23/01/2017 London News

The Mayor has issued the capital's first "very high" pollution alert,

under a new system for warning people about poor air quality.

It comes on the same day that London was shrouded in fog,

forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights - and there could be more

Our Environment Correspondent Tom Edwards reports on the dual problem

London is suffering from a period of bad air quality.

Today the mayor issued his latest alert, warning of very high

He warned that everyone from the most vulnerable

to the physically fit may need to reduce physical exertion.

He also said people should use public transport.

City Hall said the reasons behind the high levels of pollution are no

of pollution are no -- low winds not blowing away vehicle

London does suffer from episodes of very high pollution once or twice

a year but this is the first time the mayor has issued an alert.

He says he is trying to tackle the problem through policies

like the ultralow emission zone where the polluter pays.

Campaigners say it is not going far enough.

City Airport this morning as thick fog disrupted many flights.

In a terminal, delays and cancellations as passengers

like John Pye were bussed to other airports to get flights.

I've been told that we're being transported to Stansted by bus.

City Airport, like many others, said it had to cancel flights as air

traffic controllers need to leave more space between planes.

Thames Clippers could not run at all first thing.

This was the view from the DLR in East London.

This was Heathrow, which also suffered thick fog.

It had to cancel 100 flights - about 8% - in total.

City Airport had to cancel 65, about 25%.

At Gatwick, flights were also disrupted.

One BBC reporter was stuck on a plane for over two hours.

The problem started with the fog, which delayed

As passengers decided they want to get off,

presumably because it wasn't worth making the journey, Gatwick seems

to have found they do not have the staff to escort passengers

More fog is forecast for tomorrow morning which could again cause

Several people have been taken to hospital after a huge explosion

It happened in Hornchurch earlier this evening.

Residents were evacuated from their homes and local closed.

Andy Moore is here with more on this.

residents were watching the residents were watching the

operation. Others were sheltering in a local McDonald's. The explosion

happened around 5pm. The seat of it was a ground floor corner flat. All

three stories above it were blown out. A lot of damage and a big

response by emergency services. Ten fire engines there are at one stage.

Debris blown across the road. The main arterial road was closed for

several hours. 41 flats have been evacuated and a lot of people have

found places to stay with friends or relatives. Do we know anything about

those who were injured? Born -- four people were taken to hospital. One

was a priority case. One person made their own way to a local hospital,

suggesting they were not very seriously injured. Thank you very

much. A survivor of the Holocaust was attending especial ceremony head

of Holocaust memorial day. More from our Home Affairs

correspondent Nick Beake. Although seven decades may have

passed since the horror of the Holocaust, for some,

the memories are still vivid. At City Hall, they

remembered the victims. But the Mayor is among

those worried that today in 2017, in this city, people

are being targeted just because they This brick with a swastika emblem

was hurled through the window of a family in North West London

this weekend, one of four We have zero tolerance

towards hate crime. The police are looking

at CCTV footage, they are speaking to Jewish

communities to reassure them, we are taking this very seriously

and we will get to the bottom of it. On Friday afternoon the police

discovered anti-Semitic graffiti One group which tries to tackle

Jewish hate crime thinks abuse online is going

unpunished and leading Today, social media is a cauldron

of which the current wave of anti-Semitic hatred

is being brewed. Social media has been wonderful

in many respects, but it has also given voice

to many people who want to promote all manner

of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The Met say they have not seen

the evidence yet to prove these latest incidents are linked,

but say it is of huge concern the Jewish community

is being targeted in this way. But anti-Semitic

as well as Islamophobic Back at City Hall, Mala Tribich

lit a memorial candle. As someone who escaped

the Nazis in the 1940s, she is deeply saddened

by this we can's events. Because I have seen a lot

of anti-Semitism and I have seen the result of it,

people have witnessed the Holocaust. Also this weekend,

an advert on the tube for a film about Holocaust

denial was defaced. So far no one has been

arrested over any of these Turning now to the restoration

of the Houses of Parliament, Well, the cost of some

of the proposals would be so high that it seems some people

would rather see it demolished or sold off,

as Sonja Jessup tells us. Shrouded in a London fog today,

the Houses of Parliament providing Slightly spoiled, perhaps,

by scaffolding, and inside, crumbling stonework,

ageing electrics - parts of the Palace of Westminster

are in desperate need of repair. It will cost almost ?4 billion -

a price worth paying? A quarter of people asked said

they would rather it was I'm sure there are some people

who would quite like to put a match But it is interesting that the vast

majority of the public, more than 56%, in the same poll,

said we've got to do the work, we should do the simplest,

the swiftest and the most cost-effective way of doing that,

and I believe that is, we've all got to move out for six

years, get the work done as quickly And that is the recommendation

from the committee he serves on. MPs would move to a temporary

building at Richmond house, Actually demolishing the historic

Palace of Westminster is not an option being considered,

though the poll's findings may hint at those disillusioned

and angry with politics. There are others who believe

Parliament is worth preserving, The idea of pulling that down,

such a symbol of world democracy and world liberty,

is just unthinkable. Politicians are being told

parliament faces crisis if the repairs are not carried out.

I'll wish you a very goodnight now and hand you over to Wendy

Still some fog in the forecast. The weather for the week ahead is not

much changing that nothing to sweep the Fog away. It is remaining cold.

There will be some frosty mornings again. Yes, it will be foggy. The

Met Office has asked other by a weather warning overnight up until

around 11 o'clock tomorrow morning with dense and freezing fog patches

here and there which may impact on our transport and make for difficult

driving conditions. The most widespread will be under clearer

skies south west of London. We are under cloud at the moment and it

will take a break in that cloud for fog patches to form. It will be

another cold start to the day tomorrow. Probably quite dank,

especially where the Fog has formed. It should lift and break away and we

will have sunshine into the afternoon temperatures on the cool

side. You can see of blue tinge on the map. Another cold front follows

on. This is Wednesday. A bit more cloud which will eradicate some of

the fog issues. Still feeling quite chilly, especially so on Thursday,

despite there being sunshine around and despite the numbers in the box

is not looking very different. It would be a cold and dry wind blowing

in. That will make it feel really quite bitter on Thursday. The

temperature will pick up on Friday. A hint of something rather to come.

For the weekend we will have dry weather with sunny spells and it

will be a little bit milder. Good evening. We are continuing to

see huge righty in the weather. Getting the detail right is proving

to be a challenge. This was in Pembrokeshire and other parts of the

UK were gloomy throughout the day. The fog is thickening up right now.

Particularly pool on the M5 in south-west England. Very foggy

across parts of the West Country. This fog is tending to spread its

way further eastwards. Some fog as well across parts of Yorkshire.

Northern Ireland and Scotland are mild but damn. This is how we will

start the day. At eight o'clock in the morning, quite a lot of fog

around which could affect the major