London

    PM David Cameron was met with cries of racist in the House of Commons as he joined attacks on Labour’s London mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan, claiming he has shared a platform with extremists. The prime minister laid into Khan during prime minister’s questions, claiming the Labour candidate had nine times shared a platform with a known Islamist extremist called Sulaiman Ghani. The attack echoed those made by Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative mayoral candidate, who has claimed his opponent would be soft on crime because he “provided cover for extremists”. In the Commons, Cameron said: “If we are going to condemn not just violent extremism but also extremism that seeks to justify violence in any way it is very important we do not back these people and we do not appear on platfo...

    She may be in her 90th year, but even the world’s most famous silver surfer needs to look after her online profile. With social media nobility including Pope Francis and Michelle Obama to compete with, the Queen has announced plans to pay one expert tweeter £50,000 per year to manage her online accounts. The ideal candidate will be experienced in managing “high-profile websites” and “comfortable developing strategy and managing wide-reaching projects.” In addition to running the already popular royal Facebook and Twitter accounts, the new Head of Digital Engagement will be expected to find new ways to attract followers and appeal to a worldwide audience. The job advert, posted on the British Monarchy website, says the role involves “knowing your content will be viewed by m...

    During a training exercise for London's emergency services, people walk away with their hands on their heads from the disused Aldwych underground train station in London One million staff who work in crowded places are to be trained in how to deal with terror attacks. Police are aiming to get public limited companies which operate in busy areas such as city centres and sports and entertainment venues to teach their staff how to react in the case of an atrocity. The move, unveiled today by Detective Chief Superintendent Scott Wilson at the Security and Counter Terrorism Expo, builds on an existing scheme where officers brief around 100,000 workers per year. This extension of Project Griffin will instead see companies' existing trainers teaching colleagues. Det Ch Supt Wilso...

    John Whittingdale, the Culture Secretary, was embroiled in fresh controversy after he admitted accepting free hospitality from a London lapdancing club while chairing an inquiry into its licensing regime. Mr Whittingdale and two other MPs were treated to dinner with managers and two female performers. Mr Whittingdale insisted it was an official visit as part of an inquiry by the Culture, Media and Sport select committee into new laws cracking down on such establishments. But the evening was not recorded in the committee’s published records, according to a report on Tuesday in the Evening Standard. Nor was the visit mentioned in the committee’s report, which rejected proposed tougher laws, aimed at curbing the spread of lapdancing clubs by classing them as “sex encounter” v...

    Charity boss and his wife who flew hundreds of Bangladeshi migrants to Britain for a day to claim £1.6million in benefits are jailed • Chowdhury Muyeed, 52, and his wife Asma Khanam, 47, were jailed • Headed scam that saw migrants fly to UK and illegally claim state handouts • Italian nationals of Bangladeshi origin went to Job Centre interviews to get National Insurance numbers • Their details were then connected to bogus addresses and they were registered with the Government as working for 24 hours per week • Meant they were entitled to housing benefits and council tax credit claims • Fake claims cost Redbridge and Tower Hamlets Council total of £1,582,519 Chowdhury Muyeed, 52, was the £44,000-a-year head of finance at Blood Pressure UK, when he headed the 'con air' scam...

    David Cameron, his wife and their children will not benefit from offshore funds or trusts in the future, a No 10 spokesman has said. Downing Street moved to clarify the Prime Minister's personal finances for the fourth time this week after Labour called for an independent inquiry into all Britons linked to a huge leak of tax haven data - including Mr Cameron's family. The row centres on an investment fund set up by the PM's late father Ian, which was registered in the Bahamas to shield it from UK tax. Mr Cameron first tried to draw a line under the issue of whether he stood to benefit from the fund - Blairmore Holdings - in reponse to a question from Sky's Faisal Islam on Tuesday. He said: "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. "I have a salary as Prime Mi...

    There have been numerous reported sightings of the Loch Ness Monster through the years. Very few, if any, have been in the Thames, though. Mysterious footage has emerged on YouTube showing a large object making its way through the murky waters near the O2 Arena. It can be seen surfacing briefly before sinking back down. The video was taken by Penn Plate as he was travelling on the Emirates Air Line, a cable car journey near Greenwich that offers views of the capital. "This was on the cable car in Greenwich yesterday. Something huge was moving under the water and then briefly surfaced," he said. "Are there whales in the Thames? Or is it some weird submarine?" The video, which has been watched more than 500,000 times, drew more than 190 comments on YouTube. "Lochness monster...

    A video made by Isis supporters threatened London, Berlin and Rome (Picture: [copyright]) Isis supporters have released a new video calling for new terror attacks in London, Berlin and Rome. The video, called “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands”, called on extremists to “kill (infidels) wherever you find them”. After showing footage of the attacks in Paris and Brussels, as well as 9/11, the narrator called the previous atrocities a “cautionary message” to nations fighting the so-called Islamic State. “If it was Paris yesterday, and today in Brussels, Allah knows where it will be tomorrow,” a narrator said in English. “Maybe it will be in London or Berlin or Rome.” Gory clips of executions were played as a religious song urged followers to launch lone-wolf att...

    A 24-year-old man has been arrested at Gatwick Airport over what police describe as Syria-related terrorism offences. Counter-terrorism officers detained the man before he boarded a flight, West Midlands Police said. A woman, aged 20, was arrested at an address in west London. The pair are being held at a police station in the West Midlands, while searches are being carried out at two addresses in Birmingham. A police statement said: "There was no risk to any passengers at Gatwick Airport or to the wider public in relation to these arrests."

    A black banner reading IS appears to have been hung in the London borough of Hackney, in what was initially thought to be a marketing fail from the local council. A picture of the banner, hanging from a lamppost and marked with "IS" in white letters, is being shared on Facebook. It was originally posted by Alan Wolfson, who claims to have seen the banner in Morning Lane in Hackney. The flag is apparently one in a series intended to create the sentence HACKNEY IS FASHION. But there was no sign of the other banners in the set except for the single "solitary" IS flag outside a Tesco, Wolfson said. He wrote: Hackney are draping banners around claiming it IS THE FASHION HUB. There’s no sign of the sequence of that sentence other than a solitary black flag with IS on it. Well do...