Japan readies missile defence shield for use against North Korea rocket

Sean O?Neill, Crime Editor, Tony Halpin, Moscow

Updated 53 minutes ago

A Russian banker is in a coma in a London hospital after being shot several times in a suspected assassination attempt. Scotland Yard confirmed today that it was investigating the attempted murder of German Gorbuntsov outside his executive apartment in the shadow of Canary Wharf, East London, on Tuesday evening. Gorbuntsov, who is in his forties, has been named as both a suspect and a witness in an attack on another financier in Moscow in 2009 which was carried out by Chechen gunmen. The inquiry into the attempt on Mr Gorbuntsov?s life is being led by the Metropolitan Police?s Trident Gang Crime Command, but the force is emphasising that the incident is not linked to any local gang activity. The Times understands that Trident officers have been liaising with the Yard?s Counter-terrorism Command but it has been decided to treat the case as an organised crime, rather than a terrorist, incident. The Met?s approach is significantly different from that taken in the case of the murdered Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in London in 2006. That was investigated by anti-terrorist officers as a suspected state assassination. Mr Gorbuntsov, who used to own a number of banks in Russia and Moldova, was walking to his apartment on Byng Street on the Isle of Dogs on Tuesday evening when a gunman opened fire on him. Police described reports that the gunman had used a sub-machinegun as ?speculative?.

Britain is to get an even longer summery evening this weekend as British Summer Time falls on what is predicted to be one of the warmest days of the year so far. Days into spring, swaths of the country are to bask in balmy temperatures reaching the heights of the Mediterranean, with some areas forecast to get the best weather on Sunday when clocks go forward. Temperatures in West London and across the M4 corridor towards Bristol are set to climb to around 21C - higher than in Rome, Athens and Madrid, with the mercury in Cumbria set to reach 18C. Western Scotland could see temperatures of 16C. While Saturday is predicted to be the warmest day of the weekend for London and the South East, Sunday is likely to be warm for even more of the country, the MeteoGroup said. Temperatures will hover around the 20C mark in north and west Devon, West Wales and Co

Last updated at 12:46PM, March 23 2012

Petrol prices rose above 140 pence per litre for the first time today, putting stretched family budgets under further pressure and raising costs for industry. Analysts blamed speculators and a fall in the value of the pound for the record pump prices and warned of even further increases in the coming months. The average price for unleaded petrol rose to 140.20ppl, while diesel also rose to its highest ever level of 146.72p. Motoring organisations and garages warned that petrol prices would breach 150ppl in the weeks ahead. Tax rises will add a further 3.62p to pump prices from August 1, raising the prospect of steeply higher fuel bills this summer. Petrol prices have risen by more than 2.75ppl in the past three weeks and by 7.95p this year. A fall in the value of the pound against the dollar by 10 cents since this time last year has contributed about 4p to

Last updated at 1:00PM, March 23 2012

Source: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/asia/article3362056.ece

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