Tag Archives: England

Rookies and robots brace for first UK rate rise since 2007

Office lights are on at dusk in the Canary Wharf financial district, London, Britain,

By Fanny Potkin and Polina Ivanova

LONDON (Reuters) – Financial markets braced this week for what could be the Bank of England’s first rate rise in a decade – a step into the unknown for a generation of young traders who started work after 2007 but also for the state-of-the-art technology they use.

After a decade that included a global financial crash, numerous investigations into market collusion and relentless automation, trading floors at banks in London have been transformed in ways not obvious at first glance.

The newest kid on the block is not necessarily the rookie trader with a PhD in physics but the latest computer model or algorithm. How these models will perform under the almost novel circumstances of tightening monetary policy is as much a question as how the human neophytes will react.

Using past market data, assessments of demand, valuation models and even measures of how upbeat news headlines are, computers crunch the numbers, game the scenarios and buy or sell in the blink of an eye.

But shocks such as Brexit have shown that computer-driven trading can end in stampedes, or so-called flash crashes.

“You’ve got to weigh up the strength of the traders and the strength of the algorithms that have been developed and whether they can manage this kind of a process when the rate hike does come in,” said Benjamin Quinlan, CEO of financial services strategy consultancy Quinlan & Associates.

At Citibank’s expansive trading floor in London, the dealing room doesn’t look much different from a decade ago with traders hunched in front of banks of screens, the odd national flag perched on top, and television screens on mute.

But beneath the outward appearance, foreign exchange trading has undergone a seismic shift: more than 90 percent of cash transactions and a growing proportion of derivatives trades in the global $5 trillion a day FX market are done electronically.

So-called smart algos, or fully automated algorithmic trading programs that react to market movements with no human involvement, were virtually non-existent in 2007. Now, almost a third of foreign exchange trades are driven solely by algorithms, according to research firm Aite Group.

“Most of these algorithms haven’t really been tested in a rising interest rate scenario so the next few months will be crucial,” said a portfolio manager at a hedge fund in London.

To be sure, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s first rate rise in a decade in 2015 provided a dry run for this week’s UK decision – but the two economies are in very different positions and the knock-on effects on the wider financial markets of a Bank of England move are hard to predict.

 

ROOKIES AND ROBOTS

Much has changed since the Bank of England raised rates by 0.25 percent on July 5, 2007 to 5.75 percent. The first iPhone had yet to reach British shores, the country’s TVs ran on analogue signals and Northern Rock bank was alive and well.

Where once lightning decision-making and a calm head in a crisis were at a premium, the bulk of trading today is done by machines and the job of a foreign exchange sales trader is often little more than minding software and fielding client queries.

Itay Tuchman, head of global FX trading at Citi and a 20-year market veteran, said while the bank employs roughly the same number of people in currency trading as over the last few years, fewer are dedicated to business over the phone.

“We have an extensive electronic trading business, powered by our algorithmic market making platform, which is staffed by many people that have maths and science PhDs from various backgrounds,” said Tuchman, who heads trading for Citi’s global developed and emerging currency businesses.

London is the epicenter of those changes with the average daily turnover of foreign exchange trades executed directly over the phone down by a fifth to $566 billion in just three years to 2016, according to the Bank of England.

At Dutch bank ING’s London trading room, Obbe Kok, head of UK financial markets, said the floor now has about 165 people but the bank wants to make it 210 by the end of the year – searching mainly for traders attuned to technological innovations and keen on artificial intelligence.

The proportion of people employed in trading with degrees in mathematics and statistics has increased by a 58 percent over the last 10 years, Emolument, a salary benchmarking site, said.

“What banks have started to do is trade experience for technological skill and with electronic platforms growing, the average age on the floor is a bit younger,” said Adrian Ezra, CEO of financial services recruitment agency Execuzen.

 

TAPER TANTRUM

The increasing use of technology means traders can gauge the depth of market liquidity at the click of a button or quickly price an option based on volatility – a major change from a few years ago when they had to scour the market discreetly for fear of disclosing their interest to rivals.

Ala’A Saeed, global head of institutional electronic sales and one of the brains behind Citi’s trading platform FX Velocity, said its electronic programs process thousands of trades per minute.

Most of the currency trading models used by banks incorporate variables such as trading ranges, valuation metrics including trade-weighted indexes and trends in demand based on internal client orders to get a sense of which way markets are moving – and the potential impact of a new trade.

Nowadays, the models also incorporate sentiment analysis around news headlines and economic data surprises.

These electronic trading platforms also have years of financial data plugged into them with various kinds of scenario analyses, but one thing they have sometimes appeared unprepared for is a sudden change in policy direction.

Witness the market mayhem exacerbated by trend-following algorithms when Switzerland’s central bank scrapped its currency peg in 2015, or the taper tantrum in 2013 when the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would stop buying bonds.

Or Britain’s vote last year to leave the European Union.

Indeed, the biggest risk for financial markets cited by money managers in a Bank of America Merrill Lynch poll in October was a policy misstep from a major central bank.

 

EASY CREDIT, LOW VOLATILITY

One concern is that the rise in automation has coincided with a prolonged decline in market volatility as central banks from the United States to Japan have kept interest rates close to zero and spent trillions of dollars dragging long-term borrowing costs lower to try to reboot depressed economies.

While central banks have been careful to get their messages across as they end the years of stimulus, there are concerns about whether quantitative trading models can capture all the qualitative policy shifts.

For example, a growing number of investors expect the Bank of England to raise its benchmark interest rate to 0.5 percent on Nov. 2, and then leave it at that for the foreseeable future.

But futures markets are expecting another rate rise within six to nine months, injecting a new level of risk around interest rate moves and potentially boosting volatility.

Neale Jackson, a portfolio manager at 36 South Capital Advisors, a $750 million volatility hedge fund in London, said young traders have never seen an environment other than central banks supporting markets, and that has fueled risk-taking underpinned by the belief that “big brother has got our backs”.

“The problem these days is that there’s a whole generation of traders who have never seen interest rates, let alone interest rates hikes,” said Kevin Rodgers, a veteran FX trader and the author of “Why Aren’t They Shouting?”, a book about the computer revolution within financial markets.

 

(Additional reporting by Maiya Keidan and Simon Jessop; writing by Saikat Chatterjee; editing by Mike Dolan and David Clarke)

 

Referrals to UK counter-terrorism scheme double after recent attacks: police

Police officers patrol in front of London Stadium during World Athletics Championships in London, Britain, August 6, 2017. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

By Mark Hosenball

LONDON (Reuters) – Referrals by members of the public to the British government’s counter-terrorism scheme have doubled since militants launched deadly attacks earlier this year in London and Manchester, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

Simon Cole, the National Police Chief Council’s lead spokesman on deradicalization efforts, said police had received around 200 referrals to the strategy known as “Prevent” from members of the public since March when Britain suffered the first of four deadly attacks.

Officials said that this figure was around twice the numbers of referrals that “Prevent” representatives around Britain had received in the months prior to the attacks.

“Even though these referrals from the public are increasing, we still need more people to have the confidence to tell our safeguarding experts if they are worried about someone’s behavior,” Cole told reporters.

Prevent has long been the most controversial strand of the government’s attempts to stop Britons from becoming involved in violent extremism following its introduction in the wake of the July 2005 suicide bombings by four British Islamists on London’s transport network.

Many Muslims believe it has been used as a tool to spy on their communities rather than simply sway potential militants from becoming radicalised.

Cole’s comments are the latest attempt by senior officers to try to reassure the public about Prevent and come days after Dean Haydon, the officer who heads up London’s Counter Terrorism Command, said it had achieved “fantastic results” and that criticism was based on ignorance.

“All of us involved in Prevent need to work to improve that public confidence and understanding, challenging damaging myths and be more transparent in our approach,” Cole said. “We would rather people show concern before something happens.”

Cole said the number of referrals made to “Prevent” by members of the public was still relatively low, with 500 made in 2016 and 2017 compared to an annual total of about 6300. The other referrals were made by government or police bodies or other public organizations.

The program had helped the authorities stop about 150 people from traveling to Syria in the past year, Cole said, adding about 55 to 60 percent of referrals were related to possible involvement by British individuals with Islamic State militants.

However, another 15 percent were related to right-wing extremism. Officials said that the number of referrals about suspected right-wing extremists had doubled since the murder last June of British lawmaker Jo Cox, who was killed by a loner obsessed with Nazis and white supremacist ideology.

(editing by Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge)

Russia calls Britain’s new aircraft carrier ‘a convenient target’

Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon leaves 10 Downing Street after a cabinet meeting, in London, June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

By Andrew Osborn and Dmitry Solovyov

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian military mocked Britain’s new aircraft carrier on Thursday, saying the HMS Queen Elizabeth presented “a large convenient target” and would be wise to keep its distance from Moscow’s warships.

The giant vessel, Britain’s most advanced and biggest warship, embarked on its maiden voyage on Monday, prompting British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon to say he thought the Russians would look at it “with a little bit of envy.”

Stung by that remark and angered by Fallon calling Russia’s sole aircraft carrier “dilapidated,” the Russian defense ministry issued a strongly-worded statement on Thursday, criticizing Fallon and deriding the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

“These rapturous statements … about the supremacy of the new aircraft carrier’s beautiful exterior over the Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov expose Fallon’s utter ignorance of naval military science,” the ministry said.

“Like a bee, the British aircraft carrier is only capable of independently releasing planes from its belly closely flanked by a swarm of warships, support ships and submarines to protect it. That is why … the British aircraft carrier is merely a large convenient naval target.”

The aging Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s only aircraft carrier, and a ship that Fallon has criticized more than once, was by contrast armed with an array of defensive missiles, the ministry said, warning the HMS Queen Elizabeth to keep her distance from the Russian navy.

“It is in the interests of the British Royal Navy not to show off the ‘beauty’ of its aircraft carrier on the high seas any closer than a few hundred miles from its Russian ‘distant relative’,” the ministry said.

Fallon offended Russia’s military in January when he dubbed Moscow’s sole aircraft carrier “a ship of shame” as it passed through waters close to the English coast on its way back from bombing raids in Syria.

Russia said at the time that Britain was staging a show by escorting the ship, the Admiral Kuznetsov, through the English Channel designed to distract attention away from the shortcomings of the British navy.

The Kuznetsov, which entered service in 1991 in the Soviet Union’s dying days, is part of Russia’s Northern Fleet near Murmansk and is currently awaiting serious repairs.

Russia, striving to promote a more assertive foreign policy amid chilly ties with the West, is in the process of re-arming its army and the navy.

But some experts at home and abroad say the Cold war-era Kuznetsov is now obsolete and that Russia needs a new generation of aircraft carriers.

(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Child, 5, named as youngest victim of London tower block fire

Five-year-old Isaac Paulous, who died in the Grenfell Tower fire, is seen in this undated photograph received via the Metropolitan Police, in London, Britain June 27, 2017. Metropolitan Police/Handout/Via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) – A five-year-old boy was identified by police on Tuesday as the youngest victim so far of the fire which engulfed a London tower block two weeks ago, killing at least 79 people.

Isaac Paulous was named as one of those who died after fire tore through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block, trapping many inside their apartments.

“Isaac, our beloved son, was taken from us when he was only 5 years old,” his family said in a statement.

“We will all miss our kind, energetic, generous little boy. He was such a good boy who was loved by his friends and family. We will miss him forever, but we know God is looking after him now and that he is safe in heaven.”

Police have so far identified about 20 of the 79 who are dead or missing and presumed dead, and have warned they might never know how many people died in the inferno.

The British government has faced mounting criticism for its response to the disaster, while police say they would consider criminal charges, including manslaughter, over the fire.

The officer in charge of the investigation has said exterior cladding on the building had failed all fire safety tests and on Monday the government said 75 high-rise tower blocks in England with similar cladding had also failed tests.

U.S. firm Arconic Inc said it was stopping global sales of its Reynobond PE cladding, which was used in Grenfell Tower, for use in high-rise buildings following the fire.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

London tower blocks evacuated as 27 buildings fail fire tests

Residents are evacuated from the Taplow Tower residential block as a precautionary measure following concerns over the type of cladding used on the outside of the building on the Chalcots Estate in north London, Britain, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

By Kate Holton and Jamillah Knowles

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said 27 high-rise apartment blocks had failed fire safety checks carried out after the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze, including several in north London where residents were forced to evacuate amid chaotic scenes late on Friday.

British officials have conducted tests on some 600 high-rise buildings across England after fire ravaged the Grenfell social tower block in west London on June 14, killing at least 79 people in the capital’s most deadly blaze since World War Two.

The Department for Communities said 27 apartment blocks had failed tests, from London in the southeast to Manchester in the north and Plymouth on the southwest coast.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who was forced to apologize for the government’s initial slow response to the tragedy, said the authorities were now racing to establish what needed to be done.

“In some cases it’s possible to take mitigating action,” she told Sky news. “In others it’s been necessary for people to move out on a temporary basis and that is what happened in Camden last night.”

Some 4,000 residents of the Chalcots Estate in Camden, north London, were told to vacate their apartments on Friday after the Fire Brigade ruled that their tower blocks were unsafe.

Emerging into the streets on a hot night, residents clutched children, pets and small amounts of clothing and food to try to find a bed in a local hotel or with family or friends. Many were directed to inflatable beds laid out on the floor of the local sports hall.

“I know it’s difficult but Grenfell changes everything,” Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council, said in a statement. “I don’t believe we can take any risks with our residents’ safety.”

May said the local authority would be given all the means necessary to make sure people had somewhere to stay.

Residents complained of first hearing about the evacuation from the media and getting very short notice to leave from city officials going door-to-door. Not all residents agreed to go, as they felt the evacuation was an over-reaction.

PUBLIC ANGER

“It was farcical communication,” 21-year-old Daniel Tackaberry told Reuters outside a nearby sports center where the local council had laid out air beds. “You don’t get everyone to leave this quickly.”

Several local councils said they were removing cladding from the facades of buildings that had failed the tests. In Camden, however, the London Fire Brigade found a number of faults, including concern about cladding, faulty fire doors and holes in compartment walls that could help a fire to spread.

Gould, the Camden council’s leader, Gould, said it would take up to four weeks to repair the blocks that were evacuated. and that around 4,000 residents were affected.

Police investigating the cause of the 24-storey Grenfell Tower blaze have said the fire started in a fridge but spread rapidly due to the use of external cladding on the building, trapping residents in their beds as they slept.

The cladding has since failed all safety checks and prompted a nationwide review of the materials used on everything from hospitals to hotels and apartment blocks.

The fire has become a flashpoint for public anger at the record of May’s Conservative Party in government following austerity-driven cuts to local authority budgets. Grenfell Tower is located in Kensington, one of the richest boroughs in Europe.

Battling to save her position after losing her majority in a June 8 election, May has promised to do everything she can to protect those residents who survived the fire and to improve the quality and safety of public housing in Britain.

British police have said they are considering bringing manslaughter charges over the Grenfell fire.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Man charged with terrorism-related murder in London van attack

A police officer stands outside the home of Darren Osborne, in Cardiff, Wales June 20, 2017. REUTERS/Rebecca Naden

LONDON (Reuters) – A man suspected of driving a van at Muslim worshippers leaving a London mosque has been charged with terrorism-related murder and attempted murder, British police said on Friday.

Darren Osborne, 47, is accused of plowing the rented vehicle into the group in Finsbury Park in the early hours of Monday morning. One man died at the scene and another 11 were injured.

Osborne, a father of four from Cardiff in Wales, was due to appear before magistrates on Friday.

Police have said the van was driven from Cardiff to London on Sunday, before it crashed into a crowd of people who were attending to a man who had fallen ill outside the mosque.

The man later died, and police said the cause of death was his multiple injuries.

Osborne was arrested at the scene after being apprehended by the crowd. The imam of the mosque intervened to protect him before police arrived.

Osborne’s relatives have said they are “devastated for the families” of the victims and that the attack was “sheer madness”.

The incident was the fourth attack in Britain since March described by police as terrorist, and the third to involve a vehicle driven at pedestrians. Previous attacks were blamed on Islamist extremists.

(Reporting by Michael Holden and Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Roche)

British PM May tries to quell public anger after deadly London fire

Members of the emergency services work inside the charred remains of the Grenfell apartment tower block in North Kensington, London, Britain, June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

By Alistair Smout

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government sought on Saturday to quell anger over a deadly tower block fire by pledging to support the victims of the blaze after protesters jeered her when she visited local residents.

May was rushed away from a meeting with residents on Friday under heavy police guard as protesters shouted “Shame on you” and hundreds stormed a local town hall calling for justice.

After a botched snap election that lost her party its majority in parliament, May is facing criticism for her response to the blaze which engulfed the 24-storey apartment block of social housing on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people.

Residents of the destroyed tower said May was far too slow to visit the stricken community, that the building had been unsafe and that officials have failed to give enough information and support to those who have lost relatives and their homes.

Asked repeatedly whether she had misread the public mood, May did not answer directly but said the focus was on providing support to the victims.

“What I’m now absolutely focused on is ensuring that we get that support on the ground,” May said in a BBC Newsnight interview.

“Government is making money available, we’re ensuring that we’re going to get to the bottom of what’s happened, we will ensure that people are rehoused. But we need to make sure that that actually happens.”

May on Saturday was due to chair a meeting on the government’s response to the fire. The death toll is expected to rise, as at least 60 people remain unaccounted for.

Alongside both police and fire investigations into the blaze, she has promised to set up a public inquiry.

She also pledged 5 million pounds ($6.39 million) of support, housing guarantees and help with access to bank accounts and cash. Those who lost their homes will be rehoused within three weeks, she said.

One of her closest allies, Damian Green, defended May on Saturday, adding that a team would go to the area to answer questions from residents.

“The Prime Minister is distraught about what has happened,” said Green, who was appointed May’s deputy in the wake of the general election.

“We’re all desperately sad, we’re all angry, but of course none of us as angry as those who were directly affected. I absolutely get why they’re angry,” Green said.

A woman prays near the Grenfell apartment tower block in North Kensington, London, Britain, June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

A woman prays near the Grenfell apartment tower block in North Kensington, London, Britain, June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

ANGER IN LONDON

While the blaze has prompted an outpouring of generosity, with many people donating provisions and clothes, it has also unleashed rage at the authorities as the charred tower was cast as a deadly symbol of a deeply divided society.

Angry protesters chanting “We want justice” stormed their way into the Kensington and Chelsea town hall on Friday.

After a turbulent three months which has seen Britain scarred by three deadly Islamist militant attacks and now the tower blaze, Queen Elizabeth said the mood was deeply somber but that the British people were resolute in the face of adversity.

“It is difficult to escape a very sombre national mood,” Elizabeth said in a message on her official birthday. “The country has witnessed a succession of terrible tragedies.”

“Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity,” Elizabeth said. “United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favor, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss.”

Such a direct message from the monarch is rare and indicated the extent of the turmoil in Britain.

Opponents said May’s handling of the fire has thrust her position further into doubt by showing a failure to feel the public mood and act decisively.

A woman stops to look at home made posters appealing for information on people missing since the Grenfell apartment tower block caught fire in North Kensington, London, Britain, June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

A woman stops to look at home made posters appealing for information on people missing since the Grenfell apartment tower block caught fire in North Kensington, London, Britain, June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

“NOT A VIABLE PM”

After a tumultuous week that pitched Britain into its deepest political crisis since the Brexit referendum a year ago, May’s future was already uncertain due to her failed gamble on a snap election.

Britain is now likely to go into arduous talks on Monday about its exit from the European Union with a weakened leader who is dependent on a small Northern Irish party.

Matthew Parris, a columnist and former Conservative lawmaker, said May’s response to the fire had shown a lack of judgment which made her unsuitable to be prime minister.

“Wallowing in the wash of a general election that stripped our prime minister of her authority on the very eve of EU negotiations, neither common sense nor the evidence suggest she can re-establish public confidence,” Parris wrote in the Times.

“This prime minister is not viable.”

(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Bolton)

UK to hold inquiry into London tower block fire as death toll rises to 17

Extensive damage is seen to the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

By Alistair Smout and Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday promised a public inquiry into a fire that gutted a 24-story apartment block killing at least 17 people, as the government faced questions about how such a devastating blaze could have occurred.

Smoke was still wafting out of the blackened shell of the Grenfell Tower on Thursday where specialist firefighters and dog search teams faced hazardous conditions as they scoured the wreck, with external cladding still falling from the building.

Fire engulfed the social housing block, where as many as 600 people lived in more than 120 apartments, in the early hours of Wednesday, turning it into a flaming torch in minutes.

“Sadly I can confirm that the number of people that have died is now 17,” London police commander Stuart Cundy told reporters.

He said that number was expected to rise and firefighters, who rescued 65, have said they did not expect to find any more survivors. Asked if the final figure would be in double or triple digits, Cundy said: “I’d like to hope that it isn’t going to be triple figures.”

He said the search of the gutted block might take months and some victims might never be identified. Thirty-seven people remained in hospital, with 17 of them in critical care.

“Our absolute priority … is identifying and locating those people who are still missing,” Cundy said.

An investigation into the cause of the blaze, the worst in the British capital in a generation, was underway. But the shock at its scale turned to anger and recriminations on Thursday.

Accounts of people trapped inside as the blaze destroyed everything around them, shouting for help, throwing children to safety and trying to escape through windows using makeshift ropes from bed sheets tied together left the nation in shock.

“It was so preventable, and that’s why we’re so angry,” said Alia Al-Ghabban, a veterinary receptionist who lives on the estate. “We thought there were going to be riots last night, and if it didn’t (happen) last night, it will very soon.”

Opponents of May’s government demanded to know whether more could have been done to prevent the disaster, if building precautions such as fire doors had been properly implemented and if spending cuts to local authorities had played a part.

ANSWERS

“Right now, people want answers and it’s absolutely right and that’s why I am today ordering a full public inquiry into this disaster,” said May, who visited the scene on Thursday to meet members of the emergency services.

“We need to know what happened, we need to have an explanation of this. People deserve answers; the inquiry will give them.”

Local residents say there had been repeated warnings about the safety of the building, which recently underwent an 8.7 million pound ($11.1 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows.

The firm behind the work said the project met all required building regulations. Planning documents detailing the refurbishment did not refer to a type of fire barrier that building safety experts said should be used when high-rise blocks are being re-clad, according to Reuters research.

“We have to get to the bottom of this. The truth has got to come out, and it will,” opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said as he visited volunteers at the site. London Mayor Sadiq Khan faced demands from clearly furious locals for speedy answers and action when he toured the area.

In parliament, the government’s fire and housing ministers said other tower blocks which were also recently refurbished would be assessed. They also promised that those who had lost their homes would be rehoused in the local area.

Survivors, many of whom lost all their belongings in the blaze, spent the night at emergency shelters, as charities and local support groups were flooded with piles of boxes full of clothes and bedding from shocked Londoners.

A man reads messages of condolence on a wall near a tower block severely damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hackett

A man reads messages of condolence on a wall near a tower block severely damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hackett

NO REPLY

Others gathered seeking news of the missing. Semira Mohammed, 37, a science technician who lives nearby, said she knew a family of five who lived on the 21st floor of the block.

“I kept calling and calling,” she told Reuters. “The phone was ringing but they didn’t reply to us. We were from the same community, and many in the tower were. Maybe 70 percent are from Somalia, Sudan, Morocco.”

The Syrian Solidarity Campaign said on its Facebook webpage that Mohammed Al Haj Ali, a refugee from Syria, was one of those who had been killed.

Queen Elizabeth said her thoughts and prayers were with those families who had lost loved ones and those still critically ill in hospital.

“It is also heartening to see the incredible generosity of community volunteers rallying to help those affected by this terrible event,” the queen said.

Her grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry, along with William’s wife Kate, donated to a relief fund organized by London’s local Evening Standard newspaper.

The singer Adele was among many Londoners who gathered close to the burnt tower late on Wednesday to show sympathy for the victims and survivors.

The tower, built in 1974 on the low-rent housing estate in North Kensington, sits in a part of west London surrounded by some of the most affluent areas of the capital.

By Thursday morning, there was no sign of life in or around the blackened hulk. Security cordons were in place around the base of the tower and the ground was littered with charred debris.

Outside the cordons, impromptu tributes appeared with photos of missing people, messages of condolences, flowers and candles.

“I’m really angry about what’s happened,” said receptionist Samira Jama, 50, who was helping her sister collect belongings from an apartment behind the cordon.

“Hundreds of people still aren’t accounted for – what happened to them? Every person in a position of power has to answer questions about this.”

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas; Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Richard Balmforth)

UK armed police arrest suspected knifeman near parliament

Armed police officers stand outside the Palace of Westminster, in central London, Britain June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Will James

By William James and Costas Pitas

LONDON (Reuters) – British armed police detained a man on suspicion of having a knife after he ran, shouting, toward one of the gates of the Westminster parliament in central London on Friday.

“The man – aged in his 30s – was arrested,” police said.

A witness at the scene told Reuters the man ran toward one of the gates to parliament where a militant killed a policeman less than three months ago.

“You could tell he was suspicious, he was stood there fists clenched. He looked quite an angry geezer,” Bradley Allen, 19, told Reuters.

“We got seconds down the road and they had him on the floor, pinned. Police around him, telling everyone to move back.”

The incident occurred less than three months since a man drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, and then stabbed a policeman to death in the grounds of parliament, the first of three deadly attacks in Britain which has put the security services on high alert.

Another witness near parliament on Friday told Reuters he saw police threatening to use a stun gun on the man. Pictures from the scene showed the man on the ground with an officer pointing a gun at him.

“There were about three or four policeman, one of them shouting at the crowd to get back,” the witness, who declined to give their name, told Reuters.

“The guy was on the ground on his front on the pavement alongside Parliament Square. They had him on the ground and were warning they would taze (stun) him again.”

Officers later put the man in the back of a police van, a Reuters reporter said. Parliament said it was aware of the incident.

The gates to parliament were closed and armed police were patrolling as usual inside the perimeter, a Reuters reporter inside the building said.

On March 22, Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people, before he ran into the grounds of parliament and stabbed a police officer to death. He was shot dead at the scene and his attack prompted a review of security around Westminster.

That attack was followed by a suicide bombing in Manchester and a similar deadly attack on London Bridge, thrusting security and policing to the fore of campaigning before last Thursday’s election.

The spate of recent attacks were the deadliest in Britain since four British Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people on the London transport system in July 2005.

(Reporting by William James and Costas Pitas, writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden)

London apartment block fire rises to 17, more feared dead

Damage is seen to a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Alistair Smout and Estelle Shirbon

LONDON (Reuters) – The death toll in a fire that ripped through a 24-floor block of flats in London rose to 17 on Thursday, with many people still missing and firefighters facing hazardous conditions as they searched the charred wreck.

Smoke was still wafting out of the shell of the Grenfell Tower on Thursday, and a Reuters cameraman saw a big piece of building cladding fall from the building.

Fire engulfed the social housing block in the early hours of Wednesday, turning it into a flaming torch in minutes.

“Sadly I can confirm that the number of people that have died is now 17,” London police commander Stuart Cundy told reporters.

He said that number was expected to rise and firefighters have said they did not expect to find any more survivors after rescuing 65 from the inferno. Thirty-seven people remained in hospital, with 17 of them in critical care.

“Our absolute priority for all of us is identifying and locating those people who are still missing,” Cundy said before declining to comment on speculation about the likely final death toll: “It would be wrong for me to get into numbers that I do not believe are accurate.”

London Fire Brigade chief Dany Cotton said urban search units backed by specialist dog teams would scour the building as structural surveyors helped make the tower safe.

The cause of the blaze, the worst in the British capital in a generation, was being investigated. Speaking within weeks of London’s deadliest attack by militants in more than a decade, Cundy said nothing suggested the fire was linked to terrorism.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who has promised an investigation into the disaster, visited the scene on Thursday to meet members of the emergency services, but left without making any public comment.

Local residents say there had been repeated warnings about the safety of the building, which recently underwent an 8.7 million pound ($11.1 million) exterior refurbishment, which included new external cladding and windows.

Planning documents detailing the refurbishment did not refer to a type of fire barrier that building safety experts said should be used when high-rise blocks are being re-clad, according to Reuters research.

Queen Elizabeth said her thoughts and prayers were with those families who had lost loved ones and with the many people still critically ill in hospital. She also paid tribute to the bravery of firefighters who risked their lives to save others.

“It is also heartening to see the incredible generosity of community volunteers rallying to help those affected by this terrible event,” the queen said.

Messages are attached to a wall near a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Messages are attached to a wall near a tower block which was destroyed in a fire disaster, in north Kensington, West London, Britain June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT

Survivors, many of whom lost all their belongings in the blaze, spent the night at emergency shelters, as charities and local support groups were flooded with donations of clothes and bedding from shocked Londoners.

Piles of shoes, clothes, duvets and other items accumulated in several spots where volunteers were sorting them. The local authority, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, thanked donors but said it could not take any further donations.

The singer Adele was among many Londoners who gathered close to the burnt tower late on Wednesday to show sympathy for the victims and survivors.

The queen’s grandsons, Prince William and Prince Harry, along with William’s wife Kate, donated to a relief fund organized by London’s local Evening Standard newspaper.

The fire brigade said the fire was unprecedented in its scale and the speed of its spread.

The tower, built in 1974 in North Kensington, an area of west London, contained 120 flats and was thought to have been home to about 600 people.

Accounts emerged of people trapped inside as the blaze destroyed everything around them, shouting for help and trying to escape through windows using makeshift ropes from bed sheets tied together.

By Thursday morning, there was no sign of life in or around the blackened hulk. Security cordons were in place around the base of the tower and the ground was littered with charred debris.

Outside the cordons, impromptu tributes appeared with photos of missing people, messages of condolences, flowers and candles.

Emergency services said it was too early to say what had caused the disaster. Some residents said no alarm had sounded. Others said they had warned repeatedly about fire safety in the block.

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton, Michael Holden and Costas Pitas; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Hugh Lawson)