A 19-year-old woman, believed to be an Indian national who is thought to have arrived in the UK recently, has been stabbed to death.
A 23-year-old man who was known to the victim was arrested at the scene in Croydon, south London, on suspicion of murder and taken to hospital after suffering a minor head injury.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to a home in Ash Tree Way on Sunday afternoon.
A 19-year-old woman was found with stab injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Met said in a statement: "The woman is believed to be an Indian national who is thought to have arrived in the United Kingdom relatively recently. Officers are working to trace and inform her family."
The force said no one else is being sought in connection with the murder investigation.
Police are appealing for witnesses, including anyone who saw or heard a disturbance at the address.
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
Sir Keir Starmer has been warned Labour could lose seats over his stance on the Hamas conflict, as more frontbenchers defied his leadership by openly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A host of shadow ministers broke ranks with Sir Keir on Saturday to voice their support for the move – either with express endorsements or by sharing a demand from the Labour Friends of Palestine group.
Shadow ministers Naz Shah, Paul Barker and Afzal Khan all challenged Sir Keir’s refusal to support a ceasefire. Shadow veterans minister Rachel Hopkins, shadow local government minister Sarah Owen and shadow domestic violence minister Jess Phillips, and Labour whip Kim Leadbeater all retweeted calls for a ceasefire on X/Twitter.
It means 13 frontbenchers are now opposed to Mr Starmer’s position. Labour MPs have told The Independent that at least 100 of Sir Keir’s MPs – half his parliamentary party – want him to shift stance to avoid losing further support.
They warned the Labour leader that the party faces an “existential threat” in seats with a large number of Muslim voters, as councillors quit and local parties pass motions in favour of a ceasefire.
It comes as a YouGov survey found that 42 per cent of 2019 Labour voters think Sir Keir has handled his response to the conflict badly, while only 26 per cent think he has responded well.
Ms Shah, Mr Starmer’s shadow minister for crime reduction, appeared to stray furthest from the leadership’s position, accusing Israel of “disproportionate attacks on a civilian population” with a post on X, adding: “We cannot be silent.”
Shadow exports minister Mr Khan tweeted: “We need an immediate ceasefire now.” And Ms Barker, who is shadow devolution minister, said she “fully supports these calls”.
Ms Hopkins and Ms Owen – both said to be on resignation watch over the issue – retweeted a ceasefire demand by Labour Friends of Palestine. Shadow solicitor-general Andy Slaughter also retweeted the statement, while Ms Phillips and Ms Leadbeater retweeted UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’s call for a ceasefire.
Keir Starmer is under huge pressure to change his stance on a ceasefire
Shadow minister for small business, Rushanara Ali, shadow development minister Yasmin Qureshi, shadow levelling up minister Imran Hussain, shadow democracy minister Florence Eshalomi, and Mary Foy, a principal private secretary to Angela Rayner, all indicated support for a ceasefire earlier this week.
Ms Phillips criticised Israel’s cutting of communication to Gaza, saying: “How can this be a solution?” Senior Labour MP Sarah Champion, chair of the international development committee, also condemned the move. She said: “How can this be a proportionate response?”
London mayor Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar all broke ranks on Friday to challenge Sir Keir’s stance.
Sir Keir has joined Rishi Sunak in calling for a “humanitarian pause” to allow aid to enter Gaza. But he has consistently argued that Israel has the right to defend itself after the attack by Hamas terrorists.
The Labour leader has also angered many in the party with comments on LBC Radio in which he appeared to back the cutting of power and water to Gaza – which he clarified 10 days later, insisting: “I was not saying that Israel had the right to cut off water, food, fuel or medicines.”
One Labour MP said Mr Starmer had made a “catastrophic decision” to stick with Israel “unconditionally” – arguing that it had alienated millions of voters. “He’s got himself into a serious mess,” they said.
The backbencher told The Independent: “There is an existential threat to a lot of Labour seats with a large number of Muslims voters. I know it’s about a humanitarian disaster – but people do count numbers and worry about their seats. There are MPs on the right of the party and soft left who are very uneasy.”
They added: “A wide group are really, really unhappy. I would say around 100 MPs [want a ceasefire]. The numbers are moving away from him [Sir Keir] quite rapidly. So I can’t see how the position will hold, especially if there’s wider escalation in the conflict.”
Keir Starmer visited the South Wales Islamic Centre mosque last weekend
(Labour Party)
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, who helped organise a meeting between Sir Keir and Muslim MPs this week, said: “I certainly hope Keir does [back a ceasefire]. We had a very productive meeting. We were heard, we’re now in dialogue. That’s positive.”
While more than 50 MPs have gone public with their support for a ceasefire, many more are believed to be unhappy – and four shadow cabinet ministers are reportedly on resignation watch as the leadership battles to shore up support for the position.
Another Labour MP said there were “easily” 100 MPs who wanted to change the position. They added: “I fear there will be people around Starmer telling him he needs to stick to backing the US and Israel – telling him he has to be willing to burn our base.”
Over 300 Labour councillors have now signed an open letter to Sir Keir backing calls for a ceasefire. And the Romford Constituency Labour Party (CLP) voted unanimously for a motion backing a ceasefire and opposing an Israeli ground invasion – the first CLP to do so.
Party sources made clear the Labour leader was not about to change his position on Friday despite the revolt from the mayors in London and Greater Manchester and the Scottish party leader.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Of course, we understand why people want to call for a ceasefire. The Palestinian people are not Hamas, and they are suffering terribly. That’s why we support humanitarian pauses ... We also have to recognise Israel was subject to a vile terrorist attack. Israel has a right and a duty to defend itself.”
Meanwhile, ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed pro-Palestine protesters in Parliament Square on Saturday. He was scathing about the government’s decision to abstain on a UN general assembly vote on a humanitarian truce. “It is an eternal stain that the British government abstained on that vote,” said Mr Corbyn.
Senior Tory MP Alicia Kearns, chair of parliament’s foreign affairs select committee, said she supported the humanitarian truce voted for in the UN. The UK government criticised the motion’s failure to include unequivocal condemnation of Hamas’s terrorist attacks.
Ice hockey player Adam Johnson has died after a “freak accident” during Nottingham Panthers’ Challenge Cup match with Sheffield Steelers on Saturday night.
The 29-year-old American reportedly suffered a slashed neck during the second period of the game at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena.
Nottingham Panthers said on Sunday morning: “The Nottingham Panthers are truly devastated to announce that Adam Johnson has tragically passed away following a freak accident at the game in Sheffield last night.”
“The club will dearly miss him and will never ever forget him,” they added.
“Adam, our number 47, was not only an outstanding ice hockey player, but also a great team-mate and an incredible person with his whole life ahead of him.
“The Panthers would like to send our thoughts and condolences to Adam’s family, his partner, and all his friends at this extremely difficult time.
“Everyone at the club including players, staff, management and ownership are heartbroken at the news of Adam’s passing.”
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in cities across Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Asia on Saturday to show support for the Palestinians amid brutal Israeli military onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
In one of the biggest marches, large crowds marched through the centre of the British capital, London, to demand the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak call for a ceasefire.
Saturday’s march in London was mostly peaceful, but police said they had made nine arrests: two for assaults on officers and seven for public order offences – some of which were being treated as hate crimes.
Police estimated the turnout at between 50,000 and 70,000 people.
Echoing Washington’s stance, Sunak’s government has stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, and instead advocated humanitarian pauses to allow aid to reach people in Gaza.
The United Kingdom has supported Israel’s “right to defend” itself after the October 7 attack by Hamas killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
The death toll in Gaza has crossed 7,700, also mostly civilians, since Israel’s bombardment began three weeks ago, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In Malaysia, a large crowd of demonstrators chanted slogans outside the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
An estimated 100,000 people rallied in the southern Indian state of Kerala in solidarity with Palestine.
Addressing hundreds of thousands of supporters at a huge rally in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was an occupier, and repeated his stance about Hamas not being a “terrorist” organisation.
Erdogan drew a sharp rebuke from Israel this week for calling the armed group “freedom fighters”.
Protests were also held in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Palestinian protesters in Hebron in the occupied West Bank called for a global boycott of Israeli products. “Don’t contribute to the killing of the children of Palestine,” they chanted.
Elsewhere in Europe, people took to the streets of Copenhagen, Rome and Stockholm.
Some cities in France have banned rallies since the war began, fearing they could fuel social tensions. But despite a ban in Paris, a small rally took place on Saturday. Several hundred people also marched in the southern city of Marseille.
In New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, thousands of people holding Palestinian flags and placards reading “Free Palestine” marched to Parliament House.
Since then, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 7,500 Palestinians have been killed as Israel carried out retaliatory strikes.
Over the past three weekends huge protests have taken place in major UK cities.
EPA
On Saturday afternoon, crowds gathered near the Golden Jubilee Bridge holding signs saying "Gaza, stop the massacre" and "Free Palestine, end Israeli occupation".
A sound system led people to chant "Stop arming Israel. Stop bombing Gaza" and "We are all Palestinian".
Some in the crowd chanted "from the river to the sea", referring to the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean - a chant UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman had previously urged police chiefs to consider interpreting as an "expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world". Israel and most Jewish groups agree.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and other activists contest this, saying the slogan refers to "the right of all Palestinians to freedom, equality and justice".
During the march in London, an emotional Chrif El Amraoui told the BBC: "Just now marching, I'm crying because children are killed daily. Why? Why do they want more to be killed?"
Abdul Mahfuudi attended the protest with his children and said: "The most important thing for us is for them to stop killing kids. They need to stop."
More than 1,000 Metropolitan Police officers were deployed across London.
Of the nine arrests made, seven were for alleged public order offences, a number of which were being treated as hate crimes, and two were for suspected assaults on officers.
Earlier, the Met Police said one person had been arrested in Whitehall for assaulting an officer.
The officer remains in hospital with a laceration to the head, but "is in good spirits & appreciates all your wishes", the Met added, posting a photo of the officer with his head bandaged and doing a thumbs up.
Another man was arrested in Waterloo Road on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and making threats to kill.
Close to Downing Street, officers appeared to be detaining someone before scuffles broke out with demonstrators, with punches thrown and kicks.
Officers ordered the demonstrators to move away, and one person was carried away to chants of "let him go" from other protesters.
Scotland Yard also issued an appeal to identify two women in connection with an alleged hate crime incident in Trafalgar Square.
Throughout Saturday, the force used public order powers to prevent protesters from gathering outside the Israeli embassy.
It also has put in place extra powers until midnight allowing officers to search a person or vehicle for weapons or dangerous instruments and to require people to remove an item they are wearing "for the purposes of wholly or mainly concealing their identity".
These powers apply across the City of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.
On Saturday evening the force said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that officers were monitoring a group gathered at Piccadilly Circus and would use separate powers to disperse anyone causing anti-social behaviour.
Elsewhere in the UK, thousands attended a pro-Palestinian rally outside Manchester's Central Library at St Peter's Square.
On Friday, the region's mayor Andy Burnham joined international calls for "a ceasefire by all sides and for the hostages to be released unharmed".
A sea of Palestinian flags could be seen in Glasgow, with thousands gathering in George Square in the heart of the city calling for an immediate ceasefire. Some of the crowd clambered onto statues and monuments.
Last weekend, similar numbers of officers were involved in policing demonstrations in London and 10 people were arrested on the day.
A video later emerged online of a pro-Palestinian protester chanting "jihad" at a smaller protest near the main march last weekend, but the Met said it "had not identified any offences arising from the specific clip".
Ahead of this weekend's demonstrations, the force said officers would be expected to intervene if protesters use the word "jihad" in chants.
"Jihad" literally means "effort" or "struggle" in Arabic. In Islam the main meaning is an internal struggle, such as a believer's struggle to live in accordance with their faith.
It can also be an outward struggle or war, which in Islamic teaching must be in self defence and within prescribed limits.
Reuters
Demonstrations have been taking place around the world to call for fighting to stop and for aid to be allowed into Gaza.
Protesters demanding a truce flooded Grand Central Terminal in New York, forcing the station to close temporarily.
Flights with enough crew are taking off but most still delayed
Bristol Live reported that with the number of passengers packing into the departure lounge increasing, those flights that are ready and waiting with the crews all there are now beginning to board - if nothing else, to reduce the number of people waiting in the departure lounge.
The flight to Rome, which was due to depart first this morning at 6.05am, is now on 'final boarding', and other flights - the one to Tenerife, Faro, Lanzarote, Dublin, Alicante, Malaga and Budapest are all boarding.
There are a number of logistical issues around the delays caused by the crash outside the airport. Not only does the airport have to take into consideration the fact that passengers are going to be badly delayed by the road outside being closed - with all the queues for the car parks and lack of access to the car parks for people coming from one side of the airport trying to get to the other side.... but there's the fact that the delays on the roads outside also affects staff at the airport and the flight crews themselves.
One main reason for delaying the flights by at least two hours is to give the flight crews the chance to get in to work too - they will have been just as much delayed by the collision and road closure as the passengers. So the flights that are boarding now have their full contingent of flight crew on board and are ready to go - it's just a case of waiting for passengers.
Other flights may be delayed longer, simply because the pilots or flight assistants haven't made it in yet.
A former KGB double agent can take legal action against the National Crime Agency (NCA) after accusing it of wrongly disclosing his new identity, the High Court has ruled.
Boris Karpichkov - his former name - alleges he received death threats after his new name and address were given to the Latvian authorities by the UK’s law enforcement agency.
The ex-KGB major maintains he is a “dead man walking”, claiming the Russian state gained knowledge of his new identity and that threats written in Russian were sent to his home.
In a High Court judgment on Friday, Master Victoria McCloud ruled against the NCA’s bid to strike out the claim or request a summary judgment, and said Mr Karpichkov’s case, subject to any appeal, can proceed.
Mr Karpichkov - whose current name cannot be made public and did not appear in the ruling - is claiming damages for breaches under the Data Protection Act 2018 and for misuse of his private information.
He worked for the Russian security services for many years and within the Latvian security services before moving to the UK in 1998 as an asylum seeker with his family, eventually being granted British citizenship and a new identity.
The ruling showed that in a previous British court hearing he was found to be in a “unique position to confirm past collaboration by high-ranking Latvian officials with the KGB”.
He was also “likely to be considered a threat to the Russian intelligence services by virtue of his work as a double agent for the Latvian LSP and against Russian state interests and by his on-going outspoken criticism of Russia... (his) life has been at risk since these allegations were first brought.”
Mr Karpichkov alleges that in 2006-7, before the disclosures in the case, he may have also been the victim of a possible chemical or biological attempt on his life.
Latvia attempted to extradite him from the UK, but the High Court quashed a decision agreeing to this, ruling his life would be in danger from “underworld/rogue government elements if he were returned or extradited”.
In 2018 amid a second extradition attempt, the NCA gave the Latvian authorities Mr Karpichkov’s new identity, after which he alleges he began to receive anonymous threats, and in 2019 they received his address, the judgment said.
The NCA argues it had to disclose Mr Karpichkov’s new name and address, which happened pre-Brexit, due to laws governing exchange of information between EU states relating to criminal suspects.
In dismissing the NCA’s application, Master McCloud said it was arguable that the NCA should have considered whether the disclosures were truly required by law after taking into account Human Rights and EU Charter provisions.
