02/02/2014 BBC London News

Northern Ireland. Elsewhere, apart from a few showers, I

Good evening. The BBC understands that within weeks up to 500

Metropolitan Police officers will be issued with body`worn cameras. The

cameras will film them at work, recording their interactions with

the public and criminal suspects. But concern has already been

expressed that officers could be allowed to switch their cameras off.

Here's our Political Editor, Tim Donovan.

On the high Street in Sutton in south`west London, from more than a

year police have been wearing cameras. When we are dealing with an

incident, officers can go back to the police station and write notes.

The camera does capture the high intensity. The Metropolitan Police

saw this in operation recently. From April, 500 cameras will be issued to

officers. Importantly, it seems to reduce confrontation in the

night`time economy. Victims of domestic violence, it is a more

immediate way of seeing the impact of abuse. There are Home Office

guidelines on when officers can switch on or off. A campaign

supporting the family of Leon Briggs, who died in police custody

in Luton, say they should be on all the time. It is about the simple

proposition that all police officers in all interactions with the public

will wear body worn cameras and will be recording. If you have cameras

with real`time information, you will have less rumours and less things

blowing up in the community. It has to be the way to go. You do not want

policemen switching them off at will. The pilot will be funded by

the mayor's office for police funding.

Heston Blumental has been forced to shut his gourmet London restaurant,

after an outbreak of a vomiting virus. Blumental has apologised to

customers at his exclusive two Michelin`starred Dinner restaurant

at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Hyde Park. It's the same norovirus

which forced him to close his Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire five

years ago. Dragons and horses were in the West End today to celebrate

the Chinese New Year. The festivities are the largest outside

China, and our reporter, Anjana Gadgil, was watching the day's

colourful events. Chinese New Year, London style. 2014

is the year of the horse according to the Chinese zodiac, although it

was Dragons trying the crowds. We are from China. It is quite

exciting. It is getting better. It has got the West are in touch, which

makes it a very unique. Last year saw a record number of Chinese

tourists in London. There are some of the highest spending visitors to

the capital. Today it was mostly made in China. This is the largest

Chinese New Year celebration in London has ever seen. It is the

largest celebration outside China, with tens of thousands of people

here in central London. It is a great opportunity for Chinese

businesses to make some money. But it is not just commerce driving

London's interest in China. We have got a large Chinese community in

London. Chinatown is just behind us. They are integrated as part of the

community. One of the great attractions of London is how

multicultural it is and how we embrace the strengths of the

different cultures around us. The day progressed with singing and

dancing. It is a 14 day festival. As the Chinese would say...

Happy New Year back. Now the weather. Good evening. A pleasant

day today. Not too bad a night. Tomorrow, a fair amount of cloud in

the morning. A windy day. It brightens up in the afternoon.

Further cloud ahead of evening rain. Tuesday night into Wednesday is when

we have an area of low pressure that is going to bring some very wet and

windy weather. The Met office have a weather warning in place. That is

it. Catherine Carpenter brings you the latest news in the morning from

half past six. Good night. Good evening. Many of us had a sunny

Sunday. The weather has calmed down. However, there is more wet and windy

weather to come. Tomorrow it is concentrated in the West. Many

eastern areas will be dry and breezy. The winds picking up through

the night. Gusty conditions in the West. The potential for coastal