Annecy gun victims 'were UK tourists':France shoot

Annecy gun victims 'were UK tourists':France shoot

The bodies of two women and a man were found in a British-registered BMW car. The fourth person killed was a cyclist.


A prosecutor said the identity of the man - described as the father - had been "almost certainly" established.

Two young girls were found alive, one eight hours after the deaths. The other is in a critical condition in hospital.

The fourth person killed was a cyclist, said by officials to be a resident of a neighbouring area.

The area has now been sealed off by some 60 police, who have started a criminal investigation into what they are calling a multiple murder.

One girl was initially reported to have died of her injuries but AFP later said Mr Maillaud, who had announced her death, had issued a correction.

He now says the child, thought to be aged eight, is in a critical condition in intensive care in Grenoble.

The car park where the bodies were found is in a quiet, forested area in the foothills of the Alps.
A large number of spent cartridges are said to have been found on the ground around the BMW.

Prosecutor Eric Maillaud told AFP news agency the two women victims were yet to be definitively identified. He said a four-year-old girl was discovered hidden under the bodies around midnight (22:00 GMT). She is thought to have kept still for up to eight hours.

Mr Maillaud said the family was on holiday camping on the edge of Lake Annecy in the Haute-Savoie region, which is a popular tourist destination known for its swimming and water sports.

Christians take 'beliefs' fight to European Court of Human Rights

Christians take 'beliefs' fight to European Court of Human Rights

They include an airline worker stopped from wearing a cross and a counsellor who refused to deal with gay couples.

All four lost separate employment tribunals relating to their beliefs.

The BBC's Robert Pigott says the result will mark a "watershed moment" in social change to Christian beliefs.

Earlier this year, the four were backed by the UK's equality watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which said judges had interpreted equality laws "too narrowly" in religious claims.

It said this had led employers to place undue restriction on how far Christians could behave in accordance with their beliefs.

In Mrs Chapman's case, the NHS trust said the necklace her cross was on had breached health and safety guidelines. She lost her discrimination case in 2010.

Meanwhile, Miss Eweida, who was suspended by British Airways for breaching its uniform code, also lost her case against discrimination in 2010.

In the same year, Mr McFarlane, a Christian marriage guidance counsellor from Bristol, lost his court bid to challenge his sacking for refusing to give sex therapy to homosexuals.

And, also in 2010, the Supreme Court ruled against Ms Ladele, who was disciplined by Islington Council for refusing to conduct same-sex civil partnerships.

The court refused her bid to challenge an appeal tribunal which overturned a previous decision by an employment tribunal that the council had discriminated against her.

The cases involve British Airways check-in clerk Nadia Eweida, nurse Shirley Chaplin, relationship counsellor Gary McFarlane and registrar Lilian Ladele:


Ms Eweida, a Pentecostal Christian from Twickenham, south-west London, was sent home by her employer British Airways in 2006 after refusing to remove a necklace with a cross
Devon-based nurse Mrs Chaplin was moved to a desk job by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust Hospital for similar reasons
Mr McFarlane, a Bristol counsellor, was sacked by Relate for refusing to give relationship advice to gay people
Ms Ladele was disciplined after she refused to conduct same-sex civil partnership ceremonies in north London

Wildfire near Los Angeles disrupts Labor Day

Wildfire near Los Angeles disrupts Labor Day




Firefighters, air tankers and helicopters replaced hikers and campers in the recreation-rich San Gabriel Canyon on Monday after a wildfire forced authorities to close the area for Labor Day.

Authorities evacuated the canyon Sunday after the fire broke out in Angeles National Forest, an urban recreation area near Los Angeles that is popular with hikers, campers and off-road vehicle enthusiasts.

About 50 residents and 1,000 campers were evacuated, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

"I know we have some neighbors up there that didn't leave. We're really worried about them," evacuee Toni Kova told KABC.

Kova and her husband live in Camp Williams, which was evacuated Sunday.

"We saw the smoke and the fire coming over the hill. The river is literally our front yard and the mountains that the fires were coming over," she said. "We were like, we gotta start packing up."

Officials told KABC the fight was made more difficult by the steep and rugged terrain. The U.S. Forest Service in California said on its Twitter feed it expected a "very active" fire because of low humidity and high temperatures.