A Russian flag was hung briefly from scaffolding on Salisbury Cathedral, almost a year after the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with novichok in the city. The flag was taken down on Sunday after cathedral staff were made aware of it. It is thought someone climbed the scaffolding and put it there overnight.

The first anniversary of the nerve agent attack on Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 33, who were discovered collapsed on a park bench in the city centre, will fall on 4 March. Two men identified as suspects for carrying out the attack, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, went on Russian state-funded TV in September last year to claim they had travelled to Salisbury as tourists, to visit its cathedral.

Jo Broom, a Conservative councillor for the St Martin’s and Cathedral ward of the city, said: “My initial reaction was one of huge shock and disbelief that someone would think this was in any way a good thing to do. If it was a joke, it was in very poor taste. Particularly when we are going into the first anniversary of the novichok attack, and are trying to move forward and look to the positive.”

Angry Salisbury residents called the act “disgusting” and “insensitive” after Dawn Sturgess, 44, died from novichok contamination when she used a perfume bottle containing the nerve agent in June last year. One posted on social media: “It is in poor taste. Remember an innocent victim, Dawn Sturgess, lost her life because of it. I am sure her grieving family, especially her young daughter, do not find this amusing.”(theguardian)…[+]

Protesters from the environmental action group Extinction Rebellion have disrupted London fashion week in an attempt to urge the British Fashion Council to declare a climate emergency. A group with a banner saying “rebel for life” blocked the road outside Victoria Beckham’s show at Tate Britain for about half an hour on Sunday, holding up Mercedes cars provided for the event.

Demonstrators, wearing black to mourn the lives of those devastated by environmental destruction, then formed human roadblocks outside venues at West Aldwych and Temple to challenge “business as usual” and highlight the spiralling throwaway culture in the UK’s clothing market. Extinction Rebellion said members of the public expressed support for their aims. One man told the group: “Even if I disagree with your methods, I do agree with the core principle.”Both lanes of traffic were blocked nearby the main catwalk venue at 180 Strand in central London, and there were plans to create gridlock and prevent staff from moving between show venues throughout Sunday, the third day of London fashion week; during which designers such as Vivienne Westwood will showcase their latest collections.(theguardian)…[+]

Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will pay an official visit to Barbados on Tuesday, March 19, as part of a Caribbean tour. During the visit, they will participate in several events, including a parade and wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in National Heroes Square and a reception at which they will be able to interact with a cross-section of Barbadians.

The Prince will also visit the Nidhe Israel Synagogue, observe a demonstration on this island’s hurricane preparedness mechanisms and meet teams involved in responding to recent natural disasters across the region. He will learn more about the work of the Prince’s Trust International on the island, a charity which he founded in 1976, and meet some of the beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, The Duchess, who is President of the Women of the World Festival, will attend an event for Barbadian women of influence and pay visits to the Derrick Smith School and Vocational Centre and the Maria Holder Diabetes Centre. Commenting on the upcoming visit, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said: “We welcome this visit by Their Royal Highnesses to our home. It serves to buttress the relationship that we have as a member of the Commonwealth, of which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the head. Indeed, it demonstrates the continued links the Royal Family has maintained with Barbados over the years.(Barbados Nation)…[+]

The UK’s most senior counter-terrorism officer has said that Shamima Begum, who left the UK to join Islamic State as a 15-year-old, had “potentially criminalised” herself as her family considers court action to stop the government blocking her return to Britain. Government and counter-terrorism officials are still considering what to do after Begum, now 19, was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp after fleeing Isis’s last stronghold and said she wanted to return to Britain.

Neil Basu, assistant commissioner for counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, told the Guardian the case should drive home the need to report those youngsters being radicalised, rather than let them ruin their lives after falling for terrorist propaganda.In 2015, Begum left with two school friends from their home in Bethnal Green to join Isis in Syria. She said this week that she did not regret her decision to go to Syria, but that she was nine months pregnant and wanted to come home to “live quietly with [her] child”.(theguardian)…[+]

Police in Canada have issued a rare rebuke to the public after a late-night emergency mobile phone alert about an abducted child prompted widespread complaints. At 11.36pm on Thursday night, police in Ontario issued an amber alert for Riya Rajkumar, 11, after police feared the girl’s father had kidnapped her.

Shortly after the alert was issued, police found her body, but they said that calls from the public helped them locate and arrest her father, Roopesh Rajkumar. A second alert was sent at 12.21am, saying Riya had been located.

But police say they received a barrage of angry calls, as Ontario residents complained that the alert was issued too late at night. “I can’t even begin to describe how disappointing and upsetting it is to read the comments, emails and calls to our communications bureau complaining about receiving an mber alert late at night,” tweeted Constable Akhil Mooken, a spokesperson for Peel regional police. “I appreciate that a lot of people were sleeping but the immediate need to locate the child outweighed the momentary inconvenience that some people encountered.”(theguardian)…[+]