Huge crowds in London protest against Brexit and Donald Trump 'anti-migrant hysteria'

Pic:Large crowds gathered in London
Staff reporter(wp/es):

Huge crowds of protesters gathered to march through the streets of London on Saturday in a demonstration against racism.

Protesters carrying brightly coloured placards gathered outside the BBC offices in Portland Place, near Oxford Street, shortly after noon on Saturday.

Organisers Stand Up to Racism said the march was to combat "anti-migrant hysteria" following the Brexit vote.

Many of those taking part also clutched placards slamming Donald Trump for his immigration ban, while others featured the "Black Lives Matter" slogan.

Crowds gathered at Portland Place before heading off into Westminster holding aloft banners and chanting.

They headed towards Parliament Square, where guest speakers including former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mozzam Begg and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti wee set to address the crowd.

The event  saw protesters of all ages take to the streets, with children scrawling "Stand up to racism" on the pavements in coloured chalk.

Ether Onatskaia, 17, a Cambridge sixth form student who is originally from New York, said: "I think racism is a problem in the US and UK and we need to speak out against it.

"I feel like, because I'm white, I'm not so affected by it, so I need to make a stand."

Gerry Ford, 61, from Islington, who carried a placard through Piccadilly Circus, said she believed the decision to break from the European Union had been driven by racism.

She said: "This is a racist issue. People don't realise it, but it is."

Ms Ford said she believed Britain should start amending its approach to migrants by agreeing to take on more child refugees from Syria.

She added: "First of all, I'd like to let the refugee children through - more children from Syria - and we want to oppose Donald Trump.

"He's just disgusting."

As the crowds began the march down Regent Street, small groups led the chant "Say it loud and say it clear, refugees are welcome here", while drumming groups beat out a rhythm behind them.

The march comes after a series of demonstrations against hatred of migrants and the presidency of Donald Trump in February.

Saturday's march was echoed elsewhere, with rallies also taking palce in Cardiff and Glasgow, co-inciding with UN Anti-Racism Day.

Murder detectives investigate as one-year-old boy dies and girl fights for life after being injured at flat

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A one-year-old boy has died and a girl also aged one is fighting for life in hospital after they were found injured at a flat in Finsbury Park.

Murder detectives are investigating after the two children were found by police with critical injuries at a flat in Wilberforce Road.

Scotland Yard said officers and paramedics were alerted to the incident at 11.10pm on Saturday.

Neighbours said a woman was heard frantically shouting for help.

Medics rushed the injured children, believed to be twins, to a hospital in east London.

The boy was pronounced dead shortly before 1am in hospital, while the girl remains there in a critical condition.

A major police search is under way for a potential suspect.

On Sunday morning, a police car was parked outside a white three-storey building where the children are believed to have been injured.

A police car was parked outside the white three-storey building where the children are believed to have been injured.

Police officers were visiting and searching properties along the tree-lined street.

A woman living opposite the building, who gave her name as Gui Gui, said she heard a woman shouting late last night and opened the window to offer help.

"I was watching TV," she said. "I heard someone was shouting. She kept on shouting. I do not know what she was shouting.

"I opened the window and I asked her 'Can I help you, can I call the police for you?' She said, 'My kids'."

The neighbour said she later saw two young children being carried out of the building, with one being held very close to a member of the emergency services.

Mihai Menea, 29, who lives on the second floor of the building, said the children were twins.

They lived on the top floor with their Romanian mother and Indian father, he said.

The father worked at the nearby Pembury Hotel as a receptionist, where Mr Menea also works, until a few days ago, he said.

Mr Menea described the mood inside the property as "tense".

"It's really tense," he said. "There's police coming and going all the time."

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Comman are investigating. 

Police have not yet released details of how the children may have sustained their injuries. 

A Met Police spokesman said: “Next of kin are aware. Formal identification awaits and a post-mortem examination will be scheduled in due course.”

He added that enquiries were underway to “establish the full circumstances of the incident” and said that no arrests have been made.

A National Police Air Service helicopter was assisting Hackney officers with a search of the Finsbury Park area in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A spokesman said they were "assisting officers from Hackney after two children were found seriously injured at an address in Wilberforce Road."

Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed due to £50m funding gap

Staff reporter(wp/es):

The proposed Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed or drastically delayed due to a £50 million shortfall.

In a letter to London Assembly Tories, Transport for London said the project “cannot be delivered” with the current funding package of £284.4 million.

Robert Niven, TfL’s head of line extensions, wrote that “more than £50 million will be required on top of our [TfL’s contribution of] £49 million”.

The project had a completion date of 2020. It would take Tube trains  to Watford Junction and Watford High Street via Cassiobridge and Vicarage Road.

The existing Watford station would shut. Tories accused Mayor Sadiq Khan of putting the TfL budget in “turmoil”.

His spokesman said: “This project is outside London and... responsibility for delivering it ultimately lies with government.”

Police hunt man who left victim hospitalised in brutal road rage attack in south London

Pic:A serial killer
Crime reporter(wp/es):

Police are hunting for witnesses to a brutal road rage attack in Streatham that left a man in a serious condition in hospital.

The victim, aged 62, was discovered suffering from serious head injuries just after 5.15pm on Friday on Gleneldon Road.

Witnesses who saw the incident described how the man was punched after a "right-of-way dispute" and saw someone fleeing from the scene.

In a fresh appeal for information, police have described how the victim and another motorist exchanged words after both trying to drive through the narrow road and becoming stuck.

During the altercation the suspect reached out of their own car and through the victim’s window, before punching him in the face.

Both men then got out of their vehicles and the suspect punched the victim in the face again with such force that he fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete.

The suspect then got back into his car and drove off down .

Shafaq Hassan, a speech and language therapist who lives nearby, said: “We heard people outside our house and went to investigate. 

“Passersby and neighbours had stopped. There was a man sitting on the road surrounded by a few people. I asked what had happened and was told he had been punched. 

“As I'm an SLT I automatically sat down next to him to try and comfort him. He looked in shock and disorientated. 

“He had a head injury on back of his head as apparently he hit the pavement and possibly passed out for few minutes."

She added: "I stayed with him as police and medics came. They asked questions to check if he remembered date and year. 

Eventually they put him on a stretcher and took into the ambulance.

“Other neighbours reported seeing him have a dispute with the other driver about who should give way at the junction."

The victim was rushed to hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

Detective Constable Caroline O’Shaughnessy, from Brixton CID, said: “This was a nasty assault, prompted by what appears to be road rage, carried out in broad daylight at a time when there would have been plenty of people making their way home.

"The victim suffered a serious head injury as a result of being punched to the ground following a verbal altercation, and this assault could easily have had more grave consequences. 

“If you saw what happened or you have information that could assist us, we would urge you to get in touch.”

The suspect is described as a black man, aged between 20 and 25 years old and around 5ft 8ins tall with afro hair. He was wearing a jumper and black trousers and was driving a dark green-coloured car.

Storm Stella that battered US set to hit the capital

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Storm Stella which wreaked havoc across the US is set to batter London with wet weather and gales.

The monster storm sparked a state of emergency in New York on Monday and is set to descend on the capital by Friday, experts warned.

The Met Office has now warned that the weather front responsible for the blizzard conditions and 50-mile-per-hour gusts is set to hammer the UK.

Meteorologist Alex Burkill told the Standard that the storm’s impact would be “massively reduced” as it crossed the Atlantic but would bring wet weather across the weekend.

He said: “As the weather front responsible for Storm Stella hits on Friday it will bring wet and changeable weather to London and the south-east.

“The light spring weather we have been seeing will become more changeable over the weekend and in to next week.”

Described as “life-threatening” by American forecasters, Stella caused massive power outages, cancelled flights and brought travel chaos to the US.

Dozens of flights between London and New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Passengers were advised to check with their airlines before travelling.

All New York schools were closed and above ground sections of the subway ground to a halt. More than 6,500 flights in the area were cancelled.

Forecasters were predicting two to three feet of flooding in some coastal areas at high tide. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums were also closed.

States of emergency were also declared from midnight in New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland. 

In Connecticut, residents were subject to a statewide travel ban.

The blizzard consisted of two larger storm systems which have merged into one, according to the US National Weather Service. 

It comes at the end of an unusually mild winter along much of America’s East Coast, with below normal snowfalls in some areas, including New York and Washington.

Parents looking for answers over chess champion’s death aged nine

Pic:Michael Uriely died after suffering an asthma attack
Staff reporter(wp/es):

The family of a nine-year-old boy today spoke of their hope that an inquest would provide answers about his death following an asthma attack.

Michael Uriely, a “miracle child” born after his parents Roy and Ayelet endured a long IVF battle, died on August 25, 2015, five days after being discharged from Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital.

The day before his death he had been competing in a national chess championship, which had to be curtailed due to his severe coughing fits.

His parents, from Camden, had rushed him to the Royal Free after he suffered violent coughing and vomiting fits on August 18, but he was discharged soon after. 

They returned with him early the next morning after a bout of severe coughing and vomiting at home.

The Westminster Under School pupil was discharged the next day.

Mrs Uriely, 52, said: “Michael was an extraordinary boy, both in personality and intelligence who came to us after four gruelling years of fertility treatment.

"He doted on his younger twin sisters, who adored him, and always joined in with their games.

"Now we would just like answers as to why he died, and what, if anything, could have been done to prevent it.”

Michael was diagnosed with asthma when he was two and a half. He began learning how to play chess six months later, competing at local, regional and then national level, winning the title of National Chess Champion for his age group at eight and nine years of age.

An inquest is to be held at Westminster coroner’s court from Wednesday.

Leena Savjani, a medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “We hope the inquest will shed some light on the standard of care he received in the months before his death.”

huge two-storey basement at Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s residence Kensington Palace

Pic:The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will relocate to the palace later this year
Royal correspondent(wp/es):

Plans have been submitted for a huge two-storey basement at Kensington Palace ready for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s relocation to the residence later this year.

A planning application for the underground extension has been submitted to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the Daily Mail revealed.

The huge addition to the building in Kensington Gardens would be dug next to the Orangery to make room for Kate and William and their two children Prince George and Princess Charlotte when they move in this Autumn, according to the newspaper.

The 1,500sq m addition to the 18th Century building would incorporate two floors below ground and one above which would house offices for 100 members of staff working at the Palace.

The planning application reads: “The addition of a basement storey is required to allow for the accommodation of administration which must necessarily be moved out of rooms leased from the Royal Household in Kensington Palace.” 

The application has been put forward by Historic Royal Palaces, the charity which looks after the state apartments at the palace.

Two-storey extensions are technically restricted by the council but it is a believed an exception could be made for the Royal Family.

A decision is expected to be made by council officials next month.