London

    Research under way for Thames air quality strategy by Port of London Authority. An operation to clean up the Thames is underway with new research by the Port of London Authority. Its clean air strategy is being worked out where ships berthed along the waterfront will have to switch off their engines and plug into an electrical grid, while vessels on the river will have to reduce their emissions. Our research is to get a detailed picture of emissions on the Thames to develop the first river air quality strategy, PLA chief executive Robin Mortimer explained. We anticipate more trade, passenger journeys, recreation and people on the Thames in the next 20 years. The project is part of a long-term study by Transport for London on river usage rising dramatically by 2037, with th...

    Dramatic pictures of the aftermath of a suspected acid attack on two teenagers show the victims being doused in water by paramedics after a noxious substance was thrown in their faces. According to witnesses, the victims were screaming in agony as their skin peeled off when emergency services arrived at the scene in East London at around 7pm this evening. Photos show firemen use hoses to pour water over the teens' heads on the side of a newsagent in the Bethnal Green area. The victims reportedly raced into the shop crying 'we've got acid on us' before they flagged down police. In one image, medics tip two bottles of water over one of the victim's head in a bid to minimise the damage to the eyes and skin. Police forensic officers were also pictured gathering evidence at the...

    A 17-year-old girl has been charged with terror offences after allegedly communicating with a fighter for the Islamic State terror group in Syria and arranging to receive weapons in order to conduct an attack in the UK. She is also alleged to have received instructions on how to train and use weapons and asked for assistance in completing a plan, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2006. The charge follows an investigation by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command. She was also previously charged on Wednesday April 12 with acts in preparation contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday July 27 in relation to these matters. The teenager was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Westminster Mag...

    A men being treated at the side of the road near Roman Road in Bethnal Green after acid attak. Two men have been taken to hospital after a suspected acid attack in Bethnal Green. The pair, believed to be in their late teens, were attacked with a noxious substance in Roman Road at around 7pm yesterday. Their injuries are not said to be life-threatening. No arrests have been mande and enquiries are ongoing. Images from the scene show two men with their shirts off having water poured over their faces. Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali called for urgent action from the Home Secretary Amber Rudd. She added: It’s unacceptable that another attack with a corrosive substance has occurred in east London. Anyone with information concerning the attack is asked to call police on 1...

    An Indian Muslim teenager was kidnapped by two men in balaclavas before being raped and murdered after she began a relationship with an Arab Muslim, a court has heard. The body of Celine Dookhran, 19, was found inside a £1.5million home after a woman in her 20s who had her throat slit alerted police from hospital, it is said. Ms Dookhran was allegedly tasered and dragged from the shower before she was kidnapped with the other woman, bound and gagged and taken to an address in Kingston-upon-Thames where they were both raped and Ms Dookran was killed on July 19. A post mortem gave the cause of death as an incised wound to the neck. Mujahid Arshid, 33, appeared in court charged with the murder, rape and kidnap of Ms Dookhran. He is further charged with the rape, attempted mur...

    Tower Hamlets Council paying for police recruits to tackle drug runners on its housing estates. Police discover knife hidden on Regent's Canal towpath at Bethnal Green. Recruitment has begun for a taskforce to patrol estates through the night from September. It follows the Met’s Operation Leipzig two weeks ago when police joined East End community leaders on a weapons sweep which uncovered deadly knives and drugs paraphernalia first revealed in the East London Advertiser. We have agreed to 14 new officers to work on Tower Hamlets housing estates, Mayor John Biggs told councilors. They will take on persistent offenders who make life a misery for residents. The council is paying out £2.5m over the next three years for more officers and security patrols. Drugs found in Roman...

    An acid attack victim today revealed the devastating effect caused by the use of household chemicals as weapons. Musa Miah, 23, spent three weeks in hospital after being attacked with a friend at East India Dock. He had two skin graft operations at the Chelmsford burns unit and lost 15 per cent of his vision in his left eye. Describing the attack in March last year, he said: After about a minute, I could feel it starting to burn. My eyelids were burnt as well as the skin on my face. Musa Miah after an operation to repair his skin For six months I did not dare step out of the house. When I was in hospital they had to cover up the mirror because I wasn’t ready to look at myself. A man, 20, and a boy, 16, were both charged with two counts of throwing corrosive fluid with the ...

    The Lemonade girl who known everone as she she lemonade stand selling refreshments to festival goers in Victoria park in East London and fined £150. But it has been cancelled later by the Tower hamlet council. The council has been inundated with offers to open stalls on markets across the capital. As they says, the fine will be cancelled immediately and we will be contacting Professor Spicer and his daughter to apologise. Andre Spicer said his daughter burst into tears and told him I’ve done a bad thing after enforcement officers read out a lengthy legal letter before issuing him the notice near their home in Mile End. The youngster and Mr Spicer, a professor at City University, were given a £150 fine for trading without a permit. After it was contacted by the Standard, T...

    Scotland Yard said a 33-year-old man has been charged with murder, rape and kidnap of a 19-year-old woman. The man has been charged with murder, rape and kidnap after a teenage girl’s body was allegedly found in a fridge in a suspected honour killing in south-west London. He is further charged with rape, attempted murder and kidnap of a second victim, a woman aged in her 20s. A second man, aged 28, is accused of kidnapping both the 19-year-old woman and the woman aged in her 20s. The teenager was found dead at a house in Coombe Lane West, Kingston on Wednesday. A post mortem examination carried out on Friday gave her cause of death as an incised wound to the neck. The second victim was taken to a south London hospital with stab wounds on Wednesday evening and is being sup...

    A new nursing course has been launched to help the chronic shortage of nurses in east London’s hospitals. Last year, a report by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) revealed that there were more than 1,044 vacant nursing posts at the Barts Health NHS Trust, which includes Mile End, Whipps Cross, Newham University and Royal London hospitals, and 333 at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust. It is hoped that a new three-year adult nursing degree at the University of East London will help local people to take up these jobs. Charmagne Barnes, Dean of UEL’s School of Health, Sport and Bioscience, said the programme would be important not just to the university but to the community of east London as a whole. Ms Barnes, herself a qualified nurse, said that the area was not...