A Greek Orthodox priest has been shot and seriously injured at a church in the centre of the French city of Lyon by an assailant who then fled, a police source and witnesses said.
Police guard the scene of the shooting in Lyon. Photo: AFP
The priest was fired on twice at around 4pm as he was closing the church, and he was being treated on site for life-threatening injuries, the source said.
Witnesses said the church was Greek Orthodox. Another police source said the priest was of Greek nationality, and had been able to tell emergency services as they arrived that he had not recognised his assailant.
The incident came two days after a man shouting "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) beheaded a woman and killed two other people in a church in Nice. Two weeks ago, a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb was beheaded by an 18-year-old attacker who was apparently incensed by the teacher showing a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad during a class.
While the motive for the latest attack was not known, government ministers had warned that there could be other Islamist militant attacks. President Emmanuel Macron has deployed thousands of soldiers to protect sites such as places of worship and schools.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, who was visiting Rouen, said he was heading back to Paris to assess the situation.
Security and emergency personnel at the scene of the shooting which comes two days after three people were murdered at a church in Nice. Photo: AFP
The Nice attack took place on the day Muslims celebrate the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. Many Muslims around the world have been angered about France's defence of the right to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet.
A third person has been taken into police custody in connection with that attack, a police source said yesterday. The suspected assailant was shot by police and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
Macron took to Arabic-language airwaves yesterday, saying he understood the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad may shock some people but that there was no justification for acts of violence.
In an interview with Al Jazeera released, Macron said his position had been misconstrued: that he never supported publication of cartoons seen as insulting by Muslims, but had defended the right of free expression.
"I understand and I respect the fact that people might be shocked by these caricatures, but I will never accept any justification for acts of violence over these caricatures," Macron said.
The teacher killed on 16 October, Samuel Paty, had showed cartoons in class to prompt discussion of free speech.
- Reuters
The British Government is considering a month-long lockdown across England in the hope that measures could be eased before Christmas.
A man passes a notice warning of the current 'high' alert level for covid-19, taped at the entrance to a newsagent on Old Compton Street in Soho in London, England Photo: AFP
A new "stay at home" order could be announced on Monday, with schools, colleges and universities exempt.
Documents seen by the BBC suggest the UK is on course for a much higher death toll than during the first wave unless further restrictions are introduced.
Deaths could reach more than 4000 a day, one of the models suggests.
This figure is based on no policies being brought in to slow the spread of the disease, but most of the models peak at about 2000 a day.
At the height of the pandemic during the spring, deaths in the UK reached more than 1000 a day.
Infection rates are currently soaring across much of Europe, prompting new forms of lockdown in Belgium, France and Germany.
The papers, understood to be part of a presentation by the government's pandemic modelling group SPI-M shown to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, feature several different projections of the likely course of the disease.
All models predict that hospitalisations are likely to peak in mid-December, with deaths rising until at least late December before falling from early January.
And a separate document circulating in government - based on NHS England modelling from 28 October - warns that the NHS would be unable to accept any more patients by Christmas, even if the Nightingale hospitals are used and non-urgent procedures cancelled.
The document warns that south-west England and the Midlands will be the first to run out of capacity, potentially within a fortnight.
These latest papers come after official documents from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) revealed that Covid is spreading much faster in England than the predicted "worst case" scenario.
This scenario had estimated 85,000 deaths from Covid during winter.
But in the Sage documents - dated 14 October and published on Friday - scientists estimated that, by mid-October, there were between 43,000 and 74,000 people being infected with coronavirus every day in England.
Their report said: "This is significantly above the profile of the reasonable worst-case scenario, where the number of daily infections in England remained between 12,000-13,000 throughout October."
Scientists advising the government have been arguing for a short, planned lockdown - called a "circuit-breaker" - since 21 September, when there were around 5000 confirmed cases a day.
'Too late'
Labour's shadow business minister Lucy Powell told BBC Breakfast suggestions of a national lockdown had come "too late", as she argued a circuit-breaker over half-term would have been more effective.
Powell said the party had been calling for a circuit-breaker "for a few weeks now".
She added: "The government's dithering on this now means we've missed the half-term holiday when it could have had most impact.
"We could have saved more of the economy and reduced the impact of [lockdown] with a shorter, earlier circuit-breaker that coincided with half term."
Theatre performers, creatives and technicians gather in Parliament Square to take part in the ‘Survival in the Square' creative demonstration to highlight the plight of live events industry shut down due the Covid-19 pandemic Photo: AFP
But UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said a national lockdown would be "absolutely devastating" for her industry.
She told the programme: "If we are to get through another national lockdown in hospitality... then we are going to need significant additional help to be able to get through this.
"People have borrowed up to the hilt, people have spent money in order to get Covid-secure. There is no spare capacity in the tank to be able to fund a lockdown - even for three to four weeks."
Her concerns were echoed by Federation of Small Businesses chair Mike Cherry, who said another lockdown would be "incredibly frustrating" as small businesses and businesses across the UK had "spent thousands" in making sure their premises were safe for employees and customers.
Prof John Edmunds, a member of Sage, confirmed that the situation in the country is worse than the reasonable worst-case scenario produced by Sage.
"We've been significantly above that reasonable worst-case scenario for some time actually," he said.
"It is really unthinkable now, unfortunately, that we don't count our deaths in tens of thousands from this wave."
Asked if restrictions would have to be more severe than the circuit-breaker previously proposed by scientists, Edmunds said: "Decisions are horrible - they are very difficult - but putting them off doesn't make them any easier, in fact it makes them more difficult.
"If we are going to put the brakes on the epidemic now, then we're going to have to put the brakes on harder and longer to bring the cases down to what might be an acceptable level."
He said that Christmas could be made "relatively safe" if coronavirus cases are brought down sharply with such "stringent" restrictions.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson Photo: AFP
Meanwhile, another Sage member, Prof Calum Semple, said the government's current three-tier system in England "hasn't worked particularly well".
He said a national lockdown, with full compliance, "would see a dramatic fall in hospital admissions" in four weeks' time.
Prof Semple suggested there should be a review at four weeks and there could be a "bit of easing around the festive activities" but that a lockdown would give officials "time to test, trace and isolate processes really up to scratch".
The current estimate of the R number in the UK - the number of people each infected person passes the virus on to on average - is between 1.1 and 1.3, indicating that cases are still growing.
On Friday, 274 deaths were announced, meaning that since the start of the pandemic 46,229 people have died within 28 days of a positive test.
The government's current strategy is focused on local restrictions to control the virus.
Every area of England is now in one of three coronavirus alert categories - medium (tier one), high (tier two) or very high (tier three). Scotland has five levels of restrictions.
Scotland's new tiered system of restrictions will come into force at 6am on 2 November, and Wales remains under a 17-day "firebreak" lockdown until 9 November.
Pubs and restaurants in Northern Ireland were closed for four weeks starting on 16 October, with the exception of takeaways and deliveries. Schools were closed for two weeks.
- BBC
Analysis - The Australian bushfires royal commission's final report issues a stark warning of a future marked by extreme weather impacts from climate change, writes ABC national science and environment reporter Michael Slezak.
Residents defending a property from a bushfire at Hillsville, north of Sydney, in November 2019. Photo: AFP
The commissioners described their task, at the very top of the report, as "looking to the future". And they have been very clear about what that means.
"Extreme weather has already become more frequent and intense because of climate change; further global warming over the next 20 to 30 years is inevitable," they say.
And as for what that means for fire regimes, they don't mince their words.
"Catastrophic fire conditions may render traditional bushfire prediction models and firefighting techniques less effective," they say.
The report notes there's essentially nothing we can do about "locked in" warming, set to occur over the next two decades.
But what happens after that is up to us. Warming "beyond the next 20 to 30 years is largely dependent on the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions", it says.
Evacuees walking to the beach to board a navy ship to escape fires at Mallacoota, Victoria, on 3 January 2020. Photo: AFP/ Australian Department of Defence/ Helen Frank
The commissioners also highlight evidence that avoiding or mitigating risks is much more cost effective than responding to disasters after they happen - an approach they unequivocally state is not adequate.
"We need to do much more than put out fires. A resilient nation will seek to mitigate the risk of disasters through a wide range of measures, and it will attend to all of the complex and sometimes long-term consequences," they say.
Many commentators, including former fire chiefs, cross bench politicians and conservation groups, have argued the implication from the findings is clear: that greenhouse gas emissions must be quickly reduced to net zero.
But of the report's 80 recommendations, the commissioners do not make any aimed at trying to stop global warming.
Their only climate-related recommendation calls for climate models to be created that can provide projections for smaller geographical areas - making them more useful for local disaster preparedness.
A house destroyed by a bushfire outside Batemans Bay in New South Wales on 2 January, 2020. Smoke from wide ranging fierce bushfires reached as far away as Brazil. Photo: AFP
Arguably, making recommendations about Australia's greenhouse gas emissions or trajectory was outside the inquiry's terms of reference.
But that hasn't stopped others drawing their own conclusions.
"The Bushfire Royal Commission has laid out the facts in no uncertain terms: climate change drove the Black Summer bushfires, and climate change is pushing us into a future of unprecedented bushfire severity," said Greg Mullins, former commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW and founder of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action.
"The Federal Government absolutely must act on the root cause of worsening bushfires in Australia, and take urgent steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This clearly means no new coal or gas, and a rapid transition to renewable energy."
'Roadmap to nowhere'
The Australian Minister for Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor has previously argued the only way to bring down emissions without sacrificing economic growth is through technological development.
"There are only two ways to suppress emissions. Either through some form of taxation, or you improve the activities," he said last month.
This map from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology shows the drying trend in southern Australia. Photo: Supplied/ Australian Bureau of Meteorology
"That's why the Government has undertaken to develop, fund and drive a low emissions technology road map."
That roadmap does not indicate when Australia's emissions will reach net zero, as required under the Paris Agreement, and was labelled a "roadmap to nowhere" by the Federal Opposition.
Mullins told the ABC the royal commission was one of a long list of bushfire inquiries that made climate change central to its findings, with final reports by NSW, South Australia, Victoria and the ACT all pointed to climate change making things worse.
"I'm surprised how strong the report is. It would have been great if there were more recommendations on climate change but they've spelled it out chapter and verse. Together with all the other state inquiries that said exactly the same thing, there's no dodging the issue now," he said.
A firefighter protecting a residential area from bushfires north of Sydney on 7 December, 2019. Experts said the last Australian bushfire season arrived earlier and with more intensity because of climatic changes and prolonged drought. Photo: AFP
Besides the climate-related recommendation, there are 79 others that have been widely hailed as fundamentally important to preparing the country for worsening fires and other disasters we're going to see over the coming years and decades.
But whether they will all be implemented is the important question - and one the commissioners spent some time considering.
They note this is just one of about 240 natural disaster inquiries that have been held in Australia - and "while many recommendations have been faithfully implemented and have led to significant improvements, others have not".
They also said that in many cases, accepted recommendations weren't always clearly implemented.
Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud announced yesterday the Government had accepted all 80 of the report's recommendations.
Implementing them through the federation - and in cooperation with the private sector - will be a mammoth task, but one there is no doubt the will to achieve.
Since the message about climate change throughout the report didn't result in specific recommendations, that will require something else.
-ABC
Flowers and candles have been placed outside the church in the southern French city of Nice where three people were stabbed to death.
People light candles outside the Notre Dame Basilica in Nice where the attack was carried out. Photo: AFP
President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday's stabbings were an "Islamist terrorist attack". Security is being stepped up throughout France.
The 21-year-old Tunisian suspect arrived in the city the night before the attack, his brother told the BBC.
Meanwhile, France's interior minister said more militant attacks were likely.
"We need to understand that there have been and there will be other events such as these terrible attacks," Gerald Darmanin said. "We're at war against an ideology, Islamist ideology."
Security has been increased at places of worship and schools across France following two similar attacks within two weeks. Earlier this month a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb after showing controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to some of his pupils.
Macron's subsequent defence of the right to publish the cartoons has stoked anger in several Muslim-majority countries.
Following the latest attack, police shot and wounded the suspected knifeman, who had only recently arrived in Europe. He is said to be in a critical condition in hospital.
Police prevent access to the scene of the killings. Photo: AFP
Macron has ordered that the number of soldiers being deployed to protect public places - such as churches and schools - rises from 3000 to 7000.
Meanwhile, police investigating the attack have made a second arrest.
Two die inside church
The two women and a man were attacked inside the basilica in the morning before the first Mass of the day.
Two died inside the church. One of them, a 60-year-old woman who has not been named, was "virtually beheaded" close to the font, according to the French chief anti-terrorism prosecutor.
French media have named one victim as 55-year-old Vincent Loquès, a devout Catholic who had reportedly worked at the basilica for more than 10 years.
Loquès was opening the building when the attacker slit his throat, police say.
The third victim was named by the Brazilian foreign ministry as Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old mother of three born in Salvador on Brazil's north-eastern coast. She had lived in France for 30 years.
She fled to a nearby cafe with multiple stab wounds but died shortly afterwards. "Tell my children that I love them," she told those who tried to help her, according to French media.
Simone Barreto Silva, a 44-year-old mother of three died in the attack. Photo: AFP
On Friday morning, priest Philippe Asso stood on the church steps with other mourners before walking in with a wreath to the victims. Others gathered outside the church to pay their respects.
Nice resident Frederic Lefèvre, 50, said he knew Loquès.
"This is a tragedy once again," he said. "We're a free country, we have demonstrated freedom to all countries of the world. Today, this freedom is closing in on us. Life needs to be lived for everyone."
Marc Mercier, 71, called the killings a "catastrophe".
"It's appalling. It's been years that we've been saying that fear should shift to the other side [attackers] but it is still the same."
The suspect
Police sources named the man as Brahim Aouissaoui. Prosecutors said he had arrived by boat to the Italian island of Lampedusa as a migrant last month and after quarantining had been ordered to travel on.
He arrived in Nice by train and had no papers except for a Red Cross document from Italy, investigators said. A Tunisian official said he had not been listed as a suspected militant.
Speaking to the BBC at the family home near the Tunisian port city of Sfax, Brahim Aouissaoui's older brother, Yasine, said the pair had spoken on Wednesday night.
"He was sleeping the night before [the attack] on the stairs of some building in the area where he had been shot," he said. "He told me that in the morning he would try to find someone he knew to help him."
Yasine also described his brother as "a friendly person" who "never showed extremism". The suspect's mother, Gamra, said: "May God show the truth."
Witnesses said the attacker repeatedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) before being shot by police.
A Koran, two telephones and a 30cm knife were found on him, French chief anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said.
Two men have now been arrested by police investigating the attacks.
The first, a 47-year-old man believed to have been in contact with the suspect, was detained by police late on Thursday, French media reported.
The second, aged 35, was arrested yesterday. He had also had contact with Aouissaoui, police sources told AFP.
France has raised its national security alert to the highest level.
Anti-France protests growing
Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims in countries around the world have held protests to vent their fury at France over its perceived animosity towards Islam.
Anti-French rallies erupted after Friday prayers in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon and other countries.
Protesters called for a boycott of French products and condemned President Emmanuel Macron.
He has become a target in several Muslim-majority countries for his recent comments about Islam.
Macron has called Islam a religion "in crisis" and defended the right of a magazine to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed.
The backlash intensified after a suspected Islamist extremist killed a French teacher who showed the cartoons in class. Macron said the teacher "was killed because Islamists want our future", but France would "not give up our cartoons".
Muslims saw Macron's remarks as an insult, as depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are widely regarded as taboo in Islam.
The protests continued amid heightened tension after the attack in Nice.
- BBC
EU officials warned Europe to be ready for wider Covid restrictions as infections surged across the continent, France and Germany prepared curbs almost as strict as their spring lockdowns and cases soared across the United States.
A worker cleans a bin in front of a closed cafe in Toulouse, on the second day of France's new lockdown. Photo: Alain Pitton/NurPhoto
Europe and the United States have emerged as the current danger zones for Covid-19, which was first identified in China in December, in a global crisis in which more than 44.94 million people have been infected and 1,178,943 have died.
"Given the very dynamic situation in all of Europe, we need to equally reduce contact in almost all European countries," German Health Minister Jens Spahn told journalists after a video conference of EU health ministers that he chaired.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides echoed the call.
"We need to pull through this, where needed, with restrictions on everyday life to break the chain of transmission," she told the video conference.
France and Germany announced new lockdowns this week as infections on the continent passed the 10-million milestone and hospitals and intensive care units filled up again.
Bars, restaurants, sports and cultural events have been restricted or closed in several other European countries.
Belgium, one of Europe's worst-affected countries, recorded an average of 15,316 new infections per day in mid-October. Italy and Austria recorded their highest daily number of infections to date on Friday.
Checkpoints have been set up across Portugal to stop unauthorised travel during a five-day movement ban which began on Friday.
Russia has seen coronavirus cases swell in recent weeks and reported 18,283 new infections on Friday, the highest tally recorded since the pandemic began, and 355 deaths.
Poland reported a fourth consecutive daily record for new cases. Britain resisted the idea of a new national lockdown, even as a survey showed soaring infections.
'American fiasco'
Gloom over the rising infections has hit financial markets. US stocks fell, dragged down by a slide in shares of tech heavyweights following their quarterly results, with a record rise in coronavirus cases and nerves over the presidential election adding to a downbeat mood globally.
Illustrating the difficulty in reining in the virus without destroying the economy, Britain's "eat out to help out" discount scheme to boost spending at restaurants, cafes and pubs over the summer helped spread the coronavirus, according to a new study.
European Central Bank policymakers said governments must be selective in shutting down economic activity to combat the pandemic and need to keep spending up to support businesses and families.
"We must try to defeat the virus without totally shutting down the economy because the consequences in terms of loss of economic activity are very, very intense," ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said.
A record surge of infections in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink of capacity and killing up to 1000 people a day before the November 3 election, in which handling of the pandemic has become the main issue.
A man is administered a Covid-19 test in New York City. Photo: AFP
The United States broke its single-day record for new coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting at least 91,248 new cases, as 21 states reported their highest daily number of hospitalized patients since the pandemic started, according to a Reuters tally of publicly reported data.
"We're going in the wrong direction," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading White House task force member and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The surge has revived some of the worst images of the first wave of the virus in March, April and May, with people on ventilators dying alone in isolation and medical staff physically and mentally exhausted.
Among the hardest hit states are those most hotly contested in the election campaign between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, such as Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump has downplayed the virus since the pandemic began, ridiculing Fauci and mocking social distancing and the wearing of masks. He has repeatedly told campaign rallies the country is "rounding the turn" on the pandemic to the delight of his mostly non-mask wearing supporters but infuriating Democrats.
"The virus is a global scourge, but it has been an American fiasco, killing more people in the United States than in any other country," said an interim report by Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
The World Health Organisation's (WHO) top emergency expert, Mike Ryan, told a virtual briefing in Geneva that early voting in the United States seems to have gone well from a health point of view.
"From what we observe, the early voting process seems to have been been undertaken with great care," he said.
A record surge of coronavirus cases in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink of capacity and killing up to 1000 people a day, the latest figures show, with much of the country's attention focused on next week's presidential election.
Wisconsin National Guard members operate a testing centre in Milwaukee. Wisconsin, a battleground state in the US presidential election, has been hard hit by Covid-19. Photo: AFP
The United States recorded its 9 millionth case today, nearly 3 percent of the population, with almost 229,000 dead since the outbreak of the pandemic earlier this year, according to a Reuters tally of publicly reported data.
The country broke its single-day record for new coronavirus infections yesterday, reporting at least 91,248 new cases, as 17 states reported their highest daily number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients since the pandemic started, according the tally.
Photo: AFP
More than 1000 people died of the virus, marking the third time in October that milestone has been passed in a single day. The number of hospitalised Covid-19 patients has risen over 50 percent in October to 46,000, the highest since mid-August.
Among the hardest hit states are those most hotly contested in the campaign between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, such as Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The surge has revived some of the worst images of the devastating first wave of the virus in March, April and May, with people on ventilators dying alone in hospital isolation and medical staff physically and mentally exhausted.
"Our hospitals cannot keep up with Utah's infection rate. You deserve to understand the dire situation we face," Utah Governor Gary Herbert said on Twitter, echoing officials in other states and public health experts.
Saliva tests for Covid-19 being produced at a factory in Draper, Utah. Photo: AFP
Utah was among 14 states to report record increases in deaths this month and among 30 states to report record increases in cases.
In the battleground state of Wisconsin, hospitals in Green Bay warned that President Trump's rally there could make the outbreak worse.
"It is more important now than ever to avoid large crowds, especially here in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where we are seeing some of the most rapid spread of Covid-19 in the United States," a joint statement from several hospitals said.
'Not quite prepared'
"We are having some of the largest outbreaks that we've had during the entire pandemic. And nine, 10 months into this pandemic, we are still largely not quite prepared," said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island.
"We don't have the kind of testing that we need. There are a lot of problems with large outbreaks happening in many, many different parts of the country. And of course, we're going into the fall and winter, which will, of course, make things very, very difficult," Jha told Reuters in an interview.
Trump has repeatedly played down the virus, saying for weeks that the country is "rounding the turn," even as new cases and hospitalisations soared. He maintained his upbeat tone in a tweet today, saying the country was doing much better than Europe had in confronting the pandemic.
Biden and fellow Democrats in Congress have criticised the president for his handling of the health crisis.
Joe Biden has centred his challenge for the presidency on Donald Trump's poor handling of the pandemic. Photo: AFP
In the US House of Representatives, Democrats released a report today condemning the Trump administration's pandemic response as being "among the worst failures of leadership in American history". The failures had forced at least 6 million Americans into poverty and left millions more jobless, it said.
"The virus is a global scourge, but it has been an American fiasco, killing more people in the United States than in any other country," said the 71-page interim report by Democratic staff of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which was created in April.
Scientists overruled or sidelined, Democrats say
Based on dozens of Democratic-led probes conducted during the panel's first six months, the report said investigators identified more than 60 instances in which Trump administration officials overruled or sidelined top scientists to advance the president's political interests.
The subcommittee found over $US4 billion of potential fraud in programmes to help struggling small businesses and accused the administration of directing funding for critical supplies to companies that had political connections or lacked experience, often without competition.
"The administration's response to this economic crisis has benefited larger companies and wealthy Americans, while leaving behind many disadvantaged communities and struggling small businesses," the report said.
After his hospitalisation with Covid-19 in early October, Trump resumed the large campaign rallies that draw thousands of supporters packed together, many not wearing masks. The Trump campaign says the rallies are safe and that masks and social distancing are encouraged.
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last month. Photo: AFP
A CNN investigation found that 14 out of 17 counties surveyed showed an increased rate of new Covid-19 cases one month after hosting Trump rallies. The report presented the health data without drawing a causal link.
Rates of infection in eight of the 14 counties had been decreasing one month before the rallies, it said. In 10 counties, the new rates of infection were growing faster than the overall rate for the state. The report studied counties in 13 states including election battlegrounds of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.
- Reuters / BBC
Qatar says several airport officials have been referred for prosecution after forced gynaecological exams were carried out on women flying to Sydney.
A New Zealander as well as women from Australia and the UK were among those who underwent intimate examinations at the airport in Doha. Photo: AFP
The group - which included women from Australia, the UK and New Zealand - was checked for evidence they had recently given birth after a baby was found in a bin at Doha airport on 2 October.
New Zealand's foreign ministry called the actions of Qatari authorities "appalling" and "completely unacceptable".
Qatar's government said today that "standard procedures were violated". It also offered its "sincerest apology" for what the women went through.
Marise Payne Photo: AFP / Charly Triballeau
Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne called the referrals for prosecution an "important step".
"The statement of the government of Qatar is consistent with our expectations for contrition, accountability and determination to avoid any repeat of this disturbing episode," she said.
The incident came to light earlier this week after some of the Australian passengers spoke out and foreign governments said they were appalled.
The women said they were ordered to disembark from the Sydney-bound Qatar Airways flight at Hamad International Airport.
They were then taken to ambulances on the tarmac and told to remove their underwear before being examined.
The women said they were given no information by officials and that they did not have an opportunity to provide informed consent.
Female passengers on nine other flights were also reportedly examined.
Qatar's Government Communication Office (GCO) said on Wednesday that airport authorities took action after a newborn baby girl was "found in a trash can, concealed in a plastic bag and buried under garbage", in an apparent attempt to kill her.
"This egregious and life-threatening violation of the law triggered an immediate search for the parents, including on flights in the vicinity of where the newborn was found."
The GCO said a preliminary investigation into the actions of airport authorities "revealed that standard procedures were violated".
"Those responsible for these violations and illegal actions have been referred to the Public Prosecution Office," it added.
"Following the directives of His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdul Aziz Al Thani, the prime minister and minister of interior, specialised task forces are reviewing and identifying any potential gaps in the procedures and protocols followed at Hamad International Airport, in order to address them and ensure that any violations are avoided in the future."
Sheikh Khaled also expressed the government's "sincerest apology for what some female travellers went through as a result of the measures".
We regret the unacceptable treatment of the female passengers at HIA. I assure you that we will hold those responsible for these acts to account. What took place does not represent Qatar’s laws or values. We will undertake all measures to prevent a recurrence.
— خالد بن خليفة آل ثاني (@KBKAlThani) October 30, 2020
Those affected include 13 Australians, two Britons and one woman from New Zealand.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the incident as "appalling" and "unacceptable".
"As a father of a daughter, I could only shudder at the thought that anyone would, Australian or otherwise, would be subjected to that," he said.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it had "formally expressed our concern with the Qatari authorities and Qatar Airways, and are seeking assurances an unacceptable incident like this cannot happen again".
-BBC
A powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake has struck off Turkey's Aegean coast and north of the Greek island of Samos, destroying a number of houses.
A woman reacts as she sees the damage to a building in Izmir, Turkey. Photo: AFP
The tremor was centred off Turkey's Izmir province, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Turkey put the magnitude lower, at 6.6, saying six people had died and 202 were injured in the city of Izmir. On Samos, two teenagers were killed.
The shallow tremor triggered a mini-tsunami that flooded Izmir and Samos.
Water flowing through the streets of #Izmir, #Turkey following the strong earthquake. #تركيا pic.twitter.com/XclLYlhZT5
— Raveen Aujmaya (@raveenaujmaya) October 30, 2020
The USGS said the quake - which was felt as far away as Athens and Istanbul - struck at a depth of 10km, although Turkish officials said it was 16km below ground.
Turkey and Greece both sit on faultlines and earthquakes are common.
Photo: AFP
In Izmir, Turkey's third largest city with the population of nearly three million, many people were seen running out into the streets in panic and fear after the quake struck. At least 20 buildings collapsed.
Videos have been posted on social media appearing to show the moment one multi-storey building went down, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Istanbul reports. Other footage shows local people scrambling over rubble looking for survivors.
Medical teams treat an injured person in Izmir. Photo: AFP
There were reports of flooding in the city after the sea level rose, and some fishermen are said to be missing.
"It was a really strong shaker almost enough to knock you off your feet. Running out of the house with my children was like a drunken wobble," Chris Bedford, a retired British teacher who lives in Urla, west of Izmir, told the BBC.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government would help those affected by the quake "with all the means available to our state".
A drone photo shows that search and rescue works continue at debris of a building in Bornova district in Izmir. Photo: AFP
In Greece, two teenagers were killed when a wall collapsed on Samos. Eight people were injured across the island.
A mini-tsunami flooded the port of Samos and a number of buildings were damaged. Greek officials put the magnitude of the tremor at 6.7.
"We felt it very strongly," local journalist Manos Stefanakis told the BBC, adding that smaller aftershocks were continuing.
He said it was the biggest tremor to have hit the island since 1904.
Residents were urged to stay outdoors and keep away from coastal areas. About 45,000 people live on Samos.
Reports said the quake was also felt on the Greek island of Crete.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he called President Erdogan "to offer my condolences for the tragic loss of life from the earthquake that struck both our countries".
"Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together," Mitsotakis wrote in a tweet.
In January more than 30 people were killed and more than 1600 injured when an earthquake struck Sivrice in Turkey's eastern Elazig province.
In July 2019, the Greek capital Athens was hit by a tremor that knocked out power to large parts of the city.
A powerful quake that struck the Turkish city of Izmit, near Istanbul, in 1999 killed about 17,000 people.
- BBC
The US State Department notified Congress it approved the sale of 50 Lockheed Martin Co F-35 jets to the United Arab Emirates in a deal that could be worth $10 billion, sources say.
An Israeli F-35 fighter jets performs during an air show, over Tel Aviv, on May 9, 2019. Photo: AFP Jack Guez
The United States and the UAE aim to have a letter of agreement for the F-35 jets in time for UAE National Day celebrated on 2 December, Reuters reported in September.
The US Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees, whose members have criticised the UAE's role in civilian deaths in Yemen, have the right to review, and block, weapons sales under an informal review process.
Israel initially balked at the prospective sale but last week dropped its opposition after what it described as US guarantees that Israeli military superiority would be preserved.
Any deal must satisfy a longstanding agreement with Israel that any US weapons sold in the region must not impair Israel's "qualitative military edge," guaranteeing US weapons furnished to Israel are "superior in capability" to those sold to its neighbors.
"We all face a common threat," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an apparent allusion to Iran, told reporters on Thursday when asked about reports of the impending UAE jet sale.
"But with that said, it was important that the [Israeli] defense establishment received this clear American undertaking to preserve our qualitative military edge," added Netanyahu, who earlier on Thursday hosted visiting Pentagon chief Mark Esper.
Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, confirmed that an informal notification was sent to Congress on Thursday. "As Congress reviews this sale, it must be clear that changes to the status quo will not put Israel's military advantage at risk," he said.
The sources said the Trump administration aims to send formal notifications for the deal in the coming days. Once formally notified, Congress can choose to pass legislation to block the sale.
Typically the informal notification process for complex deals like the F-35 sale is 40 days, but the Trump administration is cutting it to just a few days to meet the goal of a UAE National Day signing ceremony, the sources said.
"Rushing these sales is not in anyone's interest," Engel warned in his statement.
Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made clear he would not automatically support the deal in a statement adding that "recklessly accelerating the timeline around a reportedly artificial deadline precludes sufficient consideration."
The UAE, one of Washington's closest Middle East allies, has long expressed interest in acquiring the stealthy F-35 jets and was promised a chance to buy them in a side deal when it agreed to normalize relations with Israel.
Because of the qualitative military edge restriction, in the past the F-35 has been denied to Arab states, while Israel has about 24 of the jets. Israel is currently slated to purchase 50 of the fighters.
- Reuters
