London

The US Embassy in London was put into lockdown as police carried out a controlled explosion on a “hoax device”.

The embassy posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday morning saying authorities were investigating a suspicious package outside the complex in Nine Elms.

A cordon was put in place sealing off the building.

The Met Police confirmed it had carried out the explosion after a loud bang was heard in the area.

It later said in a statement on X shortly before 1pm: “Initial indications are that the item was a hoax device. An investigation will now follow. Some cordons will remain in place for the time being but the majority of the police response will now be stood down.”

(in mini europe, brussels)

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/19675702

About 1,000 London buildings including the Houses of Parliament and the National Gallery could soon be warmed by low-carbon heat sourced from the River Thames, London Underground and sewer networks.

Plans to develop the UK’s biggest heat network to supply decarbonised heat to buildings across Westminster were set out on Wednesday by the government as part of its pledge to back seven heat network zones with more than £5m of public funding.

The plan will involve a network of pipes constructed to carry excess heat captured underground to power hot water and central heating systems in the area.

The £1bn scheme will be developed by a joint venture – between heating specialists Hemiko and Vital Energi – known as the South Westminster Area Network partnership, designed to save the area about 75,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, the equivalent to planting 1.2m trees.

A north London man has been found guilty of various terrorism offences after collecting instruction manuals of how to create 3D-printed firearms.

Abdiwahid Abdulkadir Mohamed, 32, was a member of various extreme Islamist groups and was first stopped by counter-terrorism officers at Heathrow Airport in September 2022.

Officers questioned Mohamed and released him but kept the digital devices he had in his possession for closer examination.

As well as Telegram accounts showing his allegiance to extreme Islamist groups, the probe also showed a number of documents that appeared to be instructions on how to create and build 3D-printed firearms.

Officers found that he had set up a private channel, which was only accessible by his account, and that he was using the channel to send and then effectively store the documents without being saved directly to any of his own devices.

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This was also examined and officers found further evidence of his extremist mind-set, and that he had also carried out a search for 3D printers on eBay.

He was charged with six counts of possessing documents likely to be useful for committing or preparing an act of terrorism and found guilty last week.

A statue of Daniel Kaluuya in his hit film Get Out has been unveiled in London’s Leicester Square but has already sparked a debate about the choice of moment being represented from the horror movie.

Kaluuya, was chosen from a poll of 5,000 British film fans as the actor people would most like to see recognised with a new statue in Leicester Square, winning one fifth of the vote.

The Judas and the Black Messiah actor will join a collection of figures, including Harry Potter, Batman, Mr Bean, Wonder Woman, Mary Poppins and Gene Kelly as part of the “Scenes in the Square” trail.

Despite the obvious prestige of a young Black British actor being acknowledged in such a manner, the actual choice of scene from the 2017 Oscar winning film has raised eyebrows.

The scene depicted is when Kaluuya’s character Chris is hypnotised and figuratively falls into a dark void called the "sunken place". Although the moment is visually stunning, it is arguably not as well remembered an image as when Chris is sitting in an armchair with tears running down his face.

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Some were slightly more complimentary with one person joking: “Good for him. Getting honoured next to Paddington and Mr Bean is about the most an Englishman can hope to do in the arts these days.”