19/01/2017 London News

me now on BBC Two. That's Newsnight with Emily in

Washington. A suspected unexploded World War

II bomb has been found in the River Thames tonight -

by the Victoria Embankment. It led to the temporary

closure of Westminster and Waterloo Bridges,

but road closures Louisa Preston is there for us

tonight, and she can tell us That's right, as you can see behind

me, the whole of Victoria and Embankment is still closed, all the

way down to Waterloo Bridge. During the rush hour, Westminster Bridge,

Waterloo Bridge and I'm being told part of Westminster Tube station,

were also closed. We are being told bomb disposal experts, specialist

officers from the Met Police, are working on the river at the moment,

working on the device, which is believed to be a World War II bomb.

The Port of London authority also told us earlier this evening that

this device is about two foot long and one foot wide. So quite a big

device. We don't know when these roads are going to reopen. We don't

know how long this is going to take for this device to be made safe. But

there have been many devices found across London like this. We had won

only last year. The whole area around Victoria was evacuated back

in February last year. After well over a decade,

London's congestion charge could be heading for reform -

with suggestions of making drivers pay by the mile,

or having the congestion charge It may not prove popular

with motorists, but as traffic problems and air pollution worsen,

it could be the only solution. Here's our transport

correspondent, Tom Edwards. Welcome to Charing Cross Road,

the third-most congested in London, where traffic creeps along

at a walking pace, It feels like TfL are doing it

on purpose to put drivers off, A lot of the cut-through roads

are no longer there, they're cycle lanes only the way

you want to go. I have done 12 miles in the last

two and a half hours. A growing population, more vehicles,

more minicabs and delivery vans and construction,

and public roadworks for pedestrians Now a report calls for a reform

of the congestion charge. We need to be charging vehicles more

if they're travelling at peak times and they drive around

the zone a lot. In the longer term we have got

to look at road pricing in London to tackle the congestion hotspots

to mean that if you do choose to use your car,

you will pay a bit more for that, rather than those who opt

for public transport. But also we are looking at other

things such as tackling deliveries, moving some of those to night-time,

and also encouraging people not to have their delivery

sent to their work. Road pricing, though,

could be contentious. Singapore is one of the few places

where you pay per mile. Our concern is road pricing could be

used as a cash cow and could make We think it's important that

any new system reflects the economic value of a journey,

so deliveries to London's museums and restaurants,

that is a valuable contribution, perhaps more so than a private

individual taking a journey. Maybe the system

should reflect that. City Hall does concede

the 14-year-old congestion Currently 30,000 private hire

vehicles enter the zone Or drivers could pay

different amounts at Although a ban on personal

deliveries to offices We do need to be making

the delivery industry much more It's not at the moment and is using

way too much road space. Something like 20% of the traffic

on the roads in London at the moment We think there's a lot of really

good models we can use to actually try and organise these deliveries

in a much more efficient way. Today, the mayor also issued

a pollution warning, as traffic fumes worsened

London's air. Congestion is one of the big

challenges cities face. How he will tackle the jams will be

revealed in the next few months. After going head-to-head

with Prime Minister Theresa May over Brexit yesterday,

today, the Mayor of London found himself in the same town as her,

doing the same thing as her ? selling the benefits

of investing in London. And crucial to any deal

is keeping the City of London It's the place where the world comes

every year to talk and do business. They do it under the watchful eyes

of marksmen, and the more And in Davos today,

the British Prime Minister and London's Mayor, both talking

Brexit and the effect it could have The mayor taking his message

to an international audience. You're going to get a hard Brexit,

whether you like it or not. No, what's really important

is sensible minds try and put So far, is there already

signs companies leaving, You say you want people to access

the EU single market, London has been a city

which has attracted trade, talent and ideas for more

than 1000 years. In recent days two major banks,

HSBC and UBS, have warned We have roughly 5000

people in London. Real passporting business

is probably down to about 1000 of those employees in London,

and for them we need to look at what the ultimate deal

will be mapped out with. I am glad to hear from the European

side they want a symmetrical So we are still waiting

for what is happening. Today, another of the banking

world's big guns had some words of comfort for the City,

though he too warned I do not believe the European

financial centre will leave I think the UK will continue to be

the financial lungs for Europe. We may have to move certain

activities, we may have to change the legal structure that we use

to operate in Europe. The banks, financial services

institutions, the tech companies, the pharmaceuticals,

companies and businesses that create jobs, wealth and prosperity,

want to stay in London. We've got to make it

easy for them to do so. The Prime Minister met senior

bankers this afternoon, where we're told she stressed

the positive aspects The founder of the WikiLeaks

website, Julian Assange, says he stands by his offer to go

to the United States, now that the American whistle-blower

Chelsea Manning is to be released. Assange has spent the past

four and a half years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London

avoiding extradition to Sweden. He claims that would lead to

attempts to extradite him to the US A 'Blue Cockerel', a 'Ship

in a Bottle' and the current one. They're all appeared

on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square -

some received more And now the short list of what could

come next, has been unveiled. Our arts correspondent

Brenda Emmanus can show us. It's the 11th artwork to sit

on Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth. And David Shrigley's seven-metre

high sculpture, Really Good, will attempt to inspire optimism

until replaced in 2018. We're looking for artworks that

connect to the square, have a story to tell,

that are beautifully executed and that will get a conversation

going with the public. So what will be given

the thumbs up next? Today, the five shortlisted

proposals were presented at the National Gallery,

offering the public a chance to share their opinion

on what should dominate the north-west corner of this

historic London site. Choices include a truck loaded

with oil cans and ladders, an empty robe, and a recreation

of a protective deity that was destroyed by so-called

Islamic State in 2015. It's the most international

shortlist so far, with the sole Londoner being Hackney resident

Heather Philipson, who presents a swirl of cream with a cherry,

fly and drone on top. The cream is something,

obviously cream is a very unstable material and something always

on the verge of collapse, so the sculpture holds within it

this possibility of something that may be, kind of, imminent

catastrophe, perhaps. All five proposals can be seen

at the National Gallery for the next two months,

where the public can Do you like the idea of commissions

on the fourth plinth? I do like it, because it's

an opportunity to see something The Heather Philipson one,

when it's constructed, I think it would work well

within the context of the other I think it is kind

of topical as well. We're looking for works

that we think can be popular, but we also have to consider

all sorts of other criteria to do with their construction,

their feasibility, all things that The two chosen winners will be

announced in March and take pride of place on the plinth in 2018

and 2020, respectively. That's it for now from me, but let's

find out what the weather's It is cold out there, but whether we

will lurking near the fourth plinth or elsewhere in the city, or perhaps

you got in the countryside, we've been spoiled of late with those

gorgeous clear skies. It's a completely different story through

parts of Wales and the Midlands. It's that close to Earth. Many of

the Southern counties enjoyed the sort of clear skies that we saw

today, but as you already commented we've paid the price with frosty

starts and here we go again, right on into the first part of Friday.

Somewhere roundabout certainly a frost, maybe -4-macro or minus five.

The sun comes up at about 750 Faure and then we are into another

gorgeous day. -- 7:54am. The odd patch of cloud but it won't spoil

the day. Thankfully there is much wind at the moment. It is coming

from the east, what little wind there is. With the sunshine and

five, 6 degrees won't feel too bad at all. The big question is can we

keep it going into the weekend? It looks as though we can, a bit more

cloud looks as though we can, a bit more

cloud on Sunday. Now the national picture.

Good evening, it will gradually get colder in the UK in the next few

days, something we don't have to worry about in Australia at this

time of year. Of course it's the Australian tennis open at the moment

and there's a big storm moving through Melbourne at the moment.

Hopefully it will have cleared through by the time of Andy Murray's

match. We have high withers and light winds and some interesting

contrasts despite things being very slow moving, with the sunshine to