Northern Ireland terror threat level raised in Great Britain

The threat level from Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Great Britain has gone up from moderate to substantial.

It means an attack in England, Scotland or Wales is "a strong possibility".

Home Secretary Theresa May said the level, set by security service MI5, "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity".

The level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Northern Ireland remains "severe", meaning an attack is "highly likely".

Mrs May confirmed the change of threat level relating to Great Britain - meaning three of the four countries of the UK - in a written statement to Parliament.

She gave no further details of any intelligence had led to the level being changed.

"As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place," she wrote.

The public should "remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police", she added.

At Easter the New IRA, the group responsible for the murder of prison officer Adrian Ismay in March, warned that its members were "determined to take the war to the age-old enemy of our nation".

The threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Great Britain was raised from moderate to substantial in 2010, then reduced back to moderate in 2012. 

The threat level to the UK from international terrorism is currently set at severe. For this measure, Northern Ireland is not rated separately.

The top threat level is critical, which means an attack is "expected imminently".

Nigerian President: 'Yes' My Country Is Corrupt

The President of Nigeria has admitted to Sky News that his country is corrupt, after David Cameron was caught on camera making the same point.

Asked by Sky News Diplomatic Editor Dominic Waghorn whether his country was corrupt, he answered: "Yes." 

Speaking in London at an anti-corruption event hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Muhammadu Buhari said he would not be expecting the Prime Minister to say sorry: "I am not going to demand any apology from anybody."    

To cheers from Nigerian delegates in the audience, he added: "What would I do with an apology?"

Instead, he said Britain could be quicker to return assets allegedly wrongly brought to London: “I need something tangible," he said.

Others were no so forgiving. 

"I am taken aback. I am not happy about it," said Senator Chukwuka Utazi, chairman of Nigeria’s senate committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes.

Senator Dino Melaye called the PM’s comments "reckless" and "demeaning". 

Mr Cameron was caught on microphone on Tuesday telling the Queen that Nigeria and Afghanistan were "possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world". 

His comments came ahead of him hosting an anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday.

Mr Buhari will also be attending, alongside Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.      

With the Archbishop of Canterbury alongside him, the PM told the Queen: "We have got the Nigerians - actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain."

He continued: "Nigeria and Afghanistan - possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world."

:: Was Cameron's Corruption 'Gaffe' Deliberate?

It was not the only unguarded remark caught on camera this week.

The Queen was heard, also on Tuesday, describing Chinese officials as “very rude”.

Speaking on Wednesday at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Cameron seemed unconcerned about any diplomatic problems he might have caused.

Responding to an inquiry about Thursday’s summit, he tapped the microphone and said: “Well, first of all I’d better check the microphone’s on before speaking. It’s probably a good idea.”

Mr Buhari began an anti-corruption campaign when he took office a year ago. 

The Afghan embassy told Sky News: "President Ghani and his government since in office have taken major steps to fight corruption.

"Countering corruption is a top priority along security issues for the National Unity Government.

"Therefore calling Afghanistan in that way ... is unfair." 

Man Detained Outside Taylor Swift's NY Home

Police have detained an "emotionally disturbed" man outside Taylor Swift's New York apartment.

The pop star's security team called authorities after the man turned up on her Tribeca doorstep on Tuesday evening.

Police say Swift was not home at the time, and it is unclear whether he made any threats against her.

The man was taken to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

It is not the first time a stranger has shown up at one of Swift’s homes.

In February, police were called to her Beverly Hills house after a musician showed up at her front gate and refused to leave.

He claimed to have worked with Swift in the past and wanted to pitch some new ideas to her.

Two weeks before that, a man was arrested outside another of her homes in Los Angeles.

Was Cameron's Corruption 'Gaffe' Deliberate?

So was it a gaffe or was it deliberate? Did David Cameron blunder by blurting out that Nigeria and Afghanistan were corrupt?

Or did he mean to kick-start his anti-corruption summit, taking place in London later this week, with some useful pre-summit publicity?

And another conspiracy theory in Westminster is that he wanted to move the news agenda away from the EU referendum, after Iain Duncan Smith accused him of being Angela Merkel's puppet.

The scene was Buckingham Palace, the event a reception to mark the Queen's 90th birthday and the elite group caught on camera were Her Majesty, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the PM, Commons Speaker John Bercow and the Leader of the Commons, Chris Grayling.

The PM knew the cameras were present, his spokesman said

All present appeared to be clutching glasses that looked like champagne flutes.

So had the bubbly loosened the Prime Minister's tongue when he called the two countries "fantastically corrupt" and "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world"?

Was it another example of the carelessness or arrogance his critics accuse him of? His opponents will say Yes.

Or is he demob happy now he isn't standing for election as Prime Minister in 2020? He would certainly deny that.

At first his indiscretion appeared to be a repeat of his reckless comments to the New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, picked up by Sky News after the 2014 Scottish referendum, when he said the Queen "purred down the line" when he phoned her with the result.

Labour then accused the Prime Minister of being "disrespectful" to the Queen and the SNP's Alex Salmond said Mr Cameron should "hang his head in shame" for sharing details of a private conversation.

Then last year, on a visit to Yorkshire, the Prime Minister was recorded while rehearsing a speech, saying: "We just thought people in Yorkshire hated everyone else, we didn't realise they hated each other so much."

Oh dear! Touchy, sensitive types, those Tykes. The Yorkshire Post newspaper said his "disdainful" remark was rooted in a "rather stereotypical and outdated view of Yorkshire".

Those two gaffes prompted an immediate apology and expression of regret from the Prime Minister. Not so this time.

He was unrepentant and vigorously defended his remarks about Nigeria and Afghanistan being corrupt.

The presidents of the two countries, who will attend the anti-corruption summit later this week, had acknowledged the scale of corruption in their countries and vowed to tackle it, the PM's spokesman insisted to political journalists.

Maybe. But the Afghanistan Embassy later said because the new government in its country was taking "major steps to fight corruption", the Prime Minister's comments were "unfair".

But further evidence that Mr Cameron knew exactly what he was doing when his spokesman was asked if he knew there were TV cameras present.

"The cameras were very close to him," the spokesman revealed.

"There were multiple cameras in the room."

So if the remarks were a clever piece of spin to publicise an international anti-corruption summit and to move the news agenda on from the EU, Mr Cameron's supporters will claim he has played a blinder.

But there remains the issue of a potential insult or slight to the Queen and the charge of dragging her into political controversy once again.

His opponents are already on the attack.

"This is another gaffe from the PM," said the Labour MP Wes Streeting.

"You'd hope he'd have learned his lesson when it comes to off the record comments and the Queen but sadly not."

Mr Cameron would say he has learned many lessons in his six years as Prime Minister.

Those who have observed him during that time would say they include canny news management.

Man Shot Dead After Stabbing Four People

A man has been shot dead by an off-duty police officer after stabbing four people near Boston, two of them fatally.

Two people were stabbed at a shopping centre in Taunton by an attacker who crashed a car into the front of a store.

Two other people were earlier stabbed at a nearby residence, state police said.

The suspect died from his injuries after being shot at the Silver City Galleria, in Massachusetts.

The motive for the attacks remains unknown.

Witnesses told local television station WHDH-TV that they heard gunfire and saw people running from the shopping centre.

The centre was evacuated and put on lockdown as state and local police units established multiple crime scenes.

Taunton about 40 miles south of Boston.

Heart Attack Failures Linked To 30,000 Deaths

Around 33,000 deaths may have been prevented over a decade if doctors followed appropriate heart attack after-care guidelines, according to a study.

The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, looked at 13 treatments recommended for patients who suffered a NSTEMI, the most common type of heart attack where the blood flow to the heart is partially blocked.

They found that for patients treated across 247 hospitals in England and Wales between 2003 and 2013, nearly 90% did not receive at least one of the interventions they should have been given.

Advice to stop smoking, a rehabilitation programme to improve patients' diet, and the prescription of statin drugs to reduce cholesterol were among missed treatments that would have given patients the best chance of survival.

Other frequently missed interventions included the prescription of an anti-blood clotting drug known as a P2Y12 inhibitor.

Doctors were failed to provide advice to improve patients' diets

"If all eligible patients in the study had received optimal care at the time of guideline publication, then 32,765 deaths may have been prevented," said researchers from the University of Leeds and University College London.

Dr Chris Gale, associate professor of cardiovascular health sciences at the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, said: "What we've highlighted here is the unacceptable deficit in the care being given to people after they've had an NSTEMI heart attack.

"We calculate that roughly one patient per month per hospital in England and Wales is losing their life as a direct consequence of this deficit.

"The good news is that now we've identified the problem, we can certainly fix it. Simple interventions, such as prescribing statins, are being missed, and this is resulting in loss of life."

The results of the study have been published in the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care.

US Military College Denies Hijab Request

An elite US military school has denied an incoming student's request to wear a traditional Muslim headscarf.

The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, announced on Tuesday that the head covering would not be consistent with the school's policy of having cadets look similar.

"Uniformity is the cornerstone of this four-year leader development model," Citadel President retired Lieutenant General John Rosa said in a statement.

Citadel cadets must wear uniform at nearly all times

"The standardisation of cadets in apparel, overall appearance, actions and privileges is essential to the learning goals and objectives of the college."

He added that he hoped the student would still attend The Citadel in the fall despite the school's decision.

A spokesman for the girl's family said she would not enrol unless the policy was changed.

Ibrahim Hooper, of the Council on American-Islamic Relation, added that the family is considering legal action.

He said the girl cried after she received word of the college's decision.

She told the school's commandant over the phone it was not fair that she had to choose between her faith and going to the school, Mr Hooper said.

A spokeswoman for the 174-year-old public military college said that while The Citadel has had a number of Muslim students, the request to wear the headscarf was a first.

The school admitted its first woman student in 1995.

Earlier this year, 14 cadets were dismissed, suspended or dealt on-campus punishments after images appeared on social media showing them wearing white pillowcases resembling Ku Klux Klan hoods.