Category Archives: London

Former Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari dies aged 82 in London

Posted on by

Leader who ousted Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 three decades after brief stint as military ruler dies after ‘prolonged illness’

Nigeria’s former president Muhammadu Buhari, who led Africa’s most populous country from 2015 to 2023 and was the first Nigerian president to oust an incumbent through the ballot box, died in London on Sunday, a presidential spokesperson has said.

President Bola Tinubu’s spokesperson said in a post on X: “President Buhari died today in London at about 4.30pm [1530 GMT], following a prolonged illness.”

Continue reading...

Kew Gardens to host largest outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore’s sculptures

Posted on by

Show will include 30 monumental pieces displayed across gardens and 90 works filling Shirley Sherwood Gallery

Henry Moore believed “sculpture is an art of the open air” and that his works should be seen in “almost any landscape, rather than in or on the most beautiful building”.

Now the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is planning the world’s largest outdoor exhibition devoted to the miner’s son who became one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century, it will announce on Monday.

Continue reading...

7/7 London terror attack victims remembered at 20th anniversary service

Posted on by

Keir Starmer and Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh join survivors and emergency workers at St Paul’s Cathedral

The prime minister and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh joined survivors and emergency workers at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 20th anniversary of the 7 July London bombings.

Four coordinated attacks on three tube trains and a double-decker bus killed 52 people and left several hundred injured in the worst single terrorist atrocity on British soil.

Continue reading...

‘We need to reclaim these words’: Inside England’s first romance-only bookshop catering to record levels of popularity

Posted on by

Saucy Books in London has become the go-to destination for romance readers – but fans say misogyny is stopping the genre getting the recognition it deserves

Whether you want a brooding billionaire, a queer awakening, a dragon rider (yes, really) or an old-fashioned enemies-to-lovers tale, there’s a romance novel for everybody at Saucy Books.

England’s first romance-only bookshop opened last week in Notting Hill, west London, instantly becoming a go-to destination for readers and turning into a meeting spot for like-minded folk to share their love stories.

Continue reading...

Man jailed for at least 40 years for sword murder of London boy Daniel Anjorin

Posted on by

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, sentenced for killing 14-year-old and attempted murder of three others in Hainault

A man has been jailed for at least 40 years for the “wicked” murder of the schoolboy Daniel Anjorin during a 20-minute rampage in east London.

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, fatally slashed Daniel with a samurai sword minutes after the 14-year-old left his home in Hainault on 30 April last year.

Continue reading...

Met officers’ strip-search of black girl at school was gross misconduct, panel finds

Posted on by

Disciplinary hearing finds two police officers’ search of Child Q, 15, was disproportionate and humiliating

Two police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a black teenager at her school have been found to have committed gross misconduct.

The search at a school in Hackney, east London, was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” and made the girl, known as Child Q, feel degraded and humiliated, a panel concluded at the end of a four-week misconduct hearing.

Continue reading...

Man found guilty of murdering Daniel Anjorin, 14, with sword in London

Posted on by

Marcus Arduini-Monzo convicted of killing schoolboy in Hainault, north-east London last year

A man has been found guilty of murdering a 14-year-old schoolboy with a samurai sword last year.

Marcus Arduini-Monzo, 37, carried out a marauding attack while in a state of cannabis-induced psychosis in Hainault, north-east London, on 30 April 2024, the Old Bailey heard.

Continue reading...

Metropolitan police appeal for help to recover 280-year-old violin worth £150,000

Posted on by

Police release CCTV images of suspect in hunt for instrument allegedly stolen from north London pub

Police are appealing for help to recover a missing 285-year-old violin after it was allegedly stolen from a London pub.

Detectives have been trying to find the instrument since 18 February, when the violin, valued at more than £150,000, went missing from the Marquess Tavern on Canonbury Street. The victim reported the theft to the Metropolitan police that evening.

Continue reading...

Evacuated London train passengers forced to walk along tracks on hottest day of year

Posted on by

People report waiting hours in hot carriages after fault near Loughborough Junction brings some services to halt

Scores of UK passengers were forced to evacuate trains and walk along the tracks on Saturday after some services were halted due to a fault on the hottest day of the year so far.

Videos posted on social media showed people walking on the tracks beside Thameslink trains near Loughborough Junction station in south London.

Continue reading...

Serial rapist Zhenhao Zou facing second trial as more women come forward

Posted on by

Prosecutors weigh possibility that the Chinese student, who treated his victims as ‘sex toys’, could face further action

Serial rapist Zhenhao Zou is facing a second trial with police and prosecutors preparing to charge the Chinese student with a second round of offences.

Zou, 28, is already serving a minimum 24 years for attacking 10 young women in London and China.

Continue reading...

Pioneering London playwright decried gentrification of ‘writer’s paradise’

Posted on by

In 1992 letter, Mustapha Matura warned of risk to Ladbroke Grove, home to strong Caribbean creative community

A groundbreaking Trinidadian-British playwright who paved the way for modern Black British theatre makers warned about the dangers of gentrification in Ladbroke Grove, which he believed would ruin the “writer’s paradise”.

Mustapha Matura was the first British writer of colour to have work put on in the West End, and used the west London area as an inspiration for many of his plays, which were also staged at the Royal Court and National Theatre.

Continue reading...

Serial rapist Zhenhao Zou jailed for minimum of 24 years

Posted on by

London student drugged and filmed himself raping at least 60 victims between 2019 and 2024

A PhD student feared to be one of the worst sexual offenders in British history has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years for drugging and raping 10 women.

Zhenhao Zou, 28, drugged and filmed himself raping at least 60 victims between 2019 and 2024 after luring them into his flat with invitations to study or have drinks. Since his conviction more than 20 women have come forward to police, and still more remain unidentified.

Continue reading...

Remove decisions on lone child asylum seekers from Home Office, report says

Posted on by

Call for root-and-branch reform of treatment of children, many of whom are wrongly classified as adults

Decisions relating to lone child asylum seekers should be removed from Home Office officials because of fundamental problems with the way they treat this vulnerable group, a report has found.

The report calls for root-and-branch reform of the treatment of thousands of children who have fled persecution in their home countries and made hazardous journeys in search of safety, often crossing the Channel in a dinghy or concealing themselves in the back of a lorry.

Continue reading...

China considers lifting sanctions on UK parliamentarians as relations warm

Posted on by

Exclusive: Restrictions to be reviewed as embassy official says ‘UK-China relations are showing a positive momentum’

China is considering lifting the sanctions it imposed on UK parliamentarians in 2021 in the latest sign of warming relations between London and Beijing.

The Chinese government is reviewing the sanctions, which it introduced four years ago, in response to what it called “lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses in Xinjiang, according to two UK government sources familiar with the conversations.

Continue reading...

Grenfell residents gather for last anniversary before tower is taken down

Posted on by

People came to ‘say goodbye to their homes’ before the two-year process of dismantling the building begins

Grenfell residents gathered in London to “say goodbye to their homes” on what is likely to be the last anniversary of the tragedy before the tower is dismantled.

The 72 people who died in the tower block fire in west London in June 2017 were commemorated with a silent walk through the streets of north Kensington on Saturday evening – just months before the two-year process of dismantling what remains of the building is expected to begin.

Continue reading...

‘Panic and sadness’: British Gujaratis in Harrow gather to mourn Air India dead

Posted on by

At community centre in north-west London, dozens share names of flight AI171 victims they knew, from relatives to dignitaries

In Harrow, north-west London, home to a large community of British Gujaratis, there was a sense of shock and profound sadness as people gathered at a community centre to mourn those who had been killed in the Air India flight.

Everyone’s phones had been buzzing all day on Thursday, said Aneka Shah-Levy, a local Labour councillor, as friends and family members across the world anxiously checked in on each other, and shared rumours and snippets of what information they knew.

Continue reading...

Eurostar vows to run direct trains from UK to Germany and Switzerland

Posted on by

Cross-Channel rail operator, which is trying to fend off rivals for its London depot space, regards early 2030s as feasible

Eurostar has vowed to run direct trains from the UK to Germany and Switzerland, as it attempts to fend off potential competitors eyeing its London depot space.

The cross-Channel rail operator’s chief executive, Gwendoline Cazenave, said she had no doubt the direct services would run in the early 2030s despite the failure of previous ventures to connect London and Frankfurt.

Continue reading...

Winter fuel payments U-turn likely to lead to higher taxes or other welfare cuts, says IFS director – UK politics live

Posted on by

Treasury says move to restore the funding for most pensioners will cost around £1.25bn

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are both trying to take credit for the winter fuel payments U-turn by the government.

This is from Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader.

Keir Starmer has scrambled to clear up a mess of his own making. I repeatedly challenged him to reverse his callous decision to withdraw winter fuel payments, and every time Starmer arrogantly dismissed my criticisms.

This humiliating U-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter. The prime minister should now apologise for his terrible judgement.

Finally the chancellor has listened to the Liberal Democrats and the tireless campaigners in realising how disastrous this policy was, but the misery it has caused cannot be overstated.

Countless pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating all whilst the government buried its head in the sand for months on end, ignoring those who were really suffering.

Continue reading...

Trump announces US-China trade talks in London next week

Posted on by

President, who had Thursday call with China’s Xi Jinping amid tariff dispute, says ‘meeting should go very well’

Senior US administration officials will meet with a Chinese delegation on Monday in London for the next round of trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, Donald Trump said on Friday.

The meeting comes after a phone call between Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday, which the US president described as a “very positive” conversation as the two countries attempt to break an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals.

Continue reading...

Noblewoman may have ordered brazen murder of priest outside St Paul’s in 1337

Posted on by

Historian mapping medieval murders has evidence John Ford’s stabbing was revenge hit by impenitent ex-lover

Almost 700 years ago, in a busy London street in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, a priest called John Ford was brazenly stabbed to death in a crime notable both for its public nature and its ferocity.

It was early evening, just after vespers on 4 May 1337, and the street in Westcheap would have been bustling with passersby. In full view of them all, one man sliced Ford’s throat with an anelace, a foot-long dagger, while two others used long knives to stab him in the belly. Was someone trying to make a very public example of the victim?

Continue reading...