Military personnel are Tuesday preparing to defuse an unexploded World War Two bomb which prompted the evacuation of hundreds of families in east London.

The bomb which was discovered at a building site in Bethnal Green at around 12:45pm on Monday, forced the evacuation of 150 people from nearby homes and businesses.

Families were forced to spend the night at a local school after the 500lb device was discovered at Temple Street.

Tower Hamlets Council extended an exclusion zone around the bomb from 100 to 200 metres, leading to major traffic delays as several key roads were closed.

Published: 11 August 2015

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A migrant arrested inside the Channel Tunnel connecting England and France is thought to have walked almost all of the treacherous 50-kilometre (31-mile) undersea rail link, reports said Thursday.

The Sudanese man was arrested close to the British entrance and "almost succeeded in walking through the tunnel", a spokesman for owner Eurotunnel told BBC News.

A spike in the numbers of migrants trying to make the crossing has become a sensitive political issue in Britain, and the story was splashed across the front pages of Friday's newspapers.

A spokesman for Britain's Home Office said it had improved security by paying for more fencing at the French side and drafting in border guards and dogs.

Published: 07 August 2015

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An acquisition of Scottish castle by a Russian tycoon Sergey Fedotov gave rise to a scandal in Russia. However, it is not the first real property bought by Mr. Fedotov in Britain On 30 of May 2015 Daily Mail published the information regarding forthcoming sale of former XIV century private railway station East Lodge in Morayshire, Scotland. In accordance with the publication, the citizen of Russia Sergey Fedotov acquired a 15th century Castle Grant - originally named Freuchie Castle - for £1m pounds. Nobody is surprised when Russian businesspersons and tycoons acquire real property in Great Britain, while this particular acquisition inspired a media and public scandal in Russia. The point is that Sergey Fedotov is the managing director of Russian author society - RAO, a non-commercial organisation that accumulates the copyrights in entire country. The activity of Mr. Fedotov was questionable by RAO shareholders for the long time. RAO is the monopolist with state accreditation. In the territory of Russia all copyrights for music are in RAO competence automatically. If an author or a publisher does not want that RAO collects his fees, he must withdraw his compositions and control it by himself. Those authors, who are not members of RAO’s board of directors or did not leave it by some reasons, are not satisfied by RAO’s business activity, believing that they were not paid in full. The fact of acquisition of ancient castle by the managing director of RAO - his monthly is about 2,000 pounds as the Russian press reports - gave rise to great repercussions in the cultural society. However, the castle in Morayshire is just a single event in Fedotov’s abroad activity. In 2013 Mr. Fedotov has been granted the investor visa in the UK. This led the reporters to exploring that apart from Castle Grant, Sergey Fedotov already has more real property in UK: several houses in Brighton and a flat in Greater London. One of his houses in Brighton at 25 Withdean Road is on sale now. Two-store house with a garden, five bedrooms, three bathrooms, 3 living rooms and double garage which was bought by Mr Fedotov for £1.3m pounds is on sale for £1.55m pounds. Sergey Fedotov owns another two houses on the same street, including a one-storey house with a swimming pool at 27 Withdean Road, acquired in May 2014 for £2.5m pounds.

Published: 07 August 2015

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Millions of Londoners were forced to walk, cycle or take packed buses to and from work Thursday as Underground staff staged their second strike in a month over plans to run trains all night

London Underground staff walked out on Wednesday evening and will not return until Friday morning, causing a shutdown of the world's oldest subway network and severely disrupting transport in the capital.

Four trade unions are locked in a months-long dispute with management over London Mayor Boris Johnson's plans to run a 24-hour Tube service on Fridays and Saturdays from September 12.

An extra 250 buses, additional rental bikes and increased river boat services were laid on to help ease the disruption, while overground trains were operating as normal.

But the Tube handles four million journeys every day, meaning many trains and buses were overcrowded Thursday.

Many of those who decided to drive into work found themselves in one of the hundreds of traffic jams recorded, with roads also clogged with cyclists and pavements filled with pedestrians who decided it was quickest to walk.

At the peak of rush hour there 800 kilometres (500 miles) of tail backs in and around the British capital, according to navigation company Tom Tom.

It is the second time the service has shut down in a month, after a similar strike on July 8 and 9 caused the first network-wide closure for 13 years.

While some commuters railed against the unions and their members, many of whom are paid well above the average wage, most were resigned.

"I took the bus, it was really crowded and took 45 minutes instead of 20 minutes," Amal , a 21-year-old accountant, told AFP in the City of London  financial district.

Tamara, a 43-year-old German tourist visiting London with her husband and two children, added: "We didn't know about the strike. So today we only walk!"

Many workers were expected to work from home, and others tried to see the positive side.

"Making the most of the tube strike by running into work today!" blogger Hannah Cox said on Twitter.

At the Victoria railway terminus, where huge lines of commuters formed waiting for buses, one enterprising company handed out free skateboards.

- Delayed Night Tube launch? -

The latest round of negotiations broke down on Monday, when union leaders rejected an offer of a two percent salary increase and bonus payments for night shift workers.

RMT union leader Mick Cash said it was "just a rehash of an earlier package and does nothing to tackle the fundamental issue of our members being called into work at the beck and call of management to plug staffing gaps in the mayor's botched Night Tube plans."

The unions have called for the launch of the service to be delayed pending further talks and are considering further strike action, saying that the plan would disrupt Tube staff's ability to spend time with family at weekends.

Published: 07 August 2015

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An oil company chaired by a former leader of Britain's ruling Conservative party is being investigated for alleged corruption in Somalia, claims the company slammed as "defamatory".

Soma Oil and Gas, a private company chaired by Lord Michael Howard, on Monday denied paying more than half a million dollars to government officials to protect an oil exploration deal signed in 2013.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Friday it had opened a criminal investigation into Soma following allegations of corruption in Somalia.

The allegations stem from investigations carried out by the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, set up to detail infringements of arms embargoes on the countries.

The investigators say that $690,000 (630,000 euros) worth of payments were suspicious. They allege that at least $580,000 paid since June 2014 as part of a "capacity building programme" may have been corrupt payments to Somali government officials.

An April 2014 "side letter" from Soma to Somalia's petroleum minister said the company would pay salaries and equipment costs to support the exploration programme up to a total of $400,000. The agreement was extended in April 2015, since when a further $90,000 has allegedly been paid.

Published: 06 August 2015

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Britain is to give up to £5 million for projects that tackle the illegal wildlife trade, which threatens animals such as elephants, rhinos and tigers, the government is to announce on Wednesday.

"The illegal trade in animal products is putting some of our most iconic species like elephants, rhinos and tigers in severe danger," Environment Department minister Rory Stewart will say, according to released remarks.

"This funding will help to reduce the supply of illegal wildlife products by supporting local communities to find new ways of earning a living and stopping poachers and criminal networks from controlling this barbaric trade.

"It will also support action to reduce demand for these products."

Published: 05 August 2015

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Sweden's sexual assault inquiry on Julian Assange is being pinched by time, with the statute of limitations about to expire on one charge and investigators unable to access Ecuador's embassy in London to question the WikiLeaks founder.

Swedish prosecutors petitioned the Ecuadorian embassy in June to interview Assange, who has been holed up in Quito's London mission since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on allegations of rape and sexual assault -- charges Assange vehemently denies.

But access has thus far been delayed on procedural grounds, leading some people involved in the case to suspect Ecuador of playing the clock until mid-August, when the statute of limitations on the sexual assault accusation will expire.

"I am very critical of Ecuador's position. It can't really be said they did what they could to allow Sweden to question Assange," said Claes Borgstrom, a lawyer for one of the two women who accuse the WikiLeaks founder of having assaulted them in 2010.

Swedish prosecutors initially insisted Assange return to Sweden for interrogation -- a condition the 44-year-old Australian rejected on fears Stockholm could deliver him to US authorities, who may try him for leaking nearly 750,000 classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010.

In response to his enduring embassy asylum, Swedish prosecutors in March agreed to Assange's compromise offer to question him inside the London mission, but have yet to see their requests to see him approved by Ecuador.

If Swedish justice authorities are not allowed to question Assange before the statute of limitations on the sexual assault charges expire on August 13 and 18, Borgstrom said he was pretty sure the case will be dropped.

Published: 04 August 2015

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A British trader was jailed Monday for 14 years for rigging the Libor lending rate while working for UBS and Citibank, in a landmark conviction the judge said would send a message to the banking world.

Tom Hayes, 35, is the first person to be found guilty by a jury of rigging the benchmark inter-bank lending rate, a key reference for financial products around the world from consumer loans to savings accounts.

"The conduct involved here must be marked out as dishonest and wrong and a message sent to the world of banking accordingly," judge Jeremy Cooke told Hayes as he sentenced him at London's Southwark Crown Court.

Many of the world's top banks have been hit by scandals over the rigging of the Libor rate, which is estimated to underpin some $500 trillion of contracts.

Following his arrest in December 2012, Hayes admitted his crimes to Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in a bid to avoid extradition to the United States, where he also faces charges.

However, he later pleaded not guilty, insisting his actions were "commonplace" in the banks.

Published: 04 August 2015

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Greece has Syriza, Spain has Podemos and Britain may soon have its own anti-austerity political force if bearded socialist veteran Jeremy Corbyn becomes leader of the Labour party.

Corbyn, 66, only stood for the Labour leadership as a wild card to broaden debate over its future following a dismal showing in May's general election won by the Conservatives.

But to everybody's surprise, including his own, the softly-spoken vegetarian who wants to scrap nuclear weapons is now the bookmakers' favourite to win a ballot whose results will be announced on September 12.

"I have been in Greece, I have been in Spain. It's very interesting that social democratic parties that accept the austerity agenda and end up implementing it end up losing a lot of members and a lot of support," he told the Daily Mirror.

"I think we have a chance to do something different here."

To his supporters, Corbyn is a breath of fresh air and a return to Labour's left-wing roots as a movement for working people after the market-friendly New Labour years under former prime minister Tony Blair.

The party's last leader Ed Miliband, who quit in May, had tried to shift Labour leftwards but still accepted the need for spending cuts, only at a slower pace than those advocated by Cameron.

"We think that it is time for a change... There is a virus within the Labour party and Jeremy Corbyn is the antidote," said Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), as he endorsed the MP, praising his left-wing values.

- 'Sexy old sea dog' -

Published: 03 August 2015

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A piece of metal was found Saturday on La Reunion island, where a Boeing 777 wing part believed to belong to missing flight MH370 washed up last week, said a source close to the investigation.

Published: 03 August 2015

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