A female security watchman is battling for her life subsequent to being attacked by a detainee at a London court today.

The male detainee assaulted the Serco guard at Blackfriars Crown Court at around 1.30 this evening, police said.

Scotland Yard said the episode happened as the lady, thought to be in her 50s, escorted the detainee in the middle of court and a holding up van stopped outside.

The casualty was dealt with by doctors from the London Air Ambulance group before being taken to an east London healing facility.

She stays in a basic condition after the occurrence, police said.

Published: 29 June 2015

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A 103-year-old man and a 91-year-old woman held their wedding in Britain on Saturday, becoming the oldest couple to get married in the world.

George Kirby and Doreen Luckie – together for 27 years – looked delighted as they tied the knot at a hotel in the seaside town of Eastbourne, southern England, before close friends and family.

The bride wore a white dress with blue flowers while the groom, a former boxer, was dressed smartly in a suit and tie, and was in a wheelchair – bedecked with the logo of the London 2012 Paralympics – after sustaining bruising during a recent fall.

With a combined age of 194 years, the pair beat the previous record held by a French couple, Francois Fernandez and Madeleine Francineau, who had a combined age of 191 years.

Speaking ahead of the ceremony, Luckie said the couple had “no regrets” about not doing it earlier. “We didn’t want to bother about marriage before but eventually we did it,” she said.

The couple reportedly have seven children, 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren between them.

Published: 13 June 2015

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Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, the latest addition to Britain's royal family, will be christened on July 5 near Queen Elizabeth II's Sandringham estate in rural eastern England, the royal press office said on Friday.

Prince William and his wife Kate's daughter, who is fourth in line to the throne after the couple's first child Prince George, was born on May 2.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce the christening of Princess Charlotte will take place on Sunday 5th July," read a statement from Kensington Palace, the couple's London residence.

Charlotte's middle names Elizabeth and Diana are a tribute to her great-grandmother the queen and the woman who would have been her grandmother, William's late mother Diana who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Published: 06 June 2015

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Tony Blair resigned Wednesday as the Quartet diplomatic group's envoy, his office said, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict he worked to end as troubled as ever.

There was some praise for the former British prime minister's work over eight years as delegate of the Quartet -- the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.

But events on the ground showed how far away is peace -- although the goal of a two-state solution remains.

Israel carried out four air strikes on militants in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said. That came hours after a cross border rocket attack on Israel.

The situation on the ground is "not sustainable," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned.

The US State Department was among those thanking Blair, calling him a "valued partner" who has worked tirelessly to advance economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza.

But it acknowledged the Quartet's goal of a two state solution has not been met.

"So until that's achieved, you know, I don't think any of us can say that we've succeeded," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said.

Mogherini called on the two sides to resume peace talks.

The last ones fell apart in April 2014. And prospects for their renewal seem bleak with a lack of trust between the sides exacerbated by the formation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new hardline coalition.

Blair tendered his resignation in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, an official in Blair's office told AFP.

Sources close to Blair said he would step down officially next month.

Published: 29 May 2015

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An abandoned subway station used by Winston Churchill as a bunker during World War II could become London's latest go-to bar or gallery under a plan launched by the city's transport agency.

Tucked away in the luxury Mayfair area in the centre, Down Street was opened in 1907 but closed in 1937 and its dark warren of tunnels have gathered a thick layer of black dust in the 83 years since.

The facade has lost its sign but kept the traditional crimson-red tiles once used for stations on the Underground, the oldest metro system in the world.

Now Transport for London (TfL) hopes it will be the first of seven or eight off-limits empty stations under the capital to be leased for commercial use.

"Disused stations tend to be difficult, complex environments," Graeme Craig, TfL's commercial development director, told AFP in a tunnel with cracked tiles and peeling paint.

"They are not easy to bring back to use," he said, as the eery sound of Piccadilly Line trains going through nearby Green Park station could be heard echoing through the tunnels.

"For me it would be brilliant if we can find a use for this station that reflects its history, its location, the unique space that we have," he said.

During the war, the station was first used as the emergency headquarters of the British rail system.

It was then used by Churchill and his war cabinet for meetings to avoid Nazi bombing before the better known Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall were built.

The station is equipped with a kitchen, a dining room and a bathroom used by Churchill and his staff.

Officials believe that a jumble of telephone cables lying in a corner also points to the station's use as an underground communications centre.

"Living here can seem quite horrendous. But when the bombs were falling, you could probably feel safe," said Niall Brolly, project manager for TfL, who supervised a feasibility study for the station.

Published: 25 May 2015

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