Hajj pilgrims to be given e-bracelets

The Hajj attracts huge crowds and has often been very difficult to control

Saudi Arabia is to issue electronic bracelets to pilgrims travelling to Mecca for this year's Hajj, the world's largest Islamic gathering.

It follows a stampede last year in which more than 750 people are believed to have died, with 900 injured.

The bracelets will contain personal and medical information to help authorities care for and identify people, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Nearly 1,000 new surveillance cameras have also been installed.

The ID bracelets will contain crucial information such as passport numbers and addresses but will also offer information to worshippers, such as timings of prayers and a multi-lingual help desk to guide non-Arabic speakers around the event.

They will be water-resistant and connected to GPS. The information can be accessed by employees of the ministry, and security and services bodies via a smartphone.

Safety push

Cameras have been installed at Mecca's Grand Mosque and will be linked to control rooms staffed by special forces monitoring pilgrim movements for the event scheduled for August, according to Saudi newspapers.

2015 was the deadliest year for the pilgrimage in 25 years.

The tragedy led Saudi's King Salman to promise improvement in the level of organisation and led to a souring of the already-strained relationship with neighbouring Iran.

Iran, which lost 400 of its citizens in the crush, has criticised Saudi Arabia's preparedness and said that it will not send pilgrims to this year's gathering.

The annual pilgrimage to Mecca is attended by more than two million Muslims from around the world and has long been something of a safety nightmare.

Over the years the Saudi authorities have spent billions of dollars on improving transport and other infrastructure.

WW2 Jewish escape tunnel uncovered

The tunnel was dug by prisoners in a pit in which they were kept

A tunnel dug out with spoons by Jewish prisoners escaping Nazi captors in World War Two has been uncovered in Lithuania's Ponar forest.

The prisoners were from the so-called Burning Brigade, who were forced to burn corpses to cover up Nazi atrocities as the Soviets advanced.

Knowing they too would be killed, they dug a tunnel in a pit where they were kept. Eleven escapees survived the war.

A research team used a ground-scanning system to map out the tunnel.

The exact location of the 34m (112ft) tunnel had been lost since the end of the war, but the international team, including the Israel Antiquities Authority and researchers from the US, Canada and Lithuania, have now located it.

The team employed the electrical resistivity tomography system, also used in oil exploration, so as not to disturb any human remains at the site.

'Yearning for life'

Ponar forest, known now as Paneriai, is outside the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, a hub of Jewish life before the outbreak of the war.

But under Nazi occupation, mass burial pits and graves were carved out of the forest to hold the bodies of up to 100,000 people, including 70,000 Jews, killed during the Holocaust.

As the Red Army closed in, the Nazis tried to cover up their atrocities. They forced about 80 prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp, chained by the legs, to dig up bodies and burn them.

Ground scanning was used to pinpoint the tunnel

The scanning was used so as not to disturb any human remains at the site

They were called Leichenkommando (corpse unit), but later became known as the Burning Brigade.

According to one account, one brigade prisoner even identified his wife and two sisters among the bodies.

Kept overnight in one of the pits where the bodies had been buried, the prisoners began to dig a tunnel and on the night of 15 April 1944, 40 made their escape attempt through the 2 sq ft tunnel.

But guards were alerted by the noise and hunted them down. Many were shot but 12 escaped to reach partisans. Eleven survived the war to tell their story.

Jon Seligman, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said he was reduced to tears on the discovery of the tunnel, calling it a "heart-warming witness to the victory of hope over desperation".

"The tunnel shows that even when the time was so black, there was yearning for life within that," he told Associated Press.

Archaeologist Richard Freund, also on the team, told the New York Times that Ponar was "ground zero for the Holocaust", evidence of systematic murder before the Nazis started using gas chambers.

Deaths rise in Istanbul airport attack

Deaths rise in Istanbul airport attack

CCTV shows people running in the terminal as an explosion hits.

The death toll in a gun and suicide bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk airport has risen to 41, 13 of them foreign nationals, with 239 injured, the Turkish city's governor says.

Three attackers arrived in a taxi and began firing at the terminal entrance late on Tuesday. They blew themselves up after police fired back.

PM Binali Yildirim said early signs pointed to so-called Islamic State.

However, no-one has so far admitted carrying out the attack.

Turkey has declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.

Turkish investigators are examining CCTV footage, witness statements and mobile phone video recorded by terrified passengers to try to determine the identity of the attackers.

The Dogan news agency said autopsies on the three dead men suggested they may be foreign nationals but this has not been confirmed.

A worker cleans blood from the roof of the international departure terminal

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdag says that 128 people remain in hospital, including nationals of Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Switzerland, the Associated Press reports.

Of those, 41 are still in intensive care.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said there were no reports yet of any British casualties, but the Foreign Office was in contact with Turkish authorities. 

Nationality of dead so far confirmed (may include dual nationality)

23 - Turkish

5 - Saudi

2 - Iraqi

1 - Chinese; Jordanian; Tunisian; Uzbek; Iranian; Ukrainian; (Palestinian ambassador to Turkey says one Palestinian woman killed)

Cleaners worked through the morning to sweep up shattered glass, while workers repaired cables and ceiling tiles. Heavily-armed security personnel were patrolling the airport.

Flights had resumed in the early morning, though with many cancellations and delays.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

Reports of the attack vary but it appears the attackers opened fire at the entrance where X-ray machines are positioned, sparking an exchange with police. At least two of the attackers ran into the building.

Footage on social media shows one moving through the building as people around him flee. He is shot by police and remains on the ground for about 20 seconds before blowing himself up. All three attackers were killed.

The lack of any immediate claim for this attack by so-called Islamic State is not surprising. IS rarely, if ever, claims responsibility for attacks against the Turkish state yet it is quick to advertise its assassinations of Syrian activists inside Turkey.

All the signs point towards IS being the culprits. This is what British counter-terrorism officials term "a marauding terrorist firearms attack", following a pattern first seen in the Mumbai attacks of 2008.

The Istanbul targets were international air travellers and ground staff at an iconic location, the third busiest airport in Europe.

IS is targeting Turkey because it sees its government as being un-Islamic and too close to its Western allies in Nato. IS is also feeling the pressure as the Turkish authorities move to close down its networks inside Turkey.

Turkey's other main foe, Kurdish separatists, have carried out many attacks over the years but their primary targets have tended to be Turkish policemen and soldiers.

Paul Roos, who was due to fly home to South Africa, told Reuters he saw one of the attackers.

"He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator. We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

Relatives of Siddik Turgan, a customs officer at Ataturk airport, attend his funeral

Forensic Medical Centre officials look out on family members who had gathered to hear news

The US called the attack "heinous", saying America remained "steadfast in our support for Turkey".

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to Turkey in a phone call with Mr Erdogan, as the pair seek to rebuild ties.

French President Francois Hollande has confirmed two French nationals were injured in the attack, but not seriously.

Terrified passengers were seen leaving the airport after Tuesday's attack

Armed police sealed off the area

A Kalashnikov assault rifle was later found at the scene

Emergency teams gathered, with luggage and bodies scattered outside the building

Pope Francis denounced the "brutal terrorist attack", saying: "May the Lord convert the hearts of the violent ones and support our efforts toward the path of peace."

#PrayforTurkey began trending on Twitter after the attack.

Ataturk airport

• Europe's third-busiest in passenger traffic after London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, serving 61.3 million passengers in 2015. World's 11th busiest

• Opened in 1924 in the Yesilkoy area, renamed in the 1980s after the nation's first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

• Two passenger terminals: one domestic, one international

• To be closed after the massive Istanbul New Airport - planned to be the largest in the world - opens in the Arnavutkoy district. Its first phase is due to be operational in 2017

Major recent attacks

2016

7 June, Istanbul: Car bomb kills seven police officers and four civilians. Claimed by Kurdish militant group TAK

19 March, Istanbul: Suicide bomb kills four people in shopping street. IS blamed

13 March, Ankara: Car bomb kills 35. Claimed by TAK

17 February, Ankara: 29 killed in attack on military buses. Claimed by TAK

12 January, Istanbul: 12 Germans killed by Syrian bomber in tourist area

2015

23 December, Istanbul: Bomb kills cleaner at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport. Claimed by TAK

10 October, Ankara: More than 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station. Blamed on IS

20 July, Suruc, near Syrian border: 34 people killed in bombing in Kurdish town. IS blamed

Cameron to quit as UK votes to leave EU

Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October after the UK voted to leave the European Union.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, he said "fresh leadership" was needed.

The PM had urged the country to vote Remain but was defeated by 52% to 48% despite London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backing staying in.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed it as the UK's "independence day", while Boris Johnson said the result would not mean "pulling up the drawbridge".

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was "absolutely determined" to keep Scotland in the EU so a second Scottish independence referendum was now "highly likely".

EU chiefs said they expected the UK to begin negotiations to leave "as soon as possible, however painful that process may be".

But Boris Johnson, the ex-London mayor and public face of Vote Leave who is now a frontrunner to be next prime minister, said there was "no need for haste" about severing the UK's ties.

He said voters had "searched in their hearts" and the UK now had a "glorious opportunity" to pass its own laws, set its own taxes and control its own borders.

Another leading Leave campaigner, Labour's Gisela Stuart said the UK would be a "good neighbour" when it left the EU.

The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results.

Flanked by his wife Samantha, Mr Cameron announced shortly after 08:15 BST that he had informed the Queen of his decision to remain in place for the short term and to then hand over to a new prime minister by the time of the Conservative conference in October.

He would attempt to "steady the ship" over the coming weeks and months, but that it would be for the new prime minister to carry out negotiations with the EU and invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would give the UK two years to negotiate its withdrawal, he said.

"The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected," said Mr Cameron. "The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered."

Area-by-area in maps: See how people voted

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said UK banks' "substantial capital and huge liquidity" allowed them to continue to lend to businesses and households.

The Bank of England is ready to provide an extra £250bn of support, he added.

The referendum turnout was 71.8% - with more than 30 million people voting - the highest turnout at a UK-wide vote since 1992.

Mr Farage - who has campaigned for the past 20 years for Britain to leave the EU - told cheering supporters "this will be a victory for ordinary people, for decent people".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who called for the UK to remain in the EU but was accused of a lukewarm campaign, said poorer communities were "fed up" with cuts and felt "marginalised by successive governments".

"Clearly there are some very difficult days ahead," he said, adding that "there will be job consequences as a result of this decision".

He said the point he had made during the campaign was that "there were good things" about the EU but also "other things that had not been addressed properly".

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said Labour's leader had been "utterly gutless" in the way he approached the campaign.

Former Labour Europe Minister Keith Vaz described the outcome as "catastrophic for our country, for the rest of Europe and for the rest of the world".

The European Parliament is to hold an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss the referendum result.

On Twitter, EU Parliament president Martin Schulz called for a "speedy and clear exit negotiation".

But Leave supporting Tory MP Liam Fox said voters had shown great "courage" by deciding to "change the course of history" for the UK and, he hoped, the rest of Europe.

The EU referendum has revealed an ancient, jagged fault line across the United Kingdom. It is a scar that has sliced through conventional politics and traditional social structures, and it is far from clear whether the kingdom can still call itself united.

The referendum was ostensibly about membership of the European Union. But voters took it to be asking a different question: what kind of country do you want Britain to be?

Yesterday seemed to offer a fork in the road: one path (Remain) promised it would lead to a modern world of opportunity based on interdependence; the other (Leave) was advertised as a route to an independent land that would respect tradition and heritage.

Which path people took depended on the prism through which they saw the world.

Read more from Mark

Britain is set to be the first country to leave the EU since its formation - but the Leave vote does not immediately mean Britain ceases to be a member of the 28-nation bloc.

That process could take a minimum of two years, with Leave campaigners suggesting during the referendum campaign that it should not be completed until 2020 - the date of the next scheduled general election.

Traders in Tokyo monitor exchange rates

Once Article 50 has been triggered a country can not rejoin without the consent of all member states.

Mr Cameron previously said he would trigger Article 50 as soon as possible after a Leave vote but Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who led the campaign to get Britain out of the EU have said he should not rush into it.

They also said they wanted to make immediate changes before the UK actually leaves the EU, such as curbing the power of EU judges and limiting the free movement of workers, potentially in breach of the UK's treaty obligations.

The government will also have to negotiate its future trading relationship with the EU and fix trade deals with non-EU countries.

In Whitehall and Westminster, there will now begin the massive task of unstitching the UK from more than 40 years of EU law, deciding which directives and regulations to keep, amend or ditch.

The Leave campaign argued during a bitter four-month referendum campaign that the only way Britain could "take back control" of its own affairs would be to leave the EU.

Leave dismissed warnings from economists and international bodies about the economic impact of Brexit as "scaremongering" by a self-serving elite.

The CBI said many businesses would be concerned about the referendum result.

It said "the urgent priority now is to reassure the markets", but warned against "rushed decisions".

Find the result in your area

Boko Haram refugees 'starved to death'

Boko Haram refugees 'starved to death

Aid workers say one in five children is severely malnourished

Nearly 200 refugees fleeing Boko Haram militants have starved to death over the past month in Bama, Nigeria, the medical charity MSF says.

A "catastrophic humanitarian emergency" is unfolding at a camp it visited where 24,000 people have taken refuge.

Many inhabitants are traumatised and one in five children is suffering from acute malnutrition, MSF says.

The Islamist group's seven-year rebellion has left 20,000 people dead and more than two million displaced.

Nigeria's military has carried out a large-scale offensive against them but Boko Haram still attacks villages in the north-east, destroying homes and burning down wells.

Displaced people in Bama say new graves are appearing on a daily basis, according to a statement from MSF.

MSF's visit to the camp was only possible with an army escort

It quoted inhabitants as saying about 30 people died every day due to hunger or illness.

Although the area has been unsafe to travel through, MSF says one of its teams reached Bama on Tuesday.

It went in with a military convoy from the city of Maiduguri in Borno state.

"This is the first time MSF has been able to access Bama, but we already know the needs of the people there are beyond critical," said Ghada Hatim, MSF head of mission in Nigeria.

"We are treating malnourished children in medical facilities in Maiduguri and see the trauma on the faces of our patients who have witnessed and survived many horrors," he said. 

Boko Haram at a glance:

Boko Haram fighters still appear well armed in recent propaganda videos

• Founded in 2002, initially focused on opposing Western-style education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language

• Launched military operations in 2009

• Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, hundreds abducted, including at least 200 schoolgirls

• Joined so-called Islamic State, now calls itself IS's "West African province"

• Seized large area in north-east, where it declared caliphate

• Regional force has retaken most territory last year

On patrol against Boko Haram

Who are Boko Haram?

Trump 'fires' campaign boss Lewandowski

Corey Lewandowski (left) has left the campaign for reasons that are unclear

The campaign manager for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is to leave his job.

A campaign spokeswoman said Corey Lewandowski would no longer be working on it and said the team was grateful to him "for his hard work and dedication".

The exact reason for Mr Lewandowski's departure is not yet clear but sources close to Mr Trump have told US media he was fired.

He oversaw the New Yorker's unlikely triumph in the primary contests.

Mr Lewandowski told CNN: "I stand by the fact that Mr Trump is a great candidate and is better than Hillary Clinton will ever be."

He told the AP news agency that top Trump strategist Paul Manafort had been in operational control of the campaign since 7 April and would not divulge more about his dismissal.

But his departure comes as the businessman faces strong resistance from senior members of his own party over his strident tone, hardline immigration policy and falling poll numbers.

Among his critics is Speaker of the House and top-ranked Republican Paul Ryan, who appeared to leave the door open to a possible revolt at next month's convention.

When asked on Sunday about reports that party delegates may rebel against voting for Mr Trump at the convention, he said: "They write the rules, they make the decisions."

Mr Trump was criticised for his reaction to the Orlando nightclub shooting in which 49 people were killed.

Following the attack, he repeated his pledge that the US should ban Muslims from entering the country.

Mr Lewandowski's firing comes as Mr Trump slips further down in the polls

Republicans also started to distance themselves from him following his personal attacks against a Hispanic federal judge overseeing two lawsuits against him.

Mr Trump is likely to face Democrat Hillary Clinton in November's election, and there were reports over the weekend that her campaign is way ahead in spending in the key swing states.

US media reaction to Corey Lewandowski's 'firing'

• Gabriel Sherman of New York Times Magazine tweeted that Lewandowski was escorted out by Trump security

• Mr Sherman also said his firing was a direct result of the Trump children

• Dana Bash of CNN was told daughter Ivanka Trump said he had to be fired or she would leave campaign

• Ali Vitali of NBC News said an aide told her dropping poll numbers, poor fundraising and lack of staff resulted in the firing

• Senior Trump adviser Barry Bennett told Fox News that Paul Manafort is "totally in charge" now

• Hadas Gold of Politico surmised that the Monday morning news may have been released on purpose to distract from Trump's other problems

• Tim Mak of the Daily Beast pointed out that after Mr Lewandowski was charged with battery, Mr Trump said he "stays with people"

• Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg said the firing is the "clearest sign Trump knows he's sinking"

Mr Lewandowski has had a contentious relationship with the press. Earlier this year, he was charged with battery after allegedly yanking a female reporter out of Mr Trump's way after a campaign event.

Mr Trump defended him throughout that incident, which concluded when the charges were dropped.

One Trump campaign director, Michael Caputo, tweeted "Ding dong the witch is dead" following the news.

Mr Lewandowski did not get along with Trump chief strategist Paul Manafort either, with sources telling the New York Times that he would try to block Mr Manafort from hiring more campaign staff.

Mr Trump is suffering in political polls lately, with most voters viewing him as "strongly unfavourable".

One Trump campaign staff member told NBC News that the campaign was not briefed on Mr Lewandowski's firing and that right now there is "bedlam in the Trump campaign. No one knows what is happening".

Prayers for Orlando 'shallow' says bishop

The Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross has condemned people of faith who don't support the LGBT community, in the wake of the shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

Dr Paul Colton says when many religious people do not "include LGBT people" in daily life, "prayers are shallow".

Omar Mateen, 29, killed 49 people and wounded 53 at the Pulse club before being shot dead by police.

It's the deadliest shooting in modern US history.

FBI officials Mateen appeared to "have leanings towards" radical Islamist ideology, although it was not clear whether the attack was a case of domestic or international terrorism.

"Our prayers are shallow, an affront even, as long as so much religion fails fully to affirm and include LGBT people #Orlando," Bishop Paul Colton tweeted.

In the wake of the shooting a number of phrases trended across social media, including #PrayForOrlando and #PrayForTheWorld.

Some Christian churches in the US and elsewhere accept openly gay clergy.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, some Christian leaders are firmly against homosexuality on Biblical grounds.

In many Islamic counties, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, homosexual activity carries the death penalty.

Leaders in both Pakistan and Qatar have condemned the shootings and expressed sympathy for those affected.

Homosexuality is a crime in both of these countries.

Meanwhile there are also many teachers of Islam who support the LGBT community.

Other major religions including Judaism and Hinduism have texts which teach against homosexuality but many people from these faiths support gay rights.

Bishop Colton tweeted: "Non religious people are important in holding religious people to account."

Ireland was the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a popular vote.

Bishop Colton has previously publicly supported the LGBT community.

He is thought to have been the first Church of Ireland bishop to speak out in favour of same-sex marriage, back in 2014.

"Whatever about my personal views and solidarity as an individual to gay and lesbian people, it is undeniable that I am part of a religion, and indeed institution, that all too often, over the centuries, has caused deep hurt and tangible damage to gay and lesbian people," he said in a speech he gave at Cork LGBT Awareness Week last year.

"There are many Christians, including myself, who believe that God's justice, God's love and the inclusiveness of God, must bear fruit in unqualified equality for gay and lesbian people too."