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Westminster attacker Khalid Masood acted alone and there is no information to suggest further attacks are planned, Metropolitan police said on Saturday. Deputy assistant commissioner Neil Basu said: "We must all accept that there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this." Four people died and 50 were injured when Masood drove his car into people before stabbing a police officer. The family of PC Keith Palmer said his bravery will be remembered. MP Tobias Ellwood, who was among those who tried to save PC Palmer's life, has said he is "heartbroken" that his efforts were not successful. Detectives confirmed the attack was over within 82 seconds. Basu said: "We still believe that Masood acted alone on the day and there is no information or intelligence to suggest there are further attacks planned. "Even if he acted alone in the preparation, we need to establish with absolute clarity why he did these unspeakable acts to bring reassurance to Londoners, and to provide answers and closure for the families of those killed and the victims and survivors of this atrocity. "Nevertheless, we are determined to understand if Masood was a lone actor inspired by terrorist propaganda or if others have encouraged, supported or directed him." "If the latter proves to be the case, they will face justice." He urged those who knew Masood to speak to police. In a statement released on Saturday, the family of PC Palmer addressed those who tried to save his life. "There was nothing more you could have done," it said. "You did your best and we are just grateful he was not alone." "We care about him being remembered for his selfless bravery and loving nature. We miss him so much, but we are also incredibly proud of Keith." The family said they had been "overwhelmed by the love and support" shown for them and for PC Palmer and they praised the support from the police. In a statement, also released on Saturday, Ellwood said: "I am heartbroken that I could not do more for PC Keith Palmer who gave his life in holding the line against terrorism and defending democracy." The Foreign Office minister said he was "deeply humbled and overwhelmed" by messages of support. "I played only a small part that day, doing what I was taught to do, and am honoured to have been invited to join the Privy Council afterwards." he said. "It is right that we concentrate our thoughts on the victims as we stand side by side to protect all that we hold dear, including our precious values and way of life which will always prevail." Masood's other victims were Aysha Frade, who was in her 40s and worked at a London sixth-form college, US tourist Kurt Cochran, 54, and retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, from south London. A 58-year-old man, who was arrested in Birmingham the morning after the attack under the Terrorism Act, remains in custody, and a 32-year-old woman who was arrested in Manchester, remains on police bail, Metropolitan Police have said. Eleven people were initially arrested over the incident and nine people in total have been released without charge. The Metropolitan Police said Masood, 52, who had previous criminal convictions but none for terrorism, had used a number of aliases. At birth, he was registered in Dartford, Kent, as Adrian Elms, but later took his stepfather's name becoming Adrian Ajao in childhood. In the early 2000s, he was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm after slashing a man across the face with a knife in a pub.....

Published at: 2017-03-26 00:00:05

Hong Kong is preparing for the election of a new leader, reports BBC. The candidate is being chosen by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing electors, rather than a public vote, which pro-democracy campaigners have been fighting for. Carrie Lam, deputy to the current leader, is China's choice for the role and is expected to win. Ahead of the vote, around 1,000 people took to the streets to demand a greater say in who will lead Hong Kong. Lam's main rival, former finance chief John Tsang, is the public's favourite, according to opinion polls. The third candidate is retired judge Woo Kwok-hing. Calls for fully free elections in the semi-autonomous region have failed, despite intense demonstrations, known as the "umbrella protests", in 2014. Hong Kong's 1,200-seat Election Committee will pick one of the three candidates to succeed current leader CY Leung, who steps down in July. Leung has proved unpopular will large swathes of Hong Kong residents who consider him too tightly aligned to Beijing. At the end of the 2016, he made the unexpected announcement that he would not run again, citing family reasons. His successor will need 601 votes to win. If no candidate reaches this total, the top two candidates go to a second round. Lam is nicknamed the nanny because of her background running numerous government projects, while Tsang is referred to as Pringles because he resembles the moustachioed character on US crisp packets. If Lam wins, she would become Hong Kong's first female chief executive. During the 2014 protests, the long-time civil servant took the unpopular stance of defending Beijing's concessions for political reform - allowing Hong Kong people to choose their leader but only from pre-approved candidates. Hong Kong is governed under the principle of "one country, two systems", under which China has agreed to give the region semi-autonomous status since its 1997 handover from Britain. Hong Kong's Election Committee includes 70 members of the Legislative Council - half of whom are directly elected. However, most of the committee is elected by business, professional or special interest groups. Critics say entities that lean towards Beijing are given disproportionately large representation. Last year, pro-democracy activists secured 325 seats on the committee - the highest number ever. However, this does not give them enough seats to determine who becomes the next chief executive.....

Published at: 2017-03-26 00:00:05

Militia fighters in DR Congo have decapitated about 40 police officers in an ambush in the central province of Kasai, local officials said on Saturday. Fighters from the Kamwina Nsapu group attacked a police convoy on Friday. Six policemen who spoke the local Tshiluba were freed, but the rest were killed, Kasai Assembly President Francois Kalamba said. The unrest in Kasai began last August, when security forces killed the Kamwina Nsapu leader. Friday's attack targeted a police convoy travelling between Tshikapa and Kananga. The state Governor Alexis Nkande Myopompa said an investigation had been launched into the killings. The UN says 400 people have been killed and 200,000 displaced in the Kasai region since Jean-Pierre Pandi, the Kamwina Nsapu leader, was killed. This came two months after Kamwina Nsapu launched a bid, in June 2016, for him to be officially recognised as a local chief and for state bodies to withdraw from the region. The UN says it has identified 10 mass graves where those killed in the unrest have been buried, as well as another seven suspected mass burial sites. Two UN experts, an American, and a Swede, were kidnapped in the area two weeks ago with four Congolese colleagues and are still missing. DR Congo is in a state of increasing political uncertainty as President Joseph Kabila remains in power beyond the end of his mandate ,which expired last December. Elections are now due to be held before the end of this year, but no firm date has been set....

Published at: 2017-03-26 00:00:05

US President Donald Trump says he will turn to tax reform, following his failure to get his healthcare bill through Congress on Friday. The draft bill would have scrapped the Affordable Care Act of his predecessor Barack Obama, which was opposed by Trump's Republican party for years. Obamacare requires all Americans to have health insurance but offers subsidies to people on low incomes. Trump's bill was withdrawn because of a lack of support from Republicans. They control both houses of Congress, and the withdrawal is a major setback for the new president. Trump campaigned on his skills as a dealmaker. "I would say that we will probably start going very, very strong for the big tax cuts and tax reform. That will be next," Trump told reporters at the White House. However, the tax cuts were supposed to be paid for by savings from the withdrawn healthcare bill. Without the spending cuts in the failed bill, any tax cuts will add to the federal budget deficit. Trump lashed out at Democrats in Congress after the bill was withdrawn, blaming the opposition party for not backing his legislation. But it was House Republicans who ensured it was shelved, after Speaker Paul Ryan decided he could not get enough backing from his own party. "Doing big things is hard," Ryan said. The president refrained from criticising Ryan, whose job as speaker of the House involves rallying support for controversial bills. "We learned about loyalty; we learned a lot about the vote-getting process," he said. On Saturday Trump repeated his claim that Obamacare would "explode", tweeting "we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!" Obamacare has been troubled by increases in insurance premiums. It also imposes tax penalties on uninsured Americans - many of them low- to moderate-income earners. However, it also bans insurance companies from denying health coverage to people with pre-existing health conditions and allows young people to remain on their parents' plans until age 26. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Friday that tax reform was "a lot simpler" in many ways than healthcare reform. Mnuchin said that his goal remained to get tax measures through Congress by August this year. White House press secretary Sean Spicer admitted that this goal was "an ambitious one", but one that the administration was "going to try to stick to". What did the healthcare bill propose? •    Cutting the Medicaid programme for low earners •    Providing tax credits to help people pay medical bills, but reduced compared to Obamacare •    Ending penalties on those who do not buy health coverage •    Allowing insurers to raise premiums for older people •    Blocking federal payments to women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood for a year •    Insurers would no longer have been required to include "essential benefits", such as maternity care, mental health and emergency treatment....

Published at: 2017-03-26 00:00:05

The market capitalisation of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) added nearly Tk 405 billion in just three months, hitting all-time high to Tk 3,784 billion on Wednesday. Between December 22, 2016 and March 22 this year, the DSE market cap added Tk 405 billion as investors continued to inject fresh funds into stocks amid optimism. DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka bourse, also surged 780 points or 16 per cent to reach 5636 points on March 22, which was the highest level of DSEX since its inception in January 2013. Analysts said the escalation of market cap and index -- the two most important indicators of the stock exchange -- in general suggests that the investors’ confidence in the capital market is coming back. They said the market has been on the rise in recent times mainly due to investors share purchasing frenzy as they were in an expectation that the prices of shares will rise further. “The upward trend of the index was supported by high turnover and upward movement of major large-cap sectors such as bank,”  said an analyst at a leading brokerage firm. Since the banking sector has the highest market cap with free-floating proportion, the gain of this sector alone has made major contribution to the upswing of the index, he said. The bank interest rate is declining, while foreign investors are injecting funds into the market. “These are also the reasons behind the rising trend,” he added.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-26 00:00:05