Tag: Featured

    Regulars at Sarah Kyolaba's hair salon in Tottenham, north London, were saddened to hear of her death from cancer towards the end of last week. What most of them didn't know, however, was that before Kyolaba arrived in Britain in 1982, she had been married to Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator whose regime was responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, and who once famously warned: You cannot run faster than a bullet. But what of other family members of rich and powerful despots after opponents rise and empires crumble?

    A hearty and warm reception was accorded to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as she arrived at Heathrow International Airport in London yesterday afternoon on a 6-day visit to the UK. A VVIP flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the Prime Minis-ter and her entourage landed at the HeathrowInternationalAirport at 3:47pm (local time), PM's Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhuri said. At the airport, Sheikh Hasina was received by Md Abdul Hannan, Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK and other senior officials of High Commission. Leaders of Awami League and its associate bodies, UK units as well as huge number of expatriate Bangladeshis were also present at the airport to welcome Sheikh Hasina. The prime minister left Dhaka for London at 10am yesterday.

    Labour's John Biggs has become the directly elected mayor of the London borough of Tower Hamlets, in an election called after the previous mayor was removed from office. He lost last year to independent Lutfur Rahman, who was convicted of electoral fraud and told to stand down in April. Mr Rahman was banned from the new vote. Mr Biggs won 32,754 votes, including second preference votes, to beat independent Rabina Khan. He said the borough now needed to move forwards. Speaking after the overnight count at London's ExCel conference centre, the new mayor said: "What is important in Tower Hamlets is that we recognise the events of the past year or more have caused enormous tension and friction in our great borough and we need... to pull things back together again. The Labou...

    Mark Carney warned the City of London that the “age of irresponsibility is over” as he unveiled a host of new sanctions and procedures designed to cleanse financial markets that have been tarnished by a tidal wave of rate rigging scandals. Speaking at the annual Mansion House dinner, the Bank of England’s Governor promised that traders fired for misconduct would have their full history made available to prospective employers. He also called for criminal sanctions to be “updated”, with longer maximum prison terms for rate-riggers. Mr Carney added that a “senior managers’ regime” would be extended beyond banks to cover asset managers and hedge funds, meaning that all those in charge of traders active in markets vulnerable to abuse will find themselves personally “on the ...

    The election of a new mayor for Tower Hamlets, prompted by the ejection of the last incumbent for widespread fraud, is already the subject of 16 separate allegations of electoral irregularities, police have confirmed. Four days before voters in the east London borough choose a successor to Lutfur Rahman, Britain’s first directly elected Muslim mayor, Met officers are assessing claims of the harvesting of postal votes, the use of “ghost” voters and the improper distribution of election literature, officials have told the Guardian. Mayoral candidates from the major parties say the fraught contest, to be held on Thursday, is far from a foregone conclusion. Some political pundits had predicted it would be an easy victory for Labour after an election court six weeks ago forc...

    Tributes have been paid to an aspiring young musician who was stabbed to death in the street in north London. Lukey Maxwell, 22 from Tottenham, was stabbed in the back in Northumberland Park, N17, in the early hours of Friday morning, police said. Mobo Award-winning rapper Chipmunk has paid tribute to his late friend on Twitter. Chipmunk, whose real name is Jahmaal Fyffe, wrote: Can't sleep or think straight. This one doesn't seem real. Friend: number one selling pop star and rapper ChipmunkHe later tweeted: Praying for their loved one's strength. RIP Lukey man. He always vouched for me. Another Twitter user, Malachi, tweeted: You know that's a clean hearted man when the whole of Tottenham and more are sending condolences. Rest up Lukey. Maxwell was found collapsed in ...