Latest news with #ACMs
Time Magazine
a day ago
- Time Magazine
The True Story Behind the 'Grenfell: Uncovered'
In the early hours of June 14, 2017, residents of Grenfell Tower were caught off guard by a deadly fire that would turn the building into an international symbol of negligence and injustice. What started as a small kitchen fire in the 24-story residential building in North Kensington, London, quickly spread uncontrollably through the exterior, ultimately resulting in the deaths of 72 people. The tragedy is revisited in the documentary Grenfell: Uncovered, which premieres on Netflix on June 20. The film gives voice to victims, reveals behind-the-scenes details of the investigation, and exposes how corporate interests and government failures contributed to the disaster. But what exactly happened that night—and what followed? How did the Grenfell Tower fire start? The fire originated in Flat 16, on the fourth floor. The resident, Behailu Kebede, was awakened by the smoke alarm and saw flames near the fridge and freezer, which had caught on fire. He immediately called the fire brigade at 12:54 a.m., and the first crews arrived at the building five minutes later. The first firefighters entered the flat at around 1:07 a.m. They conducted a quick sweep but didn't reach the kitchen until seven minutes later. According to a firefighter's account, there was a 'curtain of fire' rising to the ceiling. Thermal images captured by the team suggest that gases and flames were already escaping through the kitchen window, which was located by the fridge. From 1:09 a.m. onwards, the fire began to break through to the outside of the building—marking the start of a devastating spread. Within 30 minutes of the firefighters' arrival, the fire had climbed up the east side of the tower and reached the top floor. By 4:30 a.m., the entire building was ablaze, and more than 100 flats had been affected. Why did the fire spread so quickly? Several structural and design flaws contributed to the rapid and catastrophic spread of the flames. The most critical factor was the exterior cladding installed during a 2016 refurbishment. Grenfell Tower had been covered with aluminum composite panels (ACMs) that contained a polyethylene core—a highly flammable plastic that releases enormous amounts of heat when burned, essentially acting as fuel for the fire. Additionally, the thermal insulation installed beneath the cladding — made of polyurethane foam — was also combustible and helped the fire spread, as did other construction materials. Renovations to the windows included the use of flammable materials, which allowed the fire to pass from one floor to another through gaps in the structures. Experts featured in Grenfell: Uncovered highlight that the ACM cladding—made of aluminum composite material with a polyethylene core—had already been flagged in previous fire tests as dangerous, with rapid burn, intense heat, and heavy smoke release. These test results were kept secret by companies like Arconic, the manufacturer of the material used in Grenfell Tower. The failure of the emergency plan Like many residential buildings in the UK, Grenfell Tower followed a fire safety policy known as 'stay put'—the idea that in the event of a fire, residents should remain in their flats, trusting that the building's design would prevent the flames from spreading. But this plan failed catastrophically that night. By 1:26 a.m., less than 30 minutes after the fire brigade arrived, it was clear the situation was out of control. In desperation, some people climbed to neighbors' flats on higher floors, others jumped from the building, and many ignored the official advice and fled down the stairs in search of safety. Even so, an evacuation order was only issued at 2:47 a.m. Richard Millett QC, the lead counsel to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, stated in a hearing on June 4, 2018, that 144 people had evacuated the building before 1:38 a.m. After that point—when the 'stay put' advice was finally abandoned—only 36 more people managed to escape. The role of the government in the tragedy While corporate negligence was a key factor in the fire, government oversight—or lack thereof—also played a central role. The cladding material used in Grenfell Tower had already been banned in countries like the United States due to its flammability. Yet, in the UK, it remained legal, largely due to years of deregulating the construction industry. Policies implemented encouraged the loosening of safety standards in favor of cost-cutting and efficiency measures, creating a regulatory vacuum in which unsafe materials could be approved and used. Furthermore, internal documents later revealed that the local authorities responsible for Grenfell—the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) and the Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO)—were aware of the potential risks. Cost-cutting decisions during the tower's refurbishment led them to choose the cheaper, more dangerous cladding, instead of safer alternatives like zinc. Residents had long raised safety concerns. Six months before the fire, a local tenant group had warned about fire risks in an open letter. Their pleas were ignored. The fire at Lakanal House in 2009, which killed six people and also involved flammable cladding, should have served as a wake-up call. But once again, authorities failed to act. The investigation and the pursuit of justice After the fire, an extensive public investigation was launched. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry, established to determine causes, was divided into two phases. The first began in September 2017 and concluded in October 2019, focusing on the events of the night itself through witness testimony. The second phase, which began in January 2020, examined broader structural issues—including decisions made during the building's refurbishment and the involvement of companies that supplied flammable materials. Following years of extensive hearings, the final report was published on September 4, 2024. It attributed the disaster to failures by the government, the construction industry, and especially the companies responsible for installing flammable cladding on the building's exterior. The report found that the cladding did not meet fire safety regulations and was the primary reason for the rapid spread of the fire. It also criticized the London Fire Brigade's delayed shift from 'stay put' advice to a full evacuation order, which significantly compromised rescue efforts. A total of 58 recommendations were made, including updates to building regulations. With the official inquiry concluded, it is now up to the police to identify potential criminal cases and refer them to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which will decide whether to bring formal charges. Due to the complexity of the material gathered, authorities have stated that any criminal charges are unlikely to be filed before the end of 2026.
GMA Network
5 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Isabela vice mayor-elect surrenders to court amid arrest warrant for cybercrime complaint
Isabela Vice Mayor-elect Jeryll Harold Respicio voluntarily surrendered at a Manila Court on Tuesday in relation to the cybercrime charges filed against him by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Respicio arrived at the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 34 after learning of a signed arrest warrant against him for allegedly violating Article 134 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). 'Meron na pong pirmadong warrant ang Court sa Branch 34, kaya ako nag-voluntary surrender,' Respicio told reporters. (We learned there is a signed warrant of arrest here in Branch 34, so we voluntarily surrendered.) 'Ito po ay isang process para hindi ka na hulihin at hindi ka na i-commit sa loob ng jail, pwede ka mag-voluntary surrender at magbayad ng bail,' he said. (This is a process where they will no longer arrest us and commit us to jail.) Comelec, through Task Force Katotohanan, Katapatan at Katarungan (KKK) sa Halalan, filed cybercrime charges against Respicio in February over his social media videos allegedly saying he can manipulate the automated counting machines (ACMs) for Eleksyon 2025. The lawyer likewise claimed there were backdoor programs for the manipulation of the ACMs and supposedly demonstrated how to exploit the election results in one of his videos. 'Magpo-post kami ng bail today. Dalawa po, P32,000 kada isang kaso. Dalawang video kasi yun,' the Respicio said. (We will post bail today. That would be P32,000 for each of the counts of the case.) Respicio maintained that his social media videos were not 'untrue,' as he claimed the poll body 'adhered' to his appeal to include a provision in its elections resolution prohibiting the ACMs from being connected to the internet before and during the printing of the election returns. 'Asahan nyo po mga kababayan na lalaban tayo hanggang sa huli. Hanggang sa ang katotohanan ay lumabas at magpapatuloy si Atty. Harold Respicio na ilabas ang lahat... Hanggang mailabas natin ang lahat ng pagkukulang ng Comelec sa nangyaring elections nitong 2025 para sa susunod na election sa 2028, hindi na ito uli mangyayari,' he added. (I will fight until the end, until the truth comes out and we unearth all the shortcomings of the Comelec this election and prevent a repeat of them in the 2028 polls.) Comelec Comelec Chair George Garcia previously slammed Respicio's claims, saying the respondent might have a 'misunderstanding or non-understanding' of the process of transmitting of election returns. 'Mukhang ang kaniyang understanding, magta-transmit agad ang bawat makina tapos after ng transmission, 'tsaka magp-print ng election returns. Baliktad po. Election returns muna bago ang transmission,' said Garcia. (He might have a misunderstanding of the process. The election returns will be printed before its transmission.) 'Ibig sabihin, bago mag-transmit alam na ng lahat ang boto sa bawat presinto. Paano mo siya maha-hack? Paano mo mababago? Paano mo mapapakialamanan ang results kung ganitong alam na ng lahat…kung ano ang results?' he added. (This means that the results will be issued before the transmission. How will he hack or change that when everyone knows the votes?) —VAL, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
GMA Network
13-06-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Comelec: Random manual audit shows 99. 997% accuracy as of Friday afternoon
With the random manual audit (RMA) of the automated elections nearing its completion, Commission on Elections chairman George Garcia on Friday said that the RMA has so far indicated 99.997% accuracy by the machines used in Eleksyon 2025. Some 762 ballot boxes have been chosen for the RMA. "So far, of the 723 na ballot boxes subject of the random manual audit, so far naman 99.997% 'yung accuracy ng atin pong machine... yung count ng machine saka nung manual counting," Garcia said in a news conference on Friday afternoon. Garcia said the statistics of the completed audit are expected to be done on Monday. The accuracy of RMA for the 2022 elections stood at 99.94%. In May, the Comelec officially kicked off the RMA for 762 randomly selected clustered precincts and one online voting post for the 2025 national and local elections. It was slated to last up to 45 days. During the RMA, 60 auditing teams from the Department of Education were tasked to check the performance of the automated counting machines (ACMs) and examine the ballots from the clustered precincts to validate their accuracy. Section 29 of the Automated Election System (AES) Act states that 'there shall be a random manual audit in one precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Commission in each province and city' where the automated election system is used. The RMA maintained a 99.9% accuracy rate since the 2010 automated elections, Garcia added. –NB, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
10 years ago, a country radio pro dismissed female singers — and 'Tomatogate' was born. Are they getting more respect now?
In 2015, women singers in country music were told they were just the "tomatoes" in a salad of male stars — a juicy soundbite that became known as Tomatogate. One decade later, frustration is still real as country radio stations seem confused about the ingredients that make a perfect salad. "If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out," Keith Hill, a radio consultant, told the trade publication Country Radio Aircheck in its May 26, 2015, issue. He suggested female country music artists are not the lettuce in the salad, but rather tomatoes who should be "sprinkled" on a playlist and not in back-to-back rotations. "Trust me," Hill, whom the publication called "the world's leading authority on music scheduling," continued. "I play great female records, and we've got some right now; they're just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females." "The story made national headlines and riled up both men and women in the music industry. Female artists united. Martina McBride sold "Tomato Lover" T-shirts for her charity, which supports equal rights for women in the music industry. There were think pieces and interviews calling out "Bro Country" and research studies done about gender representation on country radio. Has anything really changed in the last decade, aside from online outrage? While covering the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs) earlier this month, I talked to some of the biggest female artists in country music to get a state of the union, of sorts. I also spoke with professors doing research on gender representation in country radio. Here's where we stand. Singer-songwriter Mickey Guyton had an emphatic "Oh yeah" when I asked her if she remembered Tomatogate 10 years ago. "Not much has changed. It hasn't," Guyton, who was honored at Variety's Power of Women: Nashville earlier this month, told Yahoo Entertainment. She believes there needs to be more female artists played on the radio right now. "But at a certain point, there's a lot of people that can fight for the system that oppresses us. Until they stop doing that, there's nothing much that we can do to press forward. Like, when do we all decide to say stop accepting the crumbs? Billie Jean King said that," Guyton said, referencing the American tennis great. "We have to stop accepting the crumbs. When's enough enough? I don't know." Singer Kassi Ashton, who was nominated for New Female Artist of the Year at the ACMs, agreed, saying, "We still have a ways to go" in terms of female representation on the radio. "Last year, there was only one female number one the entire year." Ella Langley was the only female artist to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2024. There are plenty of charts one can look at, but Billboard's is considered crucial, as it tracks the week's most popular songs ranked by country radio airplay audience impressions. Langley scored her first No. 1 with her hit song "You Look Like You Love Me," which also features male singer Riley Green. In 2018, Miranda Lambert scored her first No. 1 in four years for her and Jason Aldean's summer hit "Drowns the Whiskey." She infamously called out radio chart disparity and how she "had to sing with someone with a penis to get a number one." "I do like this person, Jason Aldean, a lot … so it was a great song with an old friend,' she told the Washington Post, adding how "it is interesting that I haven't had even a Top 20 in a long, long time. And then it goes No. 1 because it's a dude." Kate Duncan, director of the School of Music and Theatre Professions at Loyola University New Orleans, sees that trend reflected in the charts. "An artist like Miranda Lambert saying she had to have a male feature in order to get recognition is not far off the mark because the bar seems to be so much higher for female accomplishment across the industry," she explained to Yahoo. "We're just seeing that the bar is almost unattainable right now." Sara Evans, known for hits like "Suds in the Bucket" and "A Little Bit Stronger," told me on the 2025 ACMs red carpet that this is still an issue. "Radio hasn't played any new music of mine in years — six years probably," she said. Evans won Top Female Vocalist at the awards show in 2006. She was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year in 2011 and has churned out plenty of music, her latest album getting released in June 2024. "It's crazy. I don't understand it. What would we do without Kacey Musgraves and Dolly Parton if they had never played them?" It's a point Carrie Underwood, who's one of the biggest faces of country music, made in 2018. "Even when I was growing up, I wished there was more women on the radio, and I had a lot more than there are today," she said in a podcast interview. "You think about all of the little girls that are sitting at home saying, 'I want to be a country music singer.' What do you tell them? ... How do you look at them and say, 'Well just work hard sweetie and you can do it' when that's not the case right now." Prior to Langley topping the Billboard Country Airplay chart in December, it had been nearly one year since a woman was featured in the top spot. Lainey Wilson, who was featured on Jelly Roll's "Save Me," hit No. 1 for two weeks in December 2023. Langley ended the second-longest break — 51 weeks — between women topping the chart since a record 61-week shutout in 2003 and 2004, according to Billboard. It's a troubling trend, despite singers like Wilson and newcomer Langley being two of the biggest names in country music right now. Tomatogate caught the attention of University of Ottawa professor Jada Watson a decade ago, who was awarded two research grants to study different facets of these representational issues. She explained to me how she started out by analyzing representation on Billboard's long-running Hot Country Songs. "I started to realize that when you have such a deficit of songs by women who are being programmed at radio, they're not getting into the charts," she told Yahoo. "The chart is a formulaic representation of what's going on, because Billboard has a formula for how they calculate it. But it doesn't necessarily tell you what's happening on the day-to-day — radio airplay gives you a better sense." Watson analyzed radio airplay data, and that's when she said she saw "the source of these issues within radio programming." "It's been really disheartening. To a certain extent, it almost feels like the more we've spoken about it, the more we've analyzed it, the more we've written about it, the more we've advocated for change, the more radio has clamped down on these practices of not playing songs by women back-to-back of using a quota to relegate a smaller percentage of airplay," Watson said. Five years after Tomatogate, there was a promising trend — albeit a small one. According to Watson's data analysis of Billboard's gender representation on its Country Airplay chart, from 2018 to 2020, songs by women increased from 13.3% to 18.4%. But in 2021, it dropped, and the trend has been troubling since. "Songs by women in 2024 received 8.39 percent of the airplay," Watson said. "And 8.23 percent of that was for songs by white women, 0.09 percent was for songs by Black women. What's important to highlight there is that this is the year that Beyoncé releases the Grammy-winning Album of the Year [Cowboy Carter]." Yes, Beyoncé essentially made up most of that .09%. "As her song was being released, and as radio was playing it, there was also this backlash about radio not playing it," Watson continued. "It's interesting because they clearly were. And at that time, we were all like, 'Yes! you should be playing it. You can't miss an opportunity to platform Beyoncé with this really fresh, great country song.' But you should also be playing Black women who are in Nashville building their careers right now." Watson confirmed the trend Lambert pointed out, which is that over the last 10 years, "there is a decline in songs by solo female or all-female groups charting within the top 10. It seems, at times, like the only way a song with a woman can get to [the] top is when it's alongside a man." While Watson pointed out Wilson and Langley "deserve all of the wins that are coming their way," people shouldn't use that "as a measure of change within the industry." "We're ignoring the underlying issues. This is not to take away from their talent and their drive and their success because they deserve to win awards — but they get tokenized then. Everyone will say it's getting better for women because this one year, two women really dominated the awards... that's after years of women really not winning awards or even being nominated for awards," Watson continued. "We have to be able to have the conversation that both celebrates their accomplishments, but acknowledge that nothing is changing, that somehow they're winning in spite of what's going on in the industry." Despite acknowledging that country music still has a gender representation issue in terms of radio play, the stars I talked to wanted to make it clear how supported they feel by other female artists. "I do agree that it's better than it's ever been — and is growing," Reba McEntire told me at the ACMs. "It's a lift up, not a competition anymore." "Female country music is back, baby. Not that it was ever really gone, but there's so many of us — Ella, Megan [Moroney]— we're all making music that sounds completely different," Ashton said. Guyton added, "It can't be a competition. It's too hard out there for women for there to be a competition. If anything, we need to lean into each other and really do what we can together to stop accepting the crumbs and getting out there and building a bigger table for us." Singer Avery Anna told me she feels "blessed to be a woman in country music." "Sometimes I think it's harder for us girls out here, but now more than ever the women before me have paved the way for artists like me who are up and coming to say what we want to say, be how we want to be and be ourselves — Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, Kacey [Musgraves]," she said. "I just feel blessed they did what they did so I can be more authentic and not be so boxed in." Gabby Barrett, who came in third on American Idol in 2018, has had a positive experience with radio play. "I can only speak for myself on that front and I know they've been really kind to me in the past on the radio," she said. "All the radio [representatives] I have met have been very nice and I was just a girl getting into it at the time. I was just a girl coming off a television show, hadn't done the whole 10 years in Nashville kind of story yet and they were still kind enough to play my music. With [Ella Langley] leading in recognition at the ACMs, I definitely think we are in a much better place." Duncan said that, in terms of the music industry, "the needle has not moved" when it comes to radio play or women "on the production or business side of things." "The more recent figures on that look like a 3 percent occupation of the music industry is female-led, which is really staggering," she explained. However, Duncan is hopeful. "What has changed is we're saying that out loud now in ways that had been a bit more hush-hush or a bit more easily brushed off 10 years ago," Duncan continued. "I think there are some really good — we'll say crowbars — cracking some light into the the [underrepresented] industry spaces, but we are we're in the red so significantly with representation that we just need an influx of help to make it more equitable and to make it a safe space for underrepresented people of all those categories."
The Hindu
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
17 Maoist cadres, militia members from Chhattisgarh's strife- torn south Bastar region surrender before police in Telangana
As many as 17 Maoist cadres and militia members from the Dandakaranya forest region in neighbouring Chhattisgarh have returned to the mainstream by turning themselves in before the police in Kothagudem town on Friday, police said. Among them are two Area Committee Members (ACMs), four party members, and 11 militia members, all hailing from the restive south Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. According to police, 282 Maoists of various cadres mostly from the Maoist-affected Bijapur and Sukma districts of Chhattisgarh have surrendered before the Bhadradri Kothagudem district police so far this year. One of the main factors that prompted them to abjure the path of violence and return to the mainstream is the prompt implementation of welfare measures under the 'Operation Cheyutha' programme of the district police for rehabilitation of the surrendered Maoists, police said. Addressing the media in Kothagudem, Superintendent of Police B. Rohit Raju said, 'At present CPI (Maoist) cadres are moving in the forested stretch along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border.' 'Those residing in these border villages should desist from extending any cooperation to Maoists. They should alert the police if they notice any movement of the cadres of the outlawed organisation,' the SP added.
