A number of people are believed to have been injured in an incident at London Bridge, police have said.
The Met said they were called to a stabbing at a premises near the bridge just before 14:00.
The force said they had detained a man. London Ambulance Service has declared a "major incident".
The BBC's John McManus, at the scene, said he had seen a group of men in a fight on the bridge. Police then arrived and shots were fired, he said.
British Transport Police said London Bridge station was currently closed and no trains would be stopping there.
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Police have advised people near the scene to follow directions from officers on the ground.
McManus told the BBC News channel: "Just a few minutes ago I was walking across London Bridge on the south bank to the north bank of the bridge.
"There appeared to be a fight going on on the other side of the bridge, with several men attacking one man.
"Police then quickly arrived, including armed police, and then a number of shots were fired at this man."
Noa Bodner, who is stuck in a restaurant on London Bridge. told BBC News channel: "There was a rush of people coming in and everybody basically dived under the tables.
"We were told to keep away from the windows, people that came from the outside were saying that shots were fired."
She said the manager ran to lock the doors and staff told people to move away from the front of the restaurant.
She said the mood was "calm", "some people seem a bit distressed, but they're being looked after by friends or staff".
People set off fireworks as they celebrated his resignation in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, after anti-government protests, which began on October 1, swept through the country against alleged government corruption and Iranian involvement in the country's affairs.
In the statement, Abdul Mahdi said he would submit a resignation request to parliament "to consider its options, with the knowledge that those near and far are aware that I had already made this decision known."
He called on Iraq's government to "act in the interests of Iraq; to preserve the blood of its people; and to avoid slipping into a cycle of violence, chaos and devastation."
Abdul Mahdi said his resignation was in response to the Friday sermon of Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who referenced the "failure of respective agencies to handle developments over the past two months."
The news comes after the Iranian consulate in the southern city of Najaf was attacked on Wednesday. Mahdi ordered an investigation on Thursday into the deaths of at least 31 people.
More than 1,000 people were injured over three days of demonstrations across Iraq from November 26 to November 28, the country's Independent High Commission for Human Rights said Thursday.
In total, more than 300 people have been killed and 15,000 injured in Iraq since the protests began. Protesters have demanded the government step down and hold early elections under direct supervision of the United Nations, activists told CNN.
Many Iraqis blame the current political parties in power for their economic hardship.
Officials have imposed curfews, internet blackouts, and deployed lethal force in attempts to quash the protests. The government said it only shoots when attacked, but demonstrators have disputed that.
A photo from the Facebook page of Brad Gobright shows the Californian free solo climber scaling a sheer rock face. Gobright died in a fall off a Mexican peak on November 27, 2019, according to Mexican authorities.
Brad Gobright/Facebook
Mexico City — Civil defense officials in northern Mexico reported Thursday that California mountain climber Brad Gobright died in a fall. The fall occurred Wednesday at an almost sheer rock face known as Sendero Luminoso on the Potrero Chico peak near the northern city of Monterrey.
The Nuevo Leon state's civil defense office said Gobright fell about 300 yards.
The publication Rock and Ice described Gobright, 31, as a native of Orange County, California, who was "one of the most accomplished free solo climbers in the world."
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Mexican officials said Gobright was accompanied by another foreign climber when the accident occurred. The civil defense office described the area as "inaccessible."
In a statement, the office said, "we extend our sympathies and support to the rock climbing community."
Ten global partners of Alibaba beat the gong during the company's listing on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Market on November 26, 2019.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Hong Kong has been engulfed in anti-government protests for months, but the city's capital markets have remained an important gateway between China and the world, according to an industry association.
That's despite China ramping up efforts to open up its financial sector to foreign investors, said Mark Austen, chief executive at Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or Asifma. China has recently announced its plans to scrap limits on foreign stakes and quotas for foreign securities investment.
"China needs to move from an over reliance on bank lending to one where they have a dynamic, liquid capital market to fund their economic growth going forward," Austen told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Friday.
"But we still see Hong Kong as being that conduit to enter and exit China in the medium term because it's really the only option that exists for China to connect to the outside world," he added.
Hong Kong's edge over China lies in its openness to foreign investors and "strong rule of law," which are important to maintain, said Austen. That appeal is evident in Chinese tech giant Alibaba's recent Hong Kong listing, which attracted strong demand from investors, he noted.
Alibaba's secondary listing — the world's largest offering so far this year — came at a time when business sentiment in Hong Kong has taken a hit amid the protests, which at times involved violent clashes between protesters and the police.
"In spite of what's going on in Hong Kong at the moment, Alibaba has proven that the market (in Hong Kong) is still stable, it's still liquid," said Austen.
Still, China's opening up is a trend that looks set to continue, but the extent and pace depend on financial stability in the country, said Michael Taylor, chief credit officer for Asia Pacific at Moody's Investors Service.
"I think the commitment is very strong. The authorities have shown their willingness to open up markets," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Friday.
"Obviously, that's subject to other policy constraints that they have. One of the overarching objectives is to maintain stability. So, any opening up is going to be subject to its impact in terms of overall financial stability."
Kim Jong Un’s regime has set a year-end deadline for the U.S. to comply with its demands, threatening to escalate its provocations in 2020.
Photo:
Associated Press
SEOUL—North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles toward the waters off its east coast, according to South Korea’s military, in another weapons test aimed at increasing pressure on the U.S. to provide sanctions relief amid stalled denuclearization talks.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry on Thursday said the North conducted the test at about 4:59 p.m. local time a few miles from the North Korean port city of Hamhung, near a town believed to host a military airfield.
The latest provocation marks the North’s 14th weapons test of this year, according to South and North Korean government announcements, and follows a visit by leader
Kim Jong Un
to a military base near the Yellow Sea days earlier to oversee the testing of coastal artillery.
Experts said the tests signal Pyongyang’s growing impatience with Washington, which has been reluctant to ease sanctions that have hurt North Korea’s economy. Mr. Kim has repeatedly said economic growth is a major policy goal this year.
“North Korea is trying to tell the U.S. these weapons tests can become much more frequent, if the Americans don’t yield concessions,” said Shin Beom-cheol, a former adviser to the South Korean government and now a senior researcher at the Seoul-based Asan Institute, a private think tank.
“They are also separately testing the reactions of the U.S. and South Korean militaries to these weapons tests,” he said.
Pyongyang has escalated its threats in recent weeks to cut off negotiations with the U.S., protesting scheduled U.S.-South Korea military exercises and attacking Washington’s “hostile” policy against the isolated regime. Last week it rejected President Trump’s latest invitation for another nuclear summit.
The Kim regime has set a year-end deadline for the U.S. to comply with its demands, threatening to escalate its provocations in 2020.
“Washington is too busy with the impeachment hearings, and appears to be ignoring Kim Jong Un’s year-end ultimatum,” said
Nam Sung-wook,
a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University. “Kim loses face the more Washington looks like it ignores him. Weapons tests give him an excuse to tell his people that he stood up to U.S. sanctions and bullying.”
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang haven’t made much progress since a summit between Messrs.
Trump
and Kim in February ended without a deal. In June, Mr. Trump made an impromptu visit to the demilitarized zone on the inter-Korean border to meet Mr. Kim and agreed to restart working-level negotiations. But talks collapsed almost as soon as they resumed in October, with North Korean diplomats walking out after accusing their American counterparts of not offering adequate economic and security concessions.
Despite test-firing short-range missiles and rockets since April, Pyongyang has refrained from testing long-range missiles or nuclear warheads since November 2017—something that Mr. Trump has claimed as a foreign-policy win and which North Korea has said that it expects to be rewarded for.
In response to the U.S. move, activists chanted “Stand with Hong Kong” and "Save Us," and urged the world to follow in America’s footsteps. Joshua Wong, a prominent activist who was among democracy supporters who lobbied for the new U.S. laws, praised them as a “remarkable achievement,” with human rights triumphing over crucial U.S.-China trade talks.
On Wednesday, Trump signed two bills into law. One prescribes economic sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials found guilty of human rights abuses. The second bill bans the export of certain nonlethal munitions to the former British colony’s police.
A protester holds American flags during a demonstration in Hong Kong's financial district on Thursday.Kin Cheung / AP
“I signed these bills out of respect for President Xi, China, and the people of Hong Kong,” said Trump in a statement released by the White House. “They are being enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong will be able to amicably settle their differences leading to long term peace and prosperity for all.”
China, which has been struggling to contain anti-government protests roiling Hong Kong for nearly six months, responded with a stream of angry replies.
“We urge the U.S. to not continue going down the wrong path, or China will take countermeasures, and the U.S. must bear all consequences,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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The editor of the Global Times, a newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, responded sarcastically to Trump’s message.
“Out of respect for President Trump, the U.S. and its people, China is considering [putting] the drafters of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act on the no-entry list, barring them from entering Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao,” Hu Xijin wrote in a post on Twitter.
Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong expressed “extreme anger” toward the U.S., and added that Hong Kong belongs to China and “the Chinese have the ability to deal with Hong Kong affairs.”
Nov. 26, 201903:04
Hong Kong's government joined in, describing the bills’ passage as “unnecessary and unwarranted,” and warning that they would strike a blow against the “relations and common interests” of Hong Kong and the U.S.
Thousands, many waving American flags, gathered in Hong Kong's financial district to celebrate the bills signed by Trump.
“This rally is to show our gratitude to America and also President Trump for passing the bill,” said Sunny Cheung, the rally organizer.
Student David So agreed.
“I think it’s a happy news,” he said. “It’s an international recognition on today’s Hong Kong situation.”
“Ultimately it’s up to us. The bills have their deterrent effects but Hong Kongers are the real ones who fight on,” he added.
Millions of Hong Kongers initially took to the streets over the summer to protest a controversial extradition bill that many feared would extend Beijing’s control over the city. The amorphous movement has developed wider demands for greater democracy, such as establishing an independent commission of inquiry into police brutality and universal suffrage.
So the U.S. bills are a major boost for the protesters, according to Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong.
“Certainly, a lot of us are quite helpless in front of Beijing and Carrie Lam's administration and the police,” he said, referring to the territory's beleaguered chief executive. “I think what worries the Chinese authorities [is] the turning tide in the public opinion of the United States and the Western world.”
