. A carpark in the Gemmayze district had been turned into a triage centre. Orange plastic stretchers, slick with blood were lined up from one side to the other. Play Video 0:32 Beirut explosion: priest dodges falling debris as shockwave hits church during mass – video After becoming a byword for destruction and chaos in the 1980s, Beirut rebounded from its 15-year civil war to regain a reputation as a hard-partying playground for the wealthy and theatre for the Middle East’s political intrigues. Bullet holes still marked many buildings, electricity remained intermittent and the divisions of the civil war went unreconciled, but Lebanon defied its doomsayers for three decades, attracting investment from across the region and millions of dollars in remittances from its diaspora that papered over the cracks in its institutions and infrastructure. That run appears to have ended in 2020, with its national accounts revealed to be stuffed with loans it cannot repay, and the bureaucratic inertia and negligence that dogs the lives of many Lebanese accused of contributing to one of the worst disasters in the country’s modern history. “What happened yesterday is the result of the incompetence of the so-called responsible people,” wrote Stéphane Bazan, a Lebanese consultant, in a widely shared Facebook post on Wednesday. “How many disasters are still waiting for? We run out of electricity, water is poisoned, food is suspicious, weapons are everywhere. They stole our money, our children’s future.” 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 ‘Do you really think Hiroshima could have been worse than this?’ asked one man on an agonising Lebanese day The twisted and mangled heap of steel that used to be Beirut’s port stretched to both horizons; to the left, battered skyscrapers seemed hunched in defeat and an empty highway strewn with wrecked cars led through a heat haze the other way. A traffic barrier was covered in the bloody handprints of those who had somehow survived the cataclysmic blast and had staggered into the apocalyptic aftermath. Ground zero of the explosion that destroyed much of the Lebanese capital was an enormous arc of warehouses, restaurants, homes and shops that, until Tuesday evening, were the still functioning heart of an already dying city. Day broke on Wednesday to a very different reality. Much of east Beirut is no longer habitable, something which the few residents and shopkeepers picking through their wrecked businesses tacitly acknowledge. “I don’t know how we’re going to get through this,” said Issam Nassir, the manager of a tyre shop that stood next to a building that used to house a travel agent, a pizza parlour, and an upmarket bar – all destroyed. “Do you really think Hiroshima could have been worse than this?” Across the road, a shop selling coffins had also been damaged. Some lay on their side, others had been blown open. Even a business in such high demand was unable to reopen. Throughout the morning landmarks around the Gemmayze district, a hub of cafes, pubs and restaurants, which had risen and fallen with Beirut’s fluctuating postwar fortunes, were being identified by locals as places where the explosion had hit hardest. “Six elderly people were sitting on their chairs over there,” said Malik, 36, an Iraqi migrant worker from Mosul. “I swear death stalks me wherever I go.” Play Video 1:03 Before and after: drone footage shows devastation caused by Beirut explosion – video Like almost every other eatery, Le Chef, one of the last cheap restaurants in the city, was heavily damaged. It’s co-owner, Charbel Bassil, a laconic host for nearly 40 years was catapulted into a fridge and was now recovering at home. Wounded patrons in the restaurant were first taken to the nearby St George hospital, up the hill from the port, and in its direct line of sight. The hospital had taken the full brunt of the explosion and medics inside lay dead and dying. Senior medics reached a conclusion – unthinkable in almost any other circumstance – to turn people away. “I could not treat people,” said one doctor who did not want be named. “We had no power. Some of my colleagues were trapped. And there are still pieces falling from the ceiling today. “Most of our intensive care patients died. They were there before this happened, and they should be included in the death toll. Their deaths will haunt me for a long time.” At the nearby Hospital Dieu, which became one of the city’s main casualty centres, Dr Fady Haddad, a professor of internal medicine and immunology, was enlisted as a trauma specialist. “We had a lot of spleen ruptures, severe blast injuries. Not less than 400. These are severe cases. We were overwhelmed. We couldn’t find some materials. We needed to enlist student doctors and residents. We also had to treat many colleagues. And we all knew people in our families or among our friends who were suffering. Beirut explosion: death toll rises to 135 as about 5,000 people are wounded – live updates Read more “I used to be in the Red Cross and we saw many things like this but nothing nearly as huge. In the emergency room for the first time we couldn’t take care of all the casualties we had. We had to open at least 60 rooms on other floors to take emergency patients. We had 10 surgery rooms open simultaneously and surgeons operated all night till 8am. I lost two of my friends.” Anger at the Lebanese government and distrust at what might come next burned deep among the city’s medics. In a country already ravaged by an economic implosion caused in large part by decades of unchecked official corruption, calls by politicians for international aid have been met with deep scepticism. “If any country wants to help us, please help institutions you can trust,” said Haddad. “Not through the government.” On one of the most agonising days in Beirut’s tumultuous history, a sense of injustice was everywhere. “Macron is coming here tomorrow and they will think they are now off the hook,” said Boutros Faris, a shopkeeper. “They have been stalling on reforms, and now they’ll think they don’t have to make them. This will be the old days when states turn up with cheque books and the money disappears. I hope the French president gets this.” As a warm morning gave way to a sultry afternoon, attention seemed to collectively shift to what had caused such carnage and whether anyone would be held to account for it. Play Video 1:37 'It's a catastrophe': Beirut residents and mayor react to deadly blast – video A massive shipment of around 2,750 tonnes of the chemical ammonium nitrate, stored in several warehouses after being unloaded from a rickety Russian freighter six years ago was identified by authorities as the source of the explosion. Arguments quickly escalated over why such a compound had been allowed to remain near the heart of the capital and who had authorised it. “How they end up justifying this is going to be very interesting,” said Makram Khaddaj, 41, a lawyer. “If this is found to be on the orders of one of the elites, this will be made to go away. Or they’ll charge a bureaucrat.” The aftermath of the explosion in Beirut – in pictures Read more Lebanese officials promised a five-day investigation phase, during which any official linked to the decision would be placed under house arrest, then possibly charged. Former port worker Yusuf Shehadi told the Guardian the Lebanese military had told him and other port workers to store the chemicals, despite repeated protests by other government departments. “We complained a lot about this over the years. Every week, the customs people came and complained and so did the state security officers. The army kept telling them they had no other place to put this. Everyone wanted to be the boss, and no one wanted to make a real decision. There was a lot of fighting about this subject. And all the official requests we received were placed into a drawer. Nobody ever acted on things.” Grappling with the cause of such a catastrophic event looms as yet another test for a government that has failed to convince many Lebanese that it is up to implementing a stated goal of introducing accountability. “If they don’t deliver here, many people will leave the country for good,” said Sarah Mansour. “I will the moment I can.” Q&A What is ammonium nitrate, the chemical blamed for the blast in Beirut? Show Hide Ammonium nitrate is a common industrial chemical used mainly for fertiliser because it is a good source of nitrogen for plants. It is also one of the main components in mining explosives. It is not explosive on its own, rather it is an oxidiser, drawing oxygen to a fire – and therefore making it much more intense. However, it ignites only under the right circumstances, and these are difficult to achieve. While ammonium nitrate can in fact put out a fire, if the chemical itself is contaminated, for example with oil, it becomes highly explosive. Helen Sullivan and Tom Phillips Beirut’s governor said 300,000 people had already left the city for other parts of the country. Many are unable to return to shattered homes, some of which have already been condemned by surveyors who picked through ruins with owners on Wednesday. Huge piles of broken windows and doors stood on the sides of roads, while pebble-sized pieces covered the ground like snow. By day’s end, the cars that had weaved a slow path through clogged streets had turned the glass to powder. Parts of Beirut looked like a summer blizzard had come and gone. That didn’t last long though. Civic workers and community teams with shovels and buckets were busy throughout the day turning ruins into structures that looked more manageable if money ever arrived to get things working again. Water was being handed out to anyone who wanted it in Gemmayze and nearby Mar Mikhaël. Nearby, the smell of spilt alcohol reeked from ruined bars. A UN convoy crept through a nightclub district – far from its normal deployment on the Israeli border. Tired Red Cross workers cleaned up a makeshift trauma centre in a carpark, which the night before had been slick with blood. If there was small mercy it was that the coronavirus lockdown had closed most bars. “We were closed,” said Niamh Fleming Farrell, the co-owner of Ahliay’s cafe in Gemmayze. “That’s a blessing in disguise. I couldn’t have confronted having lost people. At least we’re just managing a clean-up.” 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 They carried his photo across Beirut all night, from one hospital to the next, asking if anyone resembling Ghassan Hasrouty was among the injured or dead. At each one, they found nothing. “That was our night,” said Ghassan’s son Elie. “Trying to find a match and spread the word.” 'We're cursed': shock and despair in Beirut as explosion devastates city Read more Hasrouty’s family are now confronting another possibility: that he is buried under the rubble of Beirut’s port, one of dozens of Lebanese still missing after a gigantic explosion at the site on Tuesday evening that killed at least 100 people and wounded another 4,000. Social media lit up overnight with images of fathers, daughters, sons and mothers yet to be found since the blast, which shattered windows miles away and was heard across the sea in Cyprus. Hasrouty, 59, was part of a team of seven people in the operations room of the port’s grain silo, and was last heard from at about 5.30pm on Tuesday, telling his wife that a ship was taking its time unloading and not to expect him home until morning. Play Video 2:22 Beirut explosion: scores dead and thousands hurt as blast rips through city – video report At 6.05pm, Beirut shook. “When I saw the explosion next to the grain storage, I knew that under the high pressure he might be injured,” Elie said. “I checked if he was on duty, and it happened that he was.” Frantic calls to Hasrouty’s phone failed to connect, as the country’s telecommunication grid strained under the weight of thousands of people dialling their family and friends at once. The death and injury toll spiralled through the night and Wednesday morning as intact hospitals – some were destroyed by the explosion – struggled to register the arrivals. News anchors read lists of names on air of both the survivors and the dead. Ghassan Hasrouty. Photograph: Michael Safi' Amid the carnage, residents have been rallying and trying to support each other as best they can. Instagram accounts have been created compiling the missing, listing phone numbers and providing updates on their cases. Another Instagram account was established with offers of accommodation for anyone whose house was destroyed. “For anyone who needs a shelter, our door is open for you,” one said. In a country already reeling from the worst financial collapse in its modern history, and which imports 80% of its grain, the destruction of the wheat stores where Hasrouty was working left the country with less than a month’s reserves. “There is no bread or flour crisis,” the economy minister, Raoul Nehme, said on Wednesday. “We have enough inventory and boats on their way to cover the needs of Lebanon on the long term.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lebanese soldiers search for survivors. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP At least 300,000 homes have been damaged, and many are no longer habitable, said the Beirut governor, Marwan Abboud. Tens of thousands of people will need to repair their buildings and reinstall windows in an environment where the Lebanese currency has lost about 80% of its value, and imports will be significantly slower to arrive. On Wednesday morning, Elie Hasrouty tried contacting security officials – anyone he could reach – to ask them to bring machinery and start removing debris from the flattened building where his father was working. “We were expecting there would be more professionalism and efficiency in taking the ruins away and finding the people underneath. They are known to be there, they were on duty,” he said. “So far we’ve been told no special equipment has reached there. They’ve started on another area, but they need to work on the operations room.” He admitted the site looked devastated, but the family is clinging to hope. “I spoke to his colleagues and they said the structure of the building where he worked has alcoves and areas where you can take shelter,” he said. “So it’s important to remove the rubble as fast as possible so the people underneath can get out.” 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 The biggest shake-up of planning for decades has caused fury that moves to fast-track the construction of “beautiful” homes across England will “dilute” democratic oversight, choke off affordable housing and lead to the creation of “slum” dwellings. Under the proposals, unveiled on Thursday, planning applications based on pre-approved “design codes” would get an automatic green light – eliminating a whole stage of local oversight within designated zones. Land across England would be divided into three categories – for growth, renewal or protection – under what Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, described as “once in a generation” reforms to sweep away an outdated planning system and boost building. New homes, hospitals, schools, shops and offices would be allowed automatically in “growth” areas. In “renewal” zones, largely urban and brownfield sites, proposals would be given “permission in principle” subject to basic checks. Green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty would be protected. While the proposed changes are likely to appeal to developers, they prompted stinging criticism from housing charities, planning officers and architects who warned of a new generation of fast and substandard housing. Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, said the measures ‘cut red tape, but not standards’. Photograph: Peter Summers/Getty Images The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) condemned them as disruptive and rushed, saying 90% of planning applications are currently approved but there are up to 1m unbuilt permissions. Labour called it “a developers’ charter” that will “set fire to important safeguards”. The long-awaited government white paper touts a new streamlined process designed to reduce red tape and harness technology to deliver homes more rapidly, ministers said. Government sources insisted there would be no dilution in building standards. Changes out for consultation under the white paper also include: Requiring local housing plans to be developed and agreed in 30 months, down from the current seven years. Extending the current exemption of small sites from having to make “section 106” payments – the means by which developers are forced to provide affordable housing. Ensuring that all new homes are carbon-neutral by 2050. At the weekend, Jenrick said the new regime drew inspiration from “design codes and pattern books” used in the construction of Bath, Belgravia and Bournville. But the prospect of a modern-day application and use of such codes to give developers “permission in principle” in zones categorised as being for growth was greeted with alarm in some quarters. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) described the proposals as “shameful” and said they would do “almost nothing to guarantee the delivery of affordable, well-designed and sustainable homes”. “While they might help to ‘get Britain building’ – paired with the extension of permitted development rights last week – there’s every chance they could also lead to the development of the next generation of slum housing,” said RIBA president Alan Jones. Proposals to extend the current exemption of small sites from having to make section 106 payments were slated as a way of helping smaller developers bounce back from the economic impact of the pandemic. But Shelter said social housing “could face extinction” if the requirement for developers to build their fair share was removed. “Section 106 agreements between developers and councils are tragically one of the only ways we get social homes built these days, due to a lack of direct government investment,” said its chief executive, Polly Neate. “So, it makes no sense to remove this route to genuinely affordable homes without a guaranteed alternative.” The proposals contain scant detail on any alternative way to boost the number of affordable homes, promising only that they will not decrease. The white paper proposes a consultation on developers making in-kind payments of affordable homes toward the levy or allowing local authorities to buy a proportion of affordable housing at a discounted rate. Hugh Ellis, director of policy at TCPA, criticised the reforms overall, saying: “This kind of disruptive reform doesn’t suit anybody, neither landowners nor developers. They’re turning the system on its head at a time when it’s working very well for the volume house builders – 90% of planning applications are approved and there are about a million unbuilt permissions.” He added: “It’s about local democracy. When local people are walking down the street and come across a new development they didn’t know about, the answer will now be: ‘You should have been involved in the consultation eight years ago when the code was agreed.’ “It’s diluting the democratic process. At the moment, people get two chances to be involved: once when the plan is made, and once when a planning application is submitted. Now they’ll only have a chance when the code is being prepared.” Zack Simons, a planning barrister at Landmark chambers, said there was a lot to welcome in a move towards digitising the planning system but added that “literally nothing” trailed in Jenrick’s public statements could not already be achieved under the current planning system. “Promises of “radical reform” can grab headlines. But remember that of more than 400,000 planning applications which are determined every year, over 80% are granted permission and under 0.5% are appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.” Polly Neate, Shelter’s chief executive, called for a guarantee of affordable housing. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian A government source said it was misleading to suggest planning rules were not an obstacle to building. “The [90%] approval statistic masks the numbers of people who are put off applying altogether because of how bureaucratic and difficult this is,” the source said. However, little has been announced on what measures, if any, will be taken against developers who do not use the permission they have been granted. The white paper takes aim at the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, which has acted as the basis for planning since it was passed by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. A “complex” planning system has acted as a barrier to building the homes people need, said Jenrick. “We will cut red tape, but not standards, placing a higher regard on quality, design and the environment than ever before,” he said. “Planning decisions will be simple and transparent, with local democracy at the heart of the process. As we face the economic effects of the pandemic, now is the time for decisive action and a clear plan for jobs and growth.” The Conservatives will hope the overhaul will be favoured not only by investors and developers, but also by the younger voters currently outside its reach. The Tory manifesto commits the government to 300,000 new homes built every year and, before coronavirus hit, senior Tories saw housing as the key mission of the government as a way of targeting a primary concern of many under-40s and city-dwelling voters shut out of the housing market – those most likely to vote Labour. “We are seeing a huge generation divide on housing,” one Tory source said. “The under-40s may have half as much chance of owning a home. That is being directly addressed by the first homes programme but the broader point is this planning system has held back homes being built on land that is ready to be built on. “And we know the main concerns which local people may have are about good design, environmentally friendly, buildings that fit into the architectural landscape, ones people are proud to own. We are not cutting any building standards.” 

  Published Date: 2020-08-05 

 Nicola Sturgeon has warned that an emergency lockdown in Aberdeen could extend to other towns in the region after health officials linked 32 pubs and golf courses to the outbreak in the city. The first minister said all pubs and restaurants in the city had to close from 5pm on Wednesday, as she barred people from visiting other households indoors and urged residents to avoid non-essential journeys greater than five miles. Health officials in NHS Grampian named 32 pubs, restaurants and golf clubs visited by some of the 54 people infected in the outbreak, as the scope of their test-and-trace investigation widened to include several businesses in Aberdeenshire. The health board said a further 36 infections had emerged overnight in the Grampian area, although it remained unclear how many were directly linked to the Aberdeen cluster, which began late last week at the Hawthorn Bar in the city centre. NHS Grampian announced on Wednesday evening that it had suspended all visits to hospitals in Aberdeen with immediate effect, including Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the city’s children’s and maternity hospitals, to protect patients and staff. While hospitals in Aberdeenshire and Moray were unaffected, the NHS board said the ban extended to anyone in Aberdeen who was a designated visitor for patients in hospitals outside the city, even if less than five miles from their home. The Aberdeenshire businesses involved in the NHS Grampian investigation included the Cock & Bull gastropub close to Donald Trump’s golf course near Balmedie north of Aberdeen, the Aboyne golf club 30 miles west of Aberdeen and the Marine hotel in Stonehaven, 16 miles south of the city. As Police Scotland confirmed it would increase patrols in Aberdeen to enforce the lockdown, Sturgeon said that extending the lockdown to other places was a live issue. “There will be ongoing analysis of the ‘test and protect’ data to see whether it may be necessary to extend these restrictions to some parts of Aberdeenshire,” she said. “But we will only do that if we deem it necessary and we haven’t taken that decision yet.” A local MSP, Lewis Macdonald, said expanding the lockdown was logical. “The whole point of test and trace is to trace and [administrative] boundaries should play no part in determining the extent of the lockdown,” he said. “The virus doesn’t respect boundaries and nor should the actions taken to contain it. It is important action is immediate and it’s effective.” Sturgeon said urgent action was essential to prevent a much wider outbreak. “I know this is deeply, deeply unwelcome news for people in Aberdeen and I’m deeply sorry that we’re in this position,” she said during her daily coronavirus briefing. “We need to take decisive action now in order to prevent a larger outbreak and further harm later on.” She said the restrictions, which followed a local lockdown around five towns and villages in south-west Scotland last month, and an outbreak affecting 13 people in Inverclyde late last month, would be in place until they are reviewed next Wednesday. The lockdown would not affect hotel restaurants that serve those staying at the hotel or takeaways, while the ban on non-essential travel would exclude those who needed to travel for work and education. She also urged people not to travel into Aberdeen unless it was essential. Sturgeon said she still hoped Aberdeen’s schools would reopen on 17 August. Any employers whose staff had been previously furloughed during the UK-wide lockdown could be put back on furlough for the duration of this local lockdown. The Hawthorn has been closed for a deep clean, but anxieties about the behaviour of some Aberdonians accelerated over the weekend after footage emerged of large groups of mainly younger people drinking in close proximity at an outdoor bar on Union Street, the city’s main shopping street. Sturgeon said the identification of numerous bars and pubs in the outbreak showed the outbreak was rapidly accelerating, she said, with cases appearing to double every two days or so, and it suggested drinkers were going on pub crawls. “Our precautionary and careful judgment is that we need to take decisive action now, difficult as that undoubtedly is, in order to try to contain this outbreak and prevent further harm later on,” she said. “As I said earlier, this is about doing all we can to ensure our children can return to schools next week. Acting now, we judge, gives us the time and the space to protect the ability of our young people to return to education.” Tracy Black, director of the business organisation CBI Scotland, said: “Aberdeen won’t be the last local area that faces renewed restrictions in the coming months, so the Scottish government must do everything it can to provide clear, timely advice and appropriate support to firms and individuals. That’s a must to maintain public confidence.”