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Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Grenfell Tower: Thousands of pounds paid out to victims

More than £200,000 of government money has been paid out to 180 families directly affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

The payments - made up of £500 in cash and £5,000 as a bank account payment - have been coordinated by the Grenfell Response Team (GRT).

It has also been confirmed that 126 hotel places have been given to families while 78 were due to be homed in properties locally or in a neighbouring borough by Monday night.

In a statement, GRT said: "We have endeavoured to keep accommodation as local as possible, and we completely accept residents' wishes to remain close to the community."

Image:Some of those affected by the fire march in protest at the way they have been treated

It comes as hundreds of those affected by the fire - which has killed at least 79 people - marched to the tower on Monday night.

Rochelle Thomas, a local resident, said there is still anger at the lack of help and coordination: "I'm just feeling very let down by the council. I called today but got the phone hung up on me."

She added: "I don't have the words to say anymore. It's just a massive let down. These are human beings, they are families."

Another local resident, called Zee, told Sky News: "There's still confusion, no one really knows what's going on. I think the most shocking thing that is starting to sink in for people in the area is how - how have we been left to this?"

Image:A vigil for the victims of the Grenfell fire disaster was held at Parliament Square

Newly elected MP for Kensington, Emma Dent Coad, was one of those to speak at the march on Monday night.

She says there is total chaos in the borough.

"People have been sleeping in cars and in parks because they don't know where to go and they aren't being looked after," she said.

"Secondly they need to be re-housed permanently and thirdly they need a long-term care package... people who'll always be there for them."

Meanwhile police are continuing to name those who died in the fire as the investigation continues.

Some 250 officers are involved and police say they are looking at all criminal offences that may have been committed by any individual or any organisation.

It came as Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy fought back tears as he warned that some victims may never be identified.

Personal details of nearly 200 million US citizens exposed

Sensitive personal details relating to almost 200 million US citizens have been accidentally exposed by a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee.

The 1.1 terabytes of data includes birthdates, home addresses, telephone numbers and political views of nearly 62% of the entire US population.

The data was available on a publicly accessible Amazon cloud server.

Anyone could access the data as long as they had a link to it.
Political biases exposed

The huge cache of data was discovered last week by Chris Vickery, a cyber-risk analyst with security firm UpGuard. The information seems to have been collected from a wide range of sources - from posts on controversial banned threads on the social network Reddit, to committees that raised funds for the Republican Party.

The information was stored in spreadsheets uploaded to a server owned by Deep Root Analytics. It had last been updated in January when President Donald Trump was inaugurated and had been online for an unknown period of time.

"We take full responsibility for this situation. Based on the information we have gathered thus far, we do not believe that our systems have been hacked," Deep Root Analytics' founder Alex Lundry told technology website Gizmodo.

"Since this event has come to our attention, we have updated the access settings and put protocols in place to prevent further access."

Apart from personal details, the data also contained citizens' suspected religious affiliations, ethnicities and political biases, such as where they stood on controversial topics like gun control, the right to abortion and stem cell research.

The file names and directories indicated that the data was meant to be used by influential Republican political organisations. The idea was to try to create a profile on as many voters as possible using all available data, so some of the fields in the spreadsheets were left left empty if an answer could not be found.

"That such an enormous national database could be created and hosted online, missing even the simplest of protections against the data being publicly accessible, is troubling," Dan O'Sullivan wrote in a blog poston Upguard's website.

"The ability to collect such information and store it insecurely further calls into question the responsibilities owed by private corporations and political campaigns to those citizens targeted by increasingly high-powered data analytics operations."
Privacy concerns

Although it is known that political parties routinely gather data on voters, this is the largest breach of electoral data in the US to date and privacy experts are concerned about the sheer scale of the data gathered.

"This is deeply troubling. This is not just sensitive, it's intimate information, predictions about people's behaviour, opinions and beliefs that people have never decided to disclose to anyone," Privacy International's policy officer Frederike Kaltheuner told the BBC News website.

However, the issue of data collection and using computer models to predict voter behaviour is not just limited to marketing firms - Privacy International says that the entire online advertising ecosystem operates in the same way.

"It is a threat to the way democracy works. The GOP [Republican Party] relied on publicly-collected, commercially-provided information. Nobody would have realised that the data they entrusted to one organisation would end up in a database used to target them politically.

"You should be in charge of what is happening to your data, who can use it and for what purposes," Ms Kaltheuner added.

There are fears that leaked data can easily be used for nefarious purposes, from identity fraud to harassment of people under protection orders, or to intimidate people who hold an opposing political view.

"The potential for this type of data being made available publicly and on the dark web is extremely high," Paul Fletcher, a cyber-security evangelist at security firm Alert Logic told the BBC.

Monday, June 19, 2017

US student detained and released by North Korea dies

A US student who was held in a North Korean prison for more than a year has died just a week after his release.

Otto Warmbier was medically evacuated from the country after it emerged he had been in a coma since he was jailed in March 2016.

His parents confirmed he died on Monday.

In a statement, they said: "It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home.

"Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2.20 pm."

US President Donald Trump said on hearing the news that "bad things" happened in "brutal" North Korea but at least he died at home with his parents.

Doctors from the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre said last week that the 22-year-old was suffering from injuries related to cardiopulmonary arrest and was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness.

Image:Mr Warmbier broke down as he was jailed in March 2016

The University of Virginia student was medically evacuated from North Korea and flown to Cincinnati late last Tuesday.

His parents said they were only informed of his condition a week ago.

The college student was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour in 2016 after he admitted trying to steal a propaganda sign from the staff-only area of a hotel he was staying at.

Warmbier told reporters he was offered a used car worth $10,000 (£7,840) if he could obtain a sign, adding that $200,000 (£156,860) would be paid to his mother if he was detained and didn't return.

:: US professor held in North Korea

Image:The propaganda sign Mr Warmbier attempted to take from his hotel

Following his death on Monday afternoon, Fred and Cindy Warmbier said: "The awful tumultuous treatment of our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today...

"It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost - future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds.

"But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.

"You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched - Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two - that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family."

Russia will target coalition jets in parts of Syria, defence ministry says

Russia says it will treat US-led coalition planes as potential targets in government-controlled areas of Syria west of the Euphrates River.

The escalation comes a day after the US shot down a Syrian air force jet.

In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said that starting on Monday it will track all jets and drones from the coalition in the area.

And it has demanded a full account of why the US military shot down the Syrian SU-22.

Areas of northern Syria west of the Euphrates were controlled by Islamic State until recent months when Syrian government forces captured most of the region back.

US Central Command confirmed that one of its F-18 Super Hornets downed the Syrian aircraft, which it said had dropped bombs near the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Kurdish-led SDF - which is aligned with the US in the campaign against IS - had warned Syrian government forces to stop their attacks or face retaliation.

Image:SDF fighters pictured in the north of Raqqa

The downing of the warplane is the first time in the conflict that the US has shot down a Syrian jet.

Syria said that the fighter jet that was downed was on a combat mission against Islamic State.

Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, has been providing air cover to the government's offensive since 2015.

Clashes between the SDF and Syrian government forces have been rare, with some rebel groups even accusing them of coordinating on the battlefield.

Both sides are battling IS - with SDF fighters focusing on the northern city of Raqqa and government forces attacking IS in northern, central and southern Syria.

Finsbury Park Attack: One dead after 'van hits mosque worshippers'

One man has died after a van hit 11 worshippers leaving a Muslim welfare centre in north London.

The Metropolitan Police said eight people had been taken to hospital after the collision at the junction of Whadcoat Street and Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park.

A further two people were treated at the scene, where police arrested a man who had been held by members of the public amid angry scenes.

According to a witness who asked to be called Abdulrahman, which is not his real name, the driver of the van said: "I want to kill Muslims."

Another witness, Adil Rana, 24, said: "The van was driving towards us to try and basically hit us at speed.

"When he got arrested, he was taunting, saying, 'I'd do it again, I'd do it again'."

Pictures of the van indicated it was rented from a company in South Wales, Pontyclun Van Hire.

Ellen Higginbottom's death: Two men arrested

Police have arrested two men on suspicion of murdering a teenage girl in Wigan.

Ellen Higginbottom died after being brutally attacked near Winstanley College, and her body was discovered at Orrell Water Park in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A post-mortem examination has concluded that the 18-year-old student had suffered multiple wounds to the neck.

Greater Manchester Police said a 47-year-old suspect was detained on Sunday afternoon in nearby Billinge, and is currently in custody for questioning.

A second man, aged 51, was arrested in Preston, Lancashire on Sunday evening.

Detective Superintendent Howard Millington has stressed the investigation "is still in its early stages".

He said: "This investigation is by no means over however, we still have a long way to go in piecing together the puzzle.

"Our investigative team will continue to work at the scene in the area around Orrell Water Park for the next few days."

Image:Police called Ellen Higginbottom's death an 'absolute tragedy'. Pic: Facebook

Classmates have described Ellen as a "lovely and caring girl" who will be remembered for her love of horses.

Her friend Katie Hatton wrote on Facebook: "Absolutely heartbreaking that this horror had to happen to such a lovely and caring young girl, always smiling and making me laugh in psychology.

"You were taken far too young - my love and thoughts are with friends and family. R.I.P. Ellen."

Lisa Wasilewski wrote: "Seriously saddened by the loss of the lovely Ellen Higginbottom. My thoughts are with her family right now.

"I will always remember you for your love of horses and your bubbly personality. You will be missed xxx."

Chloe Williams, who had posted a plea for information about Ellen in the hours after she went missing, said later: "Never felt as sick and upset and heartbroken in my entire life."

Muslim leaders: Finsbury Park attack 'senseless and evil'

Muslim leaders have described the Finsbury Park van attack on worshippers as "senseless and evil".

One has died and 10 others were injured after a white van was driven into a crowd near a mosque in the early hours of Monday morning.

Image:Emergency services at the scene

Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim organisation which speaks out against extremism, said: "I utterly condemn the senseless and evil van attack against Muslim worshippers outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in London.

"According to eyewitnesses this was a deliberate attack against innocent Muslims going about their life.

Image:People injured in the Finsbury Park attack

"We should make clear that if this attack is confirmed as a deliberate terrorist attack then this should be classed as an act of terrorism.

"The British Muslim community requires all decent people to stand with us against this evil violence.

"Rampant Islamaphobia has been on the rise for a number of years and those on the far right have perpetuated hatred against Muslims.

"They should be called out for their hatred."

Image:Angry witnesses at the scene of the Finsbury Park attack

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) general secretary Harun Khan said: "During the night, ordinary British citizens were set upon while they were going about their lives, completing their night worship. It appears from eyewitness accounts that the perpetrator was motivated by Islamophobia.

"Over the past weeks and months, Muslims have endured many incidents of Islamophobia and this is the most violent manifestation to date.