<p>&nbsp;A woman who was injured in the March 22 attack on Westminster has died, police said on Friday, taking the death toll from the incident to six including the attacker.</p>

<p>Police said they believed the woman, who died on Thursday, was Andreea Cristea, a Romanian national who had been visiting London at the time of the attack.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Police have said she fell into the River Thames from Westminster Bridge after being driven at by Khalid Masood who ploughed a rented car into pedestrians and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead.&nbsp;</p>

<p>(Reuters)</p>


The woman is believed to be Andreea Cristea, a Romanian national

A woman who was injured in the March 22 attack on Westminster has died, police said on Friday, taking the death toll from the incident to six including the attacker. Police said they believed the woman, who died on Thursday, was Andreea Cristea, a Romanian national who had been visiting London at the time of the attack. Police have said she fell into the River Thames from Westminster Bridge after being driven at by Khalid Masood who ploughed a rented car into pedestrians and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead. (Reuters)

Woman who fell into Thames during Westminster attack dies in hospital

<p>British police investigating a deadly attack on parliament made a new arrest Sunday as officials set their sights on accessing WhatsApp, the heavily-encrypted messaging service that was used by the killer.</p>

<p>The arrest came four days after the lightening assault that unfolded in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament, in which an apparently lone attacker killed four people and wounded 50 before being shot dead by armed police.</p>

<p>The latest arrest was a 30-year-old man who was detained in the central city of Birmingham on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, London&#39;s Metropolitan Police said.</p>

<p>A dozen people have been arrested since Wednesday&#39;s attack by 52-year-old Khalid Masood, who deliberately ran down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge then stabbed a policeman just inside the gates of parliament.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Nine people have been released without charge, while a 58-year-old man remains in custody and a 32-year-old woman has been released on bail.</p>

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<h5>&#39;You can&#39;t have a situation where you have terrorists talking to each other -- where this terrorist sent a WhatsApp message -- and it can&#39;t be accessed,&#39; home secretary Amber Rudd said</h5>
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<p>The arrest came as the government confirmed Masood had used the WhatsApp messaging service, saying it was crucial that the security services be allowed to access the heavily-encrypted app.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Media reports said Masood used the Facebook-owned service just minutes before staging his assault, although it was unclear whether he sent any messages or just looked at the app.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Speaking to Sky News, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was &quot;completely unacceptable&quot; that police and security services had not been able to crack the heavily-encrypted service.</p>

<p>&quot;You can&#39;t have a situation where you have terrorists talking to each other -- where this terrorist sent a WhatsApp message -- and it can&#39;t be accessed,&quot; she said.</p>

<p>Police had on Saturday acknowledged they may never know why Masood, a Muslim convert with a violent criminal past, carried out the attack and that he probably acted alone, despite a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State group.</p>

<p>&quot;We must all accept that there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this. That understanding may have died with him,&quot; said senior counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu.</p>

<p>Although police believe he acted alone on the day, investigators are still trying to find out whether he was encouraged or directed by others.</p>

<p>Jason Burke at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/23/no-surprise-that-london-attacker-was-born-in-uk" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> made a point of distinction regarding the role Islamic State may have played&nbsp;in the attack: &quot;Significantly, Isis described a &#39;soldier&#39; who responded to its &#39;call&#39;, indicating the group probably did not have prior contact with Masood before the killings.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;There should be no place for terrorists to hide,&quot; Rudd said in a separate interview with the BBC.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We need to make sure that organisations like WhatsApp -- and there are plenty of others like that -- don&#39;t provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other.&quot;</p>

<p>WhatsApp said it was &quot;horrified&quot; by the attack and was working with the investigating authorities without saying whether it would change its encryption policy.</p>

<p>&quot;We are horrified at the attack carried out in London earlier this week and are cooperating with law enforcement as they continue their investigations,&quot; a spokeswoman told AFP.Rudd acknowledged that end-to-end encryption was vital to cyber security, to ensure that business, banking and other transactions were safe -- but said it must also be accessible.</p>

<p>&quot;It&#39;s not incompatible. You can have a system whereby they can build it so that we can have access to it when it is absolutely necessary,&quot; she told Sky News.</p>

<p>Rudd said she did not yet intend to force the industry&#39;s hand with new legislation, but would meet key players on Thursday to discuss this issue, as well as the &quot;constant battle&quot; against extremist videos posted online.</p>

<p>Tech firms and social media players are coming under increasing pressure over extremists using their websites, applications and technology to communicate extremist content.</p>

<p>Last year, US authorities fought a legal battle with tech giant Apple to get it to unlock a smartphone used by one of the shooters in a 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California.</p>

<p>The FBI&#39;s own experts ended up breaking into the device.</p>

<p>And Google has faced a boycott by companies whose adverts appear alongside extremist content on its internet platforms, particularly its video-sharing site YouTube.</p>

<p>(AFP)</p>


The government said it was crucial they be allowed to access Khalid Masood's WhatsApp

British police investigating a deadly attack on parliament made a new arrest Sunday as officials set their sights on accessing WhatsApp, the heavily-encrypted messaging service that was used by the killer. The arrest came four days after the lightening assault that unfolded in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament, in which an apparently lone attacker killed four people and wounded 50 before being shot dead by armed police. The latest arrest was a 30-year-old man who was detained in the central city of Birmingham on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, London's Metropolitan Police said. A dozen people have been arrested since Wednesday's attack by 52-year-old Khalid Masood, who deliberately ran down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge then stabbed a policeman just inside the gates of parliament. Nine people have been released without charge, while a 58-year-old man remains in custody and a 32-year-old woman has been released on bail. 'You can't have a situation where you have terrorists talking to each other -- where this terrorist sent a WhatsApp message -- and it can't be accessed,' home secretary Amber Rudd said × The arrest came as the government confirmed Masood had used the WhatsApp messaging service, saying it was crucial that the security services be allowed to access the heavily-encrypted app. Media reports said Masood used the Facebook-owned service just minutes before staging his assault, although it was unclear whether he sent any messages or just looked at the app. Speaking to Sky News, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was "completely unacceptable" that police and security services had not been able to crack the heavily-encrypted service. "You can't have a situation where you have terrorists talking to each other -- where this terrorist sent a WhatsApp message -- and it can't be accessed," she said. Police had on Saturday acknowledged they may never know why Masood, a Muslim convert with a violent criminal past, carried out the attack and that he probably acted alone, despite a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State group. "We must all accept that there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this. That understanding may have died with him," said senior counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu. Although police believe he acted alone on the day, investigators are still trying to find out whether he was encouraged or directed by others. Jason Burke at The Guardian made a point of distinction regarding the role Islamic State may have played in the attack: "Significantly, Isis described a 'soldier' who responded to its 'call', indicating the group probably did not have prior contact with Masood before the killings." "There should be no place for terrorists to hide," Rudd said in a separate interview with the BBC. "We need to make sure that organisations like WhatsApp -- and there are plenty of others like that -- don't provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other." WhatsApp said it was "horrified" by the attack and was working with the investigating authorities without saying whether it would change its encryption policy. "We are horrified at the attack carried out in London earlier this week and are cooperating with law enforcement as they continue their investigations," a spokeswoman told AFP.Rudd acknowledged that end-to-end encryption was vital to cyber security, to ensure that business, banking and other transactions were safe -- but said it must also be accessible. "It's not incompatible. You can have a system whereby they can build it so that we can have access to it when it is absolutely necessary," she told Sky News. Rudd said she did not yet intend to force the industry's hand with new legislation, but would meet key players on Thursday to discuss this issue, as well as the "constant battle" against extremist videos posted online. Tech firms and social media players are coming under increasing pressure over extremists using their websites, applications and technology to communicate extremist content. Last year, US authorities fought a legal battle with tech giant Apple to get it to unlock a smartphone used by one of the shooters in a 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California. The FBI's own experts ended up breaking into the device. And Google has faced a boycott by companies whose adverts appear alongside extremist content on its internet platforms, particularly its video-sharing site YouTube. (AFP)

Another arrest  in connection with London Parliament attack as government eyes WhatsApp

<p>Britain&#39;s Vodafone Group will merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular within two years,&nbsp;&nbsp;Idea said today. The new entity will compete with Reliance Jio that has unleashed a fierce price war.</p>

<p>Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the chairman of the merged entity.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I am pleased and honoured to be the chairman of the new company: Kumar Mangalam Birla after Vodafone India-IDEA merger (file pic) <a href="https://t.co/p7csrklCuz">pic.twitter.com/p7csrklCuz</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/843710972409782272">March 20, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>According to some reports, Idea said Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the merged entity, after it transfers about 4.9 per cent to promoters of Idea and/or their affiliates for 38.74 billion rupees ($592.15 million) in cash. PTI, however, says&nbsp;both companies will have an equal stake.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Vodafone?src=hash">#Vodafone</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Idea?src=hash">#Idea</a> to have equal stakes in the merged entity over a period of time: chiefs of both companies.</p>
&mdash; Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) <a href="https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/843708844052242437">March 20, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>The merger will see $10 billion&nbsp;in cost, capex synergies, reports said.</p>

<p>&quot;Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular announced that they have reached an agreement to combine their operations in India,&quot; they said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).</p>

<p>&quot;The combined company would become the leading communications provider in India with almost 400 million customers, 35 per cent customer market share and 41 per cent revenue market share,&quot; the statement added.</p>

<p>The confirmation ended months of speculation that the two operators were ready to sign a deal to help fend off Reliance Jio, whose recent arrival has shaken up India&#39;s ultra-competitive mobile network market.</p>

<p>Shares in Idea rose as much as 14.25 per cent immediately after the merger news but gave up gains to be trading up 3.8 per cent.</p>

<p>The merger of Vodafone - the world&#39;s second-largest cellphone network operator - with the Aditya Birla Group firm - India&#39;s third-largest cellular operator - would create a company with around 387 million users and form one of the largest telecom companies in the world.</p>

<p>Since its entry in India in 2007, Vodafone has become the number-2 operator in the country, but its journey has been tumultuous as it is locked in a legal battle with the government over a $2 billion retrospective tax claim over its acquisition of Vodafone India from Hutchison in 2007.</p>

<p>It had written down value of business by 5 billion pound ($3.35 billion) late last year. The British firm has pumped in more than $7 billion into the India unit.</p>

<p>Backed by India&#39;s richest man Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering free voice calls and data till March and has notched up 74 million users. It has already invested over $25 billion and is investing another Rs 30,000 crore ($4.8 billion).</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

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<p>In what could be the biggest telecom operator merger in India, Idea Cellular has approved its amalgamation with Vodafone India. (WION)</p>
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<p>(WION)</p>


Police said they may never know the motive behind last week's attack on the British Parliament that left four people dead

Britain's Vodafone Group will merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular within two years, Idea said today. The new entity will compete with Reliance Jio that has unleashed a fierce price war. Kumar Mangalam Birla will be the chairman of the merged entity. I am pleased and honoured to be the chairman of the new company: Kumar Mangalam Birla after Vodafone India-IDEA merger (file pic) pic.twitter.com/p7csrklCuz — ANI (@ANI_news) March 20, 2017 × According to some reports, Idea said Vodafone will own 45.1 per cent of the merged entity, after it transfers about 4.9 per cent to promoters of Idea and/or their affiliates for 38.74 billion rupees ($592.15 million) in cash. PTI, however, says both companies will have an equal stake. #Vodafone, #Idea to have equal stakes in the merged entity over a period of time: chiefs of both companies. — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 20, 2017 × The merger will see $10 billion in cost, capex synergies, reports said. "Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular announced that they have reached an agreement to combine their operations in India," they said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). "The combined company would become the leading communications provider in India with almost 400 million customers, 35 per cent customer market share and 41 per cent revenue market share," the statement added. The confirmation ended months of speculation that the two operators were ready to sign a deal to help fend off Reliance Jio, whose recent arrival has shaken up India's ultra-competitive mobile network market. Shares in Idea rose as much as 14.25 per cent immediately after the merger news but gave up gains to be trading up 3.8 per cent. The merger of Vodafone - the world's second-largest cellphone network operator - with the Aditya Birla Group firm - India's third-largest cellular operator - would create a company with around 387 million users and form one of the largest telecom companies in the world. Since its entry in India in 2007, Vodafone has become the number-2 operator in the country, but its journey has been tumultuous as it is locked in a legal battle with the government over a $2 billion retrospective tax claim over its acquisition of Vodafone India from Hutchison in 2007. It had written down value of business by 5 billion pound ($3.35 billion) late last year. The British firm has pumped in more than $7 billion into the India unit. Backed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Jio Infocomm is offering free voice calls and data till March and has notched up 74 million users. It has already invested over $25 billion and is investing another Rs 30,000 crore ($4.8 billion). In what could be the biggest telecom operator merger in India, Idea Cellular has approved its amalgamation with Vodafone India. (WION) × (WION)

London attack: Police stumped as all but one suspect freed

<p>Another person, who was injured in Wednesday&#39;s terrorist attack outside the UK Parliament,&nbsp;has died, police said on Thursday.</p>

<p>The victim was a 75-year-old man, the police said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>With his death, the total number of victims who have died has reached four.</p>

<p>On Wednesday, London was struck by a terror attack. The attacker, who has been identified as British-born Khalid Masood, was killed by the police outside the UK parliament after he stabbed a policeman to death.</p>

<p>The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, which the British Prime Minister Theresa May described as &quot;sick and depraved&quot;.<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
(WION with inputs from Reuters)</p>


Victim death toll mounts to four in one of the worst terrorist attacks in London in over a decade

Another person, who was injured in Wednesday's terrorist attack outside the UK Parliament, has died, police said on Thursday. The victim was a 75-year-old man, the police said. With his death, the total number of victims who have died has reached four. On Wednesday, London was struck by a terror attack. The attacker, who has been identified as British-born Khalid Masood, was killed by the police outside the UK parliament after he stabbed a policeman to death. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, which the British Prime Minister Theresa May described as "sick and depraved". (WION with inputs from Reuters)

London terrorist attack: 75-year-old man succumbs to injuries

<p>UK Prime Minister Theresa May today termed the terror strike in the heart of London as &quot;sick and depraved&quot; attack on democratic values, which was &quot;doomed to failure&quot;, after five&nbsp;people were killed and 40 injured.</p>

<p>After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting at Downing Street, the British PM confirmed that the attack was carried out by a single attacker who drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring many more, including three police officers.</p>

<p>&quot;This attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards Parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot dead,&quot; she said.<br />
May stressed that the UK&#39;s threat level has been set at severe for some time and &quot;this will not change&quot;.</p>

<p>Praising the &quot;exceptional bravery&quot; of the city&#39;s security forces, she added: &quot;Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way. On behalf of the whole country, I want to pay tribute to them and to all our emergency services for the work they have been doing to reassure the public and bring security back to the streets of our capital city.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorists chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech,&quot; she said.</p>

<p>She said any attempt to defeat these values through violence and terror is &quot;doomed to failure&quot; and announced that Parliament will meet as &quot;normal&quot; on Thursday.</p>

<p>&quot;And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great city - will get up and go about their day as normal? Never giving in to terror. And never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart,&quot; she said.</p>

<p>The Prime Minister herself was within the House of Commons complex when the incident took place, having just concluded her weekly Prime Minister&#39;s Questions. She was seen quickly being huddled up in a car and driven away to Downing Street.</p>

<p>At least three people were killed and 20 injured as terror struck the British capital when a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer outside parliament complex before being shot dead by Scotland Yard officers.</p>

<p>(PTI)</p>


Theresa May confirmed that the attack was carried out by a single attacker who drove his vehicle into pedestrians on Westminster bridge

UK Prime Minister Theresa May today termed the terror strike in the heart of London as "sick and depraved" attack on democratic values, which was "doomed to failure", after five people were killed and 40 injured. After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting at Downing Street, the British PM confirmed that the attack was carried out by a single attacker who drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring many more, including three police officers. "This attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards Parliament where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot dead," she said. May stressed that the UK's threat level has been set at severe for some time and "this will not change". Praising the "exceptional bravery" of the city's security forces, she added: "Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger even as they encouraged others to move the other way. On behalf of the whole country, I want to pay tribute to them and to all our emergency services for the work they have been doing to reassure the public and bring security back to the streets of our capital city." "The location of this attack was no accident. The terrorists chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech," she said. She said any attempt to defeat these values through violence and terror is "doomed to failure" and announced that Parliament will meet as "normal" on Thursday. "And Londoners - and others from around the world who have come here to visit this great city - will get up and go about their day as normal? Never giving in to terror. And never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," she said. The Prime Minister herself was within the House of Commons complex when the incident took place, having just concluded her weekly Prime Minister's Questions. She was seen quickly being huddled up in a car and driven away to Downing Street. At least three people were killed and 20 injured as terror struck the British capital when a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge and stabbed a police officer outside parliament complex before being shot dead by Scotland Yard officers. (PTI)

British PM Theresa May calls London attack 'sick and depraved'

<p>Three French schoolchildren were hurt in the attack near London&#39;s parliament on Wednesday, French officials said.</p>

<p>The three students from the Concarneau Lycee in Brittany, western France, were on a school trip there, a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement. The statement did not say how serious the injuries were.</p>

<p>A total of 90 students from the school were in London, about a dozen of which were in the area of the attack, an official at the school told Reuters.</p>

<p>&quot;As the centre of London was hit by a cowardly attack, France assures the British people of its solidarity,&quot; the foreign ministry statement said, adding that French authorities were in contact with their British counterparts.</p>

<p>A report in Le Telegramme newspaper cited a fellow students who was at the scene of what British police have described as a terrorist incident, saying the three were hit by a car that was involved whilst walking on Westminster Bridge. One of them landed on the hood of the car, the Telegramme said.</p>

<p>They were aged around 15 or 16, Le Telegramme reported.</p>

<p>(Reuters)</p>


The three students are believed to be hit by a car, said a fellow student who was at the scene

Three French schoolchildren were hurt in the attack near London's parliament on Wednesday, French officials said. The three students from the Concarneau Lycee in Brittany, western France, were on a school trip there, a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement. The statement did not say how serious the injuries were. A total of 90 students from the school were in London, about a dozen of which were in the area of the attack, an official at the school told Reuters. "As the centre of London was hit by a cowardly attack, France assures the British people of its solidarity," the foreign ministry statement said, adding that French authorities were in contact with their British counterparts. A report in Le Telegramme newspaper cited a fellow students who was at the scene of what British police have described as a terrorist incident, saying the three were hit by a car that was involved whilst walking on Westminster Bridge. One of them landed on the hood of the car, the Telegramme said. They were aged around 15 or 16, Le Telegramme reported. (Reuters)

Three French schoolchildren hurt in London attack