The death of Queen Elizabeth II: Thursday's timeline

LONDON  - A rare palace announcement about Queen Elizabeth II's health at 12:32 pm (1132 GMT) on Thursday prompted her close relatives to dash to her country estate in Scotland. 

A second statement at 6:30 pm announced her death at age 96.

Here is the day's timeline:

Around noon Senior minister Nadhim Zahawi slips into the House of Commons, shortly after new Prime Minister Liz Truss finishes her first major policy announcement outlining a freeze on energy prices. 

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour party, is on his feet responding to the announcement.

Zahawi sits next to Truss and hands her a note, sending ripples around the chamber. Starmer is handed his own note and both leaders leave. 

12:32 pm 

Buckingham Palace releases its statement.

"Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision," it says.

"The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral."

Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle interrupts debate on the energy plan to relay the development to members of parliament, sending the House's prayers to the royal family.

Truss says: "The whole country will be deeply concerned by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunch time."

12:39 pm

The BBC interrupts scheduled programming with the announcement and launches rolling news coverage of developments.

Presenter Huw Edwards appears dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and black tie, in line with the BBC's dress code for when a member of the royal family dies.

12:45 pm

The Clarence House office of then-heir Prince Charles says he and his wife Camilla have travelled to Balmoral.

12:46 pm

Prince William's Kensington Palace office says he too will be making the journey.

1:55 pm

A spokesman for Prince Harry, Charles's second son, and his wife Meghan says the US-based couple will be travelling to Scotland after breaking off engagements on a rare trip home. 

But in the end, only Harry makes the trip.

2:39 pm

Royal Air Force flight KRF23R takes off from RAF Northolt in west London, according to flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.

The plane is carrying William, and the queen's two younger sons Princes Andrew and Edward and Edward's wife Sophie.

3:50 pm 

The plane carrying the royal group lands at Aberdeen airport.

People begin to gather outside Buckingham Palace in London, despite rain.

4:30 pm

Truss, who was only appointed on Tuesday in one of the queen's last official acts, is informed of the queen's death, according to the Prime Minister's official spokesman.

5:05 pm

The car carrying a grim-faced Andrew, Edward and Sophie -- with William at the wheel -- sweeps through the gates of Balmoral.

6:30 pm

Buckingham Palace announces on Twitter: "The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon."

"The King (Charles) and The Queen Consort (Camilla) will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow."

Foreign tributes begin to pour in, including from US President Joe Biden's White House, Europe and the Commonwealth, which was headed by the late queen.

7:04 pm

Charles pays tribute to his mother describing her death as a "moment of the greatest sadness".

"We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world," he says in a statement released by Buckingham Palace.

7:08 pm

Truss says it is "the passing of the second Elizabethan age" and concludes an address by saying "God save the King".

She refers to the new sovereign as King Charles III, apparently ending uncertainty over the name he will choose to reign under.

"Today the Crown passes, as it has done for more than a thousand years, to our new monarch, our new head of state, His Majesty King Charles III."

7:25 pm

Clarence House confirms that Charles will be known as King Charles III.

7:41 pm

Kensington Palace confirms that William and his wife Kate will be known as the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge.

Agence France-Presse

British MPs give initial approval to Johnson's Brexit plan

British MPs on Tuesday gave their initial approval to a law implementing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, but could still derail his attempts to get the agreement passed in time to leave the EU on October 31.

Johnson won the first of two crucial votes in the House of Commons, which will determine if he can fulfil his "do or die" promise to deliver Brexit next week.

MPs voted by 329 to 299 to approve in principle the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which implements the divorce treaty he agreed with European Union leaders last week.

But they could still now vote against the government's timetable to rush through the 110-page bill by Thursday evening, to allow its ratification before October 31.

The Conservative leader warned earlier Tuesday that failure to pass the motion would see him abandon the legislation -- and instead seek to call a snap general election.

The prime minister was forced on Saturday to ask EU leaders to postpone Brexit -- something he once said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than do -- after MPs declined to back his new deal.

But he could still avoid having to delay by getting the deal ratified by October 31.

Opening the debate, Johnson -- a key figure in the 2016 EU membership referendum Leave campaign -- urged MPs to support the legislation so "we can get Brexit done and move our country on".

If not, he said the "bill will have to be pulled" and he would seek an early election -- although he needs the support of Labour to do this, and it has twice refused.

Opposition parties, many of whom dislike the Brexit deal, have said it is "ludicrous" to expect proper scrutiny of the legislation in less than three days.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has called for a second referendum on Brexit, said Johnson was trying to "blindside" MPs into supporting a "rotten bill".

It "fails to protect our rights and our natural world, fails to protect jobs and the economy, fails to protect every region and every nation in the UK", he said.

The Democratic Unionist Party, Johnson's Northern Irish allies, accuse him of duping them about new trading arrangements for the province.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson said he "nearly choked" when he heard Johnson's assurances, adding: "The prime minister thinks I can't read the agreement."

EU 'will be ready'

The timetable motion is intended to ensure the House of Commons debates the bill quickly, allowing it to go onto the unelected upper House of Lords.

Johnson warned that seeking further time would kill any hope of leaving the EU with a deal next week -- and risks a "no-deal" exit if the EU declines to approve a delay.

In Strasbourg, European Council President Donald Tusk said the other 27 EU leaders were mulling Johnson's request, but the result "will very much depend on what the British parliament decides".

He said the EU should be "ready for every scenario", although he added on Twitter: "A no-deal Brexit will never be our decision."

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he saw "no justification at this stage" for further delay.

"We've been waiting for three years for this decision," he said.

"It's important for it to be announced today, because otherwise there will no option except 'no deal', which is not the solution we prefer."

Businesses and markets on both sides of the Channel fear a "no-deal" Brexit, where Britain severs ties with its closest trading partner with no new plans in place after 46 years of integration.

More hurdles ahead

If Johnson wins both votes on Tuesday, MPs could still derail his bill, which must also be ratified by the European Parliament.

The deal covers EU citizens' rights, Britain's financial settlements, a post-Brexit transition period until at least the end of 2020 and new trade arrangements for Northern Ireland.

It also sets out vague plans for a loose free trade agreement with the EU after Brexit.

But some MPs are seeking to amend the bill to demand Britain stay in the bloc's customs union, and others want a greater say for parliament in deciding future ties.

After tens of thousands of people demonstrated in London on Saturday for a second referendum, others could try to attach plans for a "People's Vote".

There could also be attempts to strengthen protections for environmental and workers' rights. 

An earlier Brexit text agreed by Johnson's predecessor Theresa May was rejected three times by MPs earlier this year.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

4 dead, at least 20 injured in UK parliament 'terrorist' attack

LONDON — Four people were killed and at least 20 injured in London on Wednesday after a car plowed into pedestrians and an attacker stabbed a policeman close to the British parliament in what police called a "marauding terrorist attack."

The dead included the assailant and the policeman he stabbed, while the other two victims were among the pedestrians hit by the car as it tore along Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings just outside parliament.

"We've declared this as a terrorist incident and the counter-terrorism command are carrying out a full-scale investigation into the events today," Mark Rowley, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, told reporters.

"The attack started when a car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injuring a number of members of the public, also including three police officers.

"A car then crashed near to parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife continued the attack and tried to enter parliament."

Reuters reporters inside parliament at the time heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw the knifeman and the stabbed policeman lying on the ground in a courtyard within the gates of parliament.

A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus.

A woman was pulled alive, but with serious injuries, from the Thames, the Port of London Authority said. The circumstances of her fall into the river were unknown.

Three French schoolchildren aged 15 or 16 were among those injured in the attack, French officials said.

The attack took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels.

Prime Minister Theresa May was being kept updated and was due to chair a meeting of the government's crisis response committee.

"The thoughts of the PM and the government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families," her office said in a statement.

Chaotic scenes

Eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes during the attack.

"I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge," said Bernadette Kerrigan, who was on a tour bus on the bridge at the time, in an interview with Sky News.

"As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere."

The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside.

Interior minister Amber Rudd said the government's top priority was people's security.

"The British people will be united in working together to defeat those who would harm our shared values: values of democracy, tolerance and the rule of law," she said.

May spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump about the attack, the White House said.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned what he described as "horrific acts of violence."

Polish former Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who witnessed the attack from a taxi as he crossed the bridge, said he saw five victims and made a video of the scene.

"I heard something that sounded like a small car crash. Then I looked out of the window and saw that there was one person lying on the asphalt," he told Reuters.

"I did not see the face of the person lying on the asphalt, but the person was not moving, it was not showing any signs of life. One of the men I saw, his head was bleeding very badly. But the person I filmed - no, that person was not showing any signs of life."

Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building.

"He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick," Letts said.

"The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs (members of parliament) and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him."

In Edinburgh, the Scottish parliament suspended a planned debate and vote on independence as the news from London came in.

Britain is on its second-highest alert level of "severe" meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely.

In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London.

In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital's transport system in what was London's worst peacetime attack.

Wednesday's attack was near the location where, in 1979, Airey Neave, a Member of Parliament who was a close aide to Margaret Thatcher, was killed by a car-bomb claimed by the Irish National Liberation Army.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Canada passes law expanding spy agency powers, reach

OTTAWA, Canada - Lawmakers passed a new anti-terror law Wednesday dramatically expanding the powers and reach of Canada's spy agency, allowing it to operate overseas for the first time.

The act was written in response to attacks on Canadian soil last October, when a gunman killed a ceremonial guard and stormed parliament, and a soldier was run over in rural Quebec.

A large number of critics have decried bill C-51 as an unprecedented attack on civil rights, saying it lacks oversight and is overly broad.

It criminalizes the promotion of terrorism, makes it easier for police to arrest and detain individuals without charge and expands the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's (CSIS) mandate from intelligence-collection to actively thwarting terror plots and spying outside Canada.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Tory majority in the House of Commons assured its passage, in a 183 to 96 vote, after several failed opposition attempts to water it down.

However, widespread anger over the changes may linger to harm the Conservatives's re-election hopes in the fall.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com