Two more arrests in brutal London attack

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/05/23/london-attack-street-soldier-muslim-attack-butchered-knives/2353841/

Two Muslim hard-liners say one man videotaped in the attack is a Christian convert to Islam.

(Photo: British Ministry of Defense, AP)

Story Highlights

• One suspect arrested at the scene is a Christian convert to Islam, the BBC says
• Prime minister says best antidote to terrorism is “to go about our normal lives”
• 48-year-old Cub Scout leader who confronted the attackers is hailed as a hero

LONDON — Scotland Yard says two more people have been arrested by officers investigating the hacking death of a British soldier on the streets of south London.

Counterterrorism officers arrested a man and a woman — both 29 — on Thursday on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Both suspects are in custody at a south London police station.

The first two suspects, who were shot and arrested by police at the scene Wednesday, remained hospitalized in stable condition with injuries that are not life-threatening, police said.

The pair — a 22-year-old man and a 28-year-old man — were also subjects of earlier security service investigations into possible terror links, according to a British government official, the Associated Press report.

Investigations by Britain’s domestic security service, MI5, can include undercover surveillance, phone tapping and communications intercepts.

The latest arrests came as Ministry of Defense identified the victim as drummer Lee Rigby, 25, of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

A tweet from the BBC shows a still from video of one of the suspects, Michael Adebolajo, left, in the London attack attending an Islamist demonstration in 2007.(Photo: BBC/Twitter)

Rigby, from Manchester, served abroad in Cyprus, Afghanistan and Germany. The ministry said in a statement that Rigby, a member of the Corps of Drums, was “an excellent side drummer and highly competent machine gunner.”

“An extremely popular and witty soldier, drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers,” the statement said. “He was a passionate and life-long Manchester United fan.” He leaves behind a 2-year-old son, the ministry said.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who chaired a meeting Thursday of the government’s emergency response committee Cobra, said the images of the attack were “deeply shocking” but would not deter the British people from standing up to terrorism.

“One of the best ways of defeating terrorism is to go about our normal lives,” he said. “That is what we shall do today.”

The assailants struck the soldier, apparently at random, with their car on Wednesday, then attacked him with knives and meat cleavers. They stayed on the scene until police arrived.

First Take: London in shock

During the night, police raided two homes, one in Greenwich and one in Lincolnshire, in connection with their investigation into the brutal attack. Two women, believed to be sisters, were handcuffed and led away from a house in Greenwich, ITV News reports.

The Associated Press, quoting an unidentified British official, said both men had been part of an earlier security services probe.

The BBC, quoting unidentified sources, reported that one of the suspects is 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo, who comes from a devout Christian family but converted to Islam after leaving the University of Greenwich, in Eltham, in 2001. Adebolajo is a Briton of Nigerian descent. The BBC said he was described as “bright and witty” when he was at college.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett confronted two attackers on a London street after they killed a British soldier. She said later that she wanted to calm them down so they wouldn’t attack anyone else.(Photo: Loyau-Kennett family via AFP/Getty Images)

One of the men, identified in the British media as Adebolajo, sought to justify his actions in chilling remarks to a bystander who recorded the attack near the Royal Artillery Barracks in south London on video.

“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you,” he said, clutching knives in his bloodied hands. “The only reasons we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth. We apologize that women had to see this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don’t care about you.”

He didn’t identify what “lands” as he urged people to tell the government to “bring our troops back.” British troops are deployed in Afghanistan and recently supported the French-led intervention in Mali.

Responding the death of a British soldier, Sir David Richards, chief of defense staff, said “it’s always a tragedy, it’s particularly poignant that it happened on the streets of this capital city of ours.”

“We’re absolutely determined not to be intimidated into not doing the right thing — whether it’s here in this country or in Afghanistan or wherever we seek to serve the nation,” Richards added.

Muslim religious groups and charities were quick to condemn the attack and urged police to calm tensions. The Muslim Council of Britain called it a “barbaric act that has no basis in Islam,” adding that “no cause justifies this murder.”

A radical, controversial cleric, Anjem Choudary, told The Independent, that Adebolajo took the name “Mujahid” after converting to Islam in 2003. He said Adebolajo, who came from a community settled by many Muslims from Somalia and Pakistan, often attended lectures and took part in demonstrations with the banned radical group al-Muhajiroun.

“He was a pleasant, quiet guy,” Choudary said. “He reverted to Islam in about 2003. He was just a completely normal guy. He was interested in Islam, in memorizing the Koran. He disappeared about two years ago. I don’t know what influences he has been under since then.”

Choudary, an outspoken critic of British military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, insisted that his own teachings have never preached that attacks on British troops or security personnel in Britain were justified.

Omar Bakri Muhammad — who now lives in Lebanon but had been a radical Muslim preacher in London — also said he recognized the man seen on television as Adebolajo and said he attended his London lectures in the early 2000s. Police have not named Adebolajo.

The prime minister, in his remarks, said confronting extremism is a “job for us all” and singled out for praise a 48-year-old Cub Scout leader, Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, who got off a bus to confront one of the suspects and tried to calm him.

In an interview with the the Daily Telegraph, Loyau-Kennett was asked if she was scared, and replied: “No — better me than a child.”

“I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these people usually have a message so I said ‘What do you want?'” said Loyau-Kennett, who lives in Cornwall in southwest England.

It did not seem like he was about to attack her and “the policeman was the next target,” she said.

Loyau-Kennett said she was not scared and that the armed men did not seem to be drunk or on drugs. She said she was trying to keep them occupied so they didn’t get more agitated.

She reboarded her bus shortly before police arrived, watching as police shot the two suspects, the BBC reported.

Woolwich suspects were known to British security services

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/woolwich-suspects-were-known-to-british-security-services-1.1404134

Soldier murdered in London in suspected terrorist attack

Video-grab taken from ITV News of a man holding weapons near the scene in John Wilson Street, Woolwich where a soldier was murdered. Photograph: ITV News/PA Wire

The two men shot by police after the murder yesterday of a British soldier were both known to security services, it was confirmed today.

While the killers were under armed guard in different London hospitals, it is understood police searched the former home of a man called Michael Adebolajo in Lincolnshire.

The serving soldier was hacked to death in daylight yesterday in front of horrified onlookers by two British men of Nigerian descent.

In the immediate aftermath of the barbaric assault, video footage emerged of the men clutching bloodied weapons including a meat cleaver.

One chilling clip showed a man with heavily blood-stained hands claiming the killing was committed in the name of Allah and ranting about the government.

Following a meeting of the Cobra emergency response committee today, prime minister David Cameron said: “What happened yesterday in Woolwich has sickened us all. On our televisions last night and in our newspapers this morning, we have all seen images that are deeply shocking.”

He said he could not comment on the now-confirmed reports that both attackers were known to security services.

“The point that the two suspects in this horrific attack were known to the security services has been widely reported. You would not expect me to comment on this when a criminal investigation is ongoing,” he said.

The anti-terror investigation quickly spread beyond the capital, with Met officers travellingb 240km( 150 miles) to Lincolnshire to carry out searches.

Mr Cameron said that the attack was “a betrayal of Islam” and that the best approach was to “go about our normal lives”.

He said: “This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against violent extremism and terror. We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms.”

Today police continued to scour the scene of the murder in Artillery Place, Woolwich, south east London for clues.

There were also reports of searches being carried out in various parts of the capital, but Scotland Yard would not comment.

Initially troops in London were advised not to wear their uniforms outside their bases, but the Cobra meeting agreed that this was not the right response.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “In light of yesterday’s events and the emerging situation, the military chain of command introduced a package of immediate reactive security measures on a precautionary basis.

“Following a review of the situation this morning, a decision has been taken to relax some of these temporary measures imposed yesterday, including advice to members of the armed forces in London not to wear uniform outside of defence establishments.

“The best way we can defeat terrorism is to carry on as normal, and that includes our personnel wearing their uniform.”

The two suspects are in separate London hospitals being treated for injuries after they were shot by police at the scene.

One of the attackers behind the barbaric killing was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver, saying: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.”

In the chilling footage, he explains his terrifying actions.

“We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” he is heard to say in the clip, obtained by ITV News.

“I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your Government, they don’t care about you.”

The attacker, who spoke clear English without a foreign accent, is then seen walking towards the victim, who is lying in the street. Another man is standing by the damaged car.

Anjem Choudary, former leader of banned Islamic group Al Muhajiroun, said he knew one of the alleged attackers but had not seen him for about two years.

He claimed to recognise the man who was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver while saying: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.”

Mr Choudary said he was not aware of the alleged killer’s nationality following reports that both men were British citizens with Nigerian connections who had converted to a radical form of Islam.

“We must concentrate on why this incident took place,” Mr Choudary said.

“That is the presence of British forces in Muslim countries and the atrocities they’ve committed, and how the Muslim community in this country are under pressure due to draconian laws which have tried to silence them.”

Before he was stabbed to death, the victim was knocked over by a blue car which then rammed into a lamp-post. The attackers pounced on him in broad daylight in a busy residential street.

Witnesses said they shouted “Allahu akbar” – Arabic for God is greatest – while stabbing the victim and trying to behead him. A handgun was found at the scene.

Some onlookers rushed to help the victim and one woman tried to engage one of the attackers in conversation to calm him.

“He had what looked like butcher‘s tools – a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives. He said: ‘Move off the body,’” Ingrid Loyau-Kennett was quoted by local media as saying.

“He said: ‘I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan. ’”

London was last hit by a serious militant attack on July 7, 2005, when four young Islamists set off suicide bombs on the public transport network, killing 52 innocent people and wounding hundreds. A similar attempted attack two weeks later was thwarted.

Queen’s Speech: Immigrants face tougher rules

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22437884

A fresh attempt to curb immigration is the centre piece of the government’s planned new laws, set out by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament.

 

Short-term migrants will pay for NHS care, landlords will be forced to check immigration status and illegal migrants will not get driving licences.

 

Laws on cheap alcohol and monitoring web use were not among the 15 bills.

 

David Cameron said the package would boost recovery, but Ed Miliband said the coalition had “run out of ideas”.

 

The Queen set out what the government plans to do over the next year amid the traditional pomp and ceremony of the state opening.

 

The Prince of Wales, joined by his wife the Duchess of Cornwall, attended the ceremony for the first time since 1996.

 

In a speech written for her by ministers, the Queen said her government’s “first priority” remained cutting the deficit and strengthening Britain’s economy.

But the government says it is also determined to do more to tackle illegal immigration and demonstrate that it is backing families who “want to work hard and get on”.

 

The Queen said an immigration bill would aim to “ensure that this country attracts people who will contribute, and deter those who will not”.

 

If passed, the bill would ensure illegal immigrants cannot get driving licences, and change the rules so private landlords have to check their tenants’ immigration status.

UKIP surge

It would also allow foreign criminals to be deported more easily, as well as people who are in the UK illegally, after the government’s repeated setbacks in its efforts to deport the radical cleric Abu Qatada.

 

Businesses caught employing illegal foreign labour would face bigger fines.

 

Migrants’ access to the NHS would be restricted and temporary visitors would have to “make a contribution” to the cost of their care, either with their own money or through their government.

 

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s The World at One whether this would mean GPs having to check patients’ passports before agreeing to treat them, Business Secretary Vince Cable said “checks of various kinds” were one option being considered but the details had yet to be finalised.

The planned immigration crackdown follows a surge in support for UKIP, which campaigns for a reduction in net migration, but ministers insist the measures had been decided before last week’s local election results.

 

Prime Minister David Cameron said the immigration measures were the “centre piece” of his government’s plans for the year ahead, as they “go right across government”.

 

He told MPs: “Put simply, our immigration bill will back aspiration and end the legacy of the last government, where people could come here and expect something for nothing.”

 

Downing Street said it could not promise the new laws would come into effect before work restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians are lifted in January.

 

The prime minister’s spokesman said there was a “determination to do this thoroughly”. There will be a consultation on new responsibilities for private landlords and a separate one on migrants’ access to the NHS, with the emphasis on systems to ensure people “pay what they should”.

 

Other measures announced in the Queen’s Speech include:

 

• Exempting employers from the first £2,000 of their National Insurance payments in an effort to support jobs and help small businesses
• A bill paving the way for the second tier of funding for the High Speed 2 rail line and another to give government the power to compulsorily purchase land
• Tightening up consumer protection to make it easier to claim refunds for items such as faulty mobile phone apps
• A cap on social care costs in England, although there is no indication of the level at which it will be set, and people caring for elderly relatives will get the right to support from their local councils
• A pensions bill will introduce a single-tier pension, worth around £144 a week at today’s prices, and will bring forward to 2026 the date at which the retirement age rises to 67
• Tougher controls on dangerous dogs and a new “community trigger” to ensure action is taken on persistent anti-social behaviour

 

Ofsted-style ratings for hospitals and care homes will be introduced and a new chief inspector of hospitals given more powers, in response to the Mid-Staffordshire health scandal.

 

Another bill would increase supervision and drug testing of offenders after release from jails in England and Wales and open up the Probation Service to private competition in an effort to cut reoffending rates.

‘Snooper’s charter’

There was no place in the Queen’s Speech for proposals to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes or legislation on minimum alcohol pricing, although Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has insisted both plans are still under consideration.

 

Demands by some Conservative MPs for legislation paving the way for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU were ignored, as were calls from charities to enshrine in law David Cameron’s pledge to spend 0.7% of national income on foreign aid.

 

“A no-answers Queen’s Speech from a tired and failing government” Ed Miliband Labour leader

 

The Queen’s Speech had also been due to include a communications data bill, dubbed a “snooper’s charter” by opponents, which would have allowed the monitoring of UK citizens’ online and mobile communications.

 

But the plans were blocked by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on civil liberties grounds, despite warnings the legislation was needed to help detect terror plots.

 

The government is now considering forcing internet service providers and mobile phone companies to store more data about the devices used for emails, Skype calls and other messages to help police identify the sender, if necessary.

 

The Home Office had previously rejected this option, which may not need new legislation to implement, on technical and cost grounds.

Immigration

Giving his response to the government’s package, Labour leader Ed Miliband said it would do nothing to boost growth, cut youth unemployment or tackle rising living costs.

 

“You are not dealing with the problems of the country,” he told the prime minister.

“No wonder this Queen’s Speech has no answers. Three wasted years, today another wasted chance. A no-answers Queen’s Speech from a tired and failing government.

 

“Out of touch, out of ideas, standing up for the wrong people and unable to bring the change the country needs.”

 

Mr Miliband accused Mr Cameron of caving in to vested interests and his own backbenchers by ditching planned legislation on plain cigarette packaging, a communications bill on media monopolies and a statutory register of lobbyists. He said Labour would be willing to back these measures if the PM wanted to get them through Parliament.

 

On immigration, he said Labour would “look at” the government’s proposals but would also push for a crackdown on employers who flout the minimum wage and use “cheap” foreign labour – legal and illegal – to undercut wages.

 

Business lobby group the CBI welcomed progress on High Speed 2 but called for more investment in the existing transport network, adding that they wanted to see “delivery on the ground not time-consuming new bills that will have little or no impact before 2015”.

 

The TUC said the government should have used the Queen’s Speech to ditch its “failed austerity experiment” and “instead of making people work for longer the government should be focusing on creating more jobs”.

 

SNP MP Angus Robertson said the speech, which included a commitment by the government to “continue to make the case for Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom”, demonstrated why it should be independent.

 

“The speech shows that Westminster isn’t working for Scotland. Instead of boosting economic growth it is focusing on a lurch to the right politically,” he said.

 

Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd welcomed proposals to reform the Welsh Assembly electoral system, but described the Queen’s Speech overall as disappointing, as it showed “Wales remains far down Westminster’s list of priorities”.

 

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the planned immigration measures were aimed at reassuring UKIP voters but would be undermined by EU legislation.

Veterinary drug found in Asda budget corned beef

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22087123

Asda is recalling all corned beef from its budget range after traces of the veterinary drug phenylbutazone were found in some batches.

The Food Standards Agency said “very low levels” had been detected in the Asda Smart Price Corned Beef product.

The painkilling medicine often used on horses is commonly known as “bute”.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it was the first time bute had been found in a meat product in the UK since the horsemeat scandal started.

Animals treated with bute are not allowed to enter the food chain because the drug could pose a risk to human health.

However, the risk is very low even if people have eaten contaminated horsemeat.

The Asda product was tested as part of an industry-wide programme and found to be positive for horse DNA above 1%. It was then further tested and found to contain four parts per billion of bute.

Horse carcasses

Asda had already withdrawn the product on 8 March.

But now customers who have bought the 340g tins with any date code have been urged not to eat the corned beef and to return it to the supermarket for a refund.

Chief medical officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said: “Horsemeat containing phenylbutazone presents a very low risk to human health.

“Phenylbutazone, known as bute, is a commonly used medicine in horses. It is also prescribed to some patients who are suffering from a severe form of arthritis.

“In patients who have been taking phenylbutazone as a medicine there can be serious side effects, but these are rare. It is extremely unlikely that anyone who has eaten horse meat containing bute will experience one of these side effects.”

In the UK, horse carcasses must have a negative bute test before they are allowed to enter the food chain.

Asda has also recalled tinned Chosen By You Corned Beef (340g) as a precaution – even though the product has not tested positive for phenylbutazone – because it was made in the same factory.

Asda said in a statement on its website: “We have taken an extremely cautious approach since the very beginning and have carried out more than 700 tests, moving swiftly to remove any products from our shelves whenever we’ve had the smallest concerns.

“Our commitment to you is to continue to test our products regularly and update you with the very latest news as soon as we can.”

‘Deeply worrying’

The Food Standards Agency’s director of operations, Andrew Rhodes, said it was working with authorities across Europe to establish how the food became contaminated.

“If someone has done something illegal, and not taken measures to stop that happening, they can face sanctions. But we need to understand exactly what has happened in this case,” he said.

Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said the discovery was “deeply worrying”. She said the fact that the product has only just been recalled “exposes weaknesses in the government’s handling of the horsemeat scandal where products were withdrawn, but in some cases not tested”.

Earlier, the FSA said two beefburger products withdrawn from sale over concerns they may contain horsemeat had tested positive.

The King Fry Meat Products burger was from Pig Out in Walsall and the Burger Manufacturing Company product was from Nefyn Pizza and Kebab House in Gwynedd.

Five samples were checked for the presence of horse DNA above a 1% threshold. Two samples did not contain horse DNA and one result is still to be returned.