Woman charged with murder after pensioner found dead

Crime reporter(wp/es):
A woman has been charged with the murder of a pensioner in Croydon.
Martha Pereira, 77, was found dead at an address in Morland Road at about 3pm on Tuesday, police said.
Shirley D'Silva, 55, of Morland Road, has now been charged with the woman's murder.
She is due to appear in custody at Croydon Magistrates' Court today.

Two children die in house fire in Birmingham

Staff reporter(wp/es):
Two children have died after a house fire, police said.
The boy and girl were discovered at the home in the Hamstead area of Birmingham by emergency services in the early hours of Friday.
They were rushed to hospital from the property in Holland Road, but were later pronounced dead, West Midlands Police said.
Detectives have launched a criminal investigation, with a WMP spokesman saying the cause of their deaths was not yet known.
A woman was also treated at the scene but did not suffer a serious injury, he added.
The fire was discovered in the hallway of the house at around 3.40am, police said.
Detective Inspector Justin Spanner said: “The events of this morning remain unclear and we are still trying to piece together the circumstances leading up to what happened.

“This is a terrible incident and my thoughts are with everyone who has been affected.
“If there was anyone in the area in the early hours of this morning who thinks they may be able to help us with our investigation I would urge them to get in touch with my team.”

Remain voters must 'mobilise' to ensure Britain stays in the EU:Tony Blair

 
Pic: Ex,Prime Minister  Tony Blair
Political reporter(wp/es):
Tony Blair has urged Remain voters to "mobilise" in order to "prise apart the alliance which gave us Brexit" and ensure Britain stays in the EU.
The former prime minister said while the will of the people should be respected, Remain voters are "the insurgents now" and "have to believe in the people's innate sense, that they're also open to a better argument in the light of the facts as they come to light".
Writing in the New European newspaper, Mr Blair said as the "catastrophic" realities of leaving take hold, staying in must remain an option.
He highlighted the sharp fall in the pound as a "negative prediction about our economic future", and the blocking of a Canada-EU free trade deal by the Walloon regional parliament in Belgium as evidence that Brexit may not take the form many Leave voters had imagined.

Brexit-backing politicians are now openly acknowledging that leaving means freeing Britain from its "essential social democratic" model, including a free NHS, he said.
In its place they envisage "free market, free trading, light regulation, low tax, low social protection" like in city states Hong Kong and Singapore - something which not all Leave voters would back.
He wrote: "The issue is not whether we ignore the will of the people, but whether, as information becomes available, and facts take the place of claims, the 'will' of the people shifts.
"Maybe it won't, in which case people like me will have to accept it.
"But surely we are entitled to try to persuade, to make the argument, and not to be whipped into line to support a decision we genuinely believe is a catastrophe for the country we love."

He also warned that anger and anxiety about immigration, globalisation, stagnant incomes, housing and squeezed public services will only get worse outside the EU.
He added: "We have to recognise we're the insurgents now. We have to build the capability to mobilise and to organise.
"We have to prise apart the alliance which gave us Brexit."

British woman dies after falling from hot air balloon in South Africa

Staff reporter(wp/es):
A British mother-of-two was killed in front of her family on holiday in South Africa after being thrown 20ft from a hot air balloon in high winds.
Suzanne Astle, 48, was flung out of the balloon’s basket as it crashed.
Mrs Astle, from Kenilworth, Warwickshire, was with her husband John, 63, a retired airline pilot, and their young sons when the accident happened on Tuesday morning during a family safari holiday to Mooinooi.
She suffered serious head injuries and was taken to hospital, but died the following day.
A four-year-old was also thrown to the ground and is in a critical condition.

A family friend said Mr Astle was not able to speak about the death. Emergency services said the balloon took off in good weather from Skeerpoort but was struck by high winds as it tried to land.
A paramedic said: “The basket tilted when it was about 20ft from the ground because of wind and the lady and a child fell out before it crashed.
Her husband and two sons went with her to hospital but doctors couldn’t save her. It’s an awful tragedy.”
Survivor Olivia Denny, 70, told News 24 they were “holding on for dear life” as 40kph winds hit the balloon.
British expat Bill Harrop, who runs the firm Original Balloon Safaris, said: “We are all devastated and shocked. This has never happened before. There is nothing more we could have done.”

Man rushed to hospital after being stabbed near New Oxford Street

Crime reporter(wp/es):
A man has been rushed to hospital after being stabbed in central London in the early hours of this morning.
The man was knifed in the stomach in High Holborn just before 4am today.
Metropolitan Police officers sealed off the road at the junction with New Oxford Street.
The victim was rushed to a major trauma centre by paramedics from London Ambulance Service.
An LAS spokeswoman said: “We were called at 4:01am today to reports of a stabbing at High Holborn.

“We sent an ambulance crew, a single responder in a car and an incident response officer to the scene. We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance. The first of our medics arrived at the scene in under three minutes.
“We treated a man at the scene for a stomach injury and took him as a priority to a major trauma centre in central London.”
A Met Police spokesman confirmed the man's injuries were not life-threatening.
No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.