PM candidate Johnson will demand EU talks free trade - campaign chairman

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::

Boris Johnson will make an offer to the European Union over post-Brexit free trade but if it rejects that gambit then Britain will leave the bloc without a deal on Oct. 31, the man in charge of his campaign to be prime minister said on Tuesday.

“With Boris, what he’s actually said clearly is: ‘We’re not going to go back and renegotiate’,” Johnson’s campaign chairman, Iain Duncan Smith, told Sky News.

“What we’re going to do is we will put a different offer down and say to them: ‘Look - we want to get to free trade. Now we can either start talking about that now if you are serious and you want to have a process that means we don’t end up ... with tariffs etcetera after the 31st - if that’s what you want, the EU, then we are prepared to talk,” Duncan Smith said.

“But if all you are interested in doing is saying: ‘All you can have is this deal’, then the answer is: we will be prepared to leave on the 31st.”

South Norwood Country Park assaults: Man held after six women attacked

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::

A man has been arrested after six women were attacked over two months in a south London park.

The victims were attacked during the daytime in South Norwood Country Park, Croydon, between 3 May and 21 June.

Four of the women, aged from their early 30s to mid 60s, were sexually assaulted.

A man, whose age has not been released, remains in custody having been held on suspicion of sexual assault and robbery, police said.

About 80 people took part in a protest calling for more safety measures following the attacks.

Labour's Corbyn calls for investigation over report he is 'too frail' to be UK PM

Political reorter(wp/reuters):::

British opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called on the head of the civil service to investigate a Times newspaper report which cited unidentified senior officials as saying they were concerned he was too frail to be prime minister.

“This matter has inevitably undermined confidence in the principle of civil service neutrality, which is integral to the healthy functioning of our democracy,” Corbyn wrote to Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill.

“I would urge you to ensure that there is a speedy and thorough independent investigation, rather than one carried out by the Cabinet Office,” Corbyn wrote.

The Times reported last month that senior civil servants have become increasingly concerned about Corbyn’s health and warned that he might be forced to stand down as Labour leader because he was not up to the job “physically or mentally”.

“The idea that civil servants should be briefing newspapers against an elected politician, against a prospective government is something that should be very concerning to a lot of people,” Corbyn said on July 1 of the story.

Corbyn, 70, has said he is “a very fit, a very healthy and very active person.”

barrier crash on A34 at East Ilsley

Staff reporter(wp/bbc):::

A biker died when he hit the central reservation of a dual carriageway, was thrown on to the opposite side of the road and then hit by two cars.

The A34 was shut for hours at East Ilsley, Berkshire, after the biker, riding a three-wheel motorcycle, hit the barrier while going southbound.

Police said the 46-year-old man from Coventry was riding a black Piaggio MP3 Sport Touring motorcycle when "for reasons unknown" he lost control.

He died at the scene.

The A34 was closed at 14:48 BST and fully reopened at 20:05 BST.

Merseyside Police in £4.5m drive to stop gun and knife crime

Pic-Operation Target has been given the Home Office grant from its £100m Serious Violence Fund/wp

Exclusive crime report(wp/bbc):::

Some £4.5m will be poured into a new initiative to crack down on shootings, stabbings and other serious crime in Merseyside.

Merseyside Police has been given the Home Office grant from its £100m Serious Violence Fund.

It will be used to improve intelligence, pinpoint crime hotspots and issue frontline officers with metal detecting gloves.

Gun and knife crime rose by more than a third in Merseyside in 2018.

According to the government figures, knife crime in England and Wales rose to record levels last year.

Ch Supt Matt Boyle said Operation Target would put officers in places "that need them most".

The operation will also focus on serious assaults, armed robberies and wider issues such as violence in clubs and so-called county lines drugs dealing.

More officers will be on the streets with handheld metal detectors, and using stop-and-search tactics and roadside checks.

There will also be extra staff to look at crime hotspots, repeat offenders and patterns of offences.

Ch Supt Boyle said: "We know issues such as knife and gun crime really impact on our communities and we are committed to tackling these issues head on and really making a difference."

Merseyside's Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Kennedy said the money will be concentrated on preventing crime, "particularly that which has the capacity to cause most harm".

She said: "It will also enable the force to invest more in the really important proactive and prevention work used to put the criminals on the back foot that has suffered from years of budget cuts."

In May, the force launched the Violence Reduction Partnership, made up of specialists in police, health and local government, to help tackle the root causes of violent crime.

Earlier this month it revealed details of the Violence Reduction Unit dedicated to stopping young people becoming involved in violent crime.

Plymouth mum calls for more school autism training

Pushpita,sr,kidz reporter(wp/bbc):::

The mum of an autistic 11-year-old has called for better teacher training, saying her son was regularly singled out for displaying symptoms in class.

Robbie, from Plymouth in Devon, has made a YouTube animation in which he describes being bullied by pupils.

He also said teachers had disciplined him for uncontrollable fidgeting, a symptom of his autism.

Child Autism UK said there was "a lack of understanding and knowledge amongst some teachers in some schools".

Robbie has been taught in a building away from other students and is due to move to a new school next term because of the way he has been treated.

'Social norm'

His mother Jenny said: "It's not just Robbie - it seems this is happening in lots of schools with autistic kids. He wants to raise awareness of the fact this is happening.

"There is not enough training for teachers, and there seems to be a social norm to pick on autistic kids.

"On the whole we have been let down by the school.

"One teacher has been banned from teaching him because he would single him out in the middle of the class. It says in his notes that if he is fidgeting they are not supposed to highlight it as it makes it worse."

The school said it was supportive of Robbie's "worthy and very necessary campaign to raise the awareness of autism to a wide audience".

The statement continued: "All schools are committed to their well-publicised inclusive values, however, few schools can argue that in reality this inclusive philosophy permeates to every student and every parent. Education is certainly the key."

It said the school intended to show Robbie's film to staff and students to "generate much positive discussion" and "to deepen our holistic understanding of autism".

'Can achieve academically'

Mandy Williams, CEO of Child Autism UK, said: "Teachers sometimes view the behaviour of children with autism against the standards set for their typically-developing peers."

She said "children with autism can achieve academically" and teachers did not always recognise the condition.

Mary Bousted, from the National Education Union, said: "It can be easy to miss that children's behaviour is linked to autism."

She said teachers had told the union they needed more background information about students.

She suggested a more "flexible curriculum" and more support for pupils with special educational needs was needed.

Pregnant woman killed in Croydon named

Pic:::Kelly Mary Fauvrelle was stabbed to death in south London in the early hours of Saturday/bbc/wp

Crime reporter,London(wp/bbc):::

A heavily pregnant woman who was stabbed to death has been named as Kelly Mary Fauvrelle.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murdering the 26-year-old, who was pronounced dead at a house in Croydon, south London, early on Saturday.

Her baby was delivered at the scene by paramedics and is in hospital in a critical condition.

Police said a 29-year-old was in custody and a 37-year-old had been released under investigation.

Both men were arrested on Saturday. Scotland Yard said it was keeping an "open mind as to motive".

Det Ch Insp Mick Norman described it as "a horrific incident" and said the force's "sympathies go out to [the woman's] devastated family".

"At the forefront of our inquiries is understanding what exactly has led to these tragic circumstances, and we are doing everything we can to establish the facts."

"At the forefront of our inquiries is understanding what exactly has led to these tragic circumstances, and we are doing everything we can to establish the facts."

One neighbour paid tribute to the victim, describing her as a "nice girl", while another said she believed three women lived at the house, along with a small dog.

One resident, who lives two doors down, said she heard the animal barking when she got up at about 03.30 for prayers and added she was "shocked and surprised" to hear about the attack.

Forensics teams remain at the house, where officers could be seen swabbing an alleyway running alongside the property, while police officers are on guard at the front.

A post-mortem examination is due to be held.

On Twitter, London mayor Sadiq Khan said: "Violence against women is endemic in society and devastating murders in the home, like this one, show the scale of the problem we face.

"My prayers are with this innocent child, and with the mother it has so tragically lost."