BBC Weather

A dry afternoon is expected with lengthy sunny spells and just a light breeze. Maximum temperature: 13 to 16°C (55 to 61°F).

Millicent Barnes is accused of threatening to stab a 15-month-old on a Central Line Tube train.

Police refuse to comment on reports Ian Tomlin was attacked for confronting suspected drug dealers.

Over 2,400 sexual offences were reported on the Transport for London (TfL) network last year

Officers found the modified Italian revolver wrapped inside a sock.

The cleric is said to have refused to take part in deradicalisation courses while in prison.

Arsenal are flying high under new manager Unai Emery, but do the statistics suggest they are performing better than expected?

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

The venues for the sports in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have been officially confirmed today. , external

Many of them were already known, such as athletics at the Alexander Stadium, netball in Coventry and London's Lee Valley Velo Park hosting track cycling.

However, organisers admit a city centre location in Birmingham for the 3x3 basketball and wheelchair basketball is yet to be confirmed.

They also say additional sports could be added to the games such as cricket and shooting when a decision's made on them next spring.

The city was named host city for the £750m showpiece in December - the most expensive sports event to be held in Britain since the London Olympics.

Image source, Getty Images

One in three UK school children were unable to pick out William Shakespeare as a playwright from a group of other famous names, a survey carried out by LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) found.

The children, aged 11-18, were given a list of 13 people including Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and Neville Chamberlain but 31% could not identify the Bard as a writer of plays.

The figure is worse for grammar school students with half unable to spot the famous writer.

The questionnaire also found 47% of state school children have never been to a play as part of a school trip while 65% have never taken part in a school play.

Joanna Read, the principal of LAMDA, called the results of the survey "shocking".

"The arts are a right, not a privilege, and today we are seeing fewer and fewer children being given the opportunity to access, enjoy and learn from them,” she said.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, Labour 620

Hackney Labour has held on to its council seat in Victoria ward’s by-election yesterday.

The vote was triggered when former Cllr Alex Kuye was forced to stand down from the council due to ill health.

A relatively healthy turnout of 25% was seen across the south Hackney constituency, which victorious candidate Penny Wrout attributed to a hard-fought campaign between her own party, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.

Cllr Wrout (Lab, Victoria), said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I’m really looking forward to serving in my own ward.

“I’m thrilled about the turnout. I think it’s because the Greens, the Lib Dems and ourselves all worked really, really hard, so lots of people knew about the election, where in an ordinary by-election they wouldn’t have done.

“I think it is an endorsement of a successfull Labour administration here. Hackney Labour is showing the way forward in terms of progressive local government.

“We have lots of ideas which are being picked up and adopted around the country, not only by Labour councils but sometimes by Conservative ones too."

Wrout secured the votes of 1,311 residents for her victory. The Liberal Democrats came in second with 436 votes, and the Greens in third with 296.

The Lib Dems saw their vote share increase by 10%.

Australian cricket legend Shane Warne predicts this weekend's Premier League scores - including a big win for his team Chelsea against Manchester United.

Picking wild produce is banned in London's Royal Parks to protect the local wildlife.

Commuters using London's Paddington station are being warned there could be further disruption today.

Image source, PA

The chaos was caused by damage to 500m of overhead power cables inflicted during a train test run on Tuesday.

Network Rail engineers have been carrying out repairs but one line will remain out of action for electric trains.

Some disruption continued between London and Reading on Thursday.

Three other men were found not guilty of killing Jozef Boci.

Former counter-terrorism chief says stop giving extremists publicity to tackle extremism.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Image source, PA

A survey carried out by the London Assembly found that 59% of people questioned supported the idea of Tube lines and stations being sponsored by companies.

The questionnaire also found there was overall support for adding more electronic screens on TfL's networks with 72% backing the move.

Chairman of the assembly's budget and performance committee, Gareth Bacon, said: “Londoners have surprised us with how open they are to helping Transport for London (TfL) raise money via advertising.

“Now we know what they do and do not like to be exposed to on their journeys around the transport network – we can make recommendations to TfL in the hope they are able to raise some much-needed cash.”

However, when asked whether TfL would be using any of the ideas in the report to get more money from advertising to reduce the deficit it failed to answer.

Graeme Craig, director of commercial development at TfL, said: “We generated a record £200 million in commercial revenues for the first time last year and forecast further growth through harnessing smarter and more engaging ways in which to advertise.

“All revenue will be reinvested in improving the transport network for Londoners.”

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Contractors who sign deals with Kensington and Chelsea council will have to pay their staff the London Living Wage.

Politicians said the council should make sure that all new contracts and re-tendering will ensure that employees get the London Living Wage as a minimum in their pay packet.

The voluntary LLW is £10.20 an hour and was introduced in 2016. Outside the capital the UK living wage is £8.75 an hour.

The Conservative motion follows a three-day strike in August by cleaning contractors who work at the town hall in Hornton Street.

The cleaners described how some of them were unable to afford the bus fare to get to work and how some of them travelled long hours to get to the town hall.

David Rhodes
BBC Yorkshire

About 13 million adults in the UK live in areas where at least half of the local banks and building societies have closed, analysis by the BBC reveals.

Figures from theOffice for National Statistics (ONS), externalshow nearly 6,000 local branches have shut since 2010, a fall of a third.

The consumer group Which? called the number of closures "alarming".

The closure of bank branches and building societies has also contributed to the loss of over 1,400 free to use cash machines in the first eight months of 2018.

Analysing the data published by Link, external, the BBC found each parliamentary constituency had on average eight free to use cash machines per 10,000 residents in August.

Major city centres such as Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds have more than 15 machines per 10,000 residents, with more than 60 per 10,000 in the centre of London.

Inside Croydon

After a 50-year absence, and a nine-year battle by local residents, Crystal Palace is finally getting its own cinema again.

Full story, external

BBC London Travel
BBC Radio London Travel