Reading Latest News on Terror in London for You: - China, Australia leaders discuss London attack
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
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| Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, left, stands amongst the emergency services at the scene outside the Palace of Westminster, London, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. London police say they are treating a gun and knife incident at Britain's Parliament "as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise." The Metropolitan Police says in a statement that the incident is ongoing. It is urging people to stay away from the area. Officials say a man with a knife attacked a police officer at Parliament and was shot by officers. Nearby, witnesses say a vehicle struck several people on the Westminster Bridge. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP). |
LONDON
The latest on the attack outside Britain's Parliament (all
times local):
4:10 a.m.
 |
| Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia (left) welcomes Chinese Premier Li Keqiang |
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says the terrorist attack outside
the British Parliament in London was the first subject of discussion when he
met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia on Thursday morning in
Canberra.
Li says that "together, we send our condolences to the
prime minister of the U.K. and together we condemn terrorism and we stand
against all forms of terrorism."
The Chinese leader says that "there cannot be continued
instability in the world," adding: "We must cherish peace and
stability."
___
1:35 a.m.
New Zealand's prime minister is condemning the attack
outside Britain's Parliament that resulted in five deaths, including the
assailant.
Prime Minister Bill English told reporters in Rotorua that
he has written to British Prime Minister Theresa May to express support for her
government and to offer his country's condolences to the victim's families.
A knife-wielding man went on the deadly rampage in the heart
of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, plowing a car into pedestrians on
London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer to death inside
the gates of Parliament. Other officers fatally shot the attacker.
In addition to the dead, 40 people have injuries.
May has condemned the incident as a "sick and depraved
terrorist attack."
___
12:15 a.m.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry says five South Koreans in
their 50s and 60s were among the 40 people injured in London during the terror
attack outside Parliament.
The ministry says the five were hurt when they were caught
up in a stampede of people trying to escape the attack.
It says four of the South Koreans suffered broken bones and
other injuries and a woman in her late 60s needed an operation to treat a head
injury.
___
10:30 p.m.
British police say five people died in the terror attack
outside Parliament.
Counter-terrorism chief Mark Rowley said one policeman,
three civilians and the attacker died.
He said a further 40 people were wounded.
The assailant has not been identified. Rowley said police
think they know the identity of the man but would not reveal details. He said
Islamic extremism is suspected in the attack.
He said extra armed police would be on the streets in the
coming days to reassure the public, and hundreds of police officers are working
on the case.
10:20 p.m.
Buckingham Palace officials say Queen Elizabeth II will
postpone plans to open the new Scotland Yard headquarters.
The palace said Wednesday night that the queen's visit,
which had been set for Thursday, will be postponed.
The change is due to security concerns raised by the terror
attack on Parliament.
It is also expected that police will be involved with a
major investigation that will occupy many officers.
The queen was to have been joined by her husband Prince
Philip at the official opening of the new building.
___
10:15 p.m.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the police
presence at the Australian Parliament House has been increased in response to
the London attacks.
"Australia's heartfelt sympathy and resolute solidarity
is with the people of the United Kingdom with whom we stand today as we always
have in freedom's cause. Staunch allies in the war against terrorism,"
Turnbull told reporters on Thursday.
"The attack on the British Parliament is an attack on
parliaments, freedom and democracy everywhere," he added.
___
10:05 p.m.
The Eiffel Tower is going dark in mourning and solidarity
with Britain after an attack around the British Parliament in which four
people, including the attacker, were killed.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose city has suffered deadly
extremist attacks in recent years, announced that the tower is turning off its
twinkling lights at midnight (2300 GMT).
French President Francois Hollande offered support for Britain
and the investigation.
___
9 p.m.
Prime
Minister Theresa May has condemned the "sick and depraved terrorist
attack" in London and says the targeting Parliament was no accident.
In a
late-night statement outside her Downing Street office Wednesday, a defiant May
said the nation will not give in to terror and those who targeted the seat of
power in Britain.
She insisted
that "tomorrow morning Parliament will meet as normal," and urged the
country to move on and behave as normal on Thursday.
May says
"we will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never
allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart."
The prime
minister confirmed that four people died in the attack and praised the security
services who ran toward danger.
___
___
8 p.m.
A French
government plane is set to fly to London Wednesday evening to bring the
families of three French students wounded in the attacks at the British
Parliament to their loved ones.
French
President Francois Hollande announced the move in a statement Wednesday night
after speaking with British Prime Minister Theresa May.
May
confirmed to Hollande that three French high school students from France's
western Britanny region were wounded in the attacks, the statement said.
Hollande
offered his condolences to May for those who died in the attacks and expressed
France's solidarity with Britain "in this tragic ordeal."
"The
British and French services are in close contact to conduct the
investigation," Hollande added.
London is a
common destination for French school trips.
___
___
7:55 p.m.
Romania's
foreign ministry says two Romanians were wounded in a deadly attack in London's
Westminster that left four dead.
The ministry
said the two had been taken to a hospital for treatment. There were no further
details on the identity of the two or how seriously they were injured. The
ministry said it had been informed by authorities in London.
A
knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage near the Parliament, mowing down
pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police
officer to death inside the gates of Parliament. Four people were killed,
including the attacker. About 20 others were injured.
___
___
7:20 p.m.
Spanish
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy condemned the deadly attack in London's
Westminster on Wednesday and offered condolences to the British people in a
telegram sent to his British counterpart Theresa May.
"An
execrable terrorist act like the one that took place today is a reminder that
we face complex challenges for the security of our societies," said Rajoy
in a transcript of the telegram distributed by Moncloa, the prime minister's
palace.
"We
must remain united against these type of threats that affect all of us equally
and that know no barriers," Rajoy wrote, offering Spain's support to the
UK.
Israel,
which that has faced a wave of Palestinian car ramming, stabbing and shooting
assaults since 2015, also expressed solidarity with the victims of the London
attack.
Deputy
Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said in a statement. "Israel expresses its
deep shock at the terror attack in London today and its solidarity with the
victims and with the people and government of Great Britain. Terror is terror
wherever it occurs and we will fight it relentlessly."
___
___
6:50 p.m.
One British
lawmaker was hailed by some as a hero in Wednesday's attack on the British
Parliament.
Conservative
parliamentarian and Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother was
killed in the Bali terror attack in 2002, performed mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation on the police officer who was stabbed and later died. About 10
yards away was the attacker who was shot dead by police after scaling the
security wall toward Parliament's grounds.
Ellwood, who
served in the British military, applied pressure to the police officer's
multiple lacerations.
Photographs
showed Ellwood's bloodied hands and face from the police officer's wounds while
the alleged attacker was seen nearby.
___
___
6:20 p.m.
The White
House is condemning the attacks in London involving a car rampage and knife
attack. President Donald Trump is said to be monitoring developments.
Spokesman
Sean Spicer said Wednesday Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May
and said that the White House applauds "the quick response of British
police and first responders" and condemns the attacks.
A vehicle
mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and the attacker then stabbed a police
officer outside the British Parliament. At least four people died, including
the attacker and a police officer.
Spicer says
that the city of London and the British government have the "full
support" of the U.S. as they investigate the attack.
The U.S.
Homeland Security Department says the security posture in the United States has
not changed in the wake of the attack.
___
___
6:15 p.m.
The Italian
interior ministry says the nation's top security and intelligence officials
will huddle in Rome on Thursday for "an evaluation of the terrorist
threat" after the attacks in London.
The ministry
said minister Marco Minniti convened the Committee of Strategic Anti-terrorism
Analyses following "the tragic facts in London," in which a vehicle
mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and the attacker then stabbed a police
officer outside the British Parliament. At least four people died, including
the attacker and a police officer.
Italian
security was already on high alert for a European Union summit bringing EU
nation leaders to Rome Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican,
and a ceremony in the Italian capital Saturday.
Authorities
are bracing for possible violence during several marches Saturday, drawing
thousands of both pro-and anti-EU participants.
___
___
6:05 p.m.
The head of
counterterrorism at London's Metropolitan Police, says four people have died in
the terror incident in London, including an attacker and a police officer.
Mark Rowley
says some 20 people have been wounded and Parliament was locked down. A search
is underway to make certain no other attackers are in the area — though police
believe there was only one attacker.
Rowley said
the dead policeman was one of the armed officers who guard Parliament. The
other victims were on Westminster Bridge.
Rowley says
"We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only one
attacker. But it would be foolish to be overconfident early on."
___
___
5:50 p.m.
French
President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both
expressed their support and solidarity with Britain after the attacks at the
British Parliament in London.
"We are
all concerned with terrorism," Hollande told reporters Wednesday during a
visit in Villepinte, outside Paris. "France, which has been struck so hard
lately, knows what the British people are suffering today."
Hollande
added that countries "must bring all the conditions to answer these
attacks" and that "it is clear that it is at the European level, and
even beyond that, that we must organize ourselves."
French
Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said "it is a high place of democracy that
has been attacked" and that France is "obviously ready to help."
Merkel said
in a statement Wednesday that she learned "with sorrow" of
Wednesday's incident and her thoughts were "with our British friends and
all of the people of London," in particular those who were injured.
While the
circumstances of the attack were still unclear, "I want to say for Germany
and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain's side in the
fight against all forms of terrorism," she said.
___
___
5:45 p.m.
Russian
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has expressed sympathy to those
injured and condolences to the relatives of those who died in the incident at
Britain's parliament, and has underlined the need for global cooperation in the
fight against terrorism.
"We
don't split terrorism into categories; we consider it as absolute evil. At this
moment, as always, our hearts are together with the British people, we feel
their pain and speak again about the need to confront that evil," she
said.
___
___
5:40 p.m.
British
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was absent from a "family photo" of
officials attending a conference on the Islamic State group in Washington, D.C.
Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson, who was also at the meeting, issued a statement offering
his condolences to the victims.
"The
American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United
Kingdom. We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were
carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no
difference," he said.
State
Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was ready to assist in any way.
"The
safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas is one of our highest priorities.
Our embassy in London is monitoring the situation closely," he added.
___
___
5:30 p.m.
Three
students on a school trip from Saint-Joseph high school in the Brittany town of
Concarneau were among the injured, according to the French foreign ministry.
The ministry
said it is in contact with British authorities.
___
___
5:25 p.m.
French Prime
Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says that French high school students are among the
wounded in the attack in London.
In a tweet
Wednesday, Cazeneuve offered support to the British as well as to "the
French students wounded, their families and their schoolmates."
London is a
common destination for French school trips.
___
___
5:15 p.m.
British port
officials say they pulled a woman from the Thames River following the incident
on Westminster Bridge.
The Port of
London Authority says a female member of the public was recovered from the
river, injured but alive.
The
authority says it has closed the river between Vauxhall Bridge and Embankment
while a major security operation is under way after a suspected terror attack
at the Houses of Parliament in London.
___
___
5:10 p.m.
Britain's
Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government emergency
committee to discuss the response to the terror incident in London.
The
emergency committee known as Cobra coordinates the high-level response to
serious incidents. It brings together government ministers with senior
officials of the emergency services and security and intelligence agencies.
Such
meetings are held after serious incidents such at the July 7, 2005, attack on
London transport services.
The
Wednesday meeting is held in the briefing room of the Cabinet Office on
Whitehall.
___
___
5 p.m.
The London
Ambulance Service says it has treated at least 10 injured people on Westminster
Bridge after a vehicle hit pedestrians.
It says the
first ambulance arrived within six minutes of the first call at 2:40 p.m.
(1440GMT).
Ambulances,
an air ambulance and a Hazardous Area Response Team were all sent to the scene.
One woman
has been confirmed dead, and a body was seen lying in the yard of Parliament,
where a knifeman stabbed a police officer and was shot by police.
People began
leaving the Houses of Parliament about two hours after the incident.
___
___
4:50 p.m.
A senior
police commander says the attack at London's Parliament has been declared a
terrorist incident and "a full counterterrorism investigation is
underway."
Commander
B.J. Harrington says "a number" of people have been injured,
including police officers.
He says
additional police officers, armed and unarmed, will be deployed across London
during the evening rush hour as part of efforts to keep people safe.
___
___
4:35 p.m.
The Scottish
Parliament in Edinburgh suspended its debate on a second independence
referendum after the incident outside the British Parliament in London.
Scottish
lawmakers had been planning to vote after two days of debate on First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon's call for another referendum on leaving the United Kingdom.
The debate
was suspended after some members said it should be halted out of respect after
a policeman was stabbed and his attacker shot in London.
Sturgeon
tweeted that her thoughts were with everyone in Westminster "caught up in
this dreadful incident."
___
___
4:30 p.m.
A doctor
says a woman has died and about a dozen people are hurt, some with
"catastrophic" injuries, after a vehicle apparently hit pedestrians
on Westminster Bridge, near Parliament.
Colleen
Anderson of St Thomas' Hospital says a female pedestrian has died.
Anderson
said: "There were people across the bridge. There were some with minor
injuries, some catastrophic. Some had injuries they could walk away from or who
have life-changing injuries."
She said
there might be a dozen injured in all.
___
___
4:20 p.m.
Poland's
former foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, says he was in a taxi leaving
Westminster and was checking his email when he heard something like a car
crash, "something like a car hitting metal sheet."
"I look
up and I see that a person is lying on the pavement. I started my camera and I
saw more people lying on the street and on the pavement," Sikorski said on
Poland's TVN24.
"People
started running up to them. I saw one person who gave no sign of life, another
man was bleeding from his head. In all, I saw five people who were at least
seriously injured," he said.
"The
taxi driver immediately called the emergency number. I heard ambulances within
two or three minutes, so the rescue action was really very quick. There is a
hospital near there."
"It all
happened so fast that there was no time to get scared," said Sikorski who
posted his video on Twitter.
___
___
4:05 p.m.
The U.S.
State Department says it is closely monitoring the incident outside London's
Parliament and urged Americans in London to avoid the area.
Spokesman
Mark Toner said Wednesday: "We stand ready to assist in any way the U.K.
authorities would find helpful."
He added
that the U.S. Embassy in London is closely following the news and stands ready
to help any affected Americans.
He said:
"Our hearts go out to those affected."
___
___
3:50 p.m.
Witness Rick
Longley told the Press Association that he saw a man stab a policeman outside
Britain's Parliament.
"We
were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy,
someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out," he said.
"They
were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner
by the gates just opposite Big Ben.
"A guy
came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into
the policeman.
"I have
never seen anything like that. I just can't believe what I just saw."
Lawmaker
Adam Holloway told the AP he saw people running and immediately ran into his
offices in Parliament to be with his staff. "A lot of us are locked in
with our staff at the moment," he said.
___
___
3:50 p.m.
The White
House says U.S. President Donald Trump has been briefed on a gun and knife
incident at Britain's Parliament in London.
Trump
himself said during a brief appearance Wednesday before reporters at the White
House that he was just getting the news. He called it "big news."
Trump's
spokesman, Sean Spicer, says the U.S. will continue to monitor the situation
and update the president.
Britain's
Parliament was on lockdown after — according to officials — an assailant
stabbed an officer then was shot by police.
London
Police also said officers were called to an incident on nearby Westminster
Bridge
___
___
3:40 p.m.
British
lawmaker Grant Shapps said on Twitter that he was walking through the cloisters
of the House of Commons to vote when he heard four gunshots. Police told
lawmakers to get down on the ground and crawl to cover.
"Police
response instant. Heard commotion, looked round. Police weapons drawn, 4 shots,
police ordered us to hit ground & get back, get back," he said.
___
___
3:40 p.m.
The former
Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski posted a video on Twitter that seems to
show people lying injured in the road on Westminster Bridge.
Sikorski, a
senior fellow at the Harvard Centre for European Studies, says he saw at least
five people lying on the ground after being "mown down" by a car.
Sikorski
told the BBC he "heard what I thought what I thought was just a collision
and then I looked through the window of the taxi and someone down, obviously in
great distress.
"Then I
saw a second person down, and I started filming, then I saw three more people
down, one of them bleeding profusely."
___
___
3:35 p.m.
London
police say they are treating a gun and knife incident at Britain's Parliament
"as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise."
The
Metropolitan Police says in a statement that the incident is ongoing. It is
urging people to stay away from the area.
Officials
say a man with a knife attacked a police officer at Parliament and was shot by
officers.
There are
also reports of a vehicle hitting pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge.
___
___
3:25 p.m.
A European
security official says there was increased chatter on jihadi networks Tuesday
following the UK's adoption of an electronics ban aboard flights from certain
mostly Muslim countries.
He said,
however, there was no information that the incident was terror-related.
The official
spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about
ongoing security operations.
—By Paisley
Dodds.
___
___
3:15 p.m.
The leader
of Britain's House of Commons says a man attacked a police officer at
Parliament and has been shot by police.
David
Lidington says the Parliament complex is in lockdown.
He says
there are reports of further violent incidents neaby, and police say they have
been called to a firearms incident on nearby Westminster Bridge.
Witnesses
said a vehicle struck several people on the bridge, and photos showed a car
plowed into railings.
___
___
3:05 p.m.
The leader
of Britain's House of Commons says a man has been shot by police at Parliament.
David Lidington also said there were "reports of further violent incidents
in the vicinity."
London's
police said officers had been called to a firearms incident on Westminster
Bridge, near the parliament.
A session of
Parliament was suspended after the incident.
Britain's
MI5 says it is too early to say if the incident is terror-related.
___
___
2:55 p.m.
A session of
Britain's House of Commons has been suspended as witnesses reported hearing
sounds like gunfire nearby.
The Commons'
speaker suspended the session as police responded to an incident.
Journalists
at the Parliament building said they were told to stay in their offices.
The Press
Association news agency reported that two people were seen lying within the
grounds of Parliament.
Police had
no immediate confirmation.
Source: http://www.ajc.com/news/world/the-latest-china-australia-leaders-discuss-london-attack/Rqgeokqn6RrpGq84ksjYuM/
Source: http://www.ajc.com/news/world/the-latest-china-australia-leaders-discuss-london-attack/Rqgeokqn6RrpGq84ksjYuM/
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