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Traffic chaos in London
Gleneagles Diary
Blair condemns blasts
High alert in France, New York
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Traffic chaos in London
London, July 7 The gridlock quickly stretched beyond London. Trains from across Britain were prevented from entering closed stations in the capital, where ambulance teams helped the injured including scores of travellers stranded underground. A spokesman for Eurostar said trains to and from France were running but added: "The situation is being monitored by the second." A doctor at Aldgate underground station close to the financial centre of London where one of the train blasts occurred said at least 90 people were wounded there. Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the House of Commons that efforts would be made to resume underground and bus operations as soon as possible but gave no indication of when that might be. "People are strongly advised not to travel into central London as the emergency services must be allowed to do their work in the most effective way they can," he said. British Airways said it expected flights to be affected after rail links to the capital's airports were suspended. "There's been no impact as yet, but that is likely to change through the day," a spokeswoman said. "We're looking at plans for how to cope." Extra patrols of armed police were at Heathrow airport, the world's busiest air hub, amid tightened security as world leaders opened their G8 Summit at Gleneagles, a golf resort some 750 kilometres (466 miles) north of London. "We were already on a heightened level of security, so that is still the case, which means higher police
presence, additional patrols by armed police. If the security authorities give us any advice, we will obviously be taking that," said a spokeswoman for Heathrow operator BAA Plc. "This will probably have an impact later in the day," she said of possible flight disruptions. A spokesman for the Department of Transport declined to comment on what measures if any were being taken to step up checks on passengers trying to leave the UK by car, plane, train or ship.
— Reuters |
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Gleneagles Diary
Multiple blasts in London this morning cast a shadow on the G-8 Summit, which got under way here a few hours earlier.
As a result, the already elaborate security measures were made all the more strict. On Wednesday the police authorities had to contend with civilian protesters but the London blasts forced the security agencies to brace themselves up for a much worse possibility: a terror attack at the Gleneagles Hotel, a 750-acre resort which is the summit venue. British Prime Minister Tony Blair cut short his stay in Gleneagles and returned to London. Because of the terrorists attacks in London, the bilateral meeting between Mr Blair and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , scheduled for Thursday morning here, could not take place. The MEA said attempts were being made to reschedule the meeting. The Prime Minister leaves for home on July 9 morning. Police personnel stopped all incoming vehicles several kilometres away from the summit venue and allowed them to proceed only after conducting a thorough search of the vehicles and the documents carried by vehicle owners. However, despite these stringent checks, there was no chaos and no traffic jams. Civilian protesters were also not visible. Climate control
Of the twin themes of this year’s G-8 summit — climate control and Africa development — the members of the elite grouping continues to have differences on the former. Though America seemed to have softened its position a bit, President George Bush admitted that his country did not see eye-to-eye with other members on control issues and Kyoto Protocol. Environmental activists like Friends of the Earth International distributed press statements at the media centre contending how Mr Bush has been misleading the world over US investment in carbon-free technologies. The organisation said President Bush was under increasing international pressure to join the rest of the world in meeting enormous challenges posed by climate change and described the US as “the world’s biggest polluter”. Hectic engagements
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a good opportunity to have informal exchanges with the President of Mexico, Mr Vicente Fox Quesada, as the two leaders travelled together in a special aircraft from Heathrow airport to Prestwick airport, a journey of 75 minutes. Soon after the Prime Minister arrived at the G-8 Summit venue, he plunged into a meeting with Presidents of Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa. This was followed by the Prime Minister’s main engagement when he attended an outreach meeting of the G-8 leaders. In this G-8 plus five summit leaders from Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa were also present. In the evening, the Prime Minister called on the President of France, Mr Jacques
Chirac. Genesis of G-8
The G-8 actually began as G-6 in 1975 when President Giscard D’ Estaing of France invited leaders of Germany, Japan, the UK, the US and Italy to Rambouillet near Paris. The grouping was expanded to include Canada in 1976. The Russian Federation was invited in 1988. The G-7 was created in response to the oil crisis and other developments of the 1970s. The objective of the grouping is to secure political commitment for action on key global issues. The G-8 attempts to reach informal agreements on measures to be taken by its members individually, though in a cooperative manner. Some of the key achievements of earlier G-8 summits have been: (i) setting up of a global fund for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, (ii) G-8 Africa Action Plan, (iii) Global partnership against the spread of weapons and materials for mass destruction to make nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation safe; (iv) setting up of regional financial action task forces to combat money laundering; and (v) Highly indebted poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Under the HIPC initiative last month, 18 poor countries’ debts to the World Bank, IMF and the African Development Bank were totally waived off. |
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Blair condemns blasts
Gleneagles (Scotland), July 7 “It’s reasonably clear there have been a series of terrorist attacks,” a sombre-looking Blair said in his first comment on a series of blasts that rocked London earlier today. “It is particularly barbaric that this has happened on a day when people are meeting to try to help the problems of poverty in Africa, the long-term problems of climate change and the environment,” he said in a televised statement. “Whatever they do, it is our determination that they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear in this country,” he told reporters, referring to those behind the attacks. Explosions rocked London, killing some persons and wounding scores, just as leaders of the eight most industrialised nations in the world were due to start the first formal session of their annual summit. “Just as it is reasonably clear that this is a terrorist attack — or a series of terrorist attacks — it’s also reasonably clear that this is designed, aimed to coincide with the opening of the G8,” Mr Blair said.
— Reuters |
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High alert in France, New York
Paris, July 7 French President Jacques Chirac, who was in Scotland for the Group of Eight summit, told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he had France’s “total solidarity” following the fatal blasts, which Blair called “terrorist attacks”. “This is a drama for Great Britain, for all of Europe, which was already struck in Madrid in March 2004,” Villepin said after an emergency meeting with his key Cabinet ministers and telephone talks with Chirac. Security was especially tight around the British Embassy in Paris, as well as in Paris airports and rail stations for passengers travelling to Britain. The red level of France’s Vigipirate security plan calls for random checks in trains, patrols on high-speed trains including Eurostar trains heading to London and airspace restrictions over certain sensitive areas. NEW YORK: The security agencies in New York went on full alert today following terrorist attacks in London as authorities sought people’s help in reporting any suspicious activity or packages.
— PTI |
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