Oxford Street To Be Pedestrianised By 2020

The ban will be first implemented on the eastern section

Oxford Street is to be pedestrianised by 2020, the Mayor of London has announced.

The central London street is one of London's busiest shopping areas.

New Mayor Sadiq Khan's plan will mean all vehicles being banned from Tottenham Court Road right up to beyond department store Selfridges and the entrance to Bond Street Tube.

Currently cars are banned on most of Oxford Street between 7am and 7pm except for Sundays, but it remains a major thoroughfare for buses and taxis.

Work on the 1.2-mile stretch of road will be rolled out in two stages to keep disruption to the minimum, deputy mayor for transport Valerie Shawcross told the London Assembly.

 The ban will be coming into force in the eastern section first, from Oxford Circus onwards.

The move is part of a commitment from Mr Khan - who took over in May from new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in May - to tackle air pollution in the city.

Mr Khan has already said he will introduce a charge for the most polluting of vehicles.

The pedestrianisation will coincide with the opening of Crossrail, the new train line that will cross London from east to west. 

IS Confirms Death Of 'Omar The Chechen'

A news agency closely affiliated with Islamic State has said one of the terror group's top military commanders has been killed in combat.

In March, the Pentagon had said Omar al Shishani, described as the extremist organisation's "minister of war", had likely been killed in a US airstrike in Syria.

Although this is the first time IS appears to have confirmed his death, the Aamaq news agency said the fighter, who was born in Georgia, was "martyred" in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

IS supporters have expressed praise for al Shishani, who had a distinctive ginger beard and was a visible member of the group.

He was also known as Omar the Chechen.

Some social media users have vowed to launch a fresh offensive in his honour.

Islamic State had denied al Shishani's death in March but failed to provide proof he was still alive.

Observers say this may have been an attempt to allow time for the terror group to appoint his successor.

Born in 1986, al Shishani was a close military adviser to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi - not least because of his experience fighting as a Chechen rebel against Russian troops.

He was one of America's most wanted militants before his death, with officials offering a reward of up to $5m for information that would lead to his removal from the battlefield.

The Pentagon says it is aware of the Aamaq agency's report on al Shishani, but refused to confirm or deny its authenticity.

Iraqi forces are continuing to advance towards Mosul, which is the largest city that remains under IS control.

Interest Rates Expected To Hit New Record Low

The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates later for the first time in more than seven years, in a move forced on policymakers after Britain voted to leave the EU.

The governor, Mark Carney, hinted after the referendum result that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) could this summer cut the base rate and pump cash into the economy through its quantitative easing, or asset purchase programme.

Such moves would be aimed at stimulating growth in an economy that was already slowing ahead of the Brexit vote. 

Financial markets see a reduction in rates from 0.5% to 0.25%, with economists at Hargreaves Lansdown suggesting it is "now probable" rates will be cut at midday.

If they are, it will mark interest rates down below the 0.5% rate introduced by the Bank at the height of the financial crisis in 2009.

This would be good news for borrowers, and reduce many mortgage holders' monthly bills, depending on whether their deal is directly tied to the base rate.

Homeowners with fixed rate mortgages will not benefit from the cut until their deal expires.

Those on a 'tracker' mortgage will benefit immediately, as if interest rates fall, the tracker mortgage repayments will fall as well.

However it means a dismal outlook for savers, who have already seen their returns all but vanish.  

When interest rates drop, it will be even cheaper for banks to borrow money from wholesale funds, and therefore, they don't need savers' cash.

The knock-on effect, is that interest rates for savers may plummet further.

Rachel Springall, from the financial information website Moneyfacts.co.uk said the average rate for a two-year fixed bond has fallen from 3.34% in 2009 to 1.39% in July.

"A cut in interest rates is not necessarily guaranteed to be passed on in full by providers but it's clear to see this could ignite and opportunity for them to cut their savings interest rates further still," she said.

But, Mr Carney has stressed of his reluctance to reduce rates below 0.25%, and has warned: "If interest rates are too low or negative, the hit to bank profitability could perversely reduce credit availability or even increase its overall price."

The chief economist at IHS Global Insight, Howard Archer, believes that The Bank is utilising a number of measures to help bolster the economy, as well as cutting rates: "We suspect the Bank of England will extend its Funding for Lending scheme and it may very well also return to quantitative easing, which has been on hold since November 2012 with the stock purchases of £375bn."

More Hires And Fires On May's First Full Day

Theresa May is set to continue hiring and firing Cabinet ministers as she begins her first full day as the UK's Prime Minister.

It is anticipated that a significant proportion of the remaining top roles, which include Health Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary, will be given to women.

There are some potentially interesting decisions to come, such as whether leadership rival Andrea Leadsom will be given a position, and where allies including Chris Grayling, Justine Greening and Brandon Lewis may fall in the new line-up.

Meanwhile, the wait continues for the likes of Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, whose ministerial careers have been left hanging in the balance as Mrs May selects her team.

Speculation is growing that the new PM might reorganise some government departments, too - with newly created roles such as International Trade Secretary likely absorbing some of the responsibilities typically delegated to the Department for Business.

Last night, Mrs May received congratulations from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

During the phone calls, she "emphasised her commitment to leave the European Union", according to Number 10.

It followed the first round of Cabinet appointments, which saw the surprise selection of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary.

That announcement was an early indicator that Mrs May is taking a "you wanted it, you sort it out" attitude to Brexit.

This became even clearer when Leave campaigner David Davis was given the new role of Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

Another Vote Leave supporter, Liam Fox, was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade - meaning the UK's representatives abroad thus far are all politicians who campaigned to leave the EU.

Last night, Mr Johnson said he was "humbled" and "proud" to be asked to serve as Foreign Secretary.

It comes less than two weeks after he pulled out of the Conservative leadership race.

Others were less pleased, with Labour leadership contender Angela Eagle turning her back on an audience mid-speech after she learned about Mr Johnson's appointment.

She appeared lost for words.

The biggest departure from the Cabinet yesterday was George Osborne.

The Chancellor who warned of post-Brexit disaster has been replaced by Philip Hammond, who will no doubt be re-examining those Treasury reports.

Amber Rudd, a Remainer and staunch supporter of Mrs May during her brief campaign, received the next biggest job - enjoying a significant promotion from Energy Secretary to Home Secretary.

The upcoming flurry of appointments and disappointments is all in another day's work for Mrs May, who has already had the most extraordinary fortnight of her career.

In a speech in Downing Street, the UK's second female Prime Minister said the decisions of her administration would not be driven by the interests of the "privileged few".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn welcomed Mrs May's focus on helping the less well-off, but repeated his party's calls for her to hold a snap General Election.

Fire Hero Police Officer Up For Bravery Award

An officer who ran into a blazing house five times to rescue a family is one of 69 competing in the Police Bravery Awards.

PC Sean Cannon was on a call at the other end of a street in Bradford when he heard shouts for help.

"I saw smoke billowing out of a door and a kid at a window ledge, preparing to jump with a neighbour waiting to catch him.

"I heard people shouting 'babies, babies' so I took it there were other kids inside, so I ran into the house."

PC Cannon, of the West Yorkshire force, kept returning to the terraced house to pull out various family members from different rooms, as flames and smoke filled the property.

The 45-year-old said: "I got upstairs and there was thick, choking smoke, coming down like a black liquid. I got on my knees and took a breath and thought 'I'm in trouble here'.

"I found a couple of children in the bedrooms and came running out with them. Someone said I had one under each arm and threw them at him, but I don't remember that."

He went in again, ran up the stairs and got on his knees to feel around for more trapped people.

"Thankfully, I felt a pair of ankles and found another child, brought him out, went back and got another child."

But even then his heroics were not over, as he was told there was a relative in an attic bedroom.

He said: "I got up there and found this lady who didn't speak English and was too frightened to move. I had to drag her down two flights of stairs, shielding her face in my chest through the flames, until we got outside."

PC Cannon rescued five members of the Herak family, originally from Slovakia - two boys aged three and 13, two girls aged five and nine and their great aunt was was 59.

The officer said: "It was a great relief when I finally got everyone out. Two minutes later the fire brigade turned up."

Most of the forces in England and Wales have nominees in the 21st Police Bravery awards, organised by the Police Federation union of rank-and-file officers.

The regional and national winners will be announced during a dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London tonight.

PC Ian Molineaux confronted a man with a knife

Scotland Yard firearms officer PC Ian Molineaux, who protects politicians, faced a threat of a different kind during an off-duty trip to his local shopping centre in Essex.

A troubled teenager walked in brandishing an 11-inch kitchen knife and began threatening shoppers.

For ten minutes PC Molineaux confronted the youth and drew him away from others, at one point grabbing a cardboard tray from a fruit stall to fend off knife thrusts.

He said: "I tried to go into police mode, keeping him close but not too close, and trying to talk to him, but it wasn't registering. He kept coming towards me, slashing. I thought he was going to tomahawk me, throw the knife at me.  I just hoped local officers were on their way to help."

Eventually, two Essex police officers arrived and tasered the attacker and allowed PC Molineaux to be reunited with his family waiting nearby.

He said: "I was relieved, I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't intervened and he had gone on to stab someone. At least my daughter now knows what I do for a living!"

Another Essex officer is nominated for rescuing a woman who was determined to drown herself in the Thames estuary off Southend.

Dog handler PC David Bridge was called to the seafront at 1am and searched for the missing woman.

He said: "The tide was in , a high tide, and I could see with my search light the top half, head and shoulders, of a female walking in the sea away from the shore. 

"I waded out, chest deep, and caught up with her and saw she had cut both her wrists. She still had the razor blades in her hands and I had to squeeze her wounds together to try to stop the bleeding."

But the woman refused to let the officer walk her back to dry land and he had to think quickly.

"I remembered from the last time she went missing that she had left her dog at home and I could hear my dog Diesel barking in the van, so I suggested she came with me to meet Diesel. Suddenly, she completely changed and said 'yes, ok, I'll come with you' and I got her out of the sea."

Just as PC Bridge handed the woman to waiting paramedics he got a call about a stolen vehicle. He went off in pursuit, still dripping wet from the sea rescue.

May Reshuffle: Will Half Cabinet Be Women?

Theresa May is expected to appoint a record number of women to senior Government positions as she reshuffles her Cabinet.

It has been suggested it could put the number of women in Cabinet from a third to half as she launches her premiership later today.

Among those touted to land big jobs are Amber Rudd, the Energy Secretary, who campaigned for Remain, Employment Minister and Brexiter Priti Patel and International Development Secretary Justine Greening.

In 2015, seven of David Cameron's 22-strong Cabinet were women - the record is Tony Blair's eight.

Mrs May has been lauded for her work to recruit women MPs to the Conservative Party.

:: May To Be Handed Keys To Nuclear Red Button

Sky's Political Editor Faisal Islam said: "One in three Cabinet members are women right now.

"It looks like she's going to try to push that up to half - that would be five more Cabinet ministers who are women.

"This would suggest more than just a reshuffle, but a reconfiguration of the Cabinet."

One of the first appointments is expected to be a secretary of state for the so-called Brexit department.

Mrs May's spokesperson saying she is committed to getting on with "delivering the verdict of the EU referendum" and she has pledged "Brexit should mean Brexit".

:: Removal Men At Number 10 - But Where Will Cameron Go?

Both current Leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling and former defence secretary Liam Fox, who both campaigned for Leave, have been tipped for the Brexit job.

Skills minister Nick Boles has already announced he will no longer be skills minister and will return to the backbenches - he was campaign manager for Boris Johnson and later Michael Gove.

He was forced to apologise ahead of the second round of Conservative leadership voting for sending a text to May supporters urging them to lend a vote to Mr Gove to scupper the hopes of Andrea Leadsom.

Mrs May will begin making her appointments on Wednesday evening after seeing the Queen, where she will be invited to become Prime Minister.

Earlier, Mr Cameron delivered his last Prime Minister's Questions taunting Labour over the Tories' 2-0 victory on women prime ministers.

But he repeatedly warned Mrs May it was vital in Brexit negotiations the UK should get access to the Single Market.

:: The Six Tasks Facing Theresa May As PM

Mrs May will attempt to unify the party by offering major roles to colleagues who campaigned on both sides of the EU referendum.

The move to accommodate more eurosceptics could spell the end of some current Cabinet careers, while considerably changing the course of others.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond could be in line for a job swap with Chancellor George Osborne.

It remains to be seen if there will be a role for Boris Johnson, or whether Michael Gove will retain his place as Justice Secretary.

eBay Bans Macabre Auctions Of Human Skulls

eBay has banned the sales of human body parts after hundreds of mystery skulls were sold for up to $5,500 (£4,150).

Until last week, the auction site had allowed the sale of skulls and skeletons "intended for medical use".

But because no proof of the usage was needed, it is believed many were simply sold as macabre curios.

It has been suggested by one academic that many of the skulls may have originated from India and China, and may be from disinterred human remains.

A study by the Louisiana Department of Justice in Baton Rouge tracked skull sales on eBay for seven months.

A loophole in eBay's terms and conditions was exploited

During that time, it said 237 people listed 454 skulls for sale, with opening bids reaching up to $5,500.

This week eBay updated its terms of service, adding skulls and skeletons to its list of prohibited sale items.

Tanya Marsh, from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, told the New Scientist: "We should have strong moral problems with that.

"They don't say how long the skeletons have been skeletons.

"You can't tell just by looking at them.

"It's possible that some of them are disinterred human remains."

The study - entitled "They Sell Skulls Online?!" - was published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

It suggested the skeletons that have appeared on eBay were mostly donated to medical science, but many may have been recovered from archaeological digs.

The report said: "Ultimately, the goal is to stem the commodification of such items and to recover skeletal material, especially that which may be of archaeological or forensic significance, and provide the proper final disposition for such material."

The team complained that despite many US states having laws that restrict the sale of human remains, the majority of the eBay sellers were based in America.

It added: "Those laws have questionable deterrent effect."