Category: Foreign

VIGILS for the victims of the London Bridge attack have been held in London and Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK).

Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, were commemorated at the services, which included a minute’s silence. They were stabbed to death by convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, at a prisoner rehabilitation conference on Friday.

It was gathered that Khan was under investigation by MI5 when he left prison a year ago, but given one of the lowest priorities. Merritt and Jones were both graduates of the University of Cambridge’s institute of criminology and had been taking part in an event for its Learning Together programme – which focuses on education within the criminal justice system – when they were attacked. Merritt’s family and his girlfriend attended the service in Cambridge outside the Guildhall.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn were among those at the vigil at the Guildhall in the City of London. They were joined by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who said the best way to defeat the hatred shown in the attack was to focus on the values of hope, unity and love.

“The best way to defeat this hatred is not by turning on one another, but it’s by focussing on the values that bind us, to take hope from the heroism of ordinary Londoners and our emergency services who ran towards danger, risking their lives to help people they didn’t even know,” he said.

The London service happened less than a mile from Fishmongers’ Hall, where Usman Khan launched his attack on Friday.

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Bishop of London Sarah Mullally said the vigils remembered “academics celebrating rehabilitation and finding only danger”.

She paid tribute to the workers at Fishmongers’ Hall, who she said went to work to offer hospitality, but found themselves needing to give protection.

The vigil in Guildhall Yard in London was led by Bishop of London Sarah Mullally.  A vigil was also held at Anglia Ruskin University, where Saskia Jones attended before taking her masters at Cambridge.

The victims’ families paid tribute to their loved ones over the weekend. Merritt was a coordinator of the Learning Together programme and Ms Jones a volunteer. Ms Jones’ family said their daughter, from Stratfordupon-Avon in Warwickshire, had a “great passion” for supporting victims of criminal justice. In a statement, Merritt’s family described him as a “talented boy” who “died doing what he loved”.

Turkey’s foreign minister has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of being a “sponsor of terrorism”, dismissing the French leader’s criticism of Turkey’s Syria offensive.

Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters that Mr Macron wanted to be the leader of Europe but was “wobbling”.

Last month Mr Macron hosted a senior official from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Turkey views a section of the group – the YPG – as terrorists.

Earlier yesterday, Mr Macron said he stood by comments made three weeks ago when he described Nato as “brain dead”.

He said members of the alliance needed a “wake-up call” as they were no longer co-operating on a range of key issues.

He also criticised Nato’s failure to respond to the offensive by Turkey – a Nato member – in northern Syria.

Addressing reporters in parliament on Thursday, Mr Cavusoglu said: “He [Macron] is already the sponsor of the terrorist organisation and constantly hosts them at the Elysee. If he says his ally is the terrorist organisation… there is really nothing more to say.

“Right now, there is a void in Europe, [Macron] is trying to be its leader, but leadership comes naturally.”

Turkey was angered when Mr Macron held talks in Paris on 8 October with SDF spokeswoman Jihane Ahmed.

Mr Macron’s office said the meeting was to express France’s solidarity with the SDF in its fight against the Islamic State group and also to reiterate concerns about the prospect of a Turkish military operation in Syria.

A day later, Turkey launched an offensive in northern Syria to create a “safe zone” cleared of Kurdish militias.

Ties between Turkey and its Nato allies have been under strain since Ankara bought the advanced Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system earlier this year.

Mr Macron was speaking at a news conference with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in the week before alliance leaders meet in the UK for its 70th anniversary.

At least 27 people have been killed in Iraq on one of the bloodiest days since anti-government protests began last month, medics and officials say.

At least 20 people died when security forces opened fire to clear bridges in the southern city of Nasiriya.

Another four protesters died in Baghdad and three more in the city of Najaf, where Iran’s consulate was also burnt.

Iraqis have been taking to the streets to demand more jobs, an end to corruption and better public services.

The Iraqi military has announced it is setting up military “crisis cells” to quell unrest. The military command said an emergency unit had been created to “impose security and restore order”.

At least 350 people have been killed and thousands wounded since the unrest began.

The military had sent reinforcements to tackle unrest in Nasiriya, the birthplace of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi and a hotspot for protests.

Troops used live ammunition and tear gas to clear sit-ins on two bridges, medics and security sources reported, with protesters responding by torching a police station.

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Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, Lynn Maalouf, said the scenes “more closely resemble a war zone than city streets and bridges”, accusing security forces of “appalling violence against largely peaceful protesters”.

Agence France-Presse, quoting Iraqi state media, said Mr Abdul Mahdi had now sacked Gen Jamil Shummary, one of the commanders sent to restore order in Nasiriya.

Live rounds were also fired at the strategic Ahrar Bridge in Baghdad, sources said, as protesters tried to cross towards the so-called Green Zone that hosts the country’s parliament.

As well as the four who died there, more than 20 people were wounded.

Poland’s former president Lech Walesa, 76, has been taken to hospital and on Thursday tweeted a picture of himself in a hospital bed wearing pyjamas.

The Nobel laureate tweeted, “back in the hospital,” and his spokesman wrote that Walesa was in hospital “for tests” likewise on Twitter, adding that doctors would decide everything else.

The former leader of the pro-democracy trade union movement Solidarity has been suffering from health problems for some time, with high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

BURGLARS have stolen three diamond jewellery sets €1 billion from one of Europe’s largest treasure collections – the Dresden Green Vault in eastern Germany.

The sets consist of 37 parts each, and the thieves may try to break them up.

Dresden police and museum officials say they are still trying to establish exactly how much was stolen in the break-in early yesterday.

Saxony’s ruler, Augustus the Strong, created the collection in the 18th Century.

“Three out of 10 diamond sets have gone,” said Marion Ackermann, head of the Dresden state museums.

The 18th-Century sets are reported to also include some rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

Dozens of police cars are at the scene and the Green Vault is now shut. The thieves – still on the run – got in by removing part of an iron grille on a ground-floor window, then smashing the glass.

Ms Ackermann described the jewels as “priceless – we can’t put a figure on it”.

Earlier, the popular German daily Bild said the thieves had grabbed jewels worth €1bn (£855m).

“The items cannot be sold on the art market legally – they’re too well known,” said Ms Ackermann.

She said the cultural value of the unique collection was far greater than its material value.

Police are examining CCTV footage, which shows two suspects in the dark. But there could have been more involved in the robbery.

Ms Ackermann said the museum had guards on duty at night.

It is called the Green Vault because some rooms were decorated with malachite-green paint. It is housed in the Residenzschloss – a former royal palace.

At about 05:00 (04:00 GMT) yesterday, firefighters were called to tackle a fire in a nearby electricity junction box. There is speculation that the fire disabled the museum’s alarm system. It put out some of the street lights.