New York fire: At least 19 killed in apartment block blaze

At least 19 people, including nine children, have died after a fire in a New York apartment building.

Another 32 people were sent to hospital, several of whom are in a critical condition, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams.

Fire department Commissioner Daniel Nigro said they had found victims on every floor of the 19-storey block, saying the smoke was “unprecedented”.

He told NBC News the death toll was the worst seen in New York for 30 years.

It comes days after an apartment fire in Philadelphia killed 12, with eight children among the dead.

Sunday’s fire broke out in an apartment that spans the second and third floors of the Bronx apartment block at about 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT), officials said.

Some 200 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze, which officials believe was sparked by a malfunctioning electric heater.

Commissioner Nigro said there were two floors of fire, but the smoke had spread everywhere.

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The local fire chief said the blaze was “unprecedented”

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Victims were found on every floor of the building

The door to the apartment where the fire started was left open, and smoke then spread to every floor, Commissioner Nigro told reporters.

“Members found victims on every floor in stairwells and were taking them out in cardiac and respiratory arrest,” he said.

George King, who lives nearby, told AFP news agency people were waving from the windows as the flames took hold.

“I saw the smoke, a lot of people were panicking,” he said. “You could see that no-one wanted to jump from the building.”

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Dozens of people have been injured

A total of 63 people suffered injuries, including the 32 taken to hospital. Thirteen are in a critical condition, Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser to the mayor, told AP news agency.

“The impact of this fire is going to bring a level of pain and despair to our city,” Mr Adams told reporters. “The numbers are horrific.”

He told CNN on Monday that the incident was “a wake-up call for all our buildings” to ensure complaints are heard and protective measures are working.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul called Sunday’s events “a night of tragedy”, and pledged to create a victims’ compensation fund to support survivors.

“There will be money to find new housing, burial costs and whatever we need because that’s what we do here in New York,” Ms Hochul said.

The area of the Bronx where the fire occurred is home to a large Muslim immigrant population and many of those affected by the blaze are believed to have originally come to the US from the Gambia.

Mr Adams urged anyone impacted by the fire to seek assistance from the authorities, irrespective of immigration status. He assured residents that their details would not be passed on to immigration services.

Speaking alongside Mr Adams, New York Senator Chuck Schumer pledged to provide immigration support to allow families to come together to grieve.

The building hosts a number of affordable housing apartments and the blaze is likely to raise questions over the quality of such units in the city.

Representative Ritchie Torres, a Democratic lawmaker whose district includes the building, told the US network MSNBC that developments such as the building where the fire hit pose safety risks to residents.

“When we allow our affordable housing developments to be plagued by decades of disinvestment, we are putting lives at risk,” Mr Torres said.

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Flamur Beqiri: Murder accused came to London to ‘Netflix and chill’

A kickboxer accused of shooting dead a man in front of his family on Christmas Eve two years ago has denied being a professional hitman.

Anis Hemissi, 24, is on trial charged with murdering Flamur Beqiri, 36, in Battersea, south-west London, in 2019.

He told a jury at Southwark Crown Court he flew from Copenhagen to London to “Netflix and chill” with a woman.

He is accused of wearing disguises to carry out reconnaissance in the days before the alleged killing.

The court heard Mr Beqiri, whose sister, Misse Beqiri appeared in reality television show The Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was “involved in serious and organised crime”.

Prosecutors allege Mr Hemissi was part of a team of four killers sent from Sweden to assassinate Mr Beqiri, a father or two, as part of a violent rivalry between two organised crime networks in the Scandinavian country.

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Mr Beqiri was shot dead on Battersea Church Road

Giving evidence, Mr Hemissi said he flew to London from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 20 December, 2019 to meet a 22-year-old woman, Nadine, who had befriended him on Facebook.

He told jurors she was one of “more than 20 girls” he was speaking to on social media and dating apps.

He said he travelled to London to meet her after she told him her father would not let her travel abroad.

“We were going to have Netflix and chill, relax, maybe go out and eat something, maybe go out and buy some clothes,” he said.

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Flowers were left in Battersea Church Road

Mr Hemissi told jurors Nadine had arranged for him to stay in her friend’s flat – which was allegedly used by the men after being rented through Airbnb – but made excuses not to see him.

David Harounoff, defending, asked Mr Hemissi: “There may be some people in court who find it difficult to accept you had come from Sweden to meet a girl you had never met before. Is what you are saying true?”

His client replied: “Yes, it’s happened many times before.”

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the shooting, which saw Mr Beqiri hit by eight bullets as the gunman fired 10 times while Mr Beqiri was about to enter his home with his wife, Debora Krasniqi, and two-year-old son.

Ms Krasniqi could be heard screaming and cradling their son, moments after they had arrived hand in hand with the victim.

When Mr Harounoff questioned Mr Hemissi, who denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol, he said he was not the gunman and was not a professional hitman.

Swedish nationals Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, also deny murder.

Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, north London, and Claude Isaac Castor, 31, of Catford, south-east London, deny perverting the course of justice.

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Ukraine crisis: Why Russia-US talks may prove crucial

Senior diplomats from the US and Russia are meeting in the Swiss city of Geneva for the first of a series of crunch aimed at defusing tension over Ukraine.

The stakes for these talks on Monday are high. But both sides hold wildly different expectations. The US and other Western powers want to dissuade Russia from invading Ukraine.

But Russia wants to talk about its maximalist demands for Nato to retreat from eastern Europe. It’s calling for Nato to pull its forces out of former Soviet countries, end any eastern expansion and rule out Ukraine joining the alliance.

Some US officials fear these demands are deliberately unrealistic, designed to be rejected and used as a pretext for military action. Other diplomats believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is aiming high to squeeze concessions out of a Western alliance that is willing to give ground to avoid war.

They say the Russian president is effectively demanding an end to Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture and the establishment of a Russian “sphere of influence”.

• EXPLAINED: Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine?
• ANALYSIS: EU looks for role in Ukraine crisis
• CONTEXT: Russians see no chance of conflict

A high price

Given this, the US and Nato have dismissed most of Russia’s demands as “non-starters”. And the US has categorically denied reports it is considering possible troop reductions.

But American officials have said they are willing to look at curbs on military exercises and missile deployments.

One idea is a partial revival of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that the US abandoned in 2019 after Russia was accused of breaching its provisions. Other ideas are more measures to build confidence and greater transparency between Russia and the US.

The fear among some European allies is that even this would be too much of a reward for Russia, too high a price for trying to avoid conflict in Ukraine.

They fear the US might be willing to concede too much so it can focus more on China and domestic challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy.

The US is aware of these fears and repeatedly insists it will not agree anything about Ukraine or European security without those countries involved.

Either way, President Putin has already made some gains, winning a platform this week to air his grievances and force the US and Europe to engage with his agenda of Nato reform.

Both sides are playing down expectations of an immediate deal. But that does not mean this week’s talks are not important.

A crucial staging post

At best, the talks could shed more light on Mr Putin’s intentions and reveal if he is serious about engaging in diplomacy.

At worst, a breakdown could lead to war, allowing Mr Putin to claim to his domestic audience that the West was not willing to talk and agree to his demands, and he was thus forced to act to ensure Russia’s security.

Western diplomats say they are ready for what they see as this false narrative: hence the Nato Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, insisting the alliance is ready for any Russian military action, and the firm warnings from the US and Europe that any invasion would be met with massive economic sanctions.

So, this week’s talks could prove a crucial diplomatic staging post, with the fate of Ukraine and Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture in the balance.

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Cameroon’s pride at hosting Africa Cup of Nations tempered by separatist violence

Rising tension over Anglophone zones threaten to disrupt football tournament

The much-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations football tournament opens today, hosted by Cameroon for the first time for 50 years.

Yet behind the celebrations – slightly tempered by strict pandemic restrictions – are tensions from a security crisis spreading from anglophone regions, shaping daily life in Cameroon and potentially even the tournament.

Authorities in the west African country have ramped up security, particularly in the capital, Yaoundé, and other host cities across five of Cameroon’s 10 regions – with the effect of securing the tournament and bringing the crisis into view.

In Limbe, a peaceful coastal city where Mali, Tunisia, The Gambia and Mauritania will play group matches, an explosion near the city centre last Wednesday left six injured and destroyed property.

Marinette Abah, 33, was returning home from evening prayers at the time.

“We were home when we received a call that Marinette had been wounded in the explosion,” her brother Calvin Nang said. “We met her with blood all over her body.”

A faction of the separatist Ambazonia movement claimed responsibility, and the wider movement, which has condemned the government in Yaoundé as a colonial administration, has pledged to disrupt the tournament.

Tensions in the north-western and south-western anglophone regions boiled over in late 2016, when protests against marginalisation of the English language, by lawyers and teachers, were brutally put down by Cameroonian security forces.

Cameroonian soldiers patrol the entrance of the Olembe stadium in Yaounde this week, two days before the start of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN). Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images

It fuelled a rise in armed activities by separatist groups seeking independence for the English-speaking parts of Cameroon. The groups have been accused of several attacks and blasts, including against schools, escalating an education boycott that began in 2017, and depriving a generation of Cameroonian children of an education, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Cameroonian security forces have been accused of human rights abuses against anglophones, especially in rural areas.

Many anglophones in Cameroon accuse the government of marginalisation and of attempting to assimilate their education and legal systems into the dominant francophone system.

A spokesperson for Samuel Eto’o, a hugely popular figure as one of Africa’s greatest ever footballers a former Afcon champion as well as Champions League and La Liga winner with Barcelona and now head of Cameroon’s football association, refused to be drawn on the security crisis, focusing instead on preparations for the tournament, including 30 new or renovated football stadiums and training pitches.

n an interview last month Eto’o also condemned the attempt by European football authorities to again postpone the tournament.

“If the Euros took place in the middle of the pandemic, with full stadiums in several cities in Europe and there was no problem, why wouldn’t Afcon be played in Cameroon?”

Last month, the European Club Association wrote to its African counterpart, the Confederation of African Football informing them they did not intend to release African players for 2021 Afcon in Cameroon citing rising infections.

For many in a football-loving nation, the tournament is a proud moment, where Cameroon start as underdogs behind favourites Algeria, Egypt and Senegal.

For others in the English-speaking parts of Cameroon, the tournament is a sideshow to an ongoing crisis.

Wilfred Taka, a student in Bamenda, one of the cities in the anglophone north-west, said abuses by security forces were a constant reality, as well as the activities of armed separatists.

“So many people have left Bamenda and the north-west to safer towns. Many of the businesses have shut down. For the past five years, things have not been easy,” he said.

“Hardly will the month go to an end before you will hear of killings and kidnappings.

The tournament is a good thing for the country, but would it not have been better if they had focused on peace first? But they have not done that.”

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