London police make seventh arrest in terrorism probe - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Police investigating a potential terrorist attack said they had arrested a seventh person, a 22-year-old woman, in east London on Saturday.
Police are on high alert ahead of the London Olympics but said the latest arrest and those of a woman and five men in London earlier this week were not linked to the Games.
All seven suspects have been held on "suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", police said.
Britain has spent millions of pounds beefing up security in preparation for the Olympics.
Security chiefs have said repeatedly that they have no information that the Olympics are being targeted, but Jonathan Evans, head of the domestic intelligence agency MI5, has said the Games present an attractive target.
In a separate operation this week police arrested seven men on suspicion of terrorism after weapons were found in a vehicle stopped on a motorway in Yorkshire, northern England.
A police source said that in that case too, there was nothing to suggest any link with the Olympics, which start on July 27.
In both cases security sources have said the suspects were linked to militant Islamism, but that it remained unclear what was planned. The London suspects were arrested when their plotting was at an early stage, the sources added.
In a sign of heightened vigilance ahead of the Games, armed police closed the M6 motorway near Birmingham, in the Midlands, for four hours on Thursday after a man was reported acting suspiciously on a coach heading to London.
It later emerged the alert was caused by a passenger using an electronic cigarette.
Security authorities have assessed the national threat level at "substantial" - meaning that an attack is a strong possibility - but that is one level lower than it has been for most of the time since the July 7, 2005 suicide bomb attacks in London which killed 52 people.
(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Tim Pearce)
London Bloc festival cancelled as opening night turns to 'a riot' - Sound-Check Music
Photo: WENN.com
East London's Bloc Festival has been cancelled after the opening night, Friday 6 July 2012, descended into chaos - with attendees speaking of dangerous conditions as the event was shut down.
Organisers of the event have now confirmed that Bloc.2012 will not re-open today as scheduled in a post on their website, but promised ticket holders will receive refunds.
"By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns," says an official statement. "We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount. Given the situation on the ground, we feel that it was the right decision to end the show early.
"Bloc will not open on Saturday 7th July so please don’t come to the site. Stand by for full information on refunds."
The event was taking place at London's Pleasure Gardens, a 60,000 square-meter venue in East London. Snoop Dogg and Orbital were due to headline the event.
Attendees took to Twitter to speak of their disgust at the arrangements of the event in the early hours of Saturday morning.
"Bloc is um a disaster right now. We're in the middle of a car crash," tweeted on angry attendee.
Another spoke of dangerous conditions at the event, tweeting: "Scary, and very nearly led to injuries; all we were told was 'move back' – where to exactly?"
A writer for Gigwise was attending the event - likening it to a riot. He states over 1,000 people were left outside the venue, with no one able to get in to see any of the bands - suggesting too many people hard turned up to this year's event.
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London's Bloc festival shut down over crowd safety fears - NME
July 7, 2012 12:13
The festival site was evacuated in the early hours of this morning and today's events will not go ahead
Photo: PA Photos
Bloc 2012 was shut down in the early hours of this morning (July 7) over fears for crowd safety - before a headline set from Snoop Dogg could take place.
The electronic music festival, which had been taking place at the London Pleasure Gardens, will not go ahead today (July 7). A statement on the Bloc website reads: "By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns. We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount. Given the situation on the ground, we feel that it was the right decision to end the show early. Bloc will not open on Saturday 7th July so please don't come to the site. Stand by for full information on refunds."
In an earlier statement, London Pleasure Gardens confirmed that they acted on the advice of the Metropolitan Police and began a "controlled shut down" of the site at 00.45am this morning (July 7). Explaining their decision to evacuate the festival, organisers said: "Our number one concern is always public safety, and sometimes tough decisions need to be made by on-site security, but we always act as we believe is necessary at the time to best protect visitors."
He reported that, upon his arrival at the East London festival around 8pm, "There were plainly too many people and not enough security", which led to queues of up to two hours just to enter the site.
Inside the London Pleasure Gardens, scenes were even more chaotic. By around 9pm, every venue on the 60,000 square-metre site was surrounded by a huge queue. Two hours later, Pattison described the situation outside the Resident Advisor stage as "like a stampede". Around this time, the festival's main stage was shut down and word spread that a headline set from Snoop Dogg had been cancelled - although there was no official announcement from Bloc's organisers.
The other stages began closing down shortly afterwards, but in spite of the disappointment, Pattison reported that the crowd's reaction was "amazingly good-natured, considering". He witnessed a few angry exchanges with staff, but on the whole people were "pretty positive" and began to vacate the site as requested.
Today's second and final day of Bloc 2012 was due to include performances from Battles, Gary Numan, Ellen Allien and a headline set from Orbital. The annual festival, devoted to electronic music of all genres, began in 2007, but this is the first year that it has taken place in London.
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M4 motorway London to Heathrow section closed - BBC News
The normally congested motorway is now empty
The main motorway link from London to Heathrow Airport has been closed to all traffic after a crack was found in a "sensitive area" of the road structure.
The M4 is shut between junctions one and three and is not expected to reopen until Thursday morning.
Large vehicles were already banned from the elevated section, known as the Boston Manor Viaduct.
The Highways Agency said it expects all work to be finished before the start of the Olympic Games later this month.
The full closure of the motorway in both directions between Chiswick and Feltham began at 20:00 BST on Friday.
Vital routeRestrictions on vehicles weighing more than 7.5 tonnes had been in place since March when hairline cracks were discovered in some of the steel beams.
“Start Quote
End Quote Jon Caldwell Highways AgencyWe need to do it now so that it's all completed ready for when the Olympic traffic starts”
The agency said on Friday workers "found a further crack in a sensitive location which requires us to keep the viaduct closed until the repair is complete".
Jon Caldwell from the Highways Agency warned there would be delays.
Diversions have been put in place along the A312 and the A4, and the A40 is expected to be congested as well.
"The repair works that we need to do, to bolt the plates to the decking, needs to be done with no traffic on it," Mr Caldwell told the BBC.
"We need to do it now so that it's all completed ready for when the Olympic traffic starts to use the road in a few weeks' time."
The M4 is the main route between Heathrow Airport and central London and will be vital for transporting visitors into the city for the Games.
It is also the major road link from London to the West Country and Wales, as well as being a heavily-used commuter route.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said it was vital the repairs were completed "as speedily as possible."
Just before Christmas, the Hammersmith Flyover - part of the same route in and out of the capital - was closed for five months after defects were found with its structure.
Click here for the latest London travel information.
Meet the businessman who hands out £1,000 to complete strangers - Daily Telegraph
"I booked myself a flight into space, I thought I’d fulfil that childhood dream. Then I told my friends and when the conversation changed, as it inevitably does, to what they would do if they had that amount of money I felt embarrassed.
"Their ideas were much more generous, interesting and responsible than mine."
After cancelling his space flight and struggling to choose a worthy cause for his cash, he decided to set up the WeAreLucky project.
"I didn’t want to just pass on my luck, I also wanted to share the responsibility. I decided to give away £1,000 every day. All I'd ask is that they'd do something positive with the cash. I’d take their picture and ask them to fill a brief questionnaire with their hopes and intentions for the money."
But is handing over the responsibility to others, really the responsible thing to do? How does he know the money will be put to good use? "I don’t," he shrugged. "I leave it to them. I’m not going to judge or start checking up on them. Sometimes you have to just believe in people," he said with almost child-like enthusiasm.
Once Mr Lucky had reached a certain level of wealth the extra income began to mean less to him and he began to wonder what more he could get for his pound: "Some people ask me why I just don’t give directly to a charity. Sometimes I might give the money to someone who then donates it to a cause I would have supported anyway.
"That may seem pointless. But I get a kick from bringing another person into the loop. I get a warm feeling when I give it to them and then they get a warm feeling when they give it to the charity." These unquantifiable ‘warm feelings’ are the non- monetary value added. The extra bang on the buck that he’s seeking.
The first lucky person seemed to fall out of the sky. We were standing on Charing Cross Road in central London when we witnessed a young lady running after a man to return his iPhone. Having unknowingly dropped it, the man was grateful and thanked her profusely. Mr Lucky smiled, this was an obvious one.
Noelia, we later discovered, is from Spain and is in London doing an internship. She shrieked as she peeked into the envelope filled with £50 notes and scanned the horizon as though expecting a hidden camera team to step out. Her first words in hesitant English were: "You believe in me? Thank you so much for believing in me."
But would that act of belief in her to do good inspire something? Does making that leap of faith in others galvanise something unexpected? She was not immediately sure how she would spend the money, she wanted to think about it. But as we left her making animated calls to her family in Spain Mr Lucky told me he felt confident.
The second lucky person of the day was a voiceover agent, Hannah, who having seen a clue on Twitter donned her running shoes and appeared wide-eyed and short of breath in a pub in Soho, where we were waiting.
Over a celebratory gin and tonic she told us that half would go a colleague she wanted to help out and the rest to a hospice in Watford, Hertfordshire. "I’ve never even been to Watford itself. But I promised I’d do a sponsored walk with a friend for the cause and because everyone is struggling right now I have failed to raise much money."
"Is it the Peace hospice?" Mr Lucky asked. It transpired that this is the very hospice that looked after Mr Lucky’s father before he died. We sat pondering the chances.
Once the adrenaline of that giveaway faded, I could see Mr Lucky become anxious for the next encounter. And I understood why. The immediacy of the reaction was intoxicating. "I love the direct impact," he explained shifting in his seat. "Nothing gets lost on administration and bureaucracy. Sometimes the money is enough to solve a particular problem for someone, to make it just disappear. Some causes feel like they need endless sums, bottomless pits of money."
Is that what brings increased satisfaction? Is it better to make a big impact on a small problem than a small impact on a big one? He told me the story of Marina, who he picked out in a pub. She gave her money to her 79-year-old neighbour who had been living without hot water for six years, fixing her plight instantly.
Like Marina, all ten participants that day, seemed to feel the weight of responsibility.
I met a previous participant who despite having had the money in his account for two months had not spent it. "I am focused on making the right choice. I will wait till I come across it," Ricardo told me.
We walked the streets and ended up in Vauxhall, south London, seeking out something unusual in the crowds. Mr Lucky decided to leave an invite in the appropriately named ‘Lucky Fish Bar.’ He explained the concept vaguely to the owner, Linda, and asked if she would hold an invite whilst he posted a clue on his Twitter feed. Her excitement at the prospect was so endearing that Mr Lucky could not resist. "This one is for you, Lucky Linda," he said handing her an envelope.
Her eyes widened and welled up: "I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it" she said. "I’ve always been told to work hard, to work every day, but I’ve never had this," she said clutching the envelope. She told us that her husband is recovering from a serious illness and she wanted to spend the money on health-related products for his recovery.
In an age of both greed and austerity, witnessing such spontaneous giving is rare. I see the joy on Mr Lucky’s face as he gave the envelope and on ‘Lucky’ Linda’s as she received it.
I was happy to just soak up the atmosphere and reflect on the project. Is it effective and what does it inspire? Ultimately it forced me to pause and shift my focus away from the question of what we need to make us happy to the less examined question, what can we give to make us happy?
When I recounted the day to a friend, I could see her wondering if she had come close to Mr Lucky. "I don’t think I would even turn around if someone tapped me on the shoulder. I always just assume they want something’ she said. I told her: "There is still time though. You could still get lucky. He’s still out there. This is something worth turning around for."
We-are-lucky.com; or follow @wearelucky1 on Twitter
London gay pride: Scaled back event begins - BBC News
A pared down version of London's gay World Pride event is taking place.
Organisers said 5,000 people had signed up to participate in the procession in central London.
There will be a party in Trafalgar Square with 25 performances including a set from Boy George and R&B singer Deborah Cox.
Due to a funding shortage, the event will not include floats or a party in Soho. It is the 41st year there has been a gay pride march in London.
'Criminalised'The procession started from Baker Street and follows the traditional route via Oxford Street and Regent Street to Whitehall.
Later there will be performances in Trafalgar Square.
Pride London spokesman Uwern Jong said the procession was for the global advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
He said: "Forty-four members of the Commonwealth still criminalise homosexuality."
Last week, Pride London, said it had been hard to secure money because of the economic climate.
Board resignationOn Wednesday, Tony Hughes, a long-standing board member, was announced as the organisation's new chairman, following the resignation of Patrick Williams.
A statement from Pride London said: "Dr Williams resigned from his position following criticism of the board's handling of World Pride 2012.
"The rest of the board remains unchanged and committed to delivering an event London can be proud of."
The hashtag #BorisSavePride had been created on Twitter to campaign for the mayor of London's support.
The mayor's office has provided funding of £100,000 for the event.
A spokesman said Boris Johnson will not be attending the event this year because of other commitments.
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