the body of james le mesurier was found on monday morning in istanbul.ation into his death as our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. it was on the street outside the building where he was staying thatjames le mesurier‘s body was found early this morning. there's been no official statement from police, but security officials have been quoted as saying they believe he fell from a balcony. james le mesurier, who was in his 40s, set up the mayday rescue charity, which helped train syria's volunteer rescuers, known as the white helmets. these are the white helmets in action. they operate in rebel—held areas of the country, saving survivors of the indiscriminate air strikes by the syrian military and its backer, russia. speaking to the bbc five years ago, he paid tribute to their courage. it has been a source of immense pride for everybody who has been involved in the training and support to these heroes. they provide an incredible amount of inspiration in an environment that is otherwise so devoid of positives. seen here just yesterday, the whi

the body of james le mesurier who received an 0be in 2016 for his work in syria was found this morninghis death as our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley reports. it was on the street outside the building where he was staying thatjames le mesurier‘s body was found early this morning. there's been no official statement from police, but security officials have been quoted as saying they believe he fell from a balcony. james le mesurier, who was in his 40s, set up the mayday rescue charity, which helped train syria's volunteer rescuers, known as the white helmets. these are the white helmets in action. they operate in rebel—held areas of the country, saving survivors of the indiscriminate air strikes by the syrian military and its backer, russia. speaking to the bbc five years ago, he paid tribute to their courage. it has been a source of immense pride for everybody who has been involved in the training and support to these heroes. they provide an incredible amount of inspiration in an environment that is otherwise so devoid of positives. seen here just yesterday, the white helmets

for the work they do, the white helmets and james le mesurier have earned the hatred of both the kremlinign ministry accused him of being an mi6 agent, and of having links with terrorists. the russian charges against him that came out of the foreign ministry, that he was a spy — categorically untrue. he was a british soldier. he'd been to sandhurst. but above all, he wasn't a serving soldier when he founded mayday and the white helmets. he was a real humanitarian, and the world, and syria in particular, is poorerfor his loss. whatever the exact circumstances of his death in istanbul, friends and colleagues say he'll be remembered for helping save countless syrian lives. caroline hawley, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: feeling stressed? meet lilou — the world's first airport therapy pig. she's hogging the limelight at san francisco airport. the bombastic establishment outsider, donald trump, has defied the pollsters to take the keys to the oval office. i feel great about the election result. i voted for him because i genuinely believe that he cares about the country. it

for the work they do, the white helmets and james le mesurier have earned the hatred of both the kremlinf being an m16 agent and of having links with terrorists. the russian charges against him, that came out of the foreign ministry, that he was a spy — categorically untrue. he was a british soldier, he'd been to sandhurst, but above all he wasn't a serving soldier when he founded mayday and the white helmets, he was a real humanitarian, and the world and syria in particular is poorer for his loss. whatever the exact circumstances of his death in istanbul, friends and colleagues say he'll be remembered for helping save countless syrian lives. caroline hawley, bbc news. for the sixth year in succession, more than a thousand people have died attempting to cross the mediterranean sea, according to the un refugee agency. the crossing remains one of the the most dangerous migration routes anywhere in the world. people are four times more likely to die than last year, according to the international organisation for migration, because there are fewer humanitarian rescue vessels at sea. most lea

james le mesurier set up the mayday rescue emergency response group, which helped train white helmetsving the lives of thousands of people in rebel—held areas during years of bombing by the syrian government and russian forces. hamish de bretton—gordon is former army officer who worked alongside james le mesurier in syria, hejoins me now via webcam. thank you for being with us. tell us a bit about him and the white helmets that he worked so hard for and what they've been doing in syria. well, an absolute tragedy today. james was an absolute mountain when it came to humanitarian support in syria. in 2014, he set up the white helmets which in effect where the national health service, ambulance service and fire service, to help people in the devastated areas where all infrastructure had been destroyed. there are many thousands of people alive today that wouldn't be had he not set up the white helmets. we work very closely with them and they have brought many casualties to our hospitals, they are still operating ina hospitals, they are still operating in a small area left under rebel cont

we really need to get to the bottom of the mystery of james le mesurier, who was found dead at the bottoml. moscow accused him of being a former mi6 agent but the man who was a backer of the syrian white helmets, he was doing such good stuff under pressure. clearly questions are being asked about what seems to be, a tragic death. i mean, it's obviously interesting story and more is going to come to light about the circumstances because at the moment, the turkish security officials are saying it has been treated as a suspected suicide. what all sources say it is too soon to know what is happening. more will come out. ok, the staff. i had to pause when i saw this headline. bring back grange hill to save britain. there is a serious point to this. the creator of grange hill wants the series to come back because he feels the series could educate youngsters on the dangers of knife crime and social media bullying and in its heyday, it was tackling the big issues so he thinks his series could have a new lease on life. who has seen grange hill? i haven't. i know of it. my mum has talked about it.

the white helmets were founded by james le mesurier and others in 2014.is their work, they do it ona survivors. that is their work, they do it on a pretty daily basis. they also post videos of the work they are doing and those behind the aerial bombardment, the russians and regime forces, do not like that. a british army officer at one stage, what do we know about him personally? he is in his 40s, we know from his friends and colleagues that she had a big heart, he was very motivated ona a big heart, he was very motivated on a humanitarian level. 0ne a big heart, he was very motivated on a humanitarian level. one of his friends said he thought the structure of the white helmets which he helped found and also helped fund, train and equip, the structure of the group was strong and it would carry on. a big hole had been left. 0ne friend said he was one of the few people who left a humanitarian footprint in the country. a big legacy there. lots of shock amongst his friends. shock and sadness and the white helmets have said syrians will a lwa ys helmets have s

the body of james le mesurier was found near his home in istanbul early today.horities are investigating the cause of death. australia's most populous state, new south wales, declared an emergency today amid raging wildfires. at least three people have died. the inferno began friday in the northeast part of the state. it's already destroyed more than 150 homes and burned nearly farmland.are miles of forest and fire officials warned conditions are expected to worsen.>> e continue to have more than 60 fires burning across new south wales, more than half of them remain uncontained.t we can exp see the alert levels increase on a number of these fires up in northern new south wales. the conditions are still extremely dry. the fire behavior is still quite volatile >> woodruff: australia's annual fire seasostarted earlier than normal, after an unusually warm and aridinter. australian environmental activists have linked thy fires' intens climate change, and said the government is not taking strong enough action. spain appears set for more uncertainty, after a second gen

the body of james le mesurier was discovered in the street beneath his apartment balcony in istanbul,ecade, according to official figures. year—on—year growth in the three months to the end of september slowed to 1% from 1.3% in the second quarter, according to the office for national statistics. a us financial regulator has opened an investigation into claims apple's credit card offered different credit limits to men and women. it follows complaints — including from apple's co—founder steve wozniak — that algorithms used to set limits might be inherently biased against women. first it was flint, michigan — now it's newark, newjersey — the latest american city where residents are outraged after elevated levels of lead were found in the drinking water. the mayor has announced a plan with a price tag of $121 million, which will speed up the replacement of all lead service pipes in order to remove the toxic threat. from newark, nada tawfik reports. it's dinner time and alika is making pasta with her kids. but to boil it, only bottled water will do. she lives in newark, newjersey, the lat

now we turn our attention to istanbul in turkey, because james le mesurier, the co—founder of the whiteteers who would then work inside syria. this is archive footage of the white helmets working in areas in syria controlled by opponents of the assad regime. they were nominated for the nobel peace prize for their work treating and evacuating civilians caught up in the conflict particularly in areas hit by bombing. however, the white helmets also became part of the battle for information war in syria. the syrian government and its allies russia and iran have repeatedly accused them of aiding terrorist organisations. last week the the russian foreign ministry tweeted. .. his connections to terrorist groups were reported back during his mission in #kosovo. well the uk permanent representative to the un responded to that accusation today. the russian charges against him that he was a spy are categorically untrue. he was a british soldier. now the cause of james le mesurier‘s death is not known. here's our world affairs correspondent caroline hawley on what we know. we know that he was stayi