800 apartments evacuated amid fire safety concerns
PUBLIC SAFETY /
LONDON — A local London council has decided to evacuate some 800 households in apartment buildings it owns because of safety concerns following the devastating fire that killed 79 people in a west London high-rise.
The move comes amid escalating concerns among residents of thousands of tower blocks around Britain. The Camden Council is the first to take such a dramatic step in light of the June 14 fire at Grenfell Tower.
Council leader Georgia Gould says the borough made the decision to empty the buildings after the London Fire Brigade and council experts had conducted a joint inspection of the properties.
“Camden Council is absolutely determined to ensure that our residents are safe and we have promised them that we will work with them, continue to act swiftly and be open and transparent,” Gould said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Theresa May offered a message of sympathy to the affected residents, taking to Twitter to pledge she would work with relevant authorities to offer support.
“My thoughts are with residents being evacuated in Camden while their homes are made safe tonight,” she said.
The council is encouraging residents to stay with friends and family, but promised to provide temporary accommodations, if that weren’t possible. Repairs on the building are expected to be completed within three to four weeks.
“The Grenfell fire changes everything,” Gould said. “We need to do everything we can to keep residents safe.”
Camden is one of the councils in England that has learned that combustible cladding has been placed on buildings during renovation projects, though they had ordered non-flammable cladding.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — With just days to decide, Qatar on Friday weighed an onerous list of demands by its neighbors as a way out of a regional crisis, and a top Emirati official warned the tiny country to brace for a long-term economic squeeze unless it is willing to acquiesce.
Qatar did not immediately respond after receiving a clear set of demands for the first time, but the ultimatum was quickly rejected by its ally, Turkey, and blasted as an assault on free speech by AlJazeera, the Qatari broadcaster that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others are demanding be shut down.
Qatar’s neighbors insisted the 13-point list of demands was their bottom line, not a starting point for negotiations. The Arab countries signaled that if Qatar refuses to comply by the 10-day deadline, they will continue to restrict its access to land, sea and air routes indefinitely amid mounting economic pressure on the Persian Gulf nation.
“The measures that have been taken are there to stay until there is a long-term solution to the issue,” Yousef al-Otaiba, ambassador to the U.S. from the United Arab Emirates, told The Associated Press.
Still, he suggested the penalties would only be economic and diplomatic, adding: “There is no military element to this whatsoever.”
The demands from Qatar’s neighbors amount to a call for a sweeping overhaul of Qatar’s foreign policy and natural gas-funded influence peddling in the region. Complying would force Qatar to bring its policies in line with the regional vision of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest economy and gatekeeper of Qatar’s only land border.
They include shutting news outlets, including Al-Jazeera and its affiliates; curbing diplomatic relations with Iran; and severing all ties with Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood. The AP obtained a copy of the list in Arabic from one of the countries in the dispute.