Knife Crime in London....

Europe Calling

German police have made six arrests in relation to a planned knife attack at Sunday's Berlin Half Marathon. Newspaper Die Welt reported six men were detained - one of whom they suspected of planning the attack. Die Welt said the suspects were linked to Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist ties, who hijacked a truck in December 2016. Amri killed the driver and then ploughed into a crowded marketplace killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others. Police said before the sporting event today there had been "isolated evidence that the detainees between 18 and 21 years of age might have been involved in the preparation of a crime related to the event". Die Welt quoted a "senior police leader" as saying: "We are still evaluating. But it was probably close." Spain’s Royal Family has long been plagued by rumours of tension between Queen Letizia and her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia. Now, a video of the pair appearing to clash over a family photo following Easter Mass has ignited claims of a matriarchal feud at the heart of the House of Bourbon. The royals were making their way out of Palma Cathedral in Mallorca on Sunday when Queen Sofia attempted to pose for the cameras with her two grandchildren, Princess Leonor and the Infant Sofia. Queen Letizia was seen repeatedly walking in front of the trio in an apparent bid to block the shot before approaching Princess Leonor and seemingly trying to dislodge her mother-in-law’s hand from her daughter’s shoulder. Princess Leonor then appears to become frustrated with the tussling and thrusts both of their hands away. As the Catalan crisis rolls on Barcelona has become one of the EU's best-loved city-break destinations, famed for its 1992 Summer Olympics, trade fairs, football and tourism. Catalonia is one of Spain's wealthiest regions, making up 16% of the national population and accounting for almost 19% of Spanish GDP. Generations of people from poorer parts of Spain have moved there for work, forming strong family bonds with regions such as Andalusia. During this crisis, the Catalan economy has suffered. Thousands of businesses, including major banks and energy firms, have moved their headquarters out of the region. However, the EU has treated the crisis as an internal matter for Spain, deaf to the separatists' pleas for support. There have been warnings that the issue is damaging Spain's democratic credentials. The Economist Intelligence Unit, which compiles an influential annual democracy ranking, said Spain risked being downgraded from a "full democracy" to a "flawed" one over its handling of the situation. The UK Home Secretary has insisted that police have enough resources to tackle crime despite claims that government cuts are contributing to a spate of violence. Emergency plans to extend stop and search are in a tough package of measures the Home Secretary Amber Rudd is announcing following a string of fatal stabbings and shootings in London in recent weeks. Meanwhile a former police officer said that younger officers were 'afraid' to use stop and search, as figures showed its use has fallen. ..... New ‘Offensive Weapons’ laws to be introduced within weeks will make it illegal to own so-called ‘zombie killer’ knives and knuckle dusters used by gangs – and allow police to raid homes to seize them. The latest move reflects a change of direction for Mrs May, who has introduced a series of curbs on stop and search since 2010, claiming they are unfair to young black men, damaging to community relations and do not cut crime. Nearly two-thirds of ‘child’ refugees who were questioned about their real age after coming to Britain were found to be adults, an official report has found. In one year, 65 per cent of asylum seekers assessed after claiming to be juveniles were judged to be over 18. The report, by immigration watchdog David Bolt, revealed that the Home Office received 2,952 asylum applications from unaccompanied children in the year to June last year. Out of these there were 705 age disputes – around a quarter of the total – where officials suspected the individual was lying about their age. Of these, 618 cases were resolved and 402 – or 65 per cent – were found to be adults. If these asylum seekers had been treated as children it would have left councils and local taxpayers facing a care bill of millions of pounds a year. In the UK Donors and entrepreneurs have been secretly developing plans for a new political party frustrated with polarisation and grabbing for the centre ground. Up to £50million has been pumped into the project with a former Labour benefactor at the helm hoping to 'break the Westminster mould'. The movement believes in borrowing from the left and right for its policies and was set up by multi-millionaire LoveFilm founder Simon Franks, who says he is frustrated with political division in light of the Brexit vote. He has had full-time staff on the project for about year, The Observer revealed today, after starting initial discussion in 2016. His company - Project One Movement for the UK - is said to be a probable vehicle for the scheme, which has the support of a number of former Tory donors. A pensioner cleared of blame after killing an armed burglar may never be able to return home amid fears of a vendetta against him, police have told residents. Richard Osborn-Brooks, 78, and his disabled wife Maureen have not been seen at their £500,000 property since Henry Vincent died after a break-in last week. With the couple believed to be staying at an undisclosed location in fear of their lives, their house has been fitted with security grilles – and a police surveillance camera has been mounted on a nearby lamppost. According to residents, Vincent was part of a tight-knit community whose members have a reputation for violence. One of the extended Vincent clan shamelessly declared on social media a few years ago: ‘An OAP a day keeps ur bank balance at bay. The old b******s deserve everything they get.’ Maureen Lipman joined hundreds of furious protesters outside Labour HQ, saying said she could never return to the party with an 'anti-Semite at its head'. The Jewish actress said she was attending 'as a disenfranchised socialist' and agreed with a placard reading 'Corbyn made me a Tory'. Some 250 demonstrators gathered in Westminster today to criticise the Labour leader's approach to tackling anti-Semitism in the party. Lipman joined their pleas for change at the protest, saying Mr Corbyn's conduct was 'appalling' and calling for him to resign. The 71-year-old, best known for her roles in Educating Rita, The Pianist and Oklahoma!, made a speech which was met with swathes of applause. 'He is standing with elements who are against everything that we stand for; hardworking, decent Jewish people of whom I am incredibly proud,' she said. 'By doing nothing he is telling us the same thing he has been telling us for the last 30 years. 'He wants a Marxist party. Because it's worked so well in the rest of the world!' She added: ‘Everything you have heard today points to the fact that we have an anti-Semite at the head of the British Labour Party.’ Lipman also attacked the Labour leader for attending a Seder organised by left-wing Jewish group Jewdas, saying it was 'the absolute cherry on the top' of his behaviour. These days sport is all about money. Gone are the glorious days of true sportsmen and women who competed against each other out of pure pride and sporting rivalry. During the amateur days of yore, apart from a couple of countries who used events as propaganda exercises, I can’t recall any accusations of cheating by the competitors or officials. Nowadays they are all at it. Doping, drugging, betting and game throwing are now regular features on the back pages of the nationals. Hardly any corner of the sporting world has not been infected by this greedy virus that leads to the ‘win at any cost’ attitude that prevails among the athletes of today. And you know what really sticks in my craw. Sooner or later they all seem to wheedle their way back in. Even those who commit, what are to my mind unforgivable offences, are, after the authorities have considered their wrists have been slapped hard enough, allowed back in to carry on as though nothing has happened!